As alcohol use declines among young adults, Chicago bars and restaurants are leaning into “Love Island USA” watch parties and themed nights—turning weeknights into events that keep seats filled, menus moving, and small businesses afloat.
By 8 p.m. inside Parlay Lincoln Park, the volume wasn’t just from the TVs—it was from the crowd. Screams, laughter, and frequent groans spilled through the sports bar as people, mostly millennials and younger, packed in for a particularly raunchy episode of “Love Island USA.”
At one point, a contestant said, “I’m sorry, Mom and Dad, please just skip past [this] part,” and the reaction was immediate. The moment felt less like background entertainment than a shared ritual, the kind that makes people stay even when the workweek is still hanging over them.
Peacock’s dating reality TV series, based on the British show “Love Island,” skyrocketed in popularity three years ago. The American version kicked off its eighth season in June and streams six days a week. The show’s momentum has spilled far beyond living rooms: more and more Chicago bars and restaurants are hosting watch parties. themed nights. and trivia as they look for ways to draw in a loyal. young fan base—especially on weekdays when bars often struggle.
More than a dozen spots in Chicago advertise weekly watch parties for “Love Island USA.” Some sell tickets. Winnie’s Chicago in Old Town sold out its $16 “Love Island” watch party tickets for June 2 and June 9, according to its online Eventbrite listing.
In Hermosa, Tacotlan hosts “Love Island USA” watch parties twice a week at its restaurant, 4312 W. Fullerton Ave.
Some venues have started testing other reality shows earlier this summer, including Bravo TV’s “Summer House.” But the “Love Island” approach is landing because it feels designed for a crowd that wants more than a regular happy hour.
“Happy hour is dead,” Sarai Marban, 24, said on Thursday at a “Love Island USA” watch party at Tacotlan in Hermosa. “ [Drinking] is too expensive,” her friend Tatiana Solis, 27, added. “I’d rather just come to space like this, where I know it’s BYOB and then support local businesses. And I know the food is going to be fire.”.
That shift is playing out more broadly. A Gallup poll found the percentage of adults who drink alcohol is 54%, the lowest since it began tracking Americans’ drinking behavior nearly 90 years ago. And the 2025 report found young adults have cut back even more, falling from 59% in 2023 to now 50%.
“This puts their drinking rate below that of middle-aged and older adults, although fewer in those groups are also claiming to drink than did so two years ago,” the report said.
Gallup said much of the decline can be attributed to health concerns. Those surveyed said they’ve cut back because of the physical and mental health ramifications of drinking alcohol. In turn, the pullback has helped fuel the growth of sober bars and mocktails, especially in Chicago.
At Parlay. the “Love Island” theme isn’t just a banner on the TV screen—it’s built into the menu. The sports bar advertises an $18 “girl dinner” of Caesar salad and fries. $12 bottomless fries. and a cocktail menu that includes a Bombshell Margarita for $12 and a Soul Ties Spritz for $14. A $5 Red Flag shot rounds out its Love Island exclusive menu.
On Tuesday night at Parlay, every seat in the large multiroom bar was taken. Customers screamed and yelled for nearly the entirety of the hour-long episode.
Servers moved through tables holding plates and cocktails from the Love Island-themed menu while some guests also ordered from the regular menu. Isabel Sikora, seated in the middle of the energy, said she was used to a much quieter routine.
“I’m usually at home in my pajamas, playing the Sims,” Isabel Sikora said. “We normally don’t do things like this.”
By 9:30 p.m.—about a half hour after the episode finished—one table of four women in their early 20s had racked up a $272 bill. The order included seven cocktails and a mix of items: meals off Parlay’s regular menu, two pizzas and wings, plus four orders of bottomless fries.
The women said they paid about $68 each—money that wouldn’t have been spent if not for the watch party.
“I only drink really when it’s an experience,” Emily Maldonado said. “I feel like businesses are more so moving towards the experience routes — bar crawls, watch parties, girl dinners — really kind of catering to having an experience as a memory.”
Across the room, Suzanna Odusote and Laila Crawley ordered specialty cocktails, bottomless fries, and a chicken sandwich. Crawley and Odusote—both 21-year-olds in Chicago for a summer internship—said a traditional happy hour wouldn’t have encouraged them to spend as much.
“I feel like us being here for a while makes us buy food,” Crawley said.
For Karina Leyva, 23, the appeal starts with more than the show itself. She said part of the draw is watching together, with other people, which turns the episode into something closer to community.
Leyva and her friends started college in 2020, when the pandemic temporarily curbed social activities. With Gen Z now entering their late 20s—its oldest nearing 30—she said the idea of doing something as a community still matters, even if it means meeting strangers in a packed bar.
“I also feel like if we can’t be in the [Love Island] villa, we might as well have each other,” Leyva said.
The push isn’t limited to Chicago’s sports bars. Duffy’s, a classic sports bar at 420 W. Diversey Parkway. began advertising Tuesday evening “Love Island” watch parties this year and created a special menu with bottles of wine at half off. There’s also the viral “girl dinner” menu of a Caesar salad, fries, and a martini for $20.
Olivia Milani, a 24-year-old bartender at Duffy’s, said she helped spearhead the watch party. She described why she and her boss wanted to bring the show to a room that had been dominated by sports.
“[Duffy’s] is just a lot of sports. It’s a lot of guys in here. and me and my boss are both big Love Island fans. ” Milani said. “We were talking about how we would love to have a Love Island night to bring the girlies in here. have a more broad range of crowd and just switch it up from just sports. sports. sports.”.
Business has picked up enough on Tuesdays that Duffy’s added another server each week. Milani said she typically handles the bar by herself.
“We’re always trying to get more people in the door,” she said. “A lot of people come in and they have, like, one or two drinks, and you want them to drink more — within reason.”
On Thursday, the show’s draw was visible far from the bar counters at Tacotlan. Dozens of people gathered in the back patio at the bring-your-own-bottle restaurant known for its quesabirrias. Three televisions were set up around an island-themed bar, and about 40 people sat enraptured.
Tacotlan hosts Love Island watch parties twice a week and gives priority to the dating show fans over those hoping to watch the World Cup, co-owner Jessica Perjes said.
“When we came up with the idea of hosting Love Island in our back patio. I think it was more so not only because we wanted to be fun and exciting again for that crowd … but also because it’s been very difficult for small businesses,” Perjes said. “And I don’t think it’s just mine. I think it’s for other restaurants as well. And so this is like. ‘What else can we do to get people in the community excited and come together and have fun?’”.
Perjes owns the restaurant with her father, Everado Macias. The family business opened in 2018, with Perjes’ husband and sister, Alexandra Macias, also on staff.
Perjes said the pandemic was a decent time for the business, but in recent years it has had to raise prices. She described the challenge facing small restaurants, and said the pressure isn’t just about demand—it’s about staying afloat.
“As time goes by. I believe that it’s been more difficult for restaurants. specifically the small restaurants. to stay afloat. ” Perjes said. “It’s not just me. Everyone’s trying to come up with different ways to get these customers through the door. whether it’s a Taco Tuesday deal or a watch party for soccer and this Love Island party. It is very difficult. not only for the restaurants. but for anybody that’s trying to make a living because of what’s going on — inflation and all of that stuff.”.
She said her restaurant’s Love Island events in the last few weeks have helped the business the most.
Macias said he has no idea what happens on the Fiji-based show and isn’t curious to find out. He said he was surprised simply to see the turnout.
“Well, you know, I don’t even know nothing about all these, but I got surprised that all these people were here,” he said. “I asked [my daughter], ‘What are they doing here?’”
It was a pleasant surprise, he said.
Perjes said she’s been asked if the patio’s TVs can be switched to soccer. Although she wasn’t a fan of Love Island before the watch parties, she said she’s loyal to the show’s fanbase.
“Love Island has been very supportive,” Perjes said. “And they’ve been watching, and they’ve been consistent. So the priority is going to be given to Love Island.”
In Chicago, the weeknight transformation has a familiar rhythm: a show drops, televisions come alive, menus get rewritten to match the moment—and for a crowded room, it becomes a reason to spend time together that doesn’t depend on drinking alone.
Love Island USA Chicago watch parties Peacock Parlay Lincoln Park Tacotlan Winnie’s Chicago Duffy’s Gallup poll young adults alcohol consumption sober bars girl dinner
So basically bars are getting people drunk with TV now.
Love Island watch parties are the only thing keeping my cousin out of trouble on weeknights I guess. But like, if alcohol use is declining, why does this feel like the opposite lol. I don’t even watch it and I still hear about the raunchy parts.
Wait so they’re saying alcohol is declining among young adults, but the bars are packed at 8pm screaming at a reality show? That doesn’t add up to me. Also “based on the British show” — doesn’t that mean it’s like… mandated by the UK or something? Idk. I just feel like this is gonna be one of those trends that disappears as soon as the next season starts.
Chicago bars really said “we’ll fix our business with horny reality TV” 😂 I’m not mad though, I’ve had friends who actually stopped drinking as much and still go places like this. It’s more like the show is the reason they hang out, and the drinks are just… there. Also the article says it’s on six days a week—how do people have jobs if they’re doing watch parties all the time? I guess they call it work-life balance now.