D.O.C

This one time I was at DOC and there was a p fiend on K Road harassing people and the kickarse bartender chicks totally staunched him out and then he left and picked on this kid riding his bike, so the bartender chick totally ran at him and tackled him full on rugby styles in the middle of the street. Yeah, then the cops came and they took him away but we bought the bartender drinks after that because she totally saved us.
But if you need to know more, here’s the deal. Happy hour from 5 until 8 every day. hah, joke’s on them, that’s actually happy three hours. But don’t tell them cause you can get drunk super cheap in three hours. It’s a good job it ends at 8 actually, because after that the hipsters arrive you’ve still got plenty of time to either hit up Family for drunken grinding or stumble to mcdonalds and hope you sober up enough to walk the rest of the way home.
Also apparently the owners were roadies for The White Stripes, but sometimes they forget to renew their liquor license in time which totally sucks because then where are you going to find $ 5 happy three hours?

I think this place is cool for other people, but because I’m not really a big DJ fan and because the only time I will dance in public is if I’m extremely drunk or if Britney Spears is playing You Drive Me Crazy (and that’s only because my friend and I have made up actions for the entire song, because we’re that cool), DOC bar isn’t really my thing. But in saying that I have come here quite a lot with friends of mine who do enjoy the DJ scene, and I would usually have a good time, until I got to sick of it. The bar is quite small and it was always packed, and I didn’t like that. The music was awfully loud, and I didn’t like that, because I wasn’t at a gig. I guess the only reason I did ever have a good time here was when friends of ours were DJing, so you automatically have a good time, like when you go see a friend’s band. Oh, and the toilets are gross.

Well it certainly is a cleverly named bar. I always get my «versation» and «servation» mixed up when it comes to which department I am visiting, but luckily most people can figure it out and don’t think I want to meet them in a national park.
D.O.C do some pretty great drink specials — 5 dollar drinks untill midnight probably being my favorite. They also sell hot toddys which rule on a winter afternoon /​night when the flu starts kicking in.
D.O.C has a constantly revolving D. J lineup, wtih seemingly anyone who wants to being able to sign up for a night. This means you can expect any kind of music here — from Rihanna to Boris. A good spot to attempt the ‘drink from open to close’ challenge.

If you like George or Fleet FM, and you want to live in it for a while, this is the place to come. DJs doing their thing (performing music, or, acting like a live jukebox. It depends how much respect you have for DJs), people appreciating them doing their thing. I’m not that into it, personally. If the music’s going to be that loud I want it to be a live band, but if you’re just playing records then do it at a volume where I can talk and not have my ears bleed, thank you.
That’s not entirely fair, some of the DJs are fine, so I guess it all depends on who’s playing when you’re there. The bar itself is nice enough — not huge, so it can get kind of crowded, but not too bad. And it’s dingy, but in a good way.

Ah DOC, I’m really sorry I haven’t been by in a while. It’s not you, it’s me. I don’t know how to tell you this easily, but I’ve moved on. Around the corner to Ponsonby Road to be specific. His name is Golden Dawn and he is much more satisfying.
Aucklanders are fickle, man. We’ll find out about a new bar, treat it like it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, go there every weekend and spend all our money, and then a year later, it’s like it never existed. DOC has started to feel a little bit like this. While it’s great that the place is still going and is propped up by a number of regulars, I can’t say it will have much more staying power. The herd appears to be moving on.

I think I want to give D.O.C bar 3.5 stars instead of 4, but the option isn’t available to me. Don’t get me wrong, the place has its perks and I used to frequent it on the reg quite a lot, but recently I haven’t been feeling it as much.
That all being said, D.O.C (Department Of Conversation) is kind of a K Road institution. And let’s be honest here, it’s better than the majority of bars in central Auckland:
Pros:
— It’s easy and unpretentious.
— There’s never a door charge. Or at least there’s never been one when I’ve gone.
— You can wear whatever you like — no slutty ‘town’ dresses or shiny black ‘town’ shoes required here.
— There’s a pinball machine. I like pinball.
— They serve toasted sandwiches all night, so at 1:00am when you’re drunk and starving, it’s the best. And they’re only like, $ 5 for three fillings so you’re not going to break the bank.
— My ex boyfriend is banned from the place, so I know that’s once place I can go without seeing him and that new girl he’s dating.
— Sometimes they have pop nights where it’s just pop music playing. It goes off.
— You can ‘owe’ your friends drinks. You pay for it, then the staff write it up on a blackboard and the person can claim it next time they’re in. For example, «John Smith: 1 x Bloody Mary».
Cons:
— The bathrooms are more often than not, pretty gross. Especially on a Friday or Saturday night.
— It’s dark in there, but that doesn’t disguise the fact that it feels kind of dirty sometimes.