The Best Bars for Non-Alcoholic Cocktails in Chicago

Kumiko

Julia Momosé, chef, creative director, and now executive chef following a December 2024 appointment, runs a Japanese dining bar that collected every major industry award in 2025: Best U.S. Restaurant Bar at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, the James Beard Outstanding Bar Award, and a fourth consecutive year as Best Bar in the Midwest at No. 10 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2025. The program centers on shochu, Japanese whisky, and saké alongside spiritfrees, non-alcoholic cocktails built with equal complexity to their spirited counterparts. Kumiko operates at a level where the only meaningful comparison is to itself. It sits at No. 11 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2026.

Named by The Infatuation, Where To Go Out When You're Not Drinking, Chicago (updated Jan 2026)

Gus' Sip & Dip

Gus' Sip & Dip opened in River North in late 2024, taking its name from Gus' Good Food, which occupied the same Hubbard Street address from 1906 to 1966. The tavern-style barroom serves thirty cocktails at a single price alongside dipped sandwiches built on Wagyu top round. Beverage director Kevin Beary leads the bar, and it runs walk-in only.

Named by Chicago Food Magazine, Where to Find Your Dry January Mocktails in Chicago and Suburbs (2025)

Arbella

Named by Eater Chicago, Chicago Restaurants and Bars With Excellent Booze-Free Beverages (updated Jan 2025)

Billy Sunday

Billy Sunday is the Logan Square cocktail bar from chef Matthias Merges' Folkart group, and it bills itself as Chicago's original amaro bar. The back bar holds one of North America's largest collections of vintage fernet and amaro alongside rare scotch, bourbon and rum, and the menu runs from house classics and seasonal cocktails to drinks built on vintage spirits. Non-drinkers get a Spirit Free list, led by the verjus-based Lupine Lady, and a range of house fermented sodas.

Named by Chicago Tribune, Chicago bars see demand rise for inventive spirit-free drinks (2024)

Nobody's Darling

Nobody's Darling opened on Balmoral Avenue in Andersonville in 2021, a Black- and woman-owned, LGBTQIA+ cocktail bar run by Angela Barnes and Renauda Riddle. The menu pairs elevated classics with house cocktails such as La Isla Libre (mezcal, Amaro Nonino, papaya and pineapple), pours Black- and queer-owned spirits where it can, and keeps a Low and No Alcohol section with non-alcoholic drinks such as the Mai No Tai. It was a 2022 James Beard Award finalist for Outstanding Bar Program.

Named by Chicago Tribune, Chicago bars see demand rise for inventive spirit-free drinks (2024)

Osito's Tap

A bar in Little Village that opened in 2019, presented in a speakeasy style and named after a former mascot. The program covers craft spirits, beer and cocktails with a Latinx influence, including a curated tequila and agave selection. Food is served alongside the drinks list.

Named by Eater Chicago, Chicago Restaurants and Bars With Excellent Booze-Free Beverages (updated 2025)

Lazy Bird

The Hoxton hotel's cellar-level cocktail and music lounge holds a 2025 Spirited Awards regional honor for Best U.S. Hotel Bar, pours fifty-two signature cocktails and runs live music Thursday through Saturday. The Bird Cage, a private section with rope and stanchion, adds exclusivity to a space that already operates below street level in both location and lighting. Lazy Bird treats the hotel-bar format as a canvas for live entertainment rather than a convenience for overnight guests.

Zero-proof section on its own menu

Bar Tre Dita

Bar Tre Dita is the bar room of Tre Dita on the second floor of The St. Regis Chicago, overlooking the meeting of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Led by the chef Evan Funke, it celebrates Tuscan tradition, with its own cocktail list and an all-Italian wine program of more than seven hundred labels.

Zero-proof section on its own menu

Sparrow

Zero-proof section on its own menu

Z Bar

Z Bar is the rooftop lounge of The Peninsula Chicago, set on the hotel's sixth floor with a terrace above Michigan Avenue and views across the Chicago skyline. The bar sums itself up as Cocktails, Culture, Cuisine and draws on the world's cultural and culinary riches, embodying what it calls the jet-setter's search for surprise, adventure and a taste of luxury. The menu moves between seasonal creations and tried and true classics, backed by an extensive selection of worldly spirits, rare bottlings and small-batch bitters, with shareable bites and small plates that borrow from Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Zero-proof section on its own menu