Lou’s Bar

Shin bar is an affront to your ordered notion. Adapt or die; good beer or sinking stagnation. Feel free to be consumed by decomposer culture. Do you like art or do you like aesthetic harmony? Sometimes beer is a challenge. Some people find grime comforting. One hesitates to mention punk. It is alive and undead in Norfolk, consuming the flesh of hiphop and living again in warboy euphoria. I am not trying to scare anyone away. I want this place to rise to the moment — be aware of its place in a region; a time; a thrusting yearn for transformation and expanded being.
What a trite, self-​consuming, heavy-​handed-​prose review untempered by sobriety. Come listen to Queens of the Stone Age and R. Kelly.

Don’t go into this bar with anything other than a positive attitude. I read the other reviews written here before attending and I must say, your grouchy reviews made me want to come here and see for myself.
When I arrived, right off the bat I liked the place. I liked the juxtaposition of the elegant exterior and the zero fucks given interior. Second, I liked the patrons, that were clearly regulars, they welcomed us with jokes and drunken greetings, a fantastic thing at a small bar-​feeling welcome.
I approached the bar and asked for a chardonnay, the bartender/​owner suggested a great choice. He was personable and made me and my friends feel like we were at home.
Overall, if you are happy with your friends and living in the moment and not looking to go to a new bar to judge it as being a dive bar or for being a 5 $ drink bar or really any sort of judgement. If you just take it in for what it is-​a place for you to enjoy drinks with good people, you won’t be disappointed.

Prior to checking this place out, I heard intriguing things, such as spray painted graffiti on walls and $ 5 cocktails. Sounded unique! After driving by so many times, I convinced my best friend to check it out. We walk in, and are greeted by some very friendly folks at the bar. Ok, cool. But it REEKED of cigarettes inside. Patrons and the bartender were smoking indoors. Ugh. We sat down and tried to order cocktails. We were immediately told that within the last week they had stopped serving liquor and only served beer and wine «but it was for the best». Whoa. Sounds like someone had their liquor license revoked. The bartender promised he could recommend a great wine to us. After glancing through their meager menu, we settled on champagne. On a whim, I asked if they had orange juice. The bartender hands me OJ in a squeeze bottle and informs me that we have to mix it ourselves because he’s not allowed to and is going to pretend we’re not doing that. Ok, clearly something happened and they can no longer mix drinks. So we hurried through our drinks, eager to leave. While we do so a few others walk in and start chatting up the bartender. One of these folks ask why they are no longer serving liquor and he gives a half-​ass answer about how they made a business decision to do so and will be moving on to bigger and better things. Oh, ok. We left, convinced we would never return.
The icing on the cake is that two weeks later, crude signs were erected in the front windows stating how this was now a non-​profit drinking establishment benefitting charities for mental illnesses. What?! I have never heard of a non-​profit bar, they don’t mention a specific charity, which makes me question the legitimacy of the operation, and mental illness? Really? As a former employee of a residential support program for adults with intellectual disabilities, I was offended on their behalf. I hope this place shuts down within the month.

Lou’s isn’t a restaurant. It’s a pseudo dive bar with very little appeal to anyone outside of a very young age range. It came across to me as totally artificial and forced style/​look and not something that developed organically over time.
Basically this place is only going to appeal to a portion of the college crowd. Everything is $ 5.00. I’d be surprised if it lasts a year.

I have a list called Dive Bars Supreme (or something like that). Lou’s will not be on that list.
Inclusion on this exclusive By Invitation Only list implies certain conditions are present and met. For one, the patrons must be true Dive Bar patrons. On the night that I visited, that moniker could only be claimed by yours truly and my compadre in liver destruction that night. And we are kinda closet Dive Bar ppls because our taste in beers tends more towards craft and less towards PBR or ‘whatever is on special.’
The vibe, though, that’s the thing. In a failed effort towards authenticity, somebody called up ‘VibeR’Us’ and got the 10 pound pack delivered and installed. Sure the walls are all grundged up, but I suspect that the old paint was peeled away first and the fresh application had a detailed guide to application (IKEA for Dive Bars?). It feels forced, if Lou screams ‘I’m a Dive Bar’ in your ear long enough, you just might start to believe it. But when you look around, you’ll see that your fellow patrons are really nothing more than tourists here. ‘Honey, there is a new dive bar open in Ghent. Let’s dress down and see if we can find some divesters in their native habitat.’ Seriously, they should put up a red velvet rope outside and start tours every half hour or so.
Did the owners do something wrong? Well, not entirely, there is probably still hope. But here’s the secret: A true dive bar BECOMES a dive bar, it isn’t opened as a dive bar. And for gawd’s sake, don’t run a shuttle bus down to the Norfolk Arts District, if they are hanging at Work Release, they don’t belong at Lou’s and will end up ruining the fledgling vibe.
I always felt safe while here. No inappropriate conversation, no dead bodies to step over in the bathroom, no cook in the back room that only speaks a vaguely indistinguishable Eastern European language. I bet they don’t watch NASCAR here, but you could probably watch the US Women’s Soccer (probably known as Football here) beat Japan. USA, USA, USA…
So if you are looking for an interesting place with some cool spray paint on the walls, pop in for a drink. It will cost you $ 5 and bring cash. Don’t sit outside because then you will have missed the entire point. Eat at one of the two better options across the street.