Named "One of Chicago's Hottest Bars"
Chicago-Scene.com

On some nights, the line for Leg Room wraps around the corner of Division and State streets. The people are waiting to get into one of the most popular clubs in the area -- one that has differentiated itself from the Division Street norm of large, meat-market, college and sports bars that push quantity over quality. The Leg Room is warm, plush and seductively inviting after waiting your turn outside. At the front of the room is a funky lounge area with vinyl chairs and small settees that were stolen from the 1970s. The space is purely decorative, with an overwhelmingly large, working fireplace topped with a shelf of books and opposite a tank full of exotic fish. The main room is where you'll find the most eye candy both in terms of the Leg Room's clientele and its decor. Oversized bold, bright vintage posters cover the velvety-looking tan and chestnut walls. Retro-light fixtures glow aqua, red and white, and look like they're straight from a thrift shop. A massive bar floats in the middle of the main room; round, four-person tables surround the perimeter and stools are clad in leopard- and zebra-print material. In back, there is an open area, a makeshift dance floor near the deejay booth that seems like an afterthought. Nestled in the far left corner is the VIP section. Off limits even to the bar's regulars, this space is reserved strictly for its high-paying, champagne-drinking patrons. By Melissa Baker, Metromix.com April 3, 2000

Plenty of lounge furniture and funky fixtures accentuate the laid back vibe in this Division Street bar. There are a dance floor, an elevated area for scoping out potential mates and an enormous island bar. Deejays frequently spin hip-hop and house from the back booth. By Audarshia Townsend, Chicago Tribune November 5, 1999

$9 Tab = $10,000 Tip Dark-Haired 'Mystery Man' Gives Waitress Big-Time Payday She fetched his Long Island iced tea promptly, chatted with him and presented his $9 tab with a smile – just as she’d done for a dozen other customers that night. The service, she admitted, was no better than "good". Imagine if it had been great.As it was, Melanie Uczen, s $3.09 – an – hour cocktail waitress on Division Street, got a gratuity big enough to bust a bar’s worth of tip jars. The day after receiving the $10,000 tip, Uczen was still in shock. "Adrenaline is flowing," said Uczen, 23. "It’s a big deal." Uczen was working her late shift Sunday at The Leg Room, 7 W. Division, an upscale lounge in Chicago’s famous Rush Street area. Three men, including a dark hair, well dressed man with a British accent, came in around 3:30 a.m. "It was the end of the night, and [they] asked me for a couple of drinks," she said. "And, sure, I brought it to them, as always." Uczen said she was talking with the three men when one, a friend of the man with the accent, mentioned the group had tipped another waitress $1,000. The friend then said to the man with the accent that Uczen was a better server, and he should tip her $10,000. Uczen said the man described himself as a wealthy doctor who likes to take care of people. "He thought I was a wonderful cocktail waitress, and I deserved it," she said. " He wanted to tip me [that amount]. " He said he worked hard for his money. I told him I work hard for my money, and I want to go to grad school and pay my way through college. He said, ‘Go ahead, go back to school, become a doctor.’’’ Shawn Krutsinger, general manager at The Leg Room, said he asked the man, "Are you sure you want to do this?" When the man said yes, Krutsinger said, "Let me run this card and see if you have $10,000 and we’ll go from there. Krutsinger said the amount cleared and he copied the man’s passport as a precaution. He said the names on the passport and credit card matched. Uczen’s first reaction, Krutsinger said, was, " ‘ Oh, my god!’ I told her, ‘Don’t bank on this.’ "I kept telling the guy, ‘I hope you’re really doing this because it’s really not nice if you don’t’" Krutsinger said. If it was a prank of some kind- say, a radio stunt- all involved claimed ignorance. Neither Uczen nor Krutsinger would divulge the man’s name. Uczen said she indeed will use the money for graduate school- to study psychology. She has a bachelor’s degree in therapy recreation and psychology from Illinois State University. Uczen was at work Monday night, but she was holding court with broadcast and print interviewers more than she was holding trays. And as for her new favorite customer, she said the man did ask her to breakfast, but she declined. "I had t clean my tables," she said with a laugh. "I gave him a handshake." Still, she said, "Hopefully, he’ll come in again one day." By Bryan Smith, Chicago Sun-Times June 6, 2000

$10,000 tip doesn’t clear, but server won’t get stiffed. Days after Chicago cocktail waitress Melanie Uczen, 23, caused a minor sensation my announcing that she had received a $10,000 tip for a $9 order of drinks, it turns out her benevolent benefactor may not be so generous after all. In a turn of events that even "Inside Edition" count’s have scripted, the credit card that David Martyn Nicholas used to pay for the order and tip was maxxed out and therefore rejected, the owner of Leg Room, 7 W. Division St., said during a press conference at the bar Thursday morning. But intent on writing a happy ending to a story that has turned the waitress into a celebrity worthy of a round of national interviews, Fred Hoffmann, whose company owns the Leg Room, said the bar will give Uczen $10,000. That is, as long as Nicholas, a Briton who told Uczen was a doctor, doesn’t show her the money in the next week. "It’s been great for the Leg Room," Hoffmann said, referring to the free publicity the story had generated. "Why create a negative at this point?" The story started about 3 a.m. on Monday, when Nicholas bought a $9 round of Long Island iced teas for his table. He and Uczen began talking about her plans to continue her studies in psychology, after recently graduating from Illinois State University. That’s when Nicholas offered her the enormous tip, Uczen said. Originally, the transaction cleared, and the Leg Room staff thought they were home free, especially since the bar manager had mad a copy of Nicholas’ passport and required him to sign a handwritten statement, saying "I...tipped Melanie Uczen $10,000." But on Tuesday, the London bank that issued the card, H.S.B.C Bank PLC, reported that Nicholas had receded his credit limit, said Britt Blomquist, spokeswoman for Ala Carte Entertainment, the company that owns the bar. Blomquist said the transaction needed to clear the second hurdle because a foreign card was used and the amount was so large. Blomquist said the whole matter could be a misunderstanding, and the company’s attorney is trying to locate Nicholas to see if he wants to make good on his tip. "Maybe by the time (the transaction) reached his bank, he had to buy an emergency plane ticket on his credit card," Blomquist said. "We’re hoping maybe there was another circumstance, and he would like to make good-he would like to tip her that much." Attempts to locate Nicholas were unsuccessful on Thursday. Uczen admitted she was a little disappointed to find that the transaction didn’t go through, but she was upbeat and generous about Nicholas-and grateful to her employers for making sure she would receive the money. "He was a nice guy," she said Thursday of Nicholas. "I’ve never been on TV before, which is a wonderful opportunity." Uczen appeared comfortable before the cameras as she talked about doing interviews with Chicago media, as well as "Today", MSNBC, and Fox News. Her 15 minutes of fame might continue, because "Inside Edition", People magazine and even Playboy have called, interested in the story of the attractive young woman with tight blonde curls. When asked if she would respond to the Playboy inquiry, Uczen wan noncommittal, saying she would have to hear what the offer was first. "I guess I wouldn’t mind meeting Hugh Hefner and all that," she said. By Karen Mellen, Chicago Tribune June 9, 2000