El Hefe Chicago

Came with three others for the St. Patty's bar crawl. This spot had the best music compared to the other bar crawl spots! It was bumpin all day too! We started here and had to come back and finish strong. No coat check. Food is really good too! Carne asada fries are the best.

We chose this venue to celebrate my brother's birthday, anticipating a pleasant outing. However, our experience turned sour swiftly. my brother accidentally dropped a glass, prompting us to be asked to leave. Though initially understanding, our departure was marred by the unwarranted aggression of the bouncers. Their physical intimidation and forceful behavior towards us were completely unacceptable. We strongly advise avoiding this establishment altogether.

We went here to celebrate a birthday yesterday. The bouncers were very nice and welcoming and things were off to a great start but our server was very rude. When taking our drink order I asked for a water and she snapped at me that she already had some on the way as if I should have known that. I ordered a paloma which was given to me in a cheap plastic disposable cup that tasted terrible. For the cute atmosphere I expected a cuter aesthetic drink vs what I was given. We all did not like our drinks which irritated the server so we all sat there and forced it or didn’t touch it and still paid for them. It took an hour to get our food and still half the group didn’t receive their meals. When we did it all came out incorrect and we were met with a disrespectful server who was unorganized and couldn’t remember what we ordered. Save yourself the trip, you could spend your money at better more authentic Mexican places! It has a lot of potential but ended up being a big disappointment. Will not be coming back after the treatment we received here.

AVOID. TOURIST TRAP. DO NOT GO! The food is far from authentic and very bland. There is no organization with tables, it's seat yourself style. And the service is awful. The waitress took forever to get us water, another waitress did it for us. Then our food came out wrong and my fiancée had to wait another 15min to get the correct food. By the time she got it, we were done eating. Then her drink was also wrong! And nobody came up to check on us while we were having these issues. In fact, our waitress was flirting with the manager the whole time. We then later found out it was his girlfriend! So Jeff, the manager, cares more about his girlfriend and flirting during his shift than actually taking care of guests. Also! This place charges an $8 venue fee just to be seated and tacks on a 22% gratuity on any bill over $100. Not only does this place not give a darn about it's customers, they hope you spend over $100, the wait staff gets their 22%, and they never have to see you again. When confronting Jeff about the experience, he didn't care and just kept asking what we wanted taken off the bill. It was truly an awful experience. Please do yourself a favor and go to any of the other places around. There is too much competition in the area for establishments like this to still exist.

I stumbled upon this place while roaming Chicago on a Saturday night, as a foreign visitor. From the street it looked intriguing. The bar waitresses were scantily clad, which was in plain view from the street. I asked the security staff what sort of bar it was. They said it was a mexican restaurant by day and a night club by night. "Why don't you come in for a beer?". So I did. It wasn't busy yet, but the theme seemed to be a "Hooters"style bar. The first waitress was very friendly, and the music was modern, maybe techno? A second waitress appeared as the bar became busier. She was dressed the same but had a sour disposition. I managed to get her attention to order a beer, but got a bad impression. She was not happy!!! I made a bad mistake of taking some video of the unique bar. But it included this "waitress". She immediately called security, who made me delete my video. I said, why don't you put a sign saying "No Video"? It didn't matter, I was kicked out!!! What a weird place! Personally, I would get rid of the bad waitress, instead of ejecting the customers! At least tell people of the rules! I suggest everyone avoid this bar!

I was the sober driver and asked for water after my wife paid $85 in drinks. Bartender said she can charge $7 for Fiji water. I said tap is fine. She kicked me out for wanting free water. This bar is terrible. Don’t waste your time or money, and BE WARNED due to this - they do NOT encourage responsible drinking. Also, FYI: they charge an extra 4% on all transactions.

It's a decent place. Food was pretty good. It gets very crowded over the weekends as the tables from bar area are cleared later at night for dance floor. Mahi mahi taco and their load d fries with steak were pretty good.

We made reservations but it was chaotic getting seated for pur table of 4. We ordered drinks which were good, but all of us were disappointed with the tacos, quesadilla and burrito we ordered. the Carne asada fries were good, so Id recommend it for drinks and apps, not a full dinner. we spent $80 before tip for 2 with 1 appetizer, and 2 entrees. Not horrible, but not great.