While choosing a Top 10 list represents a difficult task, we like to do it anyway. Importantly, it’s a test for us to find that happy medium amongst the gamut of Charlottesville opinion. Having recently listed Charlottesville’s Top 10 Best Restaurants, we realized that bars probably will be even more hotly contested topic du jour.
What makes a bar “Best in Charlottesville?” Well, it’s not a scientific method. Good bars have a unique experience, helpful bartenders, the drinks you want. They range from the hole-in-the wall, to the fancy. For the dummies that think we don’t have an opinion about these bars, we do. Our entire list is opinion, but it’s more right than your list. Or is it? They are in no particular order and you can read about them after the break…
Maya – It may be no surprise to anyone, since we’ve already given Ted, the head bartender from Maya, our “Best Mixed Drinks” award for 2008. Ted will mix you incredible drinks with names like “Peach Flame” and “Moonshine Punch.” The truth of it is, even if you don’t like any of the ingredients, you will still like the drink. Oh, another important detail: Ted originally started at ZoCaLo and then Ten and a lot of their cocktail menus are Ted creations. [our review]
12th Street Tap House – Eight rotating draft beers, all-time $4 20 ounce pours and enough seating where you never have to wait; need I say more? To be a little more accurate, three of those beers always seem to be Star Hill, but regardless it’s the cheapest place to find microbrew in town. [our review]
South Street Brewery – The only local brewery that doubles as a bar within Charlottesville City limits is a precious place. Maybe it’s not a weekend destination, but you’ve probably heard us rave about Tuesday nights. Many of us totally admit that South Street beer equates to a “headache in a glass,” but we drink it anyway. Expect a good mix of townies and college grad students. It’s always fun and it’s hard to be in there for more than 2 drinks and not be toasted. Oh don’t forget that Charlottesville favors Satan’s Pony, according to our poll.
The Upstairs - If you have cash to burn, that is $100 per drink, then The Upstairs is the bar for you. Specializing in high-end liquors of all types, from bourbons, to scotch to tequila, you can pretty much guarantee that The Upstairs has more classy spirits than you’ve ever known. Sure they’ve got everything else, but if you want a 30-year old Pappy Van Winkle, this is the place to be. [our review]
Ten – Ten has a reputation as a trendy, be-seen sort of place. Whether or not that’s your thing, you can enjoy the lighed bar (wave your hand over it to change the lights) or the floor-to-ceiling window lounge area. Ten can get crowded with Dardenites and future lawyers, but if you feel like dressing for the “City,” you won’t be out of place. Check out their robust saki menu and sample some of their mixed drinks, just don’t get caught drinking a beer. [our review]
Court Square Tavern – Some have described this underground (somewhat literally) bar as an international beer lover’s paradise. Last I checked, Court Square had the largest selection of bottled beer in Charlottesville. Even if you critique them for not having every beer or for having no windows, if you love beer you’ll absolutely find something new here.
Mellow Mushroom – Sure, Mellow can be full of undergrads, but with 40 beers on tap, rainy day discounts and an infamous trivia night, you would be hard pressed to find more draft selection than at this establishment. Nothing’s too special about the ambiance, but beer lovers won’t care.
X-Lounge – Yes it’s more than a bar. It’s one of Charlottesville’s late night scense and offers pretty incredible ambiance. You can do the lounge thing, the dancing thing, the hit on hotties thing and pretty much everything in between. Service rarely slows during the late night and you can always dance on the bar.
Miller’s – How could we ignore Miller’s? While the giant patio may be great for summer people watching, you don’t need to look anywhere else other than inside Miller’s for Charlottesville oddities. I don’t know if trying to describe Miller’s in a few sentences would do it justice, but let’s just say you don’t belong in Charlottesville if you haven’t had at least one drink at Miller’s. Don’t forget jazz night on Wednesdays.
ZoCaLo – Ten’s classy sister, ZoCaLo is probably the other bar in town we could call a cocktail lounge. It attracts a larger crowd that can be hit or miss late night. We really like their drink specials menu and their wine list. [our review]
What are you favorite bars in Charlottesville? What did we get wrong?
Related posts:
- Revisiting Charlottesville’s Maya Restaurant
- What’s your new late night hangout in Charlottesville?
- Top 10 Best Charlottesville Restaurants (the REAL list)
I hope Ten burns down.
Hey and now I can throw myself to the top of old threads. I’m just so clever!
Oh christ on a cracker is this list full of fail.
“Its very expensive!” – top ten,
“Its full of dadenites!” – top ten,
“Its very expensive!” – top ten,
“Its headache in a glass” – top ten,
“you’ll hate the ingredients” -top ten
“its full of undergrads!” -top ten…
I think I need a minute to get my umbrage levels back under control.
Agreed – this post is totally full of fail. It’s basically just a list of all Cville’s bars, which all suck for one reason or another. XLounge is one step up from Hades.
@3 – nothing is perfect. what’s your list, umbragger ?
Who wrote this crap? If it was a little better, people might respond with their adjustments.
I love how you put the Taphouse on the list right after people came on here and complained about how awful the bartender is.
Give me a minute… wait until my eyes stop bleeding from rage.
Hire a professional, Thor. My fee is $500 for 800 words.
wow, I didn’t know today was the Official Bitching for No Reason Holiday.
definitely C&O downstairs
For real. One of the only decent bars in town.
Vivace’s bar is actually pretty good.
Thor #26 is oooh… maybe just a bit defensive? “No reason”? Ok.
How could 12th street make the list and C&O downstairs not? I know you accused the complaints as being some sort of massive smear campaign, but really thats silly. They are not. I have never heard a complaint about Barry in ten years.
Mellow mushroom has a lot of beers? How about Beer Run? They are ten times more friendly, and you dont have to deal with the racist rugby shirt pets.
And I am kind of biased on this one, granted, but escafe under the new ownership has been kicking all kinds of ass through out the winter… consistently packed with happy people loving life, even when the rest of the mall i stone dead. They must be doing something right.
Whatever, everyone likes what they like, I suppose. I would just hate to see such a list be pawned off as consensus, because Ive got a pretty strong feeling it isnt.
so….use this thread to provide the consensus and we will revise. you all are way too uppity for Monday morning.
re byo…
C&O – downstairs.. I agree that this one could have made the list, but besides the townie-ish of it, I don’t know what the appeal is to make it the “best”
Beer Run – to me feels like you are drinking in a convenience store. Want to drink outside? How about right next to a well trafficked road.
also, how is prefacing an entire list with “For the dummies that think we don’t have an opinion about these bars, we do. Our entire list is opinion, but it’s more right than your list. Or is it?” not indicative of a debatable consensus?
so….use this thread to provide the consensus and we will revise. you all are way too uppity
Thats precisely what I did, tossed in my two coppers. Uppity? I thought this site was about opinion. Thor has his. And I disagree. Big deal. What, exactly, kind of response did you think a feebly incendiary post like this would generate?
i think it’s easy to ignore miller’s.
I can’t believe you left off Escafé.
Your list is beneath contempt, Thor. Go back to your magic markers.
What’s worse is it actually has some good places on it. Places that don’t deserve getting such a Razzie.
And HELLO, Bang has the hottest bartenders in town.
@ 15 C&O has the best aura, the best ambiance, of any bar in town hands down. It has history. It has a friendly, knowlegable staff, who give generous pours. You meet interesting people there. What in the world else would you want from a bar. You completely ignore the vibe of that joint, and then slam Beer Run for its lack of the same? Please.
And mellow mushroom’s ambiance is like McDonald’s playland for trust fund hippies majoring in beer snobbery – not to mention the fact that it is a chain. And Carlton is more busy than West Main?
The Local has a nice bar, as does Zinc… either of which I would pick over half the joints on your list (were I not destitute – heh). How about Bang? Good creative stuff going on there too….
Agreed on all points.
Here’s my list and of course it won’t match up with anyone else’s.
Fellini’s – it’s the place where the downtown free spirits end up once they get a little age on them.
South Street – just having the twins there along with the good beer makes it one of the best town/gown places to hang.
Beer Run- I just came back from Philly which has a ton of great “gastropubby” beer bars. Since I’m too old to drink on the Corner I can’t speak to Michael’s Bistro, but Beer Run is the closest Cville approximation, in addition to
The Local – It has the atmosphere right, food/service has been a little more inconsistent for me.
C&O – just a great vibe there.
Court Square – -place to get a decent beer and is never THAT crowded.
12th Street has the some of the beers and the right price, but the atmosphere is off. The decor needs to get more funky/esoteric. I don’t go to Escafe often enough to have an informed opinion but it definitely offers its own unique Charlottesvilian vibe.
Miler’s patio – the Cville answer to my beloved Fox and Hounds patio on 17th st in DC. Speaking of which:
The Fox and Hound – the people here seem to really try. It’s not a “cool” place and is a little pricey, but still a very pleasant place to have a drink.
12th St has good deals on big beers and lots of free seating – and that’s it. Feels like an airport bar and the food is god-awful. The actual bar should be a lot bigger. The dining rooms feel completely random with no theme or style. For a bar started by lots of former Michael’s Bistro employees, it sure seems amateurish and soulless.
Horse and Hound is nice–good selection and not too crowded. Low-key.
Enoteca
Al-Hamraa, though not a bar per se, has excellent drinks.
@24 – Whoops, Horse and Hound is what I meant, thanks.
No reason for anyone to get angry. I think Thors’ top ten list is absolutely perfect (if you add “for a metrosexual” to the end of “Top Ten Best Charlottesville Bars”.)
call me crazy, but when i’m grabbing a drink after work with some friends, I still like the McGrady’s patio.
Beer Run is wonderful – they’ll bend over backwards to try and get the types of beer that people request. Plus they send out weekly e-mails and are constantly rotating their selection. The one downside I see to the place is that the parking sucks.
When I think of “bar,” I think of beer first. What about “top 10″ beer places vs. wine vs. mixed drinks? It doesn’t seem fair to put places like Enoteca and South Street in the same category.
Zocalo and Maya are the only two of the above that deserve the distinction. Leaving Beer Run off is particularly nutty.
I like McGrady’s becuase it’s cheap and the patio and the shuffleboard but bar-wise, it’s a bit disappointing. I never see the same bartender and they’re never that friendly. I think a Top 10 bar is where you know the bartender’s name and get good service.
@27 Totally agree, though my words should be taken with a grain of salt due to my business relationship with them. Few bars in town have a patio of any decent size.. McGrady’s has the best deck in town IMHO, and is likely the reason they’ve stayed in business in their location where other bars have come and gone.
Them nixing smoking was also a huge plus in my book.
Zinc
Blue Moon
C&O
@30 I think that can be said of any bar.. I know pretty much all the bartenders at McG’s and get good service because I’m there on a weekly basis. I’ve also been to South Street and X-Lounge and waited 10 minutes to get served during non-peak times, as I rarely go there. Just one of the perks of being a regular.
I’m struggling to think of any bar where the service blew me away as an ‘outsider’ .. the staff at Beer Run seemed friendlier than most, and I’ve had some nice servers at Enoteca, but to me speed of service is more important than friendliness.
C&O downstairs is old school Charlottesville and it is better in so many ways then the Upstairs.
The Upstairs is only on the list because it’s a sponsor- I’ve been there and it’s a frikin’ tomb.
Having good booze doesn’t make a bar good- it’s the people and the service more then what’s just in the bottles. If the upstairs is still in business in 12-24 months I’ll be impressed.
Bang- has a sweet patio, front porch and is better than Miller’s for everything but music. Thor probably gets no play with the hottie’s there.
12th Street Tap House really? Sorry I got to call bulls**t on that. It has no soul and is all of 5 minutes old.
Durty Nellys is better than 12th street for it’s dive vibe and yummy sandwiches. kinda of like Miller’s except you can digest the food.
I’m not a big fan of Ventana but it’s a better bar the most on the list.
I do agree with Maya, Zocolo, South Street and X-Lounge on the list
and no disrespect to Mellow Mushroom since I never go there
@33: I go there a few times a month, but I guess it helps if you go there every week. I wouldn’t compare it to SS or X Lounge tho, as they were probably slammed busy when you went. If it’s not slammed busy, it doesn’t take that long to get a drink at either of those places.
@35 It’s partially because I am a wuss at bars and don’t yell to get the bartender’s attention/grab them/etc. as it just seems rude to me, albeit effective.
Yeah, DO NOT GRAB THE BARTENDER.
@30 Really? I ended up stopping in there late one night after work and got to know a few of them. Now, the moment I step inside the place, they’ve got a drink waiting for me (well, a couple of them do). They really are nice people. I think it’s just the crowd they have to deal with sometimes that makes them seem a bit put-offish.
Plus, it can be crazy in there sometimes.
/can you say biased much?
@38 I mean I’m biased. Never had a bad experience with a bartender because I’m nice and sweet and completely understanding. Until they’re egregiously rude then my eyes go from brown to bitch instantly.
Wednesday night at Cassis they now have a good live jazz band that made drinks there very nice. I was actually pleasantly surprised how much me and the SO enjoyed it
12 st on DJ Steve Richmond nights
The Box on “Adam Smith. Thomas Dean. Play Records.” nights
C&O for any night you want to impress your hipster brooklyn friends/want some free bread with the best greyhound in town
Mas for Margaritas
Two Sides for your 21st birthday. For like five minutes. If you survive that long.
@40 Am I the only one who feels a litte…bemused by their required-for-entry dress code? This is only Charlottesville, I repeat, only Charlottesville.
@33 That is why I like Continental Divide. Not sure I would qualify it as a bar as most go there to eat. The lines create the drinking part.
Of the original list, I think only Miller’s, South Street, Court Square come to mind when I think “bar.”
@42 Is that for late night, I never had a problem getting in?
@41 I don’t know what Two Sides is, could you explain?
@44 Two Sides is this sweet townie bar across from Aqui Es Mexico. They literaly have two sides: a restaurant and a sports bar. The sports bar has billiards, darts, Big Buck Hunter, etc. The food is typical bar food – tastes sooo good when one is drunk. I’ve never eaten there sober…
The bar area seems popular among the 45+ year-old bearded laborers in town. Nice people and zero undergrads. I recommend it for anyone wanting to set outside of the hipster cville scene.
@44 It was early evening/evening-ish when they had their sign out front. It was on a weekend, so I’m not sure if that makes a difference.
@45 It’s just a bit snobby for a town like this, IMHO, to be abbreviatory.
Parking at Beer Run is like that because they are a victim of their own success, perhaps? And there has to be some irony in its proximity to Two Sides for the potential other-side-of-the-tracks jokes.
Out of curiosity, what is the dress code at Cassis?
Out of curiosity, what is the dress code at Cassis?
Morse.
- …. .- – .—-. … / ..-. ..- -. -. -.–
@51 this is what the online Morse Code to Text translater spit out: “teatrfunn”
Morse dress code: Everyone wears dots. Its quite dashing.
@52 Actually it says “that’s funny” according to the translator I cut and pasted it from
-.-. .- -. / -.– — ..- / .-. . .- -.. / – …. .. … / -… . .- .-. -.-. .- -
@54: Used to hang out there when my friend worked there and going to the hotel next door to hook up is called “Red Roofin’” it.
But what’s the best seedy, dive bar in CHO?
@58 Is there one? Back home in the 757 you could go get shot or stabbed at the Casbar, The White Oaks Lodge, the Wiloughby Inn…I have not seen anyplace like that here, other than Rapture.
Don’t go to 2-sides. Just don’t fucking go there.
@62: No, I meant in the Ville in general, not the airport.
Court Square Tavern is a hell hole. Horrible service and craft beer lovers will definitely find something new… new and two years past its prime. Take them off the list and add Beer Run and you’ve got pretty much the entire Charlottesville craft beer scene on the list.
I love stopping at the 12th St Tap House for a cold pint- if it’s a mixed drink- I like Escafe or Zocalo
I haven’t been to the 12th St Tap House, so maybe it is fabulous, but I have a hard time putting much stock in a list that includes a place that opened like one month ago.
I am glad there is so much divergence of opinion about this — it would be a drag if everyone agreed and frequented the places I like to go best, which you have mentioned, but not very prominently.
Of course I’m not saying which ones I prefer — I won’t be able to get a seat?
Technically there are NO bars in Charlottesville. What there are, are a bunch of restaurants some good some not so good that also serve booze. If you want a bar scene you need to leave Virginia. Sorry, but them’s the facts. Whatever that rule is that forces booze vendors to also serve food ensures that the bar scene in Virginia will always suck.
Hey JR…. how’s Kristin?
/showin’ ma age.
Top Ten Bars in Cville:
South Street
Zocalo
Ventana
McGrady’s
X Lounge
12th Street Tap House
C&O
Mas
Bang
OXO
Nice list Echo but OXO? but you can’t get a drink there any more
@58. Sigh. Durty Nellys. The only bar bar there is here. It’s seedy in a good way. Sure no booze, but who needs it. It’s about as honky tonk …wearin out my good dress shoes walkin the country mile to find that no good woman what left me bar this side of the Mason Dixon that we’re bound to stumble across. Not one mention here of this place in all of this elitist tomfoolery. I only go there when I’m looking for a strange time. Which is always, but that is another subject.
I think you can go there after you’ve shot a man in Memphis, but not if your name is Sequoia. You also have to be fixin to die.
Miller’s, Fellini’s, Beer Run, asscafe’ (if byo is spinnin’). Any place that looks at me sideways for not being trendy can bite my shiny metal ass. Twice. Any place that has a dress code can fuck right off. The main reason I go to the places I mentioned, is that it’s “come as you are” not “come as we want to see you”.
fuck that shit. twice.
I am glad there is so much divergence of opinion about this — it would be a drag…
Escafé!
@72 I beg to differ with you about Durty Nelly’s . See #34
@ 76 Rule 34 on “durty nellies”? Scampers off to GIS….
@77 good point, I meant post 34 in this thread where I mentioned Durty Nelly’s
But rule #34 is way funnier
These lists always turn into a discussion of “Whats my favorite bar” or “whats my favorite restaurant”. I think we could get more out of a discussion like “What is the best happy hour”, “Best bar on a Monday night”, or “Best beer selection”. We all have our favorite bars, and a list like “10 best bars in Cville” doesn’t really make me want to branch out and try anything new. Instead, it is a “10 most likely places to run into Thor”.
@79 good point.
Thor has never been to a bar, he’s about 13. Look at his last post, “POLL: Washing Your Hands in Bar and Restaurant Bathrooms”.
c & o downstairs…best greyhounds i’ve ever tasted…and i’ve tasted…a lot
@72 i wouldn’t say nelly’s is seedy at all. there’s an occasional fight, but IMHO it’s actually the friendliest bar in town, in the spirit of irish pubs, where the same people hang out together every day, like a living room, like a sweet but entirely alcoholic family. there’s even a fireplace that everybody helps stoke. such an awesome bar. and the sammiches are good too.
@68 as far as seedy dives go, i’ve always been curious about that ‘cafe’ that’s sort of across from riverside lunch on high st. near free bridge. peer into the darkened windows and you catch sight of low-hats sipping on suds. anyone know what the deal is?
damn, i was hoping these lists would teach me something new. i guess i just keep waiting for that perfect dive bar to appear, but that’s not really the scene here, it seems. anyone know about good bars outside of town? (besides blue mountain brewery)
The problem that i seem to have is that when i lived in baltimore the bars were a social scene with some relaibility. In this town there are rarely crowds to do some social networking.
All of these bars may be great, but are any of them conssitantly busy on a Friday or saturday night?
@84 i think you’re talking about @61. i went there for lunch ONCE when it was big al’s. there was a door cutting off the bar from the restaurant, but from the glimpses i saw, i dare say it qualifies as “seedy.”
@85: *cough* X Lounge *cough, cough*
It seems that X Lounge is where you go to get bronchitis
we don’t get to go out much since child, but when we do try and make it count.
we look for:
good music (preferably with some techno thump)
energetic vibe or quiet anonymity
fun people watching
smoking ok or a nice outdoor area close by
a place to sit (preferably a sofa or comfy bar stool)
good nibbles to go with drinks
they make an ice cold very dirty martini w/ three olives and three cocktail onions
our favorites are:
mas
zinc
c&o downstairs
l’etoile
boars head pub
ten
@ 89 I got you covered. Escafé wednesdays and friday nights.
/shameless.
@90 i read this site regularly because it makes me feel in the know. tho often times i have no idea what the posts mean.
does this mean escafe wed and fri is good? or are you being sarcastic? what is /shameless, yo? do you have me covered by telling me we should go to escafe on wed and friday nights? is it super fun? are you a bartender that makes dirty, dirty drinks? should i reschedule the date nite to a wed or friday from thursday?
He’s the DJ dude.
@91 –
rule 1: don’t believe in anything you read on the internet
rule 2: there are no rules.
@ 91 Sorry SL, didn’t mean to be cryptic. I just got excited when I saw someone actually seeking out a little bump of the thump variety… Even if Im not there with the biggest ghetto blaster in charlottesville, jackin house like it owed me money, escafé has everything on your list. Its not *always* happening, but when shit goes down it goes down hard. Last friday had some 15-20 people, including myself, up on the bar rocking a thing or two, as well as a packed floor. And when its relatively dead, I can get away with laying down some fairly unusual music that you may dig. Maybe not. Who knows?Anyway. I will stop with the shameless self promotion. If you do pop round some day, c’mon up and say hey!
XLounge would also be a good spot if you have not tried it yet.
I realize this is the 95th comment and everyone has already lost their outrage regarding this list, but gawd, it is pretty galling. X-Lounge, Miller’s, Court Square and (extra gag) Mellow Mushroom being considered among C-ville’s best is utter foolishness. Pity the poor tourist that googles “bars in Charlottesville” or something similar and decides to stumble upon any of that mediocrity. Silliness.
@85. I don’t ever want to live in a place where we do social networkiing. That sounds horrible and scary and by seedy @ whatever I meant all sorts of great. Seedy = nice and real. This is the language of my people. And by people I mean the conversations I have w/ myself. We are awesome.
Shiver…social networking. Sounds like Huxley on a bad trip. “No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?”
I don’t want reliability. Well there is Phil over there sucking on the pipe. Yep, there is Monica pimping her wares to whatever young dude notices her short skirt and boobs. Repeat, rinse, repeat.
@95, instead of just pissing in cheerios, why not pour a bowl of your own and make your own suggestions?
\You have renewed my outrage, just not at the list.
Any article posted by Thor is a five-minute hack job. Generate discussion at zero cost.
@98
Colfer you are just mad I don’t respond to your spammy complaints. Maybe if you keep complaining, you will reach the right amount and you will be satiated.
/Invitation is open to offer constructive criticism.
You’re right, I recalled the article as atrociously written and slapdash. Now that I’ve reread it, I realized I must have been in a bad mood that day (or it has been edited). Looked like you were just trawling for posts by putting up a random list. Now I see it is written like a magazine article for teen girls, but is not amateur copy:
Sorry.
nicely done.. is 7 your lucky number? i think you can go 8.. now gooo!
Colfer, what are your favorite bars? And don’t say Durty Nelly’s just because you got to hang out with me there one time.
As Bjork would say, any bars but iron bars.
For cheap bars, I like Nelly’s and 12th/Michaels and Beer Run (bad name) and Tea House and Local and C+O. For overpriced I like Mas and Enoteca if stuck on the Mall (new wine buyer there). South Street staff was discouraging last time I was there, so we went to spend $300.00 on wine elsewhere.
/oh ya.. trust a guy who tries to spend $300 on wine at a BREWERY that offers like 4 wines.
$300 is a good amount to pay a writer, by the way.
$0.00 is a good price to pay to read cvillain, by the way.
Haha you poor saps w/o gravatars look silly now.
I went to South St recently and was presented with a glass of white wine at room temp ( which was rather warm). I brought it back, to be told that the wine fridge was busted. Top 10 best bar?…. that’s piss poor by anyone’s standards.Get some ice and chill a few bottles down, for fucks sake don’t insult me with a glass of 75F Viognier.
They always have my Vee-own-yay cold and ready. Love ya Dan!
Very fine beer, we just had testy service. Sometime ppl. from Cville don”t know how shitty they seem to out-of-towners. Didn”t bother me, but I live here. It’s much better to have fun if you can, workers of the world. Last time a waiter/ess tried the ultra-bitch routine to get a good tip, we just put her on ignore and standard compensation (Lemon Grass). Little little town we are.
17.5% that is.
Durty Nelly’s is the only bar in Charlottesville in my opinion. All the rest are restaurants that also have booze. We really need to change the antiquated liquor laws here in The Commonwealth so you don’t have to serve some bullshit percentage of food to booze… I really like Beer Run a great deal. Even though I can’t park anywhere near it… That Brooklyn beer they have on tap is off the hook.
how did Escafe miss the top ten? very interesting…
Especially when you can download the escafé experience for free!
What other bar lets you load their evening enter-taint-ment on your ghetto pods? Value added, bitches.
my top ten would be…
X Lounge
Ten
Escafe
Bang!
Mas
Maya
West Main
IS Venue (of course)
C&O
McGrady’s
so there! = )
my top ten would be …
X Lounge (when Shannon’s working)
South Street (when Dan’s working)
Bizou (when Lora’s working)
Bang (when Kelly’s working)
Ventana (when Heather and Zoe are working)
Rapture (when Tracy is working)
ZoCaLo (when Joya is working)
Kiki (when, oh, yeah. Shit. FML.)
What about Beer Run? Ambience may be limited, but selection and bartenders’ knowledge is in ample supply. If you’re in to beer, try this place.
creepy old guys hitting on very young loose women: Miller’s, Fellini’s, C&O, Eastern
creepy rich guys hitting on very loose young women: Blue, South, Bang, Mono
people just fucking each other: Zocalo, Zinc, Ten, Rapture
Bimbos comparing suntans: The Corner
Bikers comparing tattoos: Durty, Outback
Only bar that ever made an actual Ramos Gin Fizz: Blue Light
Often has Pimm’s: Eastern, Miller’s, C&O
Once had Benedictine AND Chartreuse: C&O
Rumoured to served absinthe: Zinc
Two places where I’ve heard a bartender refuse to make a Sex On The Beach: Buddha, C&O
Is The Virginian still open?
Has The Local (only been once, fell in love with the space) defined itself with a character or crowd yet?
mas has absinthe too.
oh, and:
bars I’ve been punched by some big dumb-jock fuckhead in: Biltmore, Buddha (twice)
bars I’ve been punched by some big dumb redneck in: Miller’s, Outback
bars I’ve been punched by some big dumb punkrock dude in: Atomic (box)
bars I was thrown out of before some big dumb guy could punch me: C&O, Eastern, South Street
bars I asked a table of off-duty cops if they were The Village People and didn’t get punched in: Blue Light