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Featured Replies

SIAP, but i didn't see a thread.  Im a big fan of dive bars. Hole in the wall places with cheap beer, pool, darts and karaoke. I'm always up for exploring a new spot.  What are some of your neighborhood dives? Here is a small list of places I've discovered.

North/Central Dallas:

Oriley's Pub-Cheap pool hall with karaoke on Mondays, very mixed crowd, it's hit or miss.

KingsX-Great dive bar with career waitresses

Richardson:

Lonestar Grill-Great, but smokey

Far North

Sharkey's-Pool Hall with karaoke on Thursday/Sunda

The Irishman-Good food, beer selection. This is a good neighborhood dive

Addison

Mucky Duck/Lion and crown-Addison circle. I'm actually a fan of all the harder bros places, mucky duck, scruffy duffies, ringos, etc.

Other Mentions

Royal Pour-Casa Linda/Lakewood area

Milo Butterfingers

 

 

This thread just reminded me how much I don't go out anymore.  Back in the day I could have rattled off 10.  I'll still hit up the Grapevine, Ships, and the IVY though.  And the Goat from time to time.

RIP Loon.

 

 

My dive bar scene in Dallas pretty much begins and ends at Inwood Tavern.  Have had some great nights there.  Although I’m less and less apt to hit up places like that these days.  Because getting old.  Sucks.

7 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

My dive bar scene in Dallas pretty much begins and ends at Inwood Tavern.  Have had some great nights there.  Although I’m less and less apt to hit up places like that these days.  Because getting old.  Sucks.

Good place, especially when the food vendors come by!

I'll throw out Barbara's in Oak Cliff.  One of the couple of actual bars in Oak Cliff (not a restaurant).  It's an old school gay bar, but on most nights, the straight folks are the majority. It's as divey as it gets.  Love seeing my neighbors drunk off their asses doing karaoke.  And I like a place where I just order a bourbon and water, well drink, no fuss, no monkeys.

4 minutes ago, DFWTexEx said:

And I like a place where I just order a bourbon and water, well drink, no fuss, no monkeys.

Agreed.  Dive bars don't need no stinkin' drink menu!

Dallasite Billiards, caddy corner to Jimmy's.

I miss King's X.  Great dive bar. Hard to make it there much with young kids as our few 'nights out' typically mean high end meal then too tired to stay out (with way too early wake up calls for the stiff drinks Wendy pours). 

18 minutes ago, Skipper said:

I miss King's X.  Great dive bar. Hard to make it there much with young kids as our few 'nights out' typically mean high end meal then too tired to stay out (with way too early wake up calls for the stiff drinks Wendy pours). 

Used to know the guys that bought King's X about 6 years ago.  They were all parents of my kids' friends from elementary school. They just dropped the kids off at ASI down the street.  Try that.

41 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

Used to know the guys that bought King's X about 6 years ago.  They were all parents of my kids' friends from elementary school. They just dropped the kids off at ASI down the street.  Try that.

3 and 9 month old so not in the works yet, but yeah, we'll get back there more often at that age for sure.

19 hours ago, Landomatic said:

My dive bar scene in Dallas pretty much begins and ends at Inwood Tavern.  Have had some great nights there.  Although I’m less and less apt to hit up places like that these days.  Because getting old.  Sucks.

Dive bar? I guess for you Parkies that qualifies as a dive bar.

How about the Step Up Lounge? It's a real shit-hole off Marsh Lane. Been there a bunch.

  • Author
2 hours ago, Skipper said:

I miss King's X.  Great dive bar. Hard to make it there much with young kids as our few 'nights out' typically mean high end meal then too tired to stay out (with way too early wake up calls for the stiff drinks Wendy pours). 

Wendy definitely pours some stiff drinks, lol. 

1 hour ago, C-Man said:

Dive bar? I guess for you Parkies that qualifies as a dive bar.

What part of plastic red solo cups, pool tables, smoke filled patio, shitty mismatched furniture, dimly lit puke stained bathrooms, and a jukebox isn’t a dive bar to you?

Edited by Landomatic

4 hours ago, Landomatic said:

What part of plastic red solo cups, pool tables, smoke filled patio, shitty mismatched furniture, dimly lit puke stained bathrooms, and a jukebox isn’t a dive bar to you?

yea I'd say Inwood Tavern is divey. lots of history there and in my experience lots of industry folks stop by there. 

yea I'd say Inwood Tavern is divey. lots of history there and in my experience lots of industry folks stop by there. 


It’s not divey at all. The sketchiest fuckers in there are trust-fund burnouts. Time Out Tavern is a much bigger shit-hole across the street.

Inwood Tavern may have been divey at some point but no way that place should be considered a dive bar (IMO)

The Goat, Oak Cliff social club, and The Hideaway

My first week in Dallas last year I got propositioned by a wealthy looking woman of at least 65 to join her in the bathroom at Inwood. I’m 26. Still wonder how many free trips I could’ve gone on by now if I’d said yes.

On 12/20/2019 at 10:39 AM, C-Man said:

It’s not divey at all. The sketchiest fuckers in there are trust-fund burnouts.

 

Sorry, I didn’t realize risking your life with the quality of clientele was the main criteria for whether or not a place is a dive bar.

But you’re right, you do kinda have to ignore the collective net worth of all the patrons to get to the divey part.  But once you get past that, it’s a dive bar bar damnit.

  • 1 year later...
On 12/21/2019 at 11:05 AM, Hank_Hill said:

My first week in Dallas last year I got propositioned by a wealthy looking woman of at least 65 to join her in the bathroom at Inwood. I’m 26. Still wonder how many free trips I could’ve gone on by now if I’d said yes.

You would enjoy the Park Cities Hilton bar.

On 12/18/2019 at 2:38 PM, threesheets said:

RIP Loon.

 

 

here here

I was at The Loon's current location right before Thanksgiving.  The drinks are still stiff and pretty cheap.  The food is still great -- did a Rustica  pizza (with Jimmy's sausage) that visit -- very legit.  It's the same guys working in the kitchen.  Cliff sold out a while back, but I hear he still drinks there regularly.

  • 4 weeks later...

Had another Rustica pizza and (allegedly) a couple (maybe more) of cocktails with a friend at The Loon tonight.  Fun place. 

  • 5 months later...

Wanted to mix in some exercise with drinking tonight. Did a 5 mile loop from my house to Strangeways-Ships-Lakewood Landing

 

landing was booming. Food menu at the Landing after 11 is “corn dogs only”
 

image.gif.46ca781a4b61c3f825f1589e351e8ad5.gif

 

ships has cocktails now which hurts my brain but it was definitely still a townie bar right out of a The Hold Steady album. 

  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

Not sure this qualifies but didn’t know where to put it. It appears that that weirdo location on Lemmon near Bob’s that has been a half-dozen concepts from Tallywhackers to Eggselent Cafe appears to have re-opened as the “new” Stoneleigh P. I loved Stoneleigh P but that seems like a really fucking weird landing spot.

  • 1 year later...

Went to Ships for old times sake. A lone star bottle costs $5. You can still get in a fight near the pool table but I’m losing my edge. 

  • 4 weeks later...
On 5/15/2024 at 2:54 PM, C-Man said:

Not sure this qualifies but didn’t know where to put it. It appears that that weirdo location on Lemmon near Bob’s that has been a half-dozen concepts from Tallywhackers to Eggselent Cafe appears to have re-opened as the “new” Stoneleigh P. I loved Stoneleigh P but that seems like a really fucking weird landing spot.

Considering the Stoneleigh is nowhere nearby. 

On 7/19/2025 at 10:06 PM, Firemans4Horn said:

Went to Ships for old times sake. A lone star bottle costs $5. You can still get in a fight near the pool table but I’m losing my edge. 

So glad I stopped drinking when a longneck was $2 most places.

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