Cardinal stores have many different locations. Selection of alcoholic beverages is huge. Whenever I go there I find something good and unique. I find exactly what I need to spend a night with my friends. Also, it is easy to find something good when you are late to a birthday party and did not buy any present yet. It is a last minute gift store  for me that is open late.
Review Source:Cardinal BAR is great, if you are looking a fancy martini bar GET UP AND WALK AWAY! I love this place, they sponsored our softball team last year and treated us like gold, (Uncle) Bob is one of the funniest SOBs you'll ever find behind a bar. Good place to watch the Hawks game seeing that Bobs a hockey nut, great daily deals and free popcorn.
Angel bartends from time to time and he's a good time too, everyone in the joint can take a joke! This is one of my favorite neighborhood dive bars, but I hate calling it that because I don't want to take anything away from it but it a well-kept secret (YUPPIE FREE) when you walk in the make you feel like a regular after 10 minutes. But if you ask for a bomb or something that requires a garnish Bob will let you know that you might be in the wrong place "No appleteenies here mam"
As for the liquor store, they have a good selection of liquors, some craft beers including some of my favorite Czech beer. Check it out and say whats up to "affordable bob!"
BOBS KNOWS BAR TENDING
Great selection for your everyday craft brews with good customer service and friendly folks, but this is unfortunately overshadowed by the fleecing that the establishment has begun to undergo whenever a rare craft brew hits their inventory.
Example: Release of Goose Island Bourbon County Bramble Rye Stout the first week of February 2012. Binny's sold the bottles for this release at $12.99/bottle, which was the MSRP from Goose Island. This same bottle was selling for $29.99/bottle here. (231% over MSRP) Other similar liquor stores in the area (including Armanetti's and a smaller liquor store near the Diversey Brown Line station) sold their bottles of Bramble Rye for under $20.
I have only been here a handful of times over the course of the past couple years, but if I am in the area to pick up supplies I will make sure to avoid contributing to such an opportunistic establishment, and instead settle on the numerous competitors found close to this location.
I love this place. I opened up a business on the same block back in May 2011 and we stock up here all the time for business and pleasure. The staff is fantastic, they have a great selection of booze and mixers, and they always help me carry the enormous amount of alcohol I've purchased to my car. I wish they had a frequent buyer card!
Haven't frequented the flourescent-lit bar that is attached, but that's...okay.
The selection of both wine and beer makes this store an essential stop before any housewarming, game day, or backyard bbq event. I love any shop where I can pick up foreign wines or more than two different types of hard cider. The prices are reasonable too. Â Aside from being attached to a liquor store, why is everyone so damn excited about the Cardinal dive bar? If you've never come here, I wouldn't stop in for the bar half!
Review Source:Great store, great selection, and the best part- there's a bar attached! Â I like the store a lot. Â Its right on my way home from work and makes for a great stop off before hitting my Lincoln Square apartment. Â They have a good selection of beer and micro-brews as well. Â I'll definitely be stopping here in the future.
Review Source:A liquor store & a bar in one? what? yes! You heard me, you can go shopping for your booze AND have a drink under the same roof.
Bob might be one of the funnest bartenders I've ever come across. You know you've found a great bar when the bartender is going to bust your chops, take pics with you, and buy you a drink (or two)...
p.s., the place ain't pretty, but it's a damn good dive! Christine approved!
We are so lucky to have this mecca of booze and fun a few doors down!! Always helpful and the greatest selection around! Whether you're belly up at the bar or taking your poison to go, the cast of characters could not be friendlier! Happy to call this place our Cheers!! Pam is THE BEST!! Who's Bob? :-)
Review Source:We live a few blocks from here and love this place!
Best prices around, great beer selection, anything from a nice bottle of wine at low prices to a cheap wine for even less than normal. Some hard-to-find micro-brews mixed in amount rock-bottom-price big-name beers.
Friendly staff, and great place to grab a quickie drink in the bar in front. And can you say p-a-r-k-i-n-g?
Note: Not for the snobby at heart. What you won't find here: Romantic setting at the bar, or that Binny's beverage "I'm at a mall" feel.
What you will find: A treasure trove of beers and wines (oh and liquors!) at the best prices around the hood, open late, with a place to park for those big pre-party errands.
Great local beer/wine/liquor joint, reasonable prices for the area and some great specials. Â Labatt Blue 12 pack bottles are always only $7.99!
As for the bar, Jason's review is spot on. Â Bob is a hockey guy and even tolerates Red Wings fans like myself. Â
Very cheap specials (look on chalk board via liquor store entrance) and just a very mellow easy going place. Â Only time it seems to get a little busier is when the bowling alley closes across the street but other than that there's always a table or seat at the bar to be had.
This is my favorite liquor store in my hood. Jewel is still slightly cheaper when it comes to vodka and such, but Cardinal has a fantastic beer selection and great specials. Try and stock up when they have the Sam's or Goose 12-packs for 10.99. Can't shake a stick at that! Also, there's a bar attached, that I've never been to, but I heard it's...a bar.
Review Source:This review is for the bar. Great place for locals to catch a Hawks game. Bob the bartender is a hockey nut and a jam up guy. Not a yuppie bar by any means, this statement is supported by a convo with Bob and a non local patron:
Patron: Can I have a Cherry Bomb?
Bob: What's in it?
Patron: Cherry Vodka, Red Bu....
Bob: You're not from around here are ya?
Drinks are reasonable and its a basic beer and shot joint. Here's a tip, if you get a draft beer keep your glass because Bob hates washing glasses. If this bothers you, go elsewhere or stick to bottles. This is my kind of place, despite the quirks I've always felt welcome here. For most folks who read this, I'm guessing they'll never step foot in here. But whoever likes a good dive bar will truly appreciate this place.
Cardinal is my neighborhood liquor store. On top of the convenience, the staff is very friendly and they have a pretty wide and varied selection of wine considering their size. Their beer selection is also pretty good.
They run monthly specials which are usually pretty good, though their prices are already extremely reasonable.
I haven't spent any time in the bar, so I can't comment on that, but I highly recommend the liquor store.
Cardinal is a great place for beer, liquor or wine. They have a wide selection of everything. I personally like their whiskey section. So many whiskeys to choose from. But I know I'll always get Powers Irish Whiskey, my favorite. This whiskey can be hard to find a conventional liquor stores and I am so glad they always have it in stock just for me. Customer service is always great. The gentlemen working there will always grab a cold pack of beer if you can't find one already chilled and are great behind the counter as well. Cardinal's bar is also great. Great drinks and beer, for really cheap, served by very friendly bartenders. Cardinal is great liquor store/bar, has Powers Whiskey and great prices and has some of the nicest employees/bartenders around.
Review Source:I've never been to the bar, but the liquor store part of Cardinal Wine & Spirit is great. Â I'm a beer fan, and I consistently find brews for seventy-five cents to a buck-fifty cheaper than other stores in the area. Â
Selection could be better, but the prices are right and the staff is friendly.
I usually go to one of the liquor stores across from the Western L stop, because they're a little bit closer to where I lived for years. Now, I live two blocks farther away, but I fully intend on going to the Cardinal more frequently. It's cheaper than the other places, with a better selection of everyone (liquor, beer, wine). I especially like their vodka section. They have one kind that comes in a bottle shaped like an AK-47 (I want that, just for the bottle but I'm sure I'd like the booze too), and recently started selling an organic vodka made from organic sugarcane that is AMAAAAAAAZING. I mean awful. It's horrible, the worst vodka ever, worse than UV. Don't buy it there, buy the other kinds. No, it's actually the best vodka I've probably ever had (I usually drink Gordon's or Fleishmann's though), I just don't want other people buying it all.
Review Source:Long story short (to quote bar patron Steve) this is the place to go for cheap beer. The store has very competitive prices and the bar is far cheaper than the other bars in Lincoln Square (at least the ones I've been to). The reviews below are all accurate, so I won't repeat those details, although I do want to say that both the staff and patrons were very friendly to us newbies.
If you are a sports fan and are looking for a bar where you can actually hear the TV, and not obnoxiously loud music and people, this is the place to go. But they don't have food -- this is purely a drinking establishment.
What a great idea. Â Bar and a liquor store all in one. Â And the prices are great. Â $2 shock tops. Â TV's. Â And yeah some of the people are regulars and older, but sit down and talk to them, you can learn a lot about shit you never even realized. Â
It's like a clean dive bar that has plenty of lighting. Â Honestly, if I lived in the area, I'd be here every night.
This place is flat out awesome!
We went here to kill time before our reservation was ready at another restaurant. Â Bob the bartender figured out it was my birthday and bought me a bottle of wine from the liquor store side of things. Â How nice!
The bar itself is nothing to get excited about, just a local watering hole, really clean and remarkably well lit for a bar, a few video games (Buck Hunter, Golden Tee, etc.). Â But the owner is super nice, they have the games on, they had a good selection and enough kitsch to make you chuckle. Â Where else am I going to get skinny cans of La Batt's beer? :-)
I would totally go back to this place on a random Friday night and hang out with Bob and watch the game. Â He made definite future customers with our group last night!
I've got mixed feelings about this place. Â They've got a moderately good selection of craft beer and wine. Most of the prices are fair or a little better. Â Occasionally they'll have amazing sales, and that's when Cardinal becomes something special. I once got a 12-Pack of Goose Island for $10, a sixer of Red Hook for $3, and a 30-pack of PBR for $11. Â The problem is that sometimes the advertised sale prices will suddenly change when you get to the register.
Its not the best liquor store in the city, but a discerning shopper can score some good deals on occasion.
This review will be in two movements, followed by a coda that may have no relation to the rest of the Yelp.
Cardinal Wine and Spirit is actually a liquor store attached to a bar. Â It's a little bit of alcohol overload.
The liquor store side of things was noticeably better lit than usual and remarkably hobo free. Â Good selections of the hard stuff and beer and it looked like they had a ton of wine but I hardly ever buy wine away from TJ's. Â
The bar side has an almost uncanny townie feel with a couple of over 40 watching sports alone with a friend. Â Girls showing up here without some dudes of their own will probably feel pretty creeped out by the leering. Â But the specials here are AMAZING. Â $6 domestic pitchers on Thursdays included 312 which is pretty unmatched in town. Â Other nights have their own deals going, but Thursday might be the best of them. Â The bartenders are also reported to be quite friendly and one is a secret old man nerd.
Screw Flanders.
My wife and I went to this place on a hunch. I'm from Louisville, Ky and I figured a place with Cardinal in the name has to be great. It was indeed an omen.
My wife and I go here all the time for both the liquor store and the bar. The  liquor store is fine. The prices are fair and it has a very good selection. However, the main reason we go is to spend some time in our neighborhood bar with our favorite bartender.
Bob is more of a friend than a bartender. For us, Bob is the Cardinal Inn and his kindness and warmth fill the place a lot more than the sparse decorations and overly bright lighting. The prices are terrific and although the place doesn't have 50 beers on tap, it does have a decent selection served by people who care about the people there. I highly recommend Cardinal Inn. It is great for people who are new to the neighborhood or people looking for a bar where they can feel right at home.
Great selection, great prices, helpful and friendly staff, clean and not full of skeevy people-- I love my neighborhood party store! Â (Yes, I'm from Michigan.) Â Plus, they carry Redbridge for the celiacs. Â Jewel is preferred for cheapness, but a sixer of Labatt's for $6 is a pretty swell deal! Â One of these days I've got to belly up to the bar for a cold one. ;)
Review Source:I have nothing terribly new to say about the place, but I just realized I'd forgotten to include it here as one of my long time favorites. I've been a customer here for about eight years. I like the choice of single bottled Czeck, Croatian, and Lithuanian lagers. The variety is less than it used to  be but still a fun way to try different Eastern Europeans brews, mostly Pilsener-esque. And as far as other beers go, there is always great variety and always great prices. The hard liquor here is a good value, too. Very friendly and helpful staff.
I love the tap room, too, which is a unique Chicago thing. Always festive, friendly, and full of neighbors with names like Marty and Stell. Not a bad Saturday afternoon hang, either. No attitude. Some patrons who kind of yell instead of talk. What's up with THAT!?
This is my neighborhood liquor store/bar.I love this place! The selection of wines from all around the world is great. This place doubles as a bar and a liquor store! Can it get any better?!?!
The people who work here are warm and inviting. It's like a "Cheers" sort of feel where everyone knows your name and each others. There is a good mixture of ages of customers and the drinks are really cheap!!!
I like this place. Â They have a good selection, and no one looks at you weird for going there twice in one night or purchasing alcohol before 9 a.m. (Uhm...not that I've done those things or anything...yeah...)
I'm a little sad they don't have "Just Desserts" brand liquor anymore. Â This was pretty much the only place in the tri-state area that sells it, but it was like a tease. Â They never brought it back. Â
Still, I've had some great wines from here and the employees are helpful and cool. Â
I'm not sure about the adjacent bar, though. Â I walked through it once, and the scent reminded me of the cleaning products we used to use to clean the dog grooming shop where i used to work. Â I may be a little oversensitive in the olfactory realm, but dog grooming and bar just don't go together in my nose or head.
Ah, my neighborhood liquor store. Â When I am in need of booze, and can't make it to TJ's for my two buck chuck cases, I hit this place up. Â They have an eclectic array of wine. Â I am not sure what else to call it. Â It's all over the place. Â Random bottles placed on the shelves sort of grouped by the locations of the vineyards, but not really. Â All I really care about is the fact that I know exactly where the Barefoot chardonnay is located. Â Wham-bam, I grab my three bottles and I am out of the door in under five minutes. Â
One star off for the fact that they do not carry Fetzer wines. Â It's a pretty cheap wine, $9.99 for a bottle of chardonnay, so I was disappointed. Â But not surprised, given the slightly manic array of wines offered.
The bar attached to the liquor store is long overdue for some praise. Â Simple and kinda divey, the bartender here makes up for it with his super friendly demeanor. Â I think his name is Bob. Â He also brings in home-cooked food that is amazing (tacos, wings, italian beef, etc) and he's especially passionate about the patrons enjoying his eats. Â I never thought I would enjoy drinking there as much as I did.
Review Source:This might be my favorite bar/liquor store. Â Did you read that it's a bar and it's a liquor store. Â A one stop shop for all your boozing needs. Â This place is no frills, just the way a proper drinking establishment should be. Â My friends and I watched the amazing Celtics comeback while pouring back $6 pitchers. Â Then, without having to leave the building we were able to pick up a case for home. Â I want to live there. Â Seriously.
Review Source:Its my last ditch when in need of spirits(not wine). Â Aisles and stock are too crowded which results in the cashier watching as you make your way around. Â Their usual pricing is too high and the crappy beers seem to always be on sale. Â
Every time I happen here, I meet a strange person or a person in a strange situation.
Last time: Â exotic dancers in need of direction and the misguided guy (that was collecting money on Western and Lincoln) who said the money was for food. I guess he lost his way also.
For my 100th review I pick... Cardinal? Â What can I say, I stopped in here yesterday.
These guys have a decent selection of Italian and inexpensive California wines, with an emphasis on Romanian and other european wines (catering to the neighborhood I imagine). Â Some gaps, sure, but you should able to find something to meet your needs. They also have a huge old-school wooden beer refrigerator packed with a nice combo of cheap stuff, European beers, and microbrews. Â The folks that work here are real personable-like too, which makes up for the stale-beer-and-smoke stench wafting over from the bar area.
LOVE my Cardinal! Â Such a fantastic selection of beer and wine, and prices that can't be beat! plus, and you wouldn't expect it here, the service is wonderful. Â Cardinal's beer-buyer is a genius. Â Every time I go in (which is at least once/week) there is a new brew to try, and the employees always know what to recommend.
Cardinal is a reason to live in Lincoln Square, it is that good!
Cardinal is the best liquor store in the neighborhood when it comes to sheer variety of booze.  They have a solid selection of beer, wine, liquors like vodka and jaeger, scotch, gin  and whiskey.  The selection isn't as varied as say Binny's, however they have most of the basic staples when it comes to alcohol consumption.  The prices are very reasonable and the staff are helpful when it comes to trying to figure out what kind of wine you want to try.
Review Source:
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