The Rambler is a great neighborhood bar in the Chicago North Center neighborhood. They bring in a lot of regulars, have a friendly-but-not-loud-friendly vibe, an attentive staff, and an extensive menu of fantastic bar food and drinks.
When you go to The Rambler, you can order beers or a variety of mixed drinks and cocktails, but also can get yourself burgers, salads, mac and cheese or a variety of sides, including the Chicago-created pizza puff, a tortilla filled with sausage, sauce and cheese that is deep-fried and is a true revelation for anyone who has yet to try it.
Really, you can get almost anything you’re craving (unless you’re craving pasta, to which I ask…why are you ordering pasta in a bar?)
They were thankfully able to survive the pandemic in part through constructing an open-air, temperature-controlled back patio which, naturally, you can reserve for private events.
It’s a lovely space with multiple TVs that is often packed on weekends and busy nights, but somehow feels like a cozy, friendly space to spend an evening.
They host general bar trivia (which, if you have been following me on Jammin’ with Jeff, you might see a pattern in my reviews) but also have music trivia, Bingo, and a various other events.
The Rambler is definitely a neighborhood bar, one with properly-priced drinks and a sense of community. Before 2020, it was a large space, with two different rooms and a long bar and enough tables to fit 40 or 50 people easily.
They also had a back patio that, for a while, was an open-aired setup that was only open during rainless, temperate days. But with current times, they had to pivot.
A bar with a lot of space, and a lovely covered patio
In order to help them stay profitable, The Rambler took their back patio and made it a great, lightly-ventilated space that is open-air, but able to stay warm during busy nights during winter months, and dry on rainy days. The patio is open, well-lit, and inviting, and a great addition to an already great bar.
What about the bathroom?
For a bar with so many regulars and with their expanded no-longer-seasonal space, you might expect the bathroom to be quite large. However, the bathroom didn’t expand with the rest of the establishment.
Instead, anyone using the men’s room will be welcomed to a clean and odorless situation, but nothing more than a single urinal right next to a single bathroom stall containing a toilet, as well as a sink accompanied by a Cintas-brand automatic soap dispenser that is never empty.
For a neighborhood bar, which can range from pristine to dingy, despite it’s small size, the bathroom definitely gets the job done, and it tends to avoid crowding that could change that assessment.
What about their events
The Rambler makes a point to provide entertainment for the neighborhood, so they offer plenty of incentives to come out and spend some time there.
On Tuesdays, they host music trivia, followed by Bingo on Wednesdays, and general trivia on Thursdays, all with extremely generous prizes. If you fancy yourself a trivia whiz, you can easily win a $100 gift card that could last you weeks. (Well, not easily – you’ll have some competition).
On top of all that, they often offer great drink or food packages for events like the Super Bowl or the Kentucky Derby. They’re a neighborhood bar, and they make it a point to give their neighborhood many options to mingle and be entertained. And they do a great job of that.
Is The Rambler Poopable?
Despite its small size, unless you attend during a particularly busy night (Thursday’s trivia often fields 20 teams, so that might be a bit more tricky) it doesn’t offer a lot of concerns if the urge to relieve yourself comes upon you.
Generally you can get some solidarity while taking care of business, and while they have a great menu of food, most people are there to drink and mingle, which means the stall is not often utilized, unless it’s someone who is a shy when it comes to taking a pee.
North Center is an under-appreciated area in the city of Chicago, but has a lot of great bars with a lot of personality. The Rambler is definitely one of those bars, and thankfully, it’s a Poopable one.
Neil
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