Best Dive Bars

[Hey Adrien!]

Just ripped a couple beers at Burn’s Tavern while waiting to get a haircut next door. Dive bar to the max! Enjoyable.

I grew up on the Stamford side of Greenwich and somehow never heard of Burn's. Just looked it up on Google Maps and I must have never been to that part of Glenbrook.

Back when I did my grad school on Hope Street and interned at Stamford High, I spent almost all of my happy hours at Monster B's, which is now the Tawa on Glenbrook Road. This was 2008-2010 and even back then, every beer on tap was just $3 and all apps were 1/2 price. What's crazy about that is that they had like 30-40 beers on tap, so you'd find some incredible beers for $3.

What was best is when the bartender knew nothing about beer: I remember (barely) a night when they had Dogfish 90 minute on draft, and the tender poured full pints of it for $3. Plenty of other nights where they'd pour imperial stouts or other just really good beers at cheaper-than-the-store prices. A favorite that they usually had was Old Brown Dog. I've had probably 40-50 different Dogfish Heads there just from happy hours over the years.

 

[storrsroars]

I grew up on the Stamford side of Greenwich and somehow never heard of Burn's. Just looked it up on Google Maps and I must have never been to that part of Glenbrook.

Back when I did my grad school on Hope Street and interned at Stamford High, I spent almost all of my happy hours at Monster B's, which is now the Tawa on Glenbrook Road. This was 2008-2010 and even back then, every beer on tap was just $3 and all apps were 1/2 price. What's crazy about that is that they had like 30-40 beers on tap, so you'd find some incredible beers for $3.

What was best is when the bartender knew nothing about beer: I remember (barely) a night when they had Dogfish 90 minute on draft, and the tender poured full pints of it for $3. Plenty of other nights where they'd pour imperial stouts or other just really good beers at cheaper-than-the-store prices. A favorite that they usually had was Old Brown Dog. I've had probably 40-50 different Dogfish Heads there just from happy hours over the years.

I had to go back home to Springdale a lot after my brother passed in 2013. I spent a few nights at Monster B's. But my experience was different. The hottest bartender I'd seen in Stamford in quite some time knew every tap. If I was 40 years younger, I might've chucked everything to further that acquaintance

 

[Rich]

When I was a kid growing up in Southern CT, my cousins and I used to beg our parents to bring us to the FireSide Cafe in East Haven because it had such a nasty reputation. I remember finally being able to sneak in there during high school and actually leaving with my buddies after maybe a half hour because the scene was incredibly dull. This was....I believe the mid to late 80s. Not sure if it's even around anymore.

 

[XLCenterFan]

Oh hell no. Rule #1 of a dive bar is you can tie one on cheaply.

You nailed it. Microbreweries are snobotoriums. Although I do enjoy a dive as well as a brewery - they both have their time and place.

 

[XLCenterFan]

Is the microbrewery the new dive bar?

Not even close. Breweries are full of middle/upper-middle class folks who think and act like "proper" middle/upper-middle class folks. Dives draw a crowd that doesn't think along those lines, regardless of what class you are from. No one is puking, fighting, or ripping shots at a brewery. And when you leave a dive (which is far later than most breweries stay open), you should have your head on a swivel.

 

[Pudge]

I HAVE LIVED A BUNCH OF PLACES ...

and love dive bars. And I guess I love all kinds and all crowds. If I had to return today - Friday - to just one: Matty's in Marblehead Massachusetts. Just because of lots of people I met and conversations and stupid things. One mixed drink - almost all alcohol - and those circular Mass roads.

 

[dvegas]

I grew up on the Stamford side of Greenwich and somehow never heard of Burn's. Just looked it up on Google Maps and I must have never been to that part of Glenbrook.

Back when I did my grad school on Hope Street and interned at Stamford High, I spent almost all of my happy hours at Monster B's, which is now the Tawa on Glenbrook Road. This was 2008-2010 and even back then, every beer on tap was just $3 and all apps were 1/2 price. What's crazy about that is that they had like 30-40 beers on tap, so you'd find some incredible beers for $3.

What was best is when the bartender knew nothing about beer: I remember (barely) a night when they had Dogfish 90 minute on draft, and the tender poured full pints of it for $3. Plenty of other nights where they'd pour imperial stouts or other just really good beers at cheaper-than-the-store prices. A favorite that they usually had was Old Brown Dog. I've had probably 40-50 different Dogfish Heads there just from happy hours over the years.

Monster B's was owned by a guy who was mobbed up....

 

[dennismenace]

I HAVE LIVED A BUNCH OF PLACES ...

and love dive bars. And I guess I love all kinds and all crowds. If I had to return today - Friday - to just one: Matty's in Marblehead Massachusetts. Just because of lots of people I met and conversations and stupid things. One mixed drink - almost all alcohol - and those circular Mass roads.

Yes, and the rotaries where the proper method of entering is "to just drive into it and pretend you don't see anyone" in terms of right of way. Always exciting!

 

[WestHartHusk]

When I was a kid growing up in Southern CT, my cousins and I used to beg our parents to bring us to the FireSide Cafe in East Haven because it had such a nasty reputation. I remember finally being able to sneak in there during high school and actually leaving with my buddies after maybe a half hour because the scene was incredibly dull. This was....I believe the mid to late 80s. Not sure if it's even around anymore.

It was in the early naughts. Lord, I can’t even remember what the place looked like, I just remember an air of sadness and cheap drinks. I was also barely within shouting distance of drinking age.

 

[Improviser]

When I was a kid growing up in Southern CT, my cousins and I used to beg our parents to bring us to the FireSide Cafe in East Haven because it had such a nasty reputation. I remember finally being able to sneak in there during high school and actually leaving with my buddies after maybe a half hour because the scene was incredibly dull. This was....I believe the mid to late 80s. Not sure if it's even around anymore.

Looks like they are still open.

Fireside Bar & Grill​

($$)

810 Woodward Ave
New Haven, CT 06512 (Map & Directions)
(203) 466-1919

 

[Ant3411]

I grew up on the Stamford side of Greenwich and somehow never heard of Burn's. Just looked it up on Google Maps and I must have never been to that part of Glenbrook.

Back when I did my grad school on Hope Street and interned at Stamford High, I spent almost all of my happy hours at Monster B's, which is now the Tawa on Glenbrook Road. This was 2008-2010 and even back then, every beer on tap was just $3 and all apps were 1/2 price. What's crazy about that is that they had like 30-40 beers on tap, so you'd find some incredible beers for $3.

What was best is when the bartender knew nothing about beer: I remember (barely) a night when they had Dogfish 90 minute on draft, and the tender poured full pints of it for $3. Plenty of other nights where they'd pour imperial stouts or other just really good beers at cheaper-than-the-store prices. A favorite that they usually had was Old Brown Dog. I've had probably 40-50 different Dogfish Heads there just from happy hours over the years.

Monster B’s was our spot for pretty much all of 2010…then my roommates and I became more interested in trying to get chicks at Butterfield’s. But now sadly both are gone.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Monster B’s was our spot for pretty much all of 2010…then my roommates and I became more interested in trying to get chicks at Butterfield’s. But now sadly both are gone.

Did you know Uncle Tommy behind the bar at Monster B’s?

Vinny’s Backyard always had a few attractive bartenders for a place in a bad location with okay food and not much of a beer selection. My wife and I lived on Hope St for about 5 years so we would go there once in a while if we didn’t want to go downtown.

 

[storrsroars]

Vinny’s Backyard always had a few attractive bartenders for a place in a bad location with okay food and not much of a beer selection.

Around the time of the original Riko's/Colony spat someone tried to convince me that Vinny's Backyard had a pizza similar to Colony's. I guess they meant "round". I'd like to find that person and punch him. Might even have been on here.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Monster B’s was our spot for pretty much all of 2010…then my roommates and I became more interested in trying to get chicks at Butterfield’s. But now sadly both are gone.

Butterfield's. That bar was like everything I hated about my high school. If you were to design a bar from the ground up and your only materials were cocaine and White Claw, you'd build Butterfield's.

Did you know Uncle Tommy behind the bar at Monster B’s?

Vinny’s Backyard always had a few attractive bartenders for a place in a bad location with okay food and not much of a beer selection. My wife and I lived on Hope St for about 5 years so we would go there once in a while if we didn’t want to go downtown.

Is Uncle Tommy the middle-aged, bigger-ish (but not fat) guy with dark brown hair and a goatee? If so, one of my favorite bartenders of all-time.

Vinny's is very underrated. Food is as good as any Little Pub-type American grub spot and the bar is super comfortable with a ton of TVs. Very good neighborhood bar.

On that note, reading and writing on this thread, I've learned I am not a dive bar fan, but more of a neighborhood bar fan. The bars I've lauded (Monster B's, Murphy's, Vinny's) are not dive bars: they are comfortable, unassuming neighborhood bars. I'm not a big enough drinker to be comfortable in true dive bars. And in most cases, higher-end bars are too stuffy for me unless I'm there for an hour or two with my wife or just one or two friends.

 

[CCSU97]

The Bottom Line in DC
Whiteys in Arlington

Dan's Cafe on 18th Street NW Adams-Morgan neighborhood in D.C. Nothing on tap - they serve half pint bottles of booze with mixers and a cup of ice. Bathrooms look like a murder scene.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Yes, and the rotaries where the proper method of entering is "to just drive into it and pretend you don't see anyone" in terms of right of way. Always exciting!

17 year old me, after an 85mph trip from WHtfd in cars with V8s, was advised: "drive quick, not fast...and don't hesitate."

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Back in the 90's there was a place called Eli's in Fairfield near Bridgeport. A total scalitohole, but I had a lot of fun there. Sea Grape in Fairfield was also so disgusting back in the 90's that I would have been shocked if it got mopped once a month, but brought in a lot of local hotties giving it way too high a female/male ratio to really qualify as a dive bar.

Tuxedo Junction was the strangest club I have ever been to. Every time I have been there was a blast, and also almost ended up with my crew in a brawl.

The Sea Grape was better when it was the Nautilus. There was also The Gray Goose in Southport, there were also a couple good dive bars in downtown Fairfield on the south side of the track’s in back of the Community Theater. Back in the day, thee place to go was Surfside at the end of South Pine Creek rd. sadly torn down years ago. I wouldn’t call it the best, but the wildest place I ever went to was Captains Cove in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, there was a fight there almost every night Thursday thru Sunday.

 

[dvegas]

The Sea Grape was better when it was the Nautilus. There was also The Gray Goose in Southport, there were also a couple good dive bars in downtown Fairfield on the south side of the track’s in back of the Community Theater. Back in the day, thee place to go was Surfside at the end of South Pine Creek rd. sadly torn down years ago. I wouldn’t call it the best, but the wildest place I ever went to was Captains Cove in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, there was a fight there almost every night Thursday thru Sunday.

View attachment 68476

Al's Place was the ultimate Fairfield dive bar. Has anyone mentioned the Bridge in Westport in this thread? Made the Black Duck look like a Michelin starred establishment

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Is Uncle Tommy the middle-aged, bigger-ish (but not fat) guy with dark brown hair and a goatee? If so, one of my favorite bartenders of all-time.

Vinny's is very underrated. Food is as good as any Little Pub-type American grub spot and the bar is super comfortable with a ton of TVs. Very good neighborhood bar.

Yeah that could describe him. He’s made the rounds as a bartender in Stamford but was a staple at Jimmy’s Seaside prior to Monster B’s.

I always enjoyed the wings at Vinnys and my wife loved their steak salad. The manager Benny was also a nice guy who took care of us anytime we came in.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Al's Place was the ultimate Fairfield dive bar. Has anyone mentioned the Bridge in Westport in this thread? Made the Black Duck look like a Michelin starred establishment

My uncle played for the Al’s Place softball team years ago. Lol. Another dive in Westport was the one next to the steakhouse. It was an old house converted into a bar. Big time pickup place, as I recall. Best spot to hangout was at the bottom of the stairs going up to the restrooms. Lol

 

[BlueandOG]

Porky's in Shelton, mostly for the name and the legacy of being a dump. They've cleaned it up.

Monkey Farm in Old Saybrook.

Knuckleheads in Moodus.

 

[UConnDad]

Porky's in Shelton, mostly for the name and the legacy of being a dump. They've cleaned it up.

Monkey Farm in Old Saybrook.

Knuckleheads in Moodus.

Meeting a buddy at Porky’s later.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Al's Place was the ultimate Fairfield dive bar. Has anyone mentioned the Bridge in Westport in this thread? Made the Black Duck look like a Michelin starred establishment

We used to hit Al's after the Pequot Thanksgiving AM race in Southport. Only bar open at 10AM on Thanksgiving day and if you stayed past noon they put out a weird buffet of sweaty cold cuts a thanksgiving substituted buffet dinner for the regulars, never touched that.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

pops sez that both boston (fathers) and nyc (blarney stone) had chains of dive bars. kinda gives a new meaning to a barcrawl. and oh, kay's captains cove was/is neither a dive bar, nor was/is ever dangerous. quite nice, in fact.
ok, so who was pals with joe falco?
Joseph Falco Obituary (2011) - Bridgeport, CT - Connecticut Post (legacy.com)
great guy. fish you under the table. don't know if it's true anymore, but from cape may to montauk and up to newport, well, let's just that when it came to fishin tourneys, the call was heard far and wide, 'watch out for those boys from Bridgeport, they coming for the cash..'
The Panama Inn.

 

[whalerfan]

The Spigot, Elmer's Place, Piggy's

Yes, yes and yes. I'd add Moynihan's in Worcester (by Clark).