Bottle & Bottega

Signed up for the ¹²⁄₅ class back on ⁹⁄₂₈ because I knew my mom & I would enjoy doing it while she visited from Florida.
My email confirmation clearly stated, «Public art parties are subject to cancellation (though it happens rarely) without a minimum of 5 guests. We will send a Potential Cancellation Notice by email 24 HOURS BEFORE an event if registrations are low. With additional registrations, we won’t send further notice and the event will run as planned. Should it be cancelled, we will send a Cancellation Notice 4 – 6 HOURS BEFORE the intended event time.»
However, that is not what happened. Instead we planned our whole day around needing to be in the South Loop by 11am and were already on our way when I got a call at 9:59am that they were cancelling the class. One hour notice, really? It was fun scrambling for a new idea last minute since we had been planning on this for over two months. If you want to go to this place, I recommend having a back-​up plan in case they decide to cancel on you within the hour.

Great concept and good times! My girl was tired of our normal bday dinners and decided to mix things up by having all of us do a girls night paint/​wine class.
Now my group of girls are nothing short of organized, so we were task with bringing not only wine, but each of us showed up with something to eat. If you go this route definitely make sure you get there for the opening reception cause you don’t have much time to eat during the actual class.
Now I am very art challenged, so I knew from the beginning my picture would look nothing like the sample. It didn’t help either from where I was sitting the instructor blocked the board a lot… so me being the leader I am I veered off and started doing my own thing and it showed. Lol. My friends and I had a really good time and for $ 40 you get to take home those memories and the painting. Shout out to the guy providing us music on the guitar. As long as you don’t take the painting or yourself seriously you will have a great time! (Ps definitely would be a great date spot).

Had a great time! The stuff there is so helpful and fun, especially Annie! Great date night

I went with a friend for a party. The teacher was terrible — he wasn’t clear, you could barely hear and he went too fast. I’ve been to similar themed places before, and part of the fun is in the actual art. But here, if you’re not a natural artist, it’s just frustrating if you don’t know what you’re doing and there’s no one to really assist. There are supposed to be people walking around helping, but they were pretty much just chitchatting with a few people and ignoring the rest of us.
I gave up painting about 30 minutes into a 3 hr session because I was frustrated and bored. Sure, I had fun drinking and talking with my friends, but I could have done that anywhere. Next time I’ll just save my $ and head straight to the bar.

This place is so awesome! The staff is so patient and helpful. It is a little warm and crowded but after some wine none of that mattered. I can’t wait to go back.

I’ve been here twice and each time I’ve enjoyed it.
Great place for a date. You can BYOB and by the time you finish your bottle your creative juices are flowing. BB is a great place for corporate, team building events. The service is great and the Instructors are patient.
Even if your not the Artist, it’s fun and a great way to make memories.

Bottles & Bottega, how I love thee. Short and sweet. Love this place, including the nude male model… yum yum. You can bring food and drinks and paint and have a great time? Enough said! Make sure you join their VIP program! Love love love this place! Always have a great time here!

I love this place. The staff is super friendly and motivated. They start the class off with pretty detailed beginnings but once they see that everyone has gotten going they sort of leave you to it. If you ask for help, they buzz straight over to you and give you all the help you need. This is a great date place. You’re gonna love it!

I bought tickets for a public party as a surprise for my boyfriend’s birthday. They had the whole tiny back spaced filled with people so it was so loud and really hard to even move around. Our teacher spent maybe 2 minutes teaching us how to do the painting. I was really disappointed because I thought this was an actual step by step class as my boyfriend and I are beginners. With the noise and lack of class, I wondered why we paid so much when we could have just done an art project at home. I would never recommend this place unless you just want to drink and be loud.

IM IN LOVE!
i had such a great time here with my friends! Everyone here was so nice and friendly!
I never thought that i would be decent at painting, the teacher made it so easy to follow and they reassured that there is no «right» or «wrong» way to paint the picture.
I would love to do it again, its a great way to spend time with your friends!

Had an awesome time! Great idea for a work outing! The people here are so patient so helpful and really nice!

We did this for Mother’s Day and it was definitely the best idea ever! Meagan, who taught us the painting, was absolutely helpful and helped us throughout our time at bottle and Bottega. I’m not really an artist but that didn’t matter at all! They were all super helpful:)

A really fun experience! My fiancé went on a Friday night for couples/​best friends night. It seemed to be more friends than couples and it was EXTREMELY crowded. We could barely squeeze into our space and have room for our glasses and wine. The reason I give it 4 stars and not 5 — despite the awesome helpful staff — is because for $ 35 per person, you should be much more comfortable and definitely have room to extend your arms, breathe and lay out your glasses. Maybe consider a bigger space. Besides that, two thumbs up. We’ll definitely be back but maybe next time we’ll opt for a weekday where the crowd isn’t as big.

A friend & myself attended the mimosa session one Saturday morning. Had so much fun! We’re planning a girls night out there!

I’m not sure why this place only got 3 stars because it really should have more stars. One of my friends wanted to do an art and wine thing for her bachelorette party so we came here for the public painting class on Saturday. We were all seated together (they ask you to call them in advance if you have a big party so they can seat you all together). All of us had a stellar time especially the bride-​to-​be. You also don’t need to draw the same thing as the class is instructing,.if you’re the creative and artistic type you can go ahead and do your own thing. (Couple of my friends went ahead and painted their own thing! one of them painted a previous artwork they did.) They supply the apron, canvas, paint, brushes, pencil and eraser for you to use.
Our instructor was really cool. I forgot his name, but he taught us easy ways of putting our masterpieces together. He also had helpers that helped my friends out when they were stuck on parts of the painting. When I needed some ideas on how to make a part of the painting works, they were there to assist. Great staff to work with!
It’s also BYOB so my friends brought some wine and sangria to share. We had an enjoyable time, and the time flew so quickly. At first I thought it was going to be a long 2.5 hours but I actually wanted more time because it was fun.
They also offer Bottega bucks for checking in on facebook, posting pics on Instagram and FB, every hour. etc… each of us collected these bucks and got our bride-​to-​be a frame for her canvas! We didn’t have to pay anything. we just did the social media stuff and earned her a frame that was going for $ 30. She was one happy bride-​to-​be!

The staff is super friendly and encouraging (I think they are a bunch of liars, but after a couple of glasses of Malbec that kinda what I want). Being a public painting party it’s a total crap shoot with whom you’ll be in class with. The night my girlfriend and I went there was semi-​private event going on at the same time and that was a bit annoying (actually the drunk girls were annoying). All in I had a terrific time and am looking to go back to paint a nude model! Boom!

I had a lot of fun with my friends here, so I am surprised by the low rating. A lot of the reviewers who gave negative reviews couldn’t even get into a class in the first place, which is too bad because the class itself was enjoyable.
For the session I picked, everyone does the same painting and follows along with the instructor. The class started with a half hour of «cocktail hour.» The name is misleading, because they don’t provide the booze, you need to bring it yourself (BYOB). The instructor broke the painting down into different phases — which was helpful because it made the painting less intimidating. There were mini-​breaks in between to let the painting dry and for snacking and chatting. I was pretty surprised about the end result, because the painting actually looks legit enough to pass for the original! #artisticallychallenged
BTW, bring lots of finger food to munch on, and booze of course to get your creative juices flowing. Not only will you get looks of envy from your neighbors, but the painting process is also surprisingly hunger-​inducing.
But there’s still room for improvement, hence why I knocked off a star:
(1) In the beginning of class, the instructor admitted that it was also his first time doing the painting. The paintings turned out fine, but I was uneasy/​skeptical during the process.
(2) The instructor could be more proactive and attentive. He was super nice and gave good pointers, but you had to ask to get help.
(3) The class could have been timed better. We had way too much time in the beginning, so towards the end, we were rushed to finish up. They also did this annoying bomb detonation count-​down thing — «10 minutes left… there’s only 5 minutes … two minutes guys, wrap it up!!»
That said, I still had a good time and left with a nice painting — and it was only $ 35 for the lesson!

This was a nice, inviting location. The staff was friendly and chatty.
I went for a work outing, so I guess our class ran a little differently than if you came in on a Saturday night. I was a bit confused when we had four options of paintings to choose from. I chose the less complicated painting and wish I hadn’t. The teacher spent almost no time with me (suggesting strategies, paint colors, techniques, etc) and concentrated on the two paintings with details.
I wish she had given equal time to each painting and technique. OR they should just pick one painting for these events.

Fun! Came here for a company event. Really nice staff

It’s always exciting to have new additions to the arts scene in the South Loop. I went this past Friday (⁸⁄₃₁) for their Couples and BFFs themed night featuring face-​to-​face paintings. The cost was $ 35/​person and I signed up online on a whim looking for something new to do with my weekend.
The event was BYOB and you could also bring your own food. The venue will uncork and provide glasses. My boyfriend and I didn’t opt to bring any liquor, but I do think it’d compliment the painting class nicely.
Lucas Myers was our art instructor for the evening and did a great job of keeping the class interesting and providing constructive criticism and feedback.
At the end of the night we walked away with acrylic canvas paintings and having enjoyed a memorable evening. The price for a couple ($ 70 — though each class price varies) was comparable to what you’d pay for diner and a movie, but a nice spin on what could have been a typical Friday night.
The website lists all of the different classes and I’d definitely come in again to experience a different theme.
If you’re interested in meeting some new people and getting your creative juices flowing, go online and pick a class to try! You’ll have a great time.