Terrace Time: Chicago’s Top Alfresco Restaurants and Bars

Terrace Time: Chicago’s Top Alfresco Restaurants and Bars

Having endured a bone-chilling winter, there’s nowhere Chicagoans would rather be, of a balmy summer evening, than outdoors. Join them, with our list of Chicago’s alfresco restaurants and bars.

Parson’s Chicken & Fish does exactly what it says on the tin, with its offering of buttermilk-battered succulent chicken and fresh shellfish by the bucket, but its retro container-shack setup offers far more than the simple moniker suggests. A huge patio with outdoor bar, stripy parasol-topped picnic benches, and a ping pong table makes this one of Chi-town’s most popular spots in summer. NB: The Negroni slushies are da bomb.

Clever kitties need not stray far from their suite at The Peninsula. Perched on the sixth floor of the hotel, the glittery view-toting Z Bar offers breezy sofa-lounging with live music accompaniment, innovative hand-crafted cocktails, from a zingily refreshing Elderflower Collins to a heady Summer Sour, plus global snacks to pair, like Vietnamese spring rolls, ‘nduja pizza pockets, and Wagyu beef sliders. Arrive early for a hotly contested ringside seat.

Despite sitting only three floors above Fulton Market, in/out resto-bar Aba (from perennial stylemakers Lettuce Entertain You) couldn’t be further from the urban grind with its luscious plant-carpeted partitions and gorgeous vistas. French street lamp pendants, fire pits and pergola, only add to the easy atmos and summery vibe, as do the Med-veering bites including harissa-crusted halibut and red beet tzatziki.

Having only recently flung open its shutters, the rooftop beer garden above Gene's Sausage Shop is the newest player in the alfresco game. Sip ice-cold brews, from German staples Krombacher, Hofbräu, and Tripel Karmeliet to the homegrown Maplewood, on this Oktoberfest-inspired deck with chalet-bar and communal wooden bench seating. And, of course, it being above a deli and specialty meat shop, beer’s best friend, bratwurst, takes a starring role.

A vaulted Victorian-style glass-and-steel roof means you can feel the outdoors inside at all-weather stunner Cindy's, but it’s the unobstructed 13 storey-high outlook over Millennium Park and Lake Michigan beyond that’s the real clincher. Primarily a dining destination, with chef Keith Potter plating up locally-sourced sustainable ingreds, the standing-room-only terrace – plus the city’s best cocktail program – lends itself to aperitivo hour.

Parson’s Chicken & Fish / 2952 W Armitage / Logan Square / +1 773 384 3333 / 11am-midnight Mon-Fri, 10am-midnight Sat-Sun / parsonschickenandfish.com

Z Bar / 6/F / The Peninsula / 108 E Superior St / Near North Side / +1 312 337 2888 / 3pm-midnight Mon-Thu, 2pm-1am Fri, 11am-1am Sat, 11am-midnight Sun / zbarchicago.com

Aba / 302 N Green St / Fulton Market / +1 773 645 1400 / 4-11pm Mon-Thu, 4pm-midnight Fri-Sat, 4-10pm Sun / abarestaurantchicago.com

Gene’s Sausage Shop & Delicatessen / 4750 N Lincoln Ave / Lincoln Square / +1 773 728 7243 / 9am-8pm Mon-Sat, 9am-4pm Sun / genessausage.com

Cindy’s / 12 S Michigan Ave / The Loop / +1 312 792 3502 / 11am-1am  Mon-Fri, 10am-2am Sat, 10am-midnight Sun / cindysrooftop.com