20 Best Restaurants for Lunar New Year Dinner in Chicago

Cindy's sits on the 13th floor of the Chicago Athletic Association on Michigan Avenue, and group dinners here are served family style. That matters for Lunar New Year, where passing dishes around the table is the whole point. The seasonal Midwestern menu comes from Boka Restaurant Group, and the team will build custom cocktails and wine pairings if you ask.

The Library is the move for a reunion dinner. It seats 30, has a brick fireplace and an Andy Warhol portrait on the wall, and adding the South Terrace bumps you to 55. A full buyout seats 80 family style or holds 150 standing. All ages are welcome, which makes this one of the few rooftops on this list that works for a multigenerational family dinner.

Regular reservations cap at 10, so anything bigger goes through the events team. Expect a minimum spend that shifts by day and time, a three-hour booking window, and menus locked 10 business days out. Valet at 71 E. Madison is validated for event guests.

Parlay is not where you take your grandmother for a reunion dinner. It is where the friends' celebration happens after. The first floor of Joy District holds up to 200 standing or 80 seated, with 100-inch TVs, a 200-inch projection screen and garage-door windows opening onto the street.

Groups of 15 or more can add a two or three hour wristband package covering well drinks, domestic beer and seltzers, which keeps a big tab simple. The kitchen does bar food and pizzas, and weekend nights bring DJs. Parties over 8 go through a request, there is a minimum spend per session, and the venue is 21+ with a dress code. Heads up on the cake fee if you bring one in.

Lunar New Year lands in winter, and LH Rooftop planned for that. The 22nd-floor terrace runs heated private igloos in the cold months, each holding up to six guests, which is a fun way to seat a small family group above the Chicago River. For bigger parties, the main terrace takes receptions up to 250 and Rooftop North takes 40.

The best room for a private dinner is the Cupola on the 23rd floor: 15 guests, 360-degree city views, fully private. Hotel catering builds custom menus and actually handles allergies and dietary needs, so a table mixing vegetarians, kids' plates and picky uncles is fine here. Igloos need a reservation and carry a food and beverage minimum, dress code is smart casual, and the hotel has valet.

A casual Lunar New Year gathering with coworkers or friends fits well here. Crushed By Giants brews its beer on site in Streeterville, you enter at Rush and Ohio and ride an escalator up, and the bar faces the serving tanks. The dining room seats 50 beside the bar, and a full buyout of the second floor takes 117.

The food is shareable pub stuff: pretzels with beer cheese, Reuben egg rolls, wings, smash burgers. Flights of house beer, cider and non-alcoholic options cover the table. One real constraint: the kitchen closes an hour before the bar, so schedule dinner early and let the drinking carry the rest of the night. American Express is not accepted.

If you want the closest thing to a true banquet hall outside Chinatown, this is it. Untitled is an underground 1920s supper club in River North with 18,000 square feet and four rooms that combine or book alone. The Whiskey Library seats 48, the Drawing Room 75, the Cabaret seats 100 with a stage, and a full buyout takes 800. For a large lunar new year venue in Chicago with built-in entertainment, nothing else on this list scales like this.

Group menus are shareable comfort food, handmade pastas, steaks and a raw bar, with Prohibition-style cocktails, spirit-free options and over 550 American whiskeys. Live music and performers can be built into the night, which works for a party that should feel like an occasion.

Every booking carries a food and beverage minimum, with a signed contract and deposit to hold the date. The venue is 21+ with a dress code, so this is the friends-and-colleagues version of the holiday, not the family one. A parking garage sits directly above.

Rose Lounge is the pick for a small, dressed-up family dinner. The speakeasy behind a secret door inside Adalina books as one fully private room with no through traffic, and it can be set with boardroom tables seating up to 24. For a cocktail-style gathering it holds 40.

Food comes from Adalina's Italian kitchen, drinks come from the lounge's own cocktail list, and a PA system means you control the music all night. A minimum spend applies, a bartender fee kicks in if you want a staffed full bar, and outside catering and BYO are not allowed. The entrance is step-free, which helps with older relatives, and paid parking is nearby in the Gold Coast.

Spanish tapas and a Lunar New Year reunion dinner share the same logic: everything hits the middle of the table and everyone shares. Boqueria's family-style seated menus and self-serve tapas displays with paella make a natural fit for the holiday, and a giant paella add-on gives the table a centerpiece.

Three semi-private rooms range from 20 seated in the Northwest Dining Room to 60 seated in the curtained East Dining Room. A half buyout takes 70 seated, and a full buyout is the private option at 135 seated or 250 standing. The East and Northwest rooms get floor to ceiling windows onto Fulton Market.

A dedicated coordinator sets the menu and bar package, which runs wine, beer and sangria up to premium cocktails, plus a non-alcoholic tier. Menus are due a week out, two weeks for 60-plus guests, and spaces are priced for two hours of service, so plan the timeline tight.

Here is a detail that matters for this holiday: River Roast carves whole roasted fish at the table. A whole fish is one of the classic Lunar New Year dishes, symbolizing abundance, and this riverfront spot at LaSalle Street does it as its signature, alongside whole roasted chicken and slow roasted beef, all made for sharing.

The range of rooms is huge. The Commerce Room seats 16, the Moray Room 24, the Monarch Room seats 130, the Murdoch Room 240, and a buyout of the complete property holds 1200. Group dining in the restaurant for up to 24 runs on a pre-set family-style menu with roasts hand-carved tableside, which is probably the easiest booking on this whole list for a mid-size family.

Many event packages require at least 25 guests, fees fold in tax, service and gratuity, and valet runs up to three hours at the northeast corner of the LaSalle Street bridge.

The Kerryman gives a big group room to spread out across three tiers, with a mezzanine balcony over the main bar and a VIP stage area. For a loose, drop-in style Lunar New Year gathering where cousins and coworkers come and go all night, that layout beats a single locked room.

Party food runs by the dozen or by the platter: wings, sliders, Irish sausage rolls, warm pretzels with cheese, mini cheesecakes. Each appetizer needs a minimum order of two dozen. The kitchen closes at 10pm sharp, but the bar pours until 2am, 3am on Saturdays, so eat early and stay late. Planning goes through the pub's managers, and valet is available nearby.

Green Door has been pouring since 1921 in a wooden building that went up in 1872, and the room shows it: warm wood, vintage signs, 1920s bar fixtures and a classic photo booth in the back. For a holiday that is all about honoring the past, an old-school room has its own kind of logic.

Parties run 20 to 200 with food and drink packages, and the events team can arrange custom catering menus, A/V and live entertainment. The kitchen does burgers, chili and Chicago-style poutine, and the bar has an Old Fashioned on tap and a long whiskey list. It sits two blocks from the Brown Line at Chicago and Wells, fully wheelchair accessible, smart-casual dress code.

ERIS is the neighborhood pick if your family is on the Northwest Side. The women-owned brewpub in Old Irving Park brews beer and cider inside a restored 1910 Masonic temple, and event food can be served family style or as a plated coursed meal from a scratch kitchen with real vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free dishes. A table with mixed diets gets fed properly here.

The semi-private Brew Deck takes 30, the Mezzanine 60, and a full buyout of Main Dining seats 168 or holds 250 standing, with room for a dance floor and your own playlist on the speakers. Private planning starts at 25 guests, a signed contract and deposit hold the date, and final headcount is due 10 days out. It sits near the Irving Park Blue Line and Metra stops, so out-of-town family can get there without a car.

Lazy Bird is where the night goes after dinner. The low-lit lounge on the cellar level of The Hoxton pours 52 cocktails and puts live bands on stage Thursday through Saturday, jazz to rock to soul. Book dinner elsewhere in Fulton Market, then move the party downstairs.

The Bird Nest holds 40 with its own private bar and views of the band. The Bird Cage takes 30 behind a rope and stanchion, and a full buyout fits 100 for a reception. Smaller crews can grab the Red Couch for 10. Boka's events team plans it all. Card payments only, a surcharge lands on every check, and the Morgan Green and Pink Line stop is a short walk.

Lunar New Year is loud. Firecrackers, lion dances, a full table talking over each other. Federales matches that energy. The house ritual is a round of tequila shots in glasses made of ice, thrown at a bell outside, which is about as close to setting off firecrackers as a Chicago bar gets.

Seven spaces run small to huge: the 12-seat Cerveza Mesa on the patio, the Graffiti Bar for 80, the Tequila Bell Lounge seating 75, a 150-seat patio under a retractable roof, and a full buyout for 330. Tacos with slow-smoked meats and frozen margaritas feed the crowd. Pricing comes on request, and walk-ins are rough on busy nights, so reserve your area.

Here is the sleeper pick on this list. Sparrow has no kitchen, and groups can bring in outside food or catering when it is agreed during booking. That means you can order dumplings, noodles and a whole fish from your favorite Chinese spot and host the party in a candlelit 1927 Art Deco lobby bar on Elm Street. No other venue here lets you do that.

The Front Lounge takes 20, the Semi Private Lounge 35 with its own server, and a full buyout gives you the whole bar for 130, where the back lounge can turn into a dance floor and you control the music. Drinks are rum-focused classics with spirit-free options. All guests must be 21+, buyouts are paid in full three days out, and deposits are refundable up to 30 days before.

LUXBAR's second floor is built for the cocktails-then-dinner flow. The Bar Room has its own bar and seats up to 30, the Fireplace Room seats up to 80, and the two rooms adjoin, so guests mingle on one side and sit down on the other. Glass doors open onto a balcony over State and Bellevue.

This is a Gibsons Restaurant Group spot, so the food is classic all-American cooking and the bar leans whiskey and bourbon. The rooms carry black marble, oak floors and zebra wood walls, dressy without being stiff. The private events team walks you through the format, there is a virtual tour of both rooms online, and valet runs in front of Gibsons.

Black Barrel is a solid mid-size option in the West Loop. The private room takes parties seated or standing, and a complete buyout holds 150, with 110 reception style or 85 seated banquet style. A group menu, on-site catering and a choice of cash bar or open bar keep planning simple.

The scratch kitchen does updated Americana, the bar pours craft beer and a signature cocktail list, and TVs show Chicago games over a red-lit bar. On-site A/V, Wi-Fi and ADA access are listed, and the bar stays open until 2am on weeknights and 3am Saturdays, so a Lunar New Year party here does not have to end at a reasonable hour.

After is the high-end cocktail option. The Fulton Street bar sits next door to Chef Curtis Duffy's Ever, the drinks come from the Mr Lyan Studio team, and the small plates come from Duffy himself. Event menus pair his food with cocktails, spirits and wines, which makes this a strong pick for a small, serious celebration.

The B-Side is a private room for 8 seated or 15 standing, with vintage music videos playing and more than 200 vinyl records on the shelves. The Sound Booth seats 8 by a fireplace with walnut paneling. Full and partial buyouts seat 50 or host 100 for a reception. Each space carries a food and beverage minimum, final counts and dietary needs are due a week out, and a parking garage in the building opens onto Ada Street.

Streeter's is the chaos option, in a good way. The basement bar in Streeterville holds up to 450, stays open until 4am, 5am Saturdays, and packs in pool tables, cup pong, giant Jenga, foosball and darts. Games are a real Lunar New Year tradition in plenty of families, even if the tradition usually involves mahjong instead of foosball.

Events run reception style or as seated meals, with beverage packages and customized food packages set by the Lodge Management Group events team. Private rooms exist but are not published, so sizes get worked out when you plan. The bar is card only, a cover kicks in after midnight on weekends, and the Red Line Chicago stop is close.

The Loft at Jefferson Tap is one of the most self-contained party rooms on this list. The second floor of this 19th-century timber loft building in the Fulton River District has its own entrance, its own bar and its own restrooms. Your party never touches the main bar crowd downstairs. It seats 70 and holds 150 standing.

Food runs as buffets and appetizer stations, pizza to Italian to brunch, with two or three hour beverage packages up to a luxury tier. Six TVs, a drop-down projector and an AUX hookup make it easy to run a slideshow of family photos or a playlist. Book a tech check 24 hours ahead if you plan to use any of it, and note that rates rise on some holidays.

Butch McGuire's has been family owned on Division Street since 1961, and it handles everything between a table of 6 mixed in with the bar crowd and a full buyout for 235. For cocktail parties with passed appetizers, groups run 25 to 235, with drink packages customized and the kitchen building a menu for each event.

Good news for Lunar New Year planners: the bar skips private bookings in December and on St. Patrick's Day, but late January and February are wide open, and the team says it replies to inquiries within the hour. Guests must be 21+ after 8pm, so book an afternoon or early evening slot if kids are coming. It is one block east of the Clark/Division Red Line stop, with validated parking at the Claridge House on Dearborn.

Lock in your date early. Lunar New Year weekends fill fast, minimums climb on prime nights, and most of these venues want menus and headcounts set a week or two ahead. Search and book Chicago venues for your Lunar New Year dinner on Litty.