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Mother's Ruin

DrinkAvondale · American Community-sourced, unverified
📍 2943 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Mother's Ruin started in New York in 2011 as a mash-up of your favorite local bar and a proper cocktail spot, added Nashville second, and opened this Avondale outpost on Milwaukee Avenue in 2022 (Austin followed in 2025).

$$

Its motto is 'Be Well. Feel Well. Tip Well. Farewell,' and the Chicago bar lives up to it: laid-back, come-as-you-are, no reservations and no table service — you order everything at the bar.

The drinks have the jokiest names in the neighborhood and the chops to back them up: a rotating slushy du jour, a pickle-brine gin cocktail called Jagged Little Dill, the Missionary Impossible with rye, Aperol and an IPA float, and a Nip Van Winkle built on Jim Beam Black and amaro. The real draw, though, is that happy hour runs 4 to 7pm every single day of the year: $7 Bee's Knees, daiquiris, espresso martinis and old fashioneds, a $5 Tecate-and-a-shot, $5 spicy chicken or falafel sliders, and $10 plates like harissa cauliflower, green chile queso and a mushroom melt. Brunch runs daily from 11am to 3pm (brunch corndogs and a breakfast-sandwich 'McMother's' are the highlights), and the all-day menu — including the Old Bay waffle fries with caramelized onion dip — goes until 1:30am, or 2:30am on Saturdays. It opens at 11am every day and stays open until 2am, 3am on Saturday.

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Specials at Mother's Ruin

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Hours

Mon-Fri11AM-2AM
Sat11AM-3AM
Sun11AM-2AM
🥡 Takeout unconfirmed

Amenities & accessibility

❔Takeout: unverified
❔Wheelchair access: unverified

Location

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