Bongo Lounge

Cash Only. Awesome place and its within walking distance of my condo. Service is fast and the jukebox has quality selection.

Bongo Lounge in Salt Lake City has become a Christmas night tradition for me and I love it. On Christmas day around 8pm, this place opens up and gets packed with 20 and 30 somethings who can’t stand to be around their families any longer.
It’s a trashy bar with carpet, a pool table and elevated booths along the wall. Drinks average at about 3 dollars each and it’s cash only. There’s a purple-​flavored drink with vodka and soda that they are known for. It’s a little sweet for me but it’s fun for the gimmick.
All the regulars take the seats at the bar and you might feel a little out of place if you’re not a townie. But on the whole, most people are welcoming and nice. The bartenders are professional and mostly fast.
It’s not the nicest bar in the city, but come on, 3 dollar drinks. Can’t beat that with a stick, as my mom would say.

Great bar, people, staff, and prices. Everyone is super friendly and welcoming. Pool table is always a great option, but darts and pinball is an option too. Cheap drinks and great dive atmosphere.

Dirty glasses. Gross! I would never come back here. I told them the glass was dirty and the bartender acted like it was a problem to give me a clean glass. Do your job! I’m the one paying here. You’re getting paid. Give me a break. Everyone around the bar looked depressed and pissed off. I guess if you wanna keep your bad day going come here. If not, find another place.

This place is a cheap, cash-​only nightmare.
I like cheap. And cash-​only is cool on the nights when I have cash, but good god. This friggin’ place. I hate it. I’ve never been harassed by so many old dudes in the same night. «Hey sweetcheeks, why dontcha lemme see them sweet cheeks of yours?» was the /​nicest/​thing someone said to me the night I went to the Bongo. Every other old dude was borderline harassing my friends and me with their pick-​up lines.
Don’t go here.

This is the kind of place you want to have down the street from your house. Super relaxed atmosphere, way cheap and cold drinks, and friendly bartenders who keep your drinks full and then let you chill. We stopped by here before a dinner on a weeknight and there were quite a few people hanging out.
IT IS CASH ONLY. But they tell you when you order so there’s no surprise.
It’s super dark in here. The outside and inside both seem a little rundown. But who cares?! Cheap and Cold drinks. I repeat, cheap and cold drinks! It’s not flashy or classy but it’s perfect to grab a drink, hang out with a friend, and unwind after a long day. This is the kind of place that makes people alcoholics. Because it’s somewhere you want to be and it doesn’t break the bank.

It is lounge so you have been warned. The place looks dated but the drinks are SO cheap. One the cheapest I have seen in the valley. Only one pool table and you can’t take your drink out to smoke because they don’t have a outside seating area… have fun… be safe

Cheap Beer, Not real fresh but cheap.
Its pretty dirty, but what the heck its cheap.

Perfect bar atmosphere. Everyone is friendly, drinks are almost as cheap as drinking at home. Can’t go wrong

I’ve only been to this magical pad once, but instantly fell in love with it. We got a 7&7 and a stein of Coors Light for around $ 6.00. Super cheap drinks and I like the set up of the bar. Definitely going to check it out again!

The other reviewers definitely aren’t lying… this place has the cheapest drinks in Salt Lake City. My boyfriend and I probably spent around $ 25 – 30 for two steins of beer and six cocktails. You can get a nice buzz without forking over a lot of dough. Just be sure to carry cash since cards aren’t accepted. We went for a birthday party so luckily our friends gave us the heads up before we got there. Also, it’s an older place so the décor isn’t much to look at and they could use some fans in there for busy nights. Who cares when your drunk though, right? ;)

With some of the cheapest drinks in the city, pool, darts, and pinball how can you go wrong. It’s cash only? Awesome! I’ve never had an issue with this with somewhere with these prices so I don’t understand the confusion.

The hubby will think its sacrilege to give the Bongo Lounge anything less than a five star review, but the Bongo Lounge has committed a sin and must repent before I raise my review.
Let me start by referencing an earlier review of mine. Almost a year ago I reviewed a bar in LaLa land called Sassafras. Sassafras earned themselves a three star review because they allowed that awful automaton Carson Daily to film part of his weirdo 3 am atrocity within their walls. So it goes without saying that I am a particular customer.
First the basics. The Bongo Lounge is your standard dive bar. Dim lights, cheap drinks, and cash only. They earn high points for not being dirty and the staff is friendly and fast. If you are an old man who wants to get drunk and creepily harass the younger folk, this is a good place to do it. If you are a hipster who wants to throw on your flannel shirt, skinny jeans, and sideways hat and soak in the authentic diveyness (is that a word?!?), this is also a good place to do it. If you are kind of a cowboy and want to drink steins at a bar all night that isn’t too trendy… you got it, this is a good place to do it. Bottom line, the Bongo Lounge earns high marks for being an excellent dive bar. Plus you can get cheap mind erasers here and guzzle grape flavored shots while you clutch your head to try and stop the brain freeze all. night. long.
So why the three star review??? Three words: f*cking nineties party. That’s right, we showed up on a Saturday evening expecting a half full bar but instead were accosted by a hot sweaty wall of twenty somethings who decided to descend upon the Bongo Lounge and pretend they were on an episode of TRL.
I’m not sure what was more painful, listening to a group of drunken 21 year olds singing «My Heart Will Go On» or realizing that I am now old enough that the decade of my teen years is now a fun thing for a new generation to imitate. Either way, it seems to betray the ethos of a dive bar to force its patrons to realize their old lady status when all they wanted was a d*mn cheap drink in a dark room far away from frat-​like parties.
I’m tempted to boost the Bongo Lounge’s rating up to four stars for one of the funnier stories of the evening. As my friends were coming in the front door they ran into a group of girls screaming after their friend had drunkenly thrown up on them. Apparently this heinous act was plentiful enough that one of the aforementioned friends had to take off her liquid filled boots.

To everyone complaining that this bar is ‘cash only’, how in the world do you think they keep their drink prices so low? Duh! They don’t have to pay ridiculous credit card fees, so they pass the savings along to you. You’re welcome.

Holy cheapness! You guys weren’t kidding! Where has this place been all my life?
I stopped in one evening to check out the dive-​ey-​ness of this place and it was just as advertised. This is as divey a dive that ever dived. And, yet, it’s strangely clean. They have a bunch of dartboards, a cool Internet jukebox and the ice coldest beer you can get anywhere in town for about ½ the price of most places. Pitchers are $ 5ish and giant steins are under $ 3. Wow! Count me in!
It was pretty dead the evening I was there, but the few people at the bar were nice and welcoming.

LOVED Bongo! I met a friend here yesterday and while I was waiting for her to arrive, I played a few songs on the jukebox. Was rewarded for my exquisite taste in music with several drinks from the regulars, all of whom are old enough to be my parents.
The clientele is mostly older and working class, and EVERYONE knows each other. They were very welcoming and easy to chat with. The bartender was exceptionally nice. The drinks were incredibly cheap!
Cash only, so don’t forget to stop at an ATM prior to stopping by.

Cash only. Weird old locals that hang around all afternoon. Not a ton of drink options. Still smells like people smoke inside (though, obviously, they don’t).
I love the Bongo anyway. Fun staff, late 20’s/early 30’s snowbro crowd during peak hours. Big parking lot in the back. I’m not a clubber, and the Bongo is about as close to classic dive as it gets. I know that doesn’t appeal to everybody, but it’s specifically why it appeals to me.

Divey.
Cash only.
Perfection.
Cheap drinks in a great little atmosphere. The first time I tried to go to Bongo, my friend and I got a little sketched out and left because the back entry and the staring crowd of what appeared to be the regulars intimidated us.
Silly, silly girls. This place is not scary or sketchy and it’s definitely a good time. Go to here.

All I can see are little baby chickens…
Cheap! Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!
Seriously. While my bar checklist has mostly empty boxes in it, I have to say that these guys just may have the cheapest drinks in Salt Lake City. Get your locals for cheap and your domestics for cheaper. Crown? Cheap. Well drinks? Cheap. Custom cocktails? Trick question. Come in asking for a sloe gin fizz or muddled basil in. well. anything and they’ll look at you funny. But if they did sell them, I’m sure they’d be cheap.
So with all this cheap, what’s the tradeoff? Well honey, you’re not getting ambiance. Or windows, for that matter. Lots of décor and seating in shades of brown. But I will say the service was awfully friendly. I mean, they have their regulars. I saw a few older dudes hanging out at the bar that looked they spent the better part of their weeks soaking in these suds and considering bad decisions they’d made in their youth. But the kind gals at the bar were just as open to a non-​drinker like me coming in to scope the place out and chat them up.
Bring your pals (coming alone might make you consider poor decisionsin your youth) and enjoy a night of beer that won’t break the bank. Or get warmed up here before heading out to the pricier drinks (I’m sure they’ll call you a cab). Plus it’s fun to say. Bongo! Cheap! Cheap!

Super cheap, cash-​only neighborhood bar. We were greeted by an incredibly friendly bartender upon walking in the door and served up some great beverages.
There was a jukebox and some pool going on and everyone seemed chill, overall a relaxing neighborhood bar that anyone could feel comfortable walking into.