Fireside Restaurant And Lounge

This Ravenswood spot is appropriately named because of the large, roaring fireplace in the dining room, which is useful when defrosting becomes a part of everyone’s daily routine in the winter. It also has lots of things that make it a fun place to hang—a good rotating line-up of beers on tap, patios both in the front and back, a decent number of TVs, and even some darts. The food isn’t great—mainly things like sandwiches, burgers, and fried appetizers that function best as a buffer for the drinks that everyone is consuming. But it’s all generally inoffensive enough that when you’re sharing a round of drinks with a solid group of friends, you won’t really care too much that your burger might be a little too charred.