Every list of suburban rooftop bars names the same three places: Santo Cielo in Naperville, RH in Oak Brook, Chez Paul in Arlington Heights. There are at least twenty-two.
The catch is that only six work in January, and five of those are confirmed: they get there by enclosing themselves in glass, panels, or a heated wrap. The sixth, in La Grange, has a louvered roof that adapts instead of closing. Its winter case is the venue's own "regardless of the forecast" promise, not a posted schedule — as close to open air in January as the suburbs get, on their word.
Below is what we could verify in July 2026, organized by where you are. Where a venue publishes its own hours we've used those. Where it doesn't, we say so instead of copying an aggregator that may be two years stale.
On this page: The West Suburbs · La Grange and Oak Park · Evanston and Skokie · Arlington Heights, Palatine and Rosemont · The South and Southwest · Which Ones Work in January · Closed, Renamed, or Never a Rooftop at All · Before You Go
The West Suburbs
Santo Cielo, Naperville
123 Water St, Suite 509 · 5th floor · closed Monday
The nicest room on this list, and the one people mean when they say the suburbs have a rooftop scene.
Every other guide gets two details wrong here. Dinner starts at 5 p.m., not 4 — the bar opens at 4, which is a different thing when you've made a reservation. And it's open Sunday: dinner 5–9, brunch from 10:30. Bar runs to 11:30 Friday and Saturday.
It's also not really open-air. Three window panels retract about two-thirds of the way, which leaves you in a railed room with the weather nearby. Their hours sit under a heading that says "Spring & Summer Hours," so assume they change in the fall.
RH Rooftop, Oak Brook
1300 22nd St · top of the RH gallery · year-round
A skylit atrium with retractable glass walls, chandeliers and olive trees, on top of a furniture gallery. Year-round — RH said so when it opened in 2021 — and the most expensive thing here by a wide margin.
Hours are Mon–Thu 11–9, Fri 11–10, Sat 10–10, Sun 10–9, sourced from OpenTable because rh.com blocked us on every attempt.
Empire Burgers + Brew, Naperville
48 W Chicago Ave · retractable roof
Empire Burgers + Brew runs a rooftop over the ground-floor dining room, open in winter because the roof closes. Their marketing claims the only retractable roofs in the area; that isn't true — The Elm in La Grange has a louvered one — but the roof is real and the burgers are fine.
No published rooftop hours on their own site, so call rather than trust what Google tells you.
Empire Burgers + Brew, Lombard
94 Yorktown Mall Dr · retractable roof · opened 2024
Same roof, 10,000-plus square feet. It is a rooftop bar at a shopping mall, and the view is the mall. Included because in February you will not care.
Sogno Ristorante, Wheaton
100 N Hale, 2nd floor · Tue–Thu 4–9, Fri–Sat 4–10, Sun 3–8
Their own site calls it a new rooftop with views over downtown Wheaton. Aggregators add a flower-filled pergola and year-round service. Sogno's site says neither, so we're not printing them as fact.
Frankie's Blue Room, Naperville
16 W Chicago Ave · deck hours unpublished
Frankie's Blue Room has a rooftop deck where the roof is the stage — their own description leads with the live bands, not the view. Go for live music, not for conversation.
La Grange and Oak Park
Two of the only winterized rooftops in the suburbs are here.
The Elm, La Grange
23 W Harris Ave · louvered roof, year-round · closed Monday
Upper-level terrace with its own bar and a motorized louvered roof whose slats pivot shut when it rains. The best of the year-round group for feeling outside.
It's also about a three-minute walk from the La Grange Road BNSF stop — one of the few places here you can reach without driving home afterward. Tue–Thu 11:30–9, Fri–Sat 11:30–11, Sun 11:30–8.
fourteensixteen, La Grange
14 W Calendar Ave · rooftop named "La Grange Skyline" · dinner daily from 4
The rooftop has its own name, "La Grange Skyline," and dinner runs daily from 4, with the bar open at least an hour past the kitchen.
We previously said their site describes the space as enclosed and heated in cold months. As of August 17, 2026 that wording is not on their site anywhere, and neither is the seat count we used to print. Treat the winter question as unanswered until they answer it.
One Lake Brewing, Oak Park
1 Lake St · 3rd-floor deck · seasonal
One Lake Brewing is a three-story brewpub in a converted 1920s bank, with a two-story chandelier made of beer bottles inside. The deck has its own bar and servers in peak months.
"As weather permits" in practice means don't plan around it in October. Wed 4–9, Thu–Fri 4–10, Sat 11–10, Sun 11–8.
Avenue Ale House, Oak Park
825 S Oak Park Ave · summer–autumn · max party of ten
The party cap is a polite way of saying no bachelorette parties.
One caution and one all-clear. The live site is avealehouse.com now — the old domain redirects to a for-sale page. And as of July 31 the site says "ROOFTOP IS OPEN!" — reservations recommended, parties of ten max — while still carrying its off-season closure boilerplate a scroll below, so trust the banner, not the fine print.
Evanston and Skokie
Five & Dime, Evanston
1026 Davis St · seasonal · Mon–Sat 11:30–10, Sun 11:30–9
Five & Dime is an open-air deck above the Taco Diablo / LuLu's group, and the most relaxed option on this list. There is giant-format Jenga.
They announce the season themselves — the summer banner reads "RooFtop Season is finally here." Their site never states which floor the deck is on, so neither will we.
Comida Cantina, Evanston
1928 Central St · seasonal · ten tables on Resy, ten-seat walk-up bar
The useful detail about Comida Cantina: if the reservations are gone, the first-come bar still isn't. We couldn't get their hours to load.
Vybz Rooftop, Evanston
711 W Howard St · no website, no published hours
Above Good to Go Jamaican, confirmed on the City of Evanston's own visitor site. It's the Evanston rooftop that isn't downtown — it's on the literal city line, above a jerk restaurant. We've seen claims about heaters and covered pods and couldn't verify them.
The Hampton Rooftop, Skokie
Old Orchard · 2nd floor, 7,500 sq ft · verify by phone
The Hampton Rooftop is a twenty-seat bar under a pergola, per 2023 trade press — and that's the problem. The company's site blocks us, the address appears two different ways in two directories, and a Yelp listing marked closed sits next to an active one. Phone before you drive to a mall.
Arlington Heights, Palatine and Rosemont
Chez Paul, Arlington Heights
519 W Algonquin Rd · 6th floor · closed Sun–Mon
The newest of the three that get listed everywhere; the village approved the 3,670-square-foot lounge in July 2025.
The hours have changed and most guides haven't caught up: Tuesday is now open, 5–10, with Wed–Thu 5–10 and Fri–Sat 5 to midnight. Their own site advises calling the hotel first because the rooftop may be booked for a private event — good advice, and the most useful thing on the page. The hotel's homepage still lists the rooftop as "coming soon," so the site contradicts itself. Trust the phone.
Arlington Ale House, Arlington Heights
111 W Campbell St · 3rd floor · Thu 6 p.m.–1 a.m., Fri–Sat 6 p.m.–2 a.m.
Ten thousand square feet on top of the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, reached by the lobby elevators, with no street signage. A rooftop bar you have to already know exists. Closed Sunday through Wednesday, and their site doesn't discuss the patio. Don't phone to ask: they say outright that the line isn't monitored and email is the fastest way to reach them. They also don't take table reservations, they're 21 and over, they scan every ID, and vertical licenses are refused at the door.
Durty Nellie's, Palatine
180 N Smith St · 2nd floor · seasonal
Durty Nellie's has a rooftop patio next to an indoor mezzanine with its own bar, up to 200 people. Mon 3–11, Tue 3–12, Wed–Thu 11–1, Fri–Sat 11–2, Sun 11–8.
Their event copy calls it the northwest suburbs' only rooftop. Chez Paul and Arlington Ale House are both about fifteen minutes away.
Adobe Gila's, Rosemont
5455 Park Pl · covered 2nd-floor deck
Adobe Gila's own page says it straight: Adobe Gila's own page opens with "the party's always on the second floor," because the entire restaurant is up there. The deck is the default, not the upgrade. The signature drink is 64 ounces. No hours on their own site, and the "open year round" line comes from tourism marketing, not the venue.
If a fourth one ever opens out there, the weekly newsletter that covers those towns will say so before its first summer is over.
The South and Southwest
Thin on the ground, and the best story on the list is here.
Rooftop Johnny's, Palos Heights
12231 S Harlem Ave · burgers $10–16 · open through summer
This was Rooftop Tap until neighbors filed enough noise complaints to become a problem. Retired firefighter John Cordellette took it over in November 2025, renamed it, and told a reporter he wasn't going to have live music up there because it's not going to be loud. Rooftop Johnny's site now advertises live music on weekends.
Cheapest option on this list. Their site gives two different opening times in the header and footer, so treat both as approximate.
Durbin's Harmony Square, Tinley Park
17327 Oak Park Ave
Durbin's built its rooftop bar specifically so you can watch the free concerts on the Harmony Square stage below. Confirmed by three Village of Tinley Park sources — while the operator's own website never mentions the rooftop, which tells you who's maintaining what.
Embers Tap House, Lockport
933 S State St · Tue–Thu 11–11, Fri 11–2, Sat 10 a.m.–2 a.m., Sun 10–11 · closed Mondays
Embers Tap House has a deck overlooking the I&M Canal, the 1848 waterway that made Chicago into Chicago, in the restored Volz Building — empty for eight years after a fire.
Two cautions, one sentence each: the venue's wording leans toward private events, so confirm walk-in access, and don't confuse the roof with the third-floor 933 Speakeasy, which is indoors.
Homewood Brewing Company, Homewood
18225 Dixie Hwy · call first
Homewood Brewing Company puts a rooftop patio on a two-story brewpub, with a mural, ping pong and a photo booth. Co-owned by Carmela Wallace, Juice WRLD's mother, and connected to the Live Free 999 Foundation.
Every rooftop claim we found is third-party — the brewery's own site doesn't mention it on any page. If you're brewery-shopping generally, the taprooms guide covers more of them.
Which Ones Work in January
Six, and you should know what you're getting:
- RH Oak Brook — glass atrium with retractable walls. Whether the separate outdoor terrace stays open in winter, we couldn't confirm.
- Santo Cielo — open all year, but with the panels up it's a glass room, not a rooftop.
- Empire Naperville and Empire Lombard — retractable roofs, and the venues' own promise is year-round: "no matter what Mother Nature throws at us."
- The Elm, La Grange — the louvered roof adapts rather than closes, and the venue promises events "regardless of the forecast." It publishes no explicit winter hours language, so treat open-air January as likely, not guaranteed.
- fourteensixteen, La Grange — we can no longer source the enclosed-and-heated claim to their site; ask before you count on it in January.
Everything else is seasonal or unverified, and Chez Paul publishes no seasonal language at all — it's an open sixth-floor terrace, so if you're reading this in November, call first.
One calendar outlier: the Joliet Area Historical Museum runs a Rooftop Summer Music Series on the museum's own roof at 204 N Ottawa St, ticketed from $14, full bar, May 15 to September 18. Not a bar you can walk into, but it is a rooftop with a drink in your hand.
Takeaway: the nearest thing to open air in January is La Grange's louvered roof — by the venue's description, not a posted winter schedule. Otherwise February means Oak Brook, and accepting that you're indoors.
Closed, Renamed, or Never a Rooftop at All
Several of these still appear on lists.
- Sky Bar at Park Tavern, Rosemont — closed January 2024 after twelve years. Fat Rosie's holds the address now, with an upstairs balcony it never calls a rooftop. The deck outlived the bar it was built for.
- Smylie Brothers Brewing, Evanston — closed December 31, 2022.
- Il Poggiolo, Hinsdale — appears closed. Despite a name that means "the balcony," we found no evidence it ever had a rooftop.
- The Prospect, Mount Prospect — open-air second floor with its own bar, but it's an upstairs terrace, not a roof deck. Good either way. Just not what you searched.
- 933 Speakeasy, Lockport and The Loft, Frankfort — upper floors, enclosed.
- Le Colonial, Lake Forest and Ninety7Fifty, Orland Park — private-event and residents-only, respectively.
Before You Go
Almost nobody publishes rooftop-specific hours. The hours above are the venue's overall hours, and the roof frequently closes earlier, opens later, or shuts for a private party or a forecast. The five we'd call first: Chez Paul, the Hampton Rooftop, Embers, Homewood and Avenue Ale House.
Coverage is thin in Aurora, St. Charles, Elgin and the Fox Valley — we found nothing confirmable there, which isn't the same as nothing existing.
The suburbs have more rooftops than the three that get listed, and fewer good ones than twenty-two suggests.
This guide is part of The Remote Worker's Suburban Starter Pack.