I recently had a chance to visit Chicago known as the Windy City . During my visit I stayed at the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel. This is a beautiful hotel across from Millennium Park and the Bean ! This is a great location for a first time visit to Chicago. I sort of fell in love with this hotel so I wanted to start off writing about my Chicago Hotel.

The hotel has very rich history and is beautiful inside. It used to be a men’s athletic club for the wealthy and was founded in  1890 . This video has  more details about the hotel.

It has a very famous rooftop bar. During the weekends there is a lineup for this bar, but if you are a guest you can just go up without any lineup. The rooftop has an open area/balcony with fire puts all around. From this area you can see the park, the bean , other buildings, and the water front all while sitting and sipping on a drink ! Toasted nuts and olives were free   and the bartenders are fun !  To be able to do this anytime you want without having to put on your winter cloths is definitely a perk of staying at this hotel .

The hotel also has a very famous restaurant in its premise called ‘The Cherry Circle Room’ . I had dinner here one night and the food was exquisite ! I didn’t know Brussel sprout slaw can be that tasty , and I had the best Creme Brulee in this restaurant. Again if you are a guest in this hotel getting a reservation on short notice to this restaurant is possible ! Hotel guests even get free champagne ! The service at this restaurant is one of the best I have ever experienced. Great friendly staff that provide impeccable service .

Another perk of staying at this hotel is the game room in the hotel . Because this hotel was a men’s athletic club they still maintained the same setup that existed in the game room at that time. All the games in the game room were free. This included pool, chess and many other games which I do not know the name of . This game room had a bar which had high end pub food . It had the best hot dog I have ever had ! Many bests in Chicago !! The hot dog was in a buttered bread bun with all kinds of toppings ! No ketchup though. In Chicago you are not supposed to put ketchup on hotdog. I must have ate this hot dog at least three times in my five day stay  and I don’t normally like hotdogs ! They also served great mojitos.  I would go back just for the hot dog and mojitos at this place ! I also had their fish tacos and pretzels which was not as good as the hot dog.

The hotel provided free coffee each morning in a serving area called ‘The Milk Room’. The people serving the coffee were friendly and even remembered how you liked your coffee.

The lobby of the hotel is beautifully decorated and even had a library with many old books. For someone who loves to read this was the best thing a hotel can have ! It had multiple fire places and beautiful fresh flower arrangements. One of my favorite books here was book on Van Gogh and his paintings. I spend many cold mornings sipping coffee by the fireplace while browsing  old books!

 

 

The rooms were clean, and decorated in the  same manly theme as the rest of the hotel. The rooms had great robes and slippers . I ordered room service one night- the food was okay but I had higher expectations !

This hotel had a Shake Shack in the lobby. I tried the Shroom burger. It was not good as the one I have had at Burger’s Priest in Toronto. Perhaps their hamburgers are better.

The staff at the hotel was lovely . The concierge provided recommendations for places to eat at and for things to do in Chicago. She even send up Macrons and Champagne one day. The door man, game room staff, reception staff all were friendly and helpful !

Most people in Chicago were helpful, kind and friendly !

As you can tell I loved this hotel and highly recommend it !!