The Call

I’ve been to the call a few times and have never had a good time. The music is ridiculously loud and the wait for drinks are always long. The only reason I gave this place 2 stars is b/​c the drinks are actually decent. I went with my friends here recently again to see if it has gotten better and my friends and I left after one drink we did not enjoy the bar at all.

So this, like many of my visits in Chicago, was completely random. I was coming from Wrigleyville and wanted to 1. dance 2. drink and 3. avoid screaming bros. I Unilocaled this place on a whim and was so glad I came! No cover on a Saturday. It was pretty empty for the size of the place but I didn’t mind. There were a couple of drag queens and some dancing people. Very chill for a Saturday night. We got some drinks (no idea how much those cost… I’ll assume $ 5 – 10 because it’s Chicago) and chatted by the bar. Of course, a few whiskeys later we were good and ready to dance. The music was pretty good! I’m sure my inebriation had something to do with it but even I wouldn’t dance to absolutely everything. A few songs in and were ready to go but I’d definitely come back. Mostly to return sober and make sure I wasn’t completely wrong about this place.

OMG. Service is so bad. Loosen up the purse strings and hire some bartenders. 15 min to order a drink is ridiculous.

Currently at the call. Just watched my friends get a drink while in line for last call. Was denied as I watched my friends get a drink in front of my face. And I watched him serve someone behind me. Yay to drink 3 for the night. No wonder they are always dead!!!

Great, friendly bar. ⁹⁄₁₀ would drink here again. Good music and dancing. Not many people on a Friday night, which is disappointing. Not sure if it’s the location, or it gets busier later, but they’ve got a good vibe and friendly staff.

For being a bar in the city, it’s fairly decent in size. It has two bars which is separated by ‘the largest dance floor in Andersonville”; which isn’t really saying much in comparison to bars in the burbs. That being said, there is no reason you can’t dance anywhere in the bar.
The music was pretty good with mixes and mashups I personally have not heard before. They sounded fresh and exciting and had me plenty sweaty by the end of the evening. The DJs did an OK job playing what the club would thrive on, but a good bit of time the floors remained empty, which I would say more has to do with the bars locations than anything else (off the beaten path)
The bar itself is cute enough, but if you’re looking for the cute twinks or muscle hunks, you are in the wrong place. Obviously there’s nothing wrong with those who do attend the bar frequently («It’s my hot body, I’ll do what I want» #BornThisWay); but you won’t find much more than a ‘cub’ among the crowd of bears and lesbians.
Would I venture here again? Yes, but I wouldn’t make it a point to drive the city to visit this particular club. So Gather a group of friends and make an evening of dining at one of Andersonville’s awesome restaurants, do a little shopping in their cute boutiques, then hit up the club to close our the night.

I love coming here and do as often as I can. The owners always make you feel welcome. The drinks are always good and music you can dance to and sing along with. Highly recommend this place!!!

Great charity drag shows the 3^rd Saturday of every month! Nice bar with plenty of dance space in an unsuspecting strip mall kind of place. Drinks are pretty expensive though so be prepared to stick with the nightly specials or pay downtown prices for everything else.

Some friends and I went here on a Saturday night and when we walked in, we were a little caught off guard. The bar was empty. As in no one was there except staff. Granted, it was about 10:30 on a Saturday night but an empty bar? Uh… well we can’t blame the bar on that one.
The bartender that served us (Miguel?) was really really cool. He engaged us in conversation, made us laugh, and (in my opinion) served up some pretty decent drinks. It was $ 6 Absolut cocktail night, and he introduced me to the Absolut Acai Berry… now I’m hooked!
Parking: Be careful if you park on Ashland; the meters there are keyed until Midnight, and believe it or not we saw some meter people out right up until Midnight.
I’ll go back again. Hopefully next time there will be some more people there.

Great bar in Andersonville has a wonderful staff nice and friendly. Has a little bit of everything that the Boystown bars offer all in one place. Videos, dance floor, drag shows. How could you not go wrong. The Call is the place to be.

I work seven days a week, so when I finally had a night off, all I wanted to do was go out and see my friend whom I hadn’t seen in almost a year. Well, after my friend bailed on me, I wandered the streets of Andersonville alone and upset. I had dinner down the street and could see the the brightly lit sign of The Call… calling to me.
It was a Monday night and very not-​crowded, and I was immediately happy upon hearing it was request your song and music video Monday. Sitting at the bar, I was the only girl in the joint and the only one without a date or friends, but the bartender was incredibly nice and made a huge, excellent martini for me. The two guys sitting next to me had me request music videos when they couldn’t think of a song to pick and everyone there was just super friendly! I will definitely be back, especially because I hear the Monday bartender makes a mean Bloody Mary.

I’ve been to the call three times and it has yet to really make a good impression.
The mixed drinks are so weak. I can’t think of a time I’ve had such a light pour. And the bar always seems to be understaffed, because the bartender has been unable to make my drink properly on a couple ocassions. The first time, I went for a second round on my Jameson, and he said he didn’t have time to get a new bottle, so I needed to pick a different whisky. Ok, fine, I went with Makers. Except he charged me the $ 8 for a Makers drink, not the $ 7 price of a Jameson. That would have been the typical thing to do, «I’m unable/​unwilling to fulfill your request, through no fault of your own, so I’ll give you a reasonable replacement at the cost of the item you actually wanted.» Nope.
Another time, I wanted a second round of martinis, and he told me they’d be in rocks glasses because he didn’t have any more martini glasses. I said I could return mine if he liked, and he said no, he didn’t have time to wash glasses for me. I might expect this kind of thing at a dive bar, not here. This bartender seems to have no time for anything, obviously he needs some help behind the bar! To me, this all indicates that the owners are struggling to turn a profit and cutting corners wherever possible. That’s a mistake, as it effects the experience of their guests and won’t make them any more money in the end.
The décor is odd, outdated but not enough to be considered cool or retro. Just plain outdated. The mix of music is odd, the grouping of songs doesn’t seem to make any sense.
This place needs to figure it out. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the owners have no experience in this industry, as they are making all the wrong moves. I’m not excited to return.

It’s…fine.
I guess.
I have yet to find one bar in Andersonville that I love and it continues after visiting The Call.
We came after a concert on a Saturday night. We were the only ones in there. Lame.
My vodka Sprite was super weak so I changed to beer so the bartender couldn’t skimp me on my drinkin’!
Friendly enough though with a tiny dance floor and an ODD mix of music. I’m not sure what this place is.
I’m sure we’ll get dragged back in here on some other A-​ville occasion and I’ll go cause I love my friends. But damn Andersonville. No wonder your night scene blows.

I came here recently with some friends for a bachelorette party on a Sat. night. We arrived on the early side – a little after 9 – and had the place entirely to ourselves. The space is nice, but that’s about the only positive thing I can say. My friend ordered a double Jack and ginger and it cost 14.50! That’s just nuts. It would have cost less for her to buy two separate drinks.
Sat. night is the Call’s video dance party, which sounds fun in theory, but really was not. Considering the fact that we were the only people there and it was clear we were interested in dancing, you would think the DJ would be open to requests, but no. He played a steady stream of undanceable music. Whitney Houston’s «I Wanna Dance with Somebody» may be fun to sing along to, but it’s not really something you bust a move to on the dance floor.
We stayed for maybe an hour and then left to head elsewhere. I don’t think any of us will be returning here.

I stopped in here last night (Wednesday) with some friends for their showtunes. We were looking for an alternative to the usual line-​up at Sidetrack. Let me just point out that having TWO options where you can drink and watch showtunes at the same time is one of the reasons I love this city. The Call played some videos and tunes that were a little more obscure but still some of my favorites.
The bar itself is very appealing — two different bar areas, a large dance floor and plenty of space to spread out. I say plenty of space because the place was pretty much dead. There were probably 10 people there at any given time (including our group of five). This could be a plus if you’re looking for a quiet night out somewhere, but for us we were looking to sing loudly and act goofy so we felt a little uncomfortable belting out the tunes.
We were also told that the drink special was three dollars off of martinis. We ordered some cosmos and dirties and the drinks were adequately strong and tasty. But the 7.50 price tag after the special didn’t seem so special. Especially because there are many other Wednesday night bar specials elsewhere that would only charge $ 5.
I will come back to The Call sometime soon — hopefully this summer the crowds will increase so those of us who like to sing loudly will be drowned out.

What a great place. I always have a fun time there. The staff is great. Video and dance floor are a added plus. Daily Drink specials. great local hang out and party bar. Drag Factor on Mondays are Fun. Friday Retro Afterwork Videos are a fun way to get started on a great weekend.
Check out there monthly Retro Video Dance Party.

Ok, this did used to be named «Cattle Call.» I don’t feel so crazy now… for the record it’s now shortly referred to as «The Call.» It’s in the old Salvation Army building near the northern strip of Clark in Aville.
I would’ve preferred a cowboy bar… c’mon!
As in, calling all you drunk, dancing maniacs to view music videos (AWESOME) from the 90’s and more, while drinking super sweet (and fairly inexpensive) martinis in Andersonville.
Oh, and it’s a gay bar. And not the crazy bachelorette-​magnet sort that resides down in Boystown. This was a pretty chill place to grab a drink.
Shirts sort of optional.
The martinis ($ 7 with well liquor, $ 10 with Absolut) are fairly good… the watermelon (for my friend) and the peach (for me) certainly knocked me on my ass. So, there we go. Beers are about $ 4, standard. Credit cards accepted, friendly ‘tenders, and two bars. We never waited for a drink.
The dance floor: right out in the middle. Inhibitions left somewhere strewn between dinner and entrance… Brittany, En Vogue, Madonna, weird other 80’s music I am unfamiliar with, MIley Cyrus… and the list goes on. If you want to dance, here you go… ain’t no one judgin’, and NO creepy dudes to hit on the girls. They aren’t interested ladies. It’s nice!
And as long as everyone’s respectful (they all are! bartenders, patrons)…this is one great place to dance, drink and kick back or kick up, or whatever!

The bars are at opposite sides of the venue. A decent sized dance floor in the middle. Coat checks in the back behind the DJ. They have a capacity of around 200, I think, and they’re pretty strict about this. The drinks were horrible — I didn’t really like the martini. It wasn’t crisp enough for me. And then the long island iced tea… Bleh. I don’t know why I agreed to it.
I don’t think I’d come here again on my own. It’s too far and out of the way for me. But it’s an okay GLBT establishment.

You gotta love new construction. Cattle Call still has that new bar smell.
I stopped by on a Saturday afternoon for some midday drinking. This place is huge! It’s on the short stretch of Bryn Mawr between Clark and Ashland, in what used to be the Salvation Army store. Well, there’s nothing used about this bar. If you don’t believe me, the construction photos on their website offer proof. And rumor has it that once they get the licensing, they plan to open a patio and a rooftop deck.
There are two bars at opposite ends of the large room, which mirror each other. Between them is a good-​sized dance floor, which is wide and open for all your two-​steppin’ needs. I assume this is where the drag performers strut their stuff as well. That’s right kids, on Weds nights the Cattle Call Revue hits the stage, presenting shows that run the gamut from «The Best of Stage and Screen» and «Highlights of Stage and Screen» to «Fabulous Moments from Stage and Screen.» I kid because I love. And what would a country bar be without a drag show? In addition to country and drag, there are videos, videos, videos, on a plethora of screens behind the bars, as well as a big-​ass screen behind the dance floor. On Saturday, they were showing mostly 80s stuff, which was fine with me.
I didn’t see it in full swing on my one visit, but overall, it seems like a comfortable place to grab a drink and hang with friends. There’s nothing about the place that really says «country» — no Dolly Parton posters or longhorns on the wall — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The staff is fun and accommodating, though that isn’t tough when you’re the only guest. I’m looking forward to going back.

Well if you open a new bar in Andersonville I am gonna check it out. Stopped in a couple of Saturdays ago and had an enjoyable time.
Two bars for your drinking pleasure and equally nice employees made the afternoon ideal. Good music playing as well as videos. While I am not a country music fan, the music was at an appropriate level which allowed us to reasonably talk to each other.
Only open for a few weeks the place is very clean and tidy. I have heard that they do get crowded and although I have not been there late night, I have been told it is very fun.
If you have the chance have a drink with Michael the bartender… he is very cool.
You should check it out.