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Category: Bars
Neighborhoods: Lincoln Square, RavenswoodWestern (Brown)
Mon-Fri. 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Sat. 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 a.m.
Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
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I'm presuming you like German beer... 'cause you just walked into a bar full of 'em!
The Hansa Clipper is this little divey, dark bar in Lincoln Square. When a friend suggests this spot on a weekend night, I'm almost relieved. I can perch on a bar stool and just chill... for hours!
The bartender Alen is a sweetheart and pours a nasty cocktail (in the best sense of the word). The beer is ice cold, and there's a jukebox that will probably be playing some Johnny Cash when you walk in.
Every time I come here we actually end up making friends. The patrons are mostly regulars, and will chat you up if you sit at the bar. Yes, some people still talk to strangers!
Sometime less really is more! Drinks are cheap, life is good and the night? Hope it's still young.
Hansa Clipper, you have made a few more fans. Three more, to be exact.
I wandered in around midnight with two girlfriends, intent on improving my skills around men...because, Yelp, I am hopeless. I freeze, I stammer, I forget to make eye contact. In a word, I become my HS freshman self all over again. But, Melanie V. and our resident troublemaker friend, Pok, were on the case. All we needed was a bar with a good collection of men to chat up, yummy beer, and some seats.
Since we were in the hood for some good KBBQ at Woo Chon, the ladies suggested Atlantic as a starting point. We walk in and walk right back out. Repeat performance at three other joints. But, the night was back on track when we walked into Hansa.
Men to chat with, a jukebox, a super attentive bartender rocking his cute, Croatian accent, and a $12 tab for three girls feasting the night away on Henny and coke, Stella, and Julius. Could I really ask for more?
Umm, yes, I could. The bartender? He's got moves! The man dances and well!
Hands down one of my favorite dive bars on the planet. I like my bars very dark inside and my beer in a frosty mug and I can never go wrong here. A lot of movies have been made so much better by the buzz I got here beforehand. There is usually a regular talking to the bartender and maybe another person drinking and that's it. And I love that they have a jukebox that is always already playing songs I like when I come in so I never actually have to play it myself. That means money saved for more beer. Perfection.
I've walked past this place so many times and I always hear "oldies" playing from the jukebox. I'm always on my way somewhere else or my boyfriend wants to go to Huettenbar so we never stopped. Well last month we were wandering and I suggested we go to the Clipper. We walked in and there was some rap music playing and I said to the bartender..."I always walk past and hear oldies that's the only reason i came in!" and he said, "Oh yeah, that's me!" and gave me $10 and told me to put some on. So I did. We rocked to The Four Tops, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, etc for hours. I like this place. I'll go back. :)
Interesting! Having walked by this "dive" numerous times, wifey & I gave each other that "look" this afternoon while walking by. By that "look" I DO NOT mean the I love you look, but the I want a cold beer "look!" Yes, we, or I, am a raging alcoholic:)
Nevertheless, we walked in, and were greeted by a dog. Okay, this is cool, now we sit at the bar, and the friendly German lady explained what beers they have. I went with the dark, and wifey had some lighter beer that I cannot pronounce? Shame, as I am German....I should know this stuff, right?
All in all, fun patrons, doggies running freely and frolicking, cool bartender whose BAC level was probably higher than Andy Dick in his prime, and we got to meet the infamous regular, "Hanns." Hanns didn't speak, but was graciously greeted by the other regulars. He had a confused, open mouth stare...not a retarded look, but just highly inebriated "100 mile stare" look if you get my drift.
Cool place when you're in the mood for this kind of dive bar scene...I will return!
This bar is 2.5 stars. Nothing special. Average beer selection. Go here for an average night.
Jukebox is one of those LAME only-the-one-popular-song-from-the-album ones. And the internet connection was not working.
You cannot even liven up this place with some cool tunes.
I was there on a Saturday night, looked like a mix of locals and those like me who were left wondering how and why I stopped on in.
Ah, the Hansa Clipper..........a bar that has been in Lincoln Square forever! Back in the day, they had a "Piano" in front where a guy named "Victor" would play his tunes! His name was Victor! How do i know that??? Because they had a sign in the window made out of cardboard saying "now playing...Victor" They also had a pool table! well, the Piano and Victor are gone as the pool table. I think Victor must have died by now!!!!
Our group stumbled in on our pub crawl, it was the 2nd stop of the night. I think we pretty much freaked out the bar and bartender!
She was firing out beers fine.....then out came the Jaeger Bombs...oh boy!! Poor lady, nice......and actually did pour a very nice bomb! Props to Joanne!!!!!
I have been coming to Hansa Clipper for years..........always good to pop in!! Give the neighborhood bars some love!
For most people this is a 3 star place, but I really liked the laid back feel of it. On a saturday night, the crowd was pretty mixed up. A pub crawl suddenly filled the place tight for an hour, then was gone. A nice place to hang and have a conversation and not deal with being in a sports bar, or hipster bar, or loud club, etc. They have a variety of german beers, I'm not familiar enough to comment but the bartender seemed knowledgeable and offered to let me try some samples before I ordered something. I'm not sure I'd ever be a regular but it's a great place to drop in on. To put it another way, it's not a cool bar, but eventually you find cool bars a little annoying.
I'm not sure how this bar could possibly be "scary". It's a bar with german beers and some german beer signs. If that's scary, maybe a TGIF or Shoney's would be more your speed. They are all over the burbs, can't miss em...
the clipper is slooooowly redeeming itself from the horrible night mentioned below.
i haven't seen the offending bartender since, and usually whoever is behind the bar is friendly if nothing else.
a week ago i would have given the clipper a hearty 4 stars, but not now. not after last night's… Read more »
We've walked by this little German bar numerous times but didn't stop in until last night.
Our experience was ok - didn't completely dig it but we both enjoyed the large open windows that we sat by and could watch people. They didn't have an extensive beer list but they had the typical German-esque beers - Steigl, Spaten and Warsteiner, 1/2 liter was $5.50. The bartender wasn't very personable.
On Fridays and Saturdays they have live music which was tolerable except when a group of girls were singing louder than the musician ... and when he attempted to reinterpret Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here". No. No. No.
I would've given the bar 3 stars - it was ok, our experience was neither bad nor good but after hearing that the bar celebrates Hitler's birthday I dropped it to two because I'm quite turned off by that idea. We did not witness any of the Neo-Nazis that other reviewers reported (yikes!) and my boyfriend was treated in the same gruff and unpleasant manner as everyone else.
I think the roll-over pop up thing-y here on Yelp best describes how I feel about this place: "Yay! I'm a fan." Even though I'm far from a regular, they always remember me and my girls and refill our beers on the bar when we're in the loo. Love the Clipper! I've been in here with all sorts of folks and never got an attitude or even sideways glance. Never been anything but friendly and good (drunken) vibes when I go in here!
Less crowded and more authentic than the Hutenbar, I love to come here on off nights and drink and get rowdy with three other friends and randoms in the bar.
The one thing I've noticed that can't really be called a complaint is that in a place like this, a digital jukebox is an anachronism...but once the beer flows one hardly notices.
Good strong solid 4 stars. Fun dive bar, fun patrons, an old fellow by the name of Hann's called my friend an "oriental" but we liked him so much, and he was drunk, that we didn't even get mad/ offended/ whatever she is oriental,,, The other patrons we really friendly and helped us pick out a place to have steak. I liked this place a lot... plus they had puppies running around and that was great. Beer and dogs. What more could I have wanted?
Ooh the Clip. This place is a really good time.
Gary the bartender during the week is super nice - like having your Dad serving you a beer. He had us taste every beer on tap before we ordered something we liked. They have a full bar, but why go to a German beer bar and order a fancy shot. They also have these table side beer tap things - a tube about two feet high and about 5 inches in diameter with a tap - for about 20 bucks. I will order one the next time I go to the Clip with some friends.
Anyway, there are no neo-nazis at the Clipper. Maybe there used to be or something, but its just usually just a couple of old guys or people from the neighborhood.
I would recommend the Clip for a couple of beers during the week. A low key place with delicious German beer. Its great if you want to avoid the yuppy traffic at the other German bars in Lincoln Square.
This is a lovely little bar in Lincoln Square. If you walk by during the day, you'll see the regular crowd- usually older (maybe German?) men...at night, however, it turns into a very cool, fun bar with a great crowd (probably 30-40 somethings).
They recently started having live music, which is fun. Great beer on tap!
4 stars, but with a qualification....I *heart* dive bars, and this is a nice, unpretentious, wood-paneled, slightly dirty place... though you might not find the usual dive stuff (pot smokers in the bathroom, old men sleeping in their barstools, etc). Cheap alcohol, no frills, fine service. Also one of the few places this far north that has Sox games on the TV in the summer.
Not so great... the diviest and least appealing bar on the strip. Good German beer, pool, and an ok jukebox, but you won't catch me hanging here regularly. I've been here twice. If you want a livelier crowd, cross the street and go to Ricochet's. This place only stays in business because the family owns the building.
I'm rewriting this review because Carola's seems to be trying really hard lately. I see they've got a sign up encouraging people to bring their dogs. I can't hate on that. I really want to like this bar since I live right next to it and it's family owned and unpretentious...however they really need to up the friendliness next time.
I love this place. Yeah, the regulars might glare at you when you come in the door and yeah, it seems a little sparse in their, but the people aren't that bad and can actually be fun to talk to. They have great beers on tap. It's probably my favorite bar in the Lincoln Square strip, but I guess that's not saying much considering the competition.
It's probably the way the Huettenbar was 5 years ago.
Also, Nick L. said he went to play pool, but I've never seen a pool table in there....
Kinda scary in there. And we weren't even in there with any of the neo-Nazi dinks that frequent the place. If you want to hang out with some old Euros and hear 'em spin a yarn, there's plenty of better places to go.
Good place for a beer before or after a movie at the Davis. Be forewarned: this is a real neighborhood bar, with lots of real characters, and that includes the bartenders! And cold German beer served in large frosted mugs.
I don't really understand why this place has a rep for being a Nazi bar. I've never seen a swastika flag up in here. If this is realy true, I won't come back here. Great place to spend a winter afternoon getting drunk, playing pool, and watching the snow. One of the few real German bars left in the rapidly deracinating Lincoln Square (no Huettenbar, you don't count!). Staff was real freindly as well. Beer prices are, unfortunately, kind of high.
not the worst thing in the world...but pretty bad. i'm not opposed to wood paneling...but even drunk this place doesn't top the list. definitely at its best after the october or may fests, when you're already three pints in. wondering where the hell the mere idea of a coat check entered the picture on this one...price range: cheap. alcohol: sure.
2 for 1
Chicago, IL
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Neighborhood: Lakeview
Neighborhood: Lincoln Square
Category: Pubs
Neighborhood: Lincoln Square
Category: Pubs
Neighborhood: Lincoln Square
Category: Dive Bars
Neighborhood: Lincoln Square
Category: Lounges
Neighborhood: North Center
Category: Restaurants
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