Barflys, what kind of atmosphere do you prefer?

[rkwilker]

I keep telling you folks Guiness is food not beer.

jwalls is correct. I typically refer to a pint of Guiness as a beer milkshake. MMMMMMMM good! :eusa_clap

 

[ladybrettashley]

Well, perhaps my favorite bars were Irish pubs (particularly after they instituted the smoking ban. Not trying to start that debate here, but not feeling like i'm coming down with the flu does wonders for my ability to enjoy an establishment), where i generally drank Guinness and sometimes Harp. But i've little use for "Irish" bars i've been to here at home (but it could be that i'm in the wrong part of the States for that).

My favorite bar is a very small bar with a high-class feel, but no shred of snobbery (they let me in!), and very welcoming. It's one of those places that has "the regulars" (i used to be one of those as well), a wonderful bartender, and generally a cocktail waitress that i'm friend with (that part was kind of a fluke, all three times). Most importantly, though, it has excellent live music every night. Usually local bands in the jazz/blues range. Dance-inspiring bands, even though there is barely a shred of dance floor.

Mostly, i suppose, what i look for is any kind of a place where i can go in and have a good conversation with a complete stranger (pick-up attempts by themselves are not counted as conversation).

 

[MisterCairo]

Two of the best places I've been to are on the Queen Mary 2 - the Commodore Club (piano lounge) and the Chart Room.

On the pub side, the Manx Pub in Ottawa is a classic, half a level down in the basement of an apartment building, and to my knowledge the only Isle of Man-inspired pub outside of, well, the Isle of Man!

The Highlander Pub, also in Ottawa, is one of only two Scottish-inspired pubs in that city. Everything else is either "Irish" or "British" (i.e. English) styled. They have nearly two hundred scotches on the menu, and offer "flights" of four scotches for sampling.

I got a sniff of a $200 an ounce single malt there a few months back.

I still have dreams about it.....

Single malt, English bitter and Guinness. My trifecta...

 

[Ethan Bentley]

Two of the best places I've been to are on the Queen Mary 2 - the Commodore Club (piano lounge) and the Chart Room.

On the pub side, the Manx Pub in Ottawa is a classic, half a level down in the basement of an apartment building, and to my knowledge the only Isle of Man-inspired pub outside of, well, the Isle of Man!

The Highlander Pub, also in Ottawa, is one of only two Scottish-inspired pubs in that city. Everything else is either "Irish" or "British" (i.e. English) styled. They have nearly two hundred scotches on the menu, and offer "flights" of four scotches for sampling.

I got a sniff of a $200 an ounce single malt there a few months back.

I still have dreams about it.....

Single malt, English bitter and Guinness. My trifecta...

Both sound like excellent venues, there is a great selection in a place on The Royal Mile with Edinburgh. The establishment itself is excellent too, especially if you sit in the original pub bit at the front.

I wish there were more Piano Bars about.

 

[jwalls]

jwalls is correct. I typically refer to a pint of Guiness as a beer milkshake. MMMMMMMM good! :eusa_clap

I would expect a Southern Gentleman to recognize nutrition in it most pleasant form, BRAVO.:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[matei]

Any place that Don Draper and Roger Sterling would hang out.

Lighting: dim
Music: standards,........that you can barely hear.
Drinks: classics,......made correctly.
Patrons: middle aged quiet people who dress nicely and converse at a level that can't be overheard.

Indeed - that is what I look for as well in a drinking establishment. Sadly they're hard to find.

There are several nice pubs within walking distance of our flat, however they tend to be too noisy.

 

[rkwilker]

I would expect a Southern Gentleman to recognize nutrition in it most pleasant form, BRAVO.:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Why thank you jwalls. Clearly you are a refined gentleman with great intellect.

 

[newspapercowboy]

bar

Working class bars where the chairs and tables don't match

 

[Tomasso]

A warm cosy piano bar on a cold Winter's night.

The Coq d'Or in Chicago opened its doors one day after Congress repealed the Volstead Act.

 

[Anthony K]

^Now that's a place I'd like to be a regular at!

Any place that Don Draper and Roger Sterling would hang out.

Lighting: dim
Music: standards,........that you can barely hear.
Drinks: classics,......made correctly.
Patrons: middle aged quiet people who dress nicely and converse at a level that can't be overheard.

Is there such a place?

Not where I live,.....oh no,.......we have "sports-bars",.....disgusting places with twenty wide-screen televisions, (three of which might on the same channel), that are being constantly bombarded with obscenities screamed out by drunken ex-high-school football players who all seem to now be the greatest "arm-chair quarterback" that ever lived and who also appear to think the officials inside the television can actually HEAR them!

I'd give almost anything for a nice quite Lounge.

I'm right there with you Pockets! There's some martini bars here in town I have yet to check out. One I used to frequent, "The Metropolitan," is a pretty good one. The problem with some of the others is, they're downtown (the metropolitan is downtown but off the main strip) so the crowd that frequents those places are the downtown crowd. Nothing but obnoxious clubbers and loud mouthed drunks looking for an excuse to get into a fight. Not the type that I look to mingle with while having a drink.

The Broadmoor Hotel here in the Springs has a restaurant and lounge across the street, it's the wealthy area of town and I've gone to the lounge once to have a drink. It's nice, definitely a place I'd visit again, but not regularly. Other than that, it's the sports bars, which drive me crazy half of the time. We do have an irish pub, "Jack Quinn's," which is a great place. It gets rather loud on the weekends, but that's downstairs where the live band plays. So going upstairs is an easy adversion from the noise. But still I'm looking for something like you described Pockets.

The search continues....

 

[filfoster]

REAL barflys

In Cincinnati: O'Malley's in the Alley, located on Ogden Place, between Vine and Race, between 3rd and 4th streets. It's a time capsule, except for the non-smoking. One of the very few 'dive' bars where you feel safe and the food is cheap and actually pretty good. Only one window: the grimy pane of glass in the entry door that looks very uninviting.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

In Cincinnati: O'Malley's in the Alley, located on Ogden Place, between Vine and Race, between 3rd and 4th streets. It's a time capsule, except for the non-smoking. One of the very few 'dive' bars where you feel safe and the food is cheap and actually pretty good. Only one window: the grimy pane of glass in the entry door that looks very uninviting.

Sounds rather excellent, almost like a second home.

 

[filfoster]

Second home

Sounds rather excellent, almost like a second home.

I hope to retire in about 13 years, at age 70. I plan to spend a considerable amount of time at O'Malley's, when I am not holding down a stool here at the Fedora Lounge. Mrs. Foster will probably insist upon it.

 

[Bustercat]

For fun, with friends, Tiki, with great old lounge and hot rockabilly waitresses.

As a standard bar -- dark, cosy, brass and naugahyde, high ceilings. No hip hop or cheesy mall rock.

Rusty nails, old fashioneds, white spiders in winter, or a manhattan if the mood calls for it.

As a born NYer, I like an Irish pub too, but associate them with a full meal and good beer, rather than a place to have a drink.

 

[Unca Dusty]

Depends on what you want

There's a nice pub up the street, opened by a Welshman that wanted to honor the establishments of his home island--more plaid skirts than a Catholic girls school on Kilt Night...fantastic scotch collection, great tap and bottle beer, good live music and lots of takes on traditional pub fare for food. I go there when I'm on a date with the wife or want to be with people.

When I'm playing hooky I like a working class shot and beer bar where people leave you to your cups if you want or talk to you if you want, where the juke box is playing music that is terrible and old, but no too loudly and punctuated by the clack of billiard balls from the one rickety table. Cool and dark and time swallowing and the doorway blazes with afternoon light when someone goes in or out until you realize you have to get back to your life and you ask for the check to settle up.

 

[Pompidou]

My regular bar is a very small hole in the wall, decorated like a redneck hunters' lodge for the most part, along with some racing/auto here and there. There's a pool table taking up 90% of the floor. The food is the best in town, all homemade - even the french fries and onion rings. I usually go for spaghetti and meatballs and a Guinness - sometimes a Newcastle. Lately my friends have just been buying pitchers of any of the interchangeable macro-lagers, and it's not all that bad either. Always a good time.

 

[Wire9Vintage]

The place we like to go to is perfect. It's a long and very narrow bar, with a gorgeous old bar that takes up most of the space. There are TVs on sports, but they're all on mute, so there can be conversation. They serve food--but on a very limited and perfect menu. No smoking (sorry, folks!). My kids can come in and have a bite to eat. And you can order any kind of drink, and they have the ingredients on hand and fresh. I love that place!

And I'm keeping it a secret!

 

[Mav]

Irish pubs are great, particularly with trad music, if you're going out with some class.
OTOH, there's a lot to be said for a dodgy, dark tavern, full of babbling drunks, seedy folk, human refuse snorting lines of crank off of the chipped formica table in the corner, and an undercurrent of violence.
Guinness in the former, cheap blended scotch and water in the latter.

 

[Chasseur]

It depends on my mood and the company. Generally, I really hate places that are not dance oriented where the music (whether live or recorded) is so loud I can't hear the people I'm with.

Generally I drift toward three types of places:

Dark Irish or English pubs with good beer on tap, lots of wood, and some nice whisky.

Or,

Jazz bars with a bartender who make decent drinks, some good live jazz and pretty waitresses.

Or,
That rough dive with local characters and cheap beer.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

First and foremost, the bartenders must be extremely well versed in the art of making a proper drink. All of the right seating and decor means nothing, if your drink is sub-par.

This is where I go regularly: http://www.anvilhouston.com/