At Justin's you can eat, drink and be merry and with a $50 gift certificate to spend there, you will be even merrier! 

ABOUT: Established in October of 1984, right after the Cubs blew it to the Padres, Justin’s was the blueprint for what would become a very popular style of Chicago watering hole. Known for its ability to pull any type of sporting event from the airwaves to any of the many TV’s, the stellar grub, and what is possibly the best beer garden in the city of Chicago.

Southport Avenue was not the bustling sidewalk strewn scene which it is now. Back then it was not an uncommon sight at Justin’s for Julia Louis-Dreyfus to front a band, or for Buddy Guy to walk out into the intersection of Southport and Roscoe wailing on his guitar (with an incredibly long cord trailing from inside the bar), or local sports writers hiding in the back room while covering a game via satellite (and pocketing their per diem), or a former NFL head coach hiding in the party rooms watching his old team (hoping a 5th time to the Super Bowl would be the charm), or for a married Chicago celebrity to be romancing someone other than his wife.

It was when single individuals or families owned bars, before groups of twenty guys would get together and open as many places as possible as quickly as possible. Irish bars were really owned by Irish guys and the St. Patrick’s Day parade was really held on St. Patrick’s Day. It was before Miller pissed me off.

Over the past years some things at Justin’s have changed. They got rid of the blenders behind the bar, the little 4-seat hut that was the beer garden bar turned into a 15-seat full-service deelio with mucho flat screens. Bud Hudson and the Hornets don’t come around anymore. Those juke boxes at the tables don’t work since the world went to mp3s, same goes for the VCR and all the great sports tapes they had. The Trib asked Justin's to quit selling the Gil Thorpe t-shirts, the ceiling went from green to gold, and you can’t smoke.

And some things are the same. You can still see any game you want, anytime. The food is still really good, and the prices are even better. The private party rooms still rock, and they still DON’T sell Miller.