Eric S.
Yelp
***update 3/23/16***
I came here this past Tuesday in the hopes of entering Emporium's monthly pinball tournament, only to discover that 3 participants wasn't nearly enough to host a single-elimination tourney. The organizer guy (I'm terrible with names) apologized to us and after a brief wait, he returned with small packets of tokens, shotglasses, T-shirts, and schooner glasses for each of us, all complimentary. Now THAT'S customer service at its absolute finest, ladies and gentlemen.
Originally I gave this Wicker Park barcade 4 out of 5, but after recent events--and numerous revisits--I'm bumping them up a star. The great draft beer selection, trendy atmosphere, crazy cute customers, and superior selection of pinballs (most in excellent working condition) gives Emporium "1.0" a distinct edge over their Logan Square sister location. So maybe these guys don't serve food, but I'd rather that than be tempted by the sh*tty nonsense that's the food truck at Emporium "2.0".
I should also mention that this Emporium has a 'Game of Thrones' table, the newest from Stern's line of pinballs. Metallica, The Shadow, KISS, Demolition Man, all in fine shape. All are a token per play, and the replay value is set pretty low, so free credits are in abundance. If the 'start' button is flashing, you've got yourself a free game (so play it, whydontcha!)
Fantastic Mr Fox was playing on the bar TV, followed up by custom edited clips of over-the-top fight scenes from Bollywood and Hong Kong martial arts cinema. One clip in particular had me (along with many others) roaring with laughter/shock/disgust. I won't say exactly what, but I will say that it involved the final fight scene from the movie Undefeatable where the antagonist gets BOTH eyes gouged out in spectacular fashion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxkr4wS7XqY
Good times. Good times.
***end update***