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Layover guideChicago · ORD · MDW

Eating near the crew hotels in Chicago

Alcohol sales stop at 2am, or 3am on Saturday night, unless a bar has a late-hour licence, and food and drink in three zones, both airports included, carry an extra 1% tax.

Sakibnb / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
All of Chicago

City law stops alcohol sales between 2:00 and 7:00 a.m. Monday to Saturday and between 3:00 and 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, so Saturday night runs an hour later.

A bar with a late-hour licence can keep selling until 4:00 a.m. Monday to Saturday and 5:00 a.m. on Sunday. Outdoor patios stop serving at 11 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and at midnight on Friday and Saturday nights.

The city taxes every place for eating at 0.5% of the selling price of its food and drink, and a restaurant may charge it to you as a separate line.

A further 1% Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority tax applies to prepared food, alcohol and soft drinks sold in three parts of Chicago: an area around O'Hare, the Midway area between 55th and 63rd Streets and Central and Cicero Avenues, and the lakefront from just north of Diversey Avenue to the Stevenson Expressway and west to Ashland Avenue, Navy Pier included.

The Illinois Department of Revenue's tax rate finder shows whether a given address is inside a zone.

  1. City of Chicago Municipal Code 4-60-130: Hours of operation (liquor licences) · checked 2026-09-28
  2. City of Chicago Municipal Code 3-30-030: Restaurant tax imposed · checked 2026-09-28
  3. Illinois Department of Revenue: MPEA Food and Beverage Tax · checked 2026-09-28

The rest of Chicago

The whole guide
Getting out of the airportThe Blue Line runs 24 hours to downtown in about 40 minutes, and a day pass costs the same as one fare out of the airport.Ride-hailingCards work in every taxi, so you do not need cash before leaving the terminal.Local laws that catch crew outCannabis is legal to buy in Illinois and will still end your career if you carry it back to the airport.Staying connectedWi-Fi is free and unlimited throughout O'Hare and Midway, before and after security, once you watch an ad.WeatherJanuary averages a high of 31.6F and a low of 18.8F with 11.3 inches of snow, and a uniform coat is not enough kit.What to buyThe shelf price is never the price you pay, and there is no visitor refund scheme to claim the tax back.TippingA tip here is wage, not a bonus, and a service charge on the bill is not a tip.