V Live

I’ve visited V Live a few times and it’s been a different adventure every time. It seemed to progressively get worse each time. During my last visit, a random guy took my friend’s drink and started drinking it and then asked if he could have mine. Who does that? Needless to say, I do not intend on returning. As far as bar service and security personnel go, I had no problems. Bartenders were prompt & polite. Security personnel did their jobs without being overbearing or power tripping.

I will never throw my birthday here again. The staff are rude. If I’m going to be paying hundreds of dollars for bottle service then I expect good service. Not worth it. Go somewhere else

I went to this club for a Halloween event. They had valet parking, which was the best part of the night. After waiting an hour and a half outside the club they let us in. AND I had purchased my ticket online BEFORE the event, and they made us wait. Once we got in they had closed off the main dance floor and would only allow us into the bottom and top floors. This was my first experience at a club and I WILL NOT BE RETURNING! The ticket was over priced, and the night was a waste of time!

I’ve been here over a dozen times. Each time I go, I always come out with a negative story to tell about this place.
One night in the summer, I literally came out the club drenched in sweat. The A/​C was broken and no fans! It was beyond horrible.
Another night as I am walking out of a bathroom stall, I see a 50 year old woman getting a beat down by a butch looking girl! There was blood literally all over the wall and floor.
This past Saturday was the last straw. My table was on our 3^rd bottle of the night. Our server, I believe her name is Denitza, was very unprofessional. When you are paying at least $ 1000 for bottle service, you expect your server to come and check on you to see if you need a drink. Well that did not happen with her. Why? She was up on the top balcony along with 3 other of Vlive servers hugging up on some random guy and his friend! It was disgusting seeing one girl kissing him while another had her arm around his waist. The girls were all up on these men like flies on poop! I thought servers were suppose to serve not try to get in customers pants.
Needless to say, my group will be spending our $ 1000 elsewhere next time.

V Live…
The way I see V Live is once you figure out the tricks of the trade your experiences become less and less enticing.
As a resident of Logan Square my roommates and I adventured over to V Live a countless amount of times. Our first visit resulted in a $ 20 cover but by one of the last times we attended we were using passwords and getting free drinks in the VIP area.
First rule for V Live is to never ever pay to get in. Unless you are extremely late, desperate and you did not text for entry, you should not have to pay a dime. In fact, whenever you go to V Live you should be utilizing the free cover and free drinks during the early arrival times.
From all the Birthday parties, concerts, and special events that I have attended I can say that V Live does a good job of entertaining. Like anything else, you should do your research before going out in order to be ready for long lines and discount specials. The atmosphere is as much of a toss up as the weather in Chicago. On any given night you can be presented with club music, top 40, bachata and everything in between.
I could go on and on but don’t feel it necessary as part of the fun of going out to new places is learning all these things for yourself.
*Make sure you text for free cover before the club opens at 9 pm. Otherwise they won’t let you in with that deal.

Interior and setup was nicely apportioned. We came here for a concert so I can’t comment on standard club night, but once the concert was over it turned into the standard club setup until close and different crowd started to show up. Drink prices were reasonable, I give the barman an A for attentiveness and speed. Worked out great as a concert venue especially as it didn’t get overcrowded. As other reviews have commented, it’s very ‘diverse,’ although if you couldn’t figure that out beforehand and it’s not your thing, then you’ll probably have other issues with the place. If there is a dress code, it was pretty haphazardly enforced. Wouldn’t go back on a whim because it’s not my scene, but would definitely go for another show I wanted to see.

A couple of friends and I decided to come here after a late fun Cuban dinner. We arrived around 11:30 and … the place was empty. Now if it weren’t so early it would have really shocked me.
We decided to explore the place to waist time. It is HUGE. They only had 2 stories open that night but there are 3 total. We didn’t find anything that impressive about the place.
At about 1pm there was still hardly anyone in the place and on top of it they were playing Mexican music. No one thing my girlfriend and I require about a hot dance spot is that the place play new hit EDM songs we can sing and dance our asses off to. They completely FAILED! I mean … seriously???
By 1:30 we were getting in a cab to go to a real dance spot…

I don’t know why I agree to keep coming back to this place. Every time I’ve been here, it’s been a bad experience.
A few months ago, I came here with a group of people for a classmate’s birthday. We had a text (from VLive itself) to get us in for free plus a name to say at the door. Regardless, they charged us a cover because it there was a «special performance» that night and they had to charge everyone cover. UGH. So we all paid the cover because we came from the suburbs and most of our friends were already there.
1.) There was no «special performance»
2.) Our friends who came 15 minutes later didn’t pay cover.
I reluctantly went here again last night, with a few girlfriends, in hopes of things being better. Maybe a few months ago was just coincidentally a bad day there? No, but this time, it’s a different story. It was around 3am and the crowd was all 30 to 40 year old creepers. I felt like I was constantly trying to dodge a different old random horny man every 10 minutes.
Come here if you like to spend copious amounts of money on cover (AND drinks) or if you’re really into old creepers. V-​live, you’ve earned the title as worst club in Chicago in my book.

My sister wanted to go clubbing so my friends and I took her here. It was $ 20 per person to get in. I normally wouldn’t pay to get into a club, but since it was for my sister, I relented. Bottle service was nice, and the dance floors were amazing. I believed they played different types of music on each floor — house, hip hop, etc. Very cool!
I had never ordered bottle service before so I experienced a little bit of anxiety around «Are we just going to leave our drinks here at the lounge and dance? What will happen to them?» No, they’ll store it for us. I felt a little bad for wasting alcohol though– I would not let my sister drink out of her cup that had been left on the table when we went dancing. I made her get an entirely new glass. You’d never know who/​what touched our glasses, y’know?
The crowd that night were mostly Asians and Latinos. I thought that was a strange mix but who knows.
I’m not into clubbing, so I most likely wouldn’t go again but the venue was impressive.

** Venue Review **
It was about that time of the year to see my favorite Mexican Rock band perform for the 3^rd consecutive year.
Like the past two years my friend «Hooked it up» again with VIP. As part of VIP section I didn’t have to wait in extremely long line outside. I only went through intensive security measures, checked– in and received the drinking and VIP wristbands from their staff members.
After the whole check-​in process, my group and I were escorted to the VIP section by a bouncer. Even though we had to share the VIP section with some other group there was sufficient space for both groups to enjoy awesome music.
The bottle service was outstanding, the fine-​looking waitresses were very attentive and they made sure my glass was filled. Nonetheless, the bouncers were cool as hell because, they cleared my way back and forward every time I had to leave the VIP section.
It was definitely a true Rock Star VIP experience like no other. The only thing missing was the Limousine service like the previous year.

V Live is hard to figure out. It’s trying really hard to be a nice, downtown club, yet it’s located in Bucktown, near Logan Square.
Honestly…about a year ago, my friend and I were invited to a birthday party there. We drove past it, saw the crowd lined up outside, and kept on driving and went to McDonald’s and home instead. However… I’ve actually been inside twice so far (See check-​ins) and it’s not as bad as I thought.
It looks small from the outside, but it’s actually pretty big inside. Getting free or reduced cover is easy. There is a number you can text for passwords and I also know 3 promoters. It has a big open main room where everyone dances. There are a few um, «tables» which are just small ottomans. Disappointing, but the real «VIP» tables are upstairs, and actually consist of COUCHES, oh yeah. There is also a bar on both sides, and the music is different. I was impressed that it wasn’t taken over by the music on the main floor.
Drinks are standard-​priced. A cameraman or two (Oh, except my photos from the last time I was there aren’t up online. WTF?) The music is really good. They’ve been getting notable names to come spin, and their house DJs are commendable. Lots of lights. Go-​go dancers.
I have one gripe… the last time I went, my friend and I had our leather jackets stolen. I know, I know, we should have checked them in at the coat check… but it was really annoying that we left our jackets at our personal table to go to the bathroom, and to come back to find them gone. Security wasn’t much of a help.

I honestly wanted to give this place more credit. but given our last experience there I just couldn’t. I’ve been to V-​Live a few times and even have a friend that works there. The music is good until the live entertainment hit, then you cannot hear anything at all.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by a not-​so-​pleasant doorman and deer-​in-​headlights woman who were taking money for cover. My girlfriend at the time called ahead and we were assured there was no cover for our party, but lo and behold… they still tried to charge us, saying we weren’t on their list. It took us 30 minutes to get inside because we had to track down the guy we spoke to, to let us in.
We stopped in for a joined birthday party, with a group of about 25 or so. The first thing we noticed was that the drink specials that we called ahead for were expired about 20 minutes after we arrived, even though we were told they’d go till 1. (1am is not 11pm…)
If the watered down drinks weren’t enough to annoy, the ambiance and the crowd will break even the toughest of spirits. Strobe lights keep you from seeing two feet ahead of you and there’s always some jacka$$ trying to start a fight in there. Some jerk even threw a beer bottle at one of our girl’s heads. We ran to the first bouncer we saw (standing about 10 feet from us) and he just shrugged. As we tried to tell him about the situation, he literally stopped me from talking by putting up his index finger giving me the «one minute» gesture and started hitting on a girl he saw who walked by. It was unbelievable. The girl’s head is bleeding. and you’re trying to get a number? Really?
You can rest assured I will not be returning to this place.