Best of

Best of the West Loop, Chicago.

Curated short lists for the West Loop — where to eat, drink, caffeinate, stretch, and run errands. Every pick links through to a full listing with the address and hours.

• Best restaurants The West Loop is one of the densest dining neighborhoods in the United States, with Randolph Restaurant Row and the Fulton Market District anchoring most of the marquee names.
• Best pizza The West Loop carries a healthy spread of pizza styles — Roman al taglio by the slice, Chicago deep dish, New York rounds, and pizza-bar concepts.
• Best brunch Brunch is a serious part of the West Loop's identity — most of the neighborhood's marquee restaurants serve a Saturday and Sunday brunch, and a handful of dedicated brunch and breakfast spots draw lines on weekends.
• Best bars The West Loop's bar scene runs from Michelin-starred cocktail rooms to French-café wine bars to the punk-rock venue on the western edge.
• Best coffee shops The West Loop has a solid spread of independent coffee shops — espresso bars tucked into office buildings, roasters with full counter service, and café-bar hybrids that pour through the evening.
• Best Italian restaurants The West Loop carries one of the higher concentrations of Italian restaurants in Chicago, with everything from a Roman-style pizza counter to a wine-bar trattoria to a multi-room red-sauce destination.
• Best happy hour Happy hour in the West Loop runs the range from $2 oyster bars to wine-bar pour deals to Mexican rooftops.
• Best rooftop bars The West Loop has a small but high-quality set of rooftop venues — anchored by Aba's lush Mediterranean terrace in Fulton Market, with hotel rooftops and a rooftop cinema rounding out the list.
• Best sports bars The West Loop's sports-bar density is lower than in some other Chicago neighborhoods — most of the marquee restaurants are dining destinations rather than game-day rooms.
• Best veterinarians The West Loop has a solid range of veterinary care — long-running neighborhood clinics, walk-in modern brands, urgent care, and 24/7 emergency.
• Best nail salons The West Loop has more than a dozen independent nail salons, ranging from quick mani-pedi stops to full nail-and-lash boutiques.
• Best patios and rooftops The West Loop's outdoor dining splits cleanly into two tiers: the rooftops that look out over Fulton Market and Randolph, and the street-level patios and beer gardens that anchor the neighborhood's warm-weather scene.
• Late-night restaurants and bars The West Loop has more after-hours options than its dinner-row reputation suggests.
• Michelin-recognized restaurants The West Loop has one of the densest concentrations of Michelin-recognized restaurants in the Midwest, with starred kitchens spread across Randolph Restaurant Row, Fulton Market, and the older industrial blocks between them.
• Best private dining and event spaces The West Loop is one of Chicago's most-booked neighborhoods for corporate dinners, rehearsal dinners, and milestone events.
• Best grocery stores The West Loop is well-covered for full-service groceries: Mariano's and Whole Foods anchor the central neighborhood, Jewel-Osco serves the south end near Roosevelt, and H Mart fills the Korean-grocery gap on West Jackson.
• Best pharmacies The West Loop carries two CVS locations, five Walgreens, an independent pharmacy on West Jackson, and pharmacy counters inside the Mariano's and Jewel-Osco supermarkets.
• Best hardware stores The West Loop is better covered for hardware than most central Chicago neighborhoods: a JC Licht True Value paint-and-hardware store on South Sangamon, a Home Depot at the Roosevelt edge, and a longstanding industrial-supply business on West Lake.
• Best dry cleaners The West Loop carries eight City-licensed dry cleaners, distributed across the Randolph, Madison, and Washington commercial corridors.
• Convenience and corner stores The West Loop carries a healthy mix of corner-store options — local small grocers like Foxtrot Market and Go! Grocer, the two West Loop Market storefronts, and seven 7-Eleven locations covering the neighborhood corners.
• Post offices and shipping stores Two USPS post offices serve the West Loop directly — Haymarket on North Clinton (Fulton Market) and Cardiss Collins on West Harrison (south edge).
• Best wine bars The West Loop's wine scene is anchored by a handful of Italian trattorias with full wine programs, a wine-cellar-focused restaurant on Green Street, and the wine programs at the neighborhood's Michelin restaurants.
• Breweries and taprooms The West Loop carries a handful of working breweries plus a few more just past the neighborhood's edges.
• Tea rooms and juice bars The West Loop's tea-and-juice scene is small but distinct — a dim sum-and-tea counter inside the Chicago French Market, Meli Cafe's juice bar in Greektown, and Jamba Juice counters in two of the neighborhood's food courts.
• Museums and art galleries The West Loop carries three named museums and a handful of working art galleries.
• Live music venues and theaters The West Loop's live-performance scene runs from City Winery's 300-seat hall on Randolph to small-room bookings at Cobra Lounge and the live-music program at Haymarket Pub & Brewery.
• Distillery, brewery and winery tours The West Loop is a real-estate concentration of alcohol production — two working distilleries on the south side of the neighborhood, an urban winery on Randolph, plus brewery tours at Goose Island and Guinness just past the boundary.
• Food halls and markets The West Loop carries three named food halls and the seasonal Fulton Market farmers market.
• Gyms, yoga studios and fitness The West Loop carries one of the densest fitness clusters in Chicago — multiple Equinox locations, the Crosstown Fitness flagship on Madison, the climbing gym at First Ascent, and a long list of yoga, pilates, barre, and boxing studios spread across Randolph, Madison, Lake, and Fulton.
• Best gyms Full-service gyms in the West Loop range from members-club operations to independent neighborhood gyms with group-class programs.
• Yoga, pilates and barre studios Single-discipline studios — yoga, pilates, barre — spread across Randolph, Madison, Aberdeen, Adams, and Fulton Market.
• Boutique fitness studios Boutique fitness in the West Loop covers single-format concept studios — heart-rate-based group training, Pilates-style strength classes, multi-format programs.
• Climbing, boxing and martial arts Combat-sports and skill-based fitness in the West Loop — indoor climbing at First Ascent, boxing fitness at Title, and mixed martial arts at Mission MMA.
• Recovery, sauna and cold plunge Recovery-focused studios — infrared sauna, contrast therapy, and other post-workout recovery formats — in the West Loop.
• Best bakeries and patisseries French patisseries, an Italian bakery and café, and the West Loop outpost of Levain Bakery — pastries, viennoiserie, breads, and cakes spread across Fulton Market, the French Market, and Randolph.
• Best donuts The West Loop's donut scene is anchored by Do-Rite Donuts on Morgan Street, with a handful of other counter-service shops and chains nearby.
• Best burger The West Loop has more named-burger restaurants per block than just about any other Chicago neighborhood.
• Best sushi West Loop sushi spans Michelin-starred omakase, hotel sushi bars, and full-service Japanese dining rooms.
• Best ramen Picks below are every business in our overlay whose operator lists ramen as part of the menu.
• Best omakase The West Loop has multiple omakase-format sushi experiences, including Michelin-starred kitchens.
• Best tacos Picks below are every business in our overlay whose operator describes tacos or a taqueria format.
• Best pancakes Picks below are every business in our overlay whose operator names pancakes as a signature item.
• Best fried chicken Picks below are every business in our overlay whose operator names fried chicken as a signature item.
• Best steakhouse The West Loop has a deep bench of steakhouses, from Argentinian live-fire to Wagyu omakase to traditional American chophouses.
• Best BBQ Picks below are every business in our overlay whose operator describes a BBQ or smoked-meats program.
• Best dumplings Picks below are every business in our overlay whose operator names dumplings as a signature item.
• Best pasta The West Loop's Italian-restaurant density translates into one of the strongest pasta scenes in the city.