Bottom Lounge

• resultPass w/ Conditions
• critical violations0
• last inspectedNovember 5, 2025
• address1369-1375 W Lake St, Chicago 60607

Is Bottom Lounge clean?

Bottom Lounge is currently Pass w/ Conditions from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on November 5, 2025. No critical violations were recorded at that visit. On Cooked's ladder that reads mid 😬.

What did inspectors find at Bottom Lounge?

These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on November 5, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.

• 🧪toxic chemicals mishandled
  Compliance With Variance/Specialized Process/Haccp • OBSERVED A VACUUM PACKAGING MACHINE IN THE FOOD PREP AREA AND VACUUM PACKAGED TCS FOODS (CHICKEN) IN THE FREEZER WITHOUT A CDPH APPROVED HACCP PLAN. MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTED NOT TO USE THE MACHINE UNTIL A HACCP PLAN HAS BEEN APPROVED BY CDPH. PRIORITY FOUNDATION VIOLATION 7-38-005. CITATION ISSUED.
• ⚠️Variance Obtained For Specialized Processing Methods • OBSERVED A VACUUM PACKAGING MACHINE IN THE FOOD PREP AREA AND VACUUM PACKAGED TCS FOODS (CHICKEN) IN THE FREEZER WITHOUT A CDPH APPROVED HACCP PLAN. MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTED NOT TO USE THE MACHINE UNTIL A HACCP PLAN HAS BEEN APPROVED BY CDPH. PRIORITY FOUNDATION VIOLATION 7-38-005. SEE VIOLATION #29 ABOVE FOR CITATION.
  Variance Obtained For Specialized Processing Methods • OBSERVED A VACUUM PACKAGING MACHINE IN THE FOOD PREP AREA AND VACUUM PACKAGED TCS FOODS (CHICKEN) IN THE FREEZER WITHOUT A CDPH APPROVED HACCP PLAN. MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTED NOT TO USE THE MACHINE UNTIL A HACCP PLAN HAS BEEN APPROVED BY CDPH. PRIORITY FOUNDATION VIOLATION 7-38-005. SEE VIOLATION #29 ABOVE FOR CITATION.
• 🚿plumbing acting up
  Non-Food/Food Contact Surfaces Clean • CLEAN THE SODA GUN NOZZLES AND FLUSH OUT THE DRAINS AT ALL BARS.
• ⚠️All Food Employees Have Food Handler Training • OBSERVED A FOOD HANDLING EMPLOYEE WITHOUT A VALID FOOD HANDLER TRAINING CERTIFICATE. MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTED THAT ALL FOOD HANDLING EMPLOYEES MUST SHOW VALID PROOF OF FOOD HANDLER TRAINING.
  All Food Employees Have Food Handler Training • OBSERVED A FOOD HANDLING EMPLOYEE WITHOUT A VALID FOOD HANDLER TRAINING CERTIFICATE. MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTED THAT ALL FOOD HANDLING EMPLOYEES MUST SHOW VALID PROOF OF FOOD HANDLER TRAINING.

When was Bottom Lounge last inspected?

Bottom Lounge has 20 inspections on record going back to September 8, 2011. The 12 most recent are shown below.

Bottom Lounge vs Near West Side

Near West Side runs 72% clean across 2,033 tracked restaurants — 1,463 clean, 406 mid, 151 cooked.

Against the 2,033 spots Cooked tracks in Near West Side, this one comes out cleaner than 19% of them.

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How Chicago grades restaurants

Chicago does not use letter grades. Every inspection ends in one of three official results: Pass, Pass with Conditions, or Fail. Pass with Conditions means violations were found but corrected on the spot or under a deadline — the restaurant is open, with homework. A Fail means serious violations went uncorrected, and it usually brings a re-inspection within days. Chicago also flags “priority” violations, the ones most likely to actually make someone sick. Cooked reads Pass as clean, Pass with Conditions as mid, and Fail as cooked, and shows the itemized violations behind each result.

Source: Chicago Department of Public Health via Chicago Data Portal. Cooked refreshes this data daily — this listing's most recent inspection is dated November 5, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.