The Spot Bar

Every time I go to this bar I think of Moe’s on the Simpsons. A bunch of sad, sad, fall down alcoholics telling the same old stories from their high school glory years and women still rockin’ the 80’s poof hair style. My buddy used to live about 6 houses down from this place until recently, and we’d walk over to the spot. Been here way more times than I would care to admit — or remember. The bar is about as big as my basement.
I have to agree with Joseph W’s review. There’s nothing memorable about this hole in the wall. The food is underwhelming, the bartenders are very friendly (the only bright spot in this bar is the staff) but pour weak drinks, the prices are the same as bars that are much, much better, and the clientele is sketchy. There are two halfway houses across the street and down a block on Armstrong Ave that the county puts recovering alcoholics in. They are not allowed to drink on the halfway house premises, so those sketchy dudes start here and get wasted enough to get kicked out, and then go drink a case of Icehouse a few blocks down at the railroad tracks — I’ve been invited by these randoms a couple of times now to «hit the tracks». (Lock your car! and make sure valuables are out of sight!). The parking is non-​existent, the bathrooms are hit or miss. The credit card machine has been «down» several times I’ve been there and the ATM charges an outrageous fee.
This just isn’t someplace I’d go by choice, unless it was because I could park at my friends house and walk here — and avoid the cleanup of having a house party. The clientelle just kills it for me. Not the vibe I’m looking for.

Everyone always talks about this place as a great dive bar. Being a dive bar is no trick. Any bar can be shitty, but what makes a great dive bar is that it is shitty in an interesting way. I’ve never had anything interesting happen to me in this bar, so (to me at least) this is not a great dive bar. I imagine that if you live a few blocks or less from this place, it is like a second home; but because I’m driving, I need a little more.

I’ve got to start coming here more often!
We were out on a recent Saturday night and friend called. «We’re at the Spot Bar. Come and meet us.»
I’m glad we did. It actually reminds me of my regular hangout, which is also on the corner on Victoria and another cross street. The bartender was friendly and made a drink with his version of diet ginger ale, because I’m high maintenance, without complaining.
The customers are friendly, the restroom passable, the jukebox full of great tunes, and the bartender Jimmy very kind.
And, if you need to leave your car overnight, no problem. It was in one piece when we arrived in the AM.

Minneapolis «dive» bars ain’t got nothing on this place.
Old-​school Pig’s Eye and Hamm’s signs out front, shady-​as-​all-​get-​out entrance, cheap drinks, funny and pretty questionable regulars: the Spot has it all.

A great neighborhood dive.
A couple friends of mine live four blocks away, and whenever it’s late and we’re out of beer, this is where we hike. Said friends are on first name terms with the owner, and recently had an outdoor lawn-​game /​piñata themed graduation barbecue here. All that said, the divey nature of the place does carry over into the bathrooms, the seating is limited, and the parking in the neighborhood can suck. But if you’re near Randolph and West 7^th, and you need a place to get your night-​cap on, this is THE place to go. A bare barroom with a couple booths and sweet pitcher deals. No nonsense, no pretense, and after a couple rounds, no sense.

the bartenders are nuts, and awesome. the regulars are mostly crazy and fun to talk to. it’s a comfortable place to come by yourself, sit at the bar and get shitfaced, if that’s your plan.

This is where things started to get out of hand on the Unilocal Pub Crawl. We started out with a couple substantial shots of Ouzo and some additional beers.
I bumped the place up one star, because I forgot how much I like this place. The bartender is a decent guy to talk with and they have some pretty alcoholic regulars that are pretty crazy too. Also, anyplace you can get a rum and coke and beer for $ 5 as their regular price, is alright in my book.
But they have probably one of the worst smelling bathrooms in town. I’d be surprised if they ever cleaned this place.
Next, we moved on to the Lucky Foxx. But I knew that after the Ouzo, this would probably be the last place for me.

How have I never been here before? This is the ultimate dive bar. It is small, with ping pong on Wednesdays (why only Wednesdays?), old dart games, a really old Miller High Life clock with that lady on a moon swinging, a funny bartender, booths, an Elvis pinball game, cheap drinks, an old fashioned cash register, and drinking games that end at noon.
Oh yes, END at noon, I said. They put a different 3-​digit number on the wall every day. If you can match those numbers to three on a dollar bill, your drink is only a dollar or something before noon. After noon, if those numbers are the last three of your SSN, you get something else too.
This is the kind of place people go before noon to drink. It smelled like my uncle Dave in here. It is old, the bar is cute and little, there used to be an organ player, now there’s just trivia on Thursday nights.
Yowza what a place.