Three Dots and a Dash
19 Sept 2023
This was my 2nd visit. Everyone raves about this bar but I gotta say I've found it a disappointment.
The entrance is in an alley and then you have to go down a stairway to get to the bar. So far so good. Turn the corner into the bar and it's pretty dark. Still good. The decor is good but not great. Just a bunch of bamboo and a few tikis, with appropriate lighting. The music is just all wrong. Modern electro crap.
I sat at the bar. The bartenders are friendly and very competent. They just don't have a good menu to work with. Their drink menu isn't very long, and is mostly just strange takes on classic tiki drinks. For instance, I ordered a 2044 Mai Tai. Overproof Jamaican Rum, 55 degree Martinique Rhum Agricole Blanc, Brazilian Cachaca, Yellow Chartreuse, lime, and orgeat. Sounds like it might be an interesting take on the Mai Tai. Unfortunately it really is not at all reminiscent of a Mai Tai. Way too sweet, and the Cachaca just ruins it.
I hate to be so critical, but both visits were big disappointments. It just isn't a very "Tiki" experience.
Photo Gallery
Tiki Bar
Three Dots and a Dash
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Opened in August 2013.
Three Dots and a Dash was the creation of star bartender Paul McGee, in partnership with Lettuce Entertain You, a Chicago area restaurant group. The bar is named for the classic Don the Beachcomber drink, itself a WWII call for victory using the Morse code for "V." The focus at Three Dots and a Dash is on cocktails, but it also delivers on the special Polynesian Pop details we've come to expect... most notably on the beautifully detailed souvenir mugs. There is a small menu of food, including a flaming Pu-Pu Platter.
In November 2014, Paul McGee left Three Dots and a Dash, and in January 2015 opened Lost Lake (However, Lost Lake is closed since January 2022).
The Three Dots and a Dash space is divided up into several sections, including The Bamboo Room (an exclusive 22-seat bar-within-a-bar opened in 2019). Led by Beverage Director Kevin Beary, The Bamboo Room was recognized as one of Esquire’s “Best Bars in America” in 2022. An ode to rum and rhum agricoles, the menu is composed of refined and focused rum drinks presented across multiple cocktail styles. Separate menu shown below...