Cork’s Lounge walks a fine line between public transit-adjacent Chicago dive bar and modern drinking lounge, exposed brick mingling with local artwork for sale across many of the bar’s walls. Some of that modernity is no doubt a result of the bar’s 2014 founding date, making Cork Lounge a young entrant to a Chicago bar scene filled with prominent dive bar elders. Regardless, Cork Lounge is a downright comfortable place to grab a beer whether the ‘dive bar’ mantle fits or not.

Though Cork Lounge opened in 2014, the building it inhabits was built in 1906 and opened as a bar of some kind post-Prohibition. The bar’s most obvious amenity is its physical attachment to the city’s Addison CTA Brown Line elevated train stop, offering the ability to minimize time spent outdoors between post-work commute and perfectly poured Guinness. The awning above the sign is decorated by local artists, the first incarnation of the awning the product of a competition won by artist Adam Richardson for the bar’s opening.

Remodeled as an “Irish speakeasy”, the Irish suggestion to the bar’s name is reflected certainly in the availability of the country’s signature beer as well as an Irish street sign mounted to the interior wall, but the drink menu veers well away from any restriction to Irish exports. Chicago dive bar staples like Old Style, Hamm’s and PBR are of course available, but so too are signature cocktails, champagne splits and even the stray Belgian beer bottle.

All of Cork Lounge’s drink offerings can be found inscribed on a massive chalkboard that sits opposite the bar, a sign that also includes a limited food menu that does shift from time to time but often includes a handful of simple pizzas and a “bowl of tots.” The space here is slender, Cork Lounge operating as a single, shotgun-style space with a more lounge-like seating area in front before transitioning into a long, mahogany bar that stretches what feels like far into the distance. A slightly more spacious pool and shuffleboard table area can be found at the rear of the bar.

As dive bar diversions go, Cork Lounge’s offerings are slightly more upscale than the usual Golden Tee and dart board with a strong set of board games available for patrons housed near one of a number of walls featuring local art for sale. Pieces range in size and valuation and show up in spurts throughout Cork Lounge as bursts of dive bar art exhibition. The art is of course worth taking in with a spin through the space, with special attention paid to a montage of photos depicting regulars on the bar’s back wall (the Miller Lite pool light is worth a glance as well).

Strong lights trace interior HVAC tubing and run the length of Cork Lounge, bouncing off of a ceiling-mounted disco ball and adding a bit of dive bar appeal to an otherwise slightly refined environment. One thing slightly less refined about the bar (this is a good thing) is the signage marking the entrance to the men’s restroom that reads, “Dicks.”