Let me start off by saying this place smelled like a port-o-potty. I only stayed because my friend wanted to sing karaoke. She knew one of the bartenders, too. He hooked us up, yet wasn't the greatest bartender either. Nothing special about this place at all. The crowd was pretty dull, except for the zombie crew that stopped by, which was interesting to say the least. THe Dj was just a girl with speakers and a laptop... The crowd reminded me of high school kids getting drunk in someone's basement....
I don't plan on coming back. It's just not my scene.
Zambonies is just another bar on the Madison strip of Irish bars. It was also on the pub craw list. After getting lost trying to find this place and ended up on what resembled Cabrini Green I was glad when I arrived at my destination.
The place was packed due to it being St. Patty's day and all the pub crawlers crawling around. The music was super quiet and it was St. Patrick's day. How are we supposed to have fun with out music?! lol ;) They had pizza but I didn't try any...waa waa. The bartenders were very attentive and made sure they kept the drinks flowing.
It is quite a large place and I read that there is a space dedicated to dancers, but yea, it didn't seem like the type of place that you could just get up and dance at. I'm sure after a few pitchers you could, but a sober person wouldn't dare. If they did though, kudos. ;)
It's rather spacious inside Zambonie's. One thing I noticed right away were a couple small tables sitting right in the middle of a rather large area. I wanted to think that this space was supposed to be a dance floor but this really didn't seem like a place where people were supposed to dance. The karaoke set up was on the side wall. Strangely enough, there wasn't a separate monitor for the singers. There was just one single screen for everyone to look off of. You couldn't really hear the singers or the music that well either... no matter where you stood really. The few arcade games could serve as nice little distractions along with the numerous TVs around the joint.
The bar itself was pretty long so no worries about not getting a seat. One problem was actually getting a drink though. Things immediately felt off when they didn't have any Dos XX despite having a big neon Dos XX sign on the main window. My second drink took quite a while to get because the bartenders didn't really check the entire bar. I had to mozy on down to the crowded area and flag a bartender down myself. I was standing in my original spot for a while and no one asked me if I wanted anything. Drinks were reasonably priced and mixed drinks were pretty strong though. Kudos to that I guess.
I've actually been back in a few times since my last review the new management looooooved. The problem is that each time I've been in it's been a dead night on Madison in general - most recently  the night after Halloween when there were 4 people in there including the bartender. I'm holding it at 3 stars just because the real experience happens when it's busy. But that said, it does look nice, and it is good to see the liquor shelves actually have liquor on them again.
Review Source:Saturday night on Madison Street is where I found myself this past Saturday. My friend and I ended up at Zambonies from Doc Ryans and man this place was a real disappointment. The annoying loud no singing skills were singing along to Karaoke. It was very annoying. Then to use the bathroom you can see the gentleman using the restroom are you serious? The layout is very poor in this bar. The dj also stunk they need to find a better dj. Then the bartenders have really bad attitudes. HELLO ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE TIPS? The drinks are very very very over priced. For that price I can go Downtown.
Review Source:Bar 6
Just when I thought it was over... the sound of howling dogs, oh wait, it was people singing karaoke.
I walked in only to have a water and then leave. But I can tell you that they are majorly space challenged, as are most of the bars in this hood. Large rectangular room with the bar covering more then half the way, a small stage for the karaokers, some small tables, and a few games. What I really couldn't understand about Zambonie's is that if you wanted to use the washroom you have to first dodge the darts gamers and then suck up any phobia of peeing in front of people because then freaking men's bathroom doesn't have a door (seriously everybody in the bar can see you doing your business)!! Yep time to go...
All I have to say is I wish my buddy Daniel all the luck with his soon to be wife and you owe me one. No, shit I still owe you don't I... dam it!! Enjoy it all and I'll see you when you come back!!
I have sat on reviewing this place for a while, so that I wouldn't make any regrettable statements. Â I may have been looking for something else when I went here, but I still did not like it for what it is.
From the outside, it looked like a pizza pub. Â It is not, it is a bar that happens to have pizza. Â The tables are small bar tables, and the mens room has no door on it and you can look straight into it from the front of the bar. Â There is also no seat on the toilet, for all that's worth. Â
The pizza was some of the worst I've had.  Even ignoring that I asked for only  1/2 gardiniere and they put heaps on all of it.  It was pretty close  to straight gardiniere.  Staff seemed ok enough but it took them 15minutes to bring the check after walking up there to hand the credit card directly to them.
The clientele was all about big hair and too much makeup. Â Not what you'd expect to close to Chicago.
So if you want a real dive, check it out. Â not really my thing though.
Zambonie's is the kind of place I've ended up at around 2:15 am, but it's still enjoyable.
After eating at Healy's on my birthday, we walked down the block for one thing only: kareoke. My friends, who came in from all over the area (northside, southside, sw burbs, nw brubs) loved it.
There's also darts in the back, and one group was playing flippy cup. The majority of the partons are under 30, and it's pretty chill in there.
I'd highly recommend this place since it's close to the Forest Park blue line terminal, there's plenty of parking, and it's right off I290, thus making it very accessible if you had company arriving from all corners of the Chicago area.
On a recent Wintery evening, I found myself wandering along Madison Street in Forest Park looking for a little fun. We came upon Zambonies and pushed open the door.
Simple place- almost of dive bar proportions. Long bar, a variety of bar games (darts, shuffleboard) and a jukebox that was just waiting for some inspiration.
We came with but one thought between us- BAR DARTS! So we waited until the people who were playing were done and then proceeded to take over the bar dart area for the next few hours.
My funny observation? The men's room had no door on it and was located right by where I was playing darts so everytime I went to pull my darts out- I got a view of more than what I was bargaining for- but that's the beauty of a bar like this.
A DJ came on around 9 spinning tunes that were not recognizable to our group but it still didn't ruin our fun! Word has it there is also karaoke at this place but it must not be on Friday's as there was no sign of it on our visit.
Lots of bars to choose from along this stretch of Madison- but for cheap drinks and BAR DARTS- you ought to wander into Zambonies. C'mon- I'll play you a game!
Probably one my favorites for Madison street. It's not AS filled with the frat-boy meat heads as Doc Ryan's or Murphy's (although now that they have a beer pong table, it has gotten a little worse). It has karaoke 3 nights a week if you're into that, which again scares away a lot of the college a-holes looking to pick fights.
The owners are always around and friendly and nice... they'll actually talk to you and once in awhile will offer a drink on the house (which I NEVER see on Madison Street)... did I mention they are huge Blackhawk fans.
The only downside is their TVs. It's not the place to go to watch a big game, but then again, it's not their thing I guess.
It seems the further away you get from Doc Ryan's, the better the bar and crowd.
I like Zambonie's a lot. And I happen to like the Karaoke. Everyone is really open and friendly about the singing (especially the old guy who is ALWAYS there and ALWAYS sings that song by James Blunt) unlike a lot of other Karaoke venues I have been to (where people can get rude or one group of people sings all the freaking songs).
The drink specials are pretty good and its in a decent location (if you like hanging out on Madison street). Its on the corner so people usually meet each other and chat while smoking outside. Its a dive but super fun and laidback which = a good night in my book.
I had been driving by Zambonie's forever and enjoyed its name (though, according to <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.com&s=e5ca71fd202348a76a5ddf65093f0d223eef84d0404c547ec933169b573a1d6c" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://dictionary.com</a>, it is properly spelled "zamboni" not "zambonie"). Â
I finally convinced a friend to go there with my one Thursday night after work....and was HORRIFIED to find live Karaoke!!! Â It was like a waking nightmare...made several times worse by the inexplicably heavy emphasis on country music. Â I guess karaoke people are also Rascal Flatts people. Â Go figure.
Aside from that, the food was okay as far as bar food goes. Â I recall the pizza as being pretty good. Â The mozzarella sticks were edible, but weirdly served with ice cold marinara sauce which I find pretty gross. Â
My only other objection was the barmaid (is that PC?) who insisted on calling me "hon." Â I hate that.
We went on another night, sans karaoke, and it was a reasonably enjoyable experience.
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