The Blue Monkey

Location: Two Locations

• 2012 Madison Ave. Memphis, TN 38104
• 513 S Front St. Memphis, TN 38103

Phone Number: (901) 272-2583
Cover Charge: $5
Food: Full Menu - Great Pizzas
Entertainment: Live Music, Pool Tables
Crowd: Variable. College-Middle Age
Service: Good Service
Cleanliness: Clean
Drink Specials: $3.50 well dirty martinis
Smoker Friendly: Yes
Review:

The Blue Monkey is a big hit among Memphians. It is located in Midtown on the corner of Madison and N. Morrison which means that it's a great place for college students as well as older people who need to get out of the house but don't feel like braving the downtown area. Limited parking is located behind the bar on N. Morrison. If that fills up, your only other option is to park around the surrounding neighborhood. It's not a far walk, so don't worry. The Blue Monkey has a wheelchair ramp that enters the back door, but most people use the front.

Immediately upon entering, you are usually greeted with the loud music of a live band playing on the stage to your left. Directly ahead are some wooden tables, and the bar is on the right. If the tables in the main room are full, just check the spare room on your far right - There may be some free tables there. Once you find a seat, decide what you want to drink. The Blue Monkey has around 35 beers on tap and a full bar, so they will more than likely be able to accomodate any of your beer drinking or liquor sipping needs. I enjoy a dirty martini occasionally, and they have a surprisingly good vodka dirty martini for only $3.50 a pop. If you're hungry, they have pretty darn good food. I recommend any of their pizzas.

The Blue Monkey is a medium sized bar. If you don't enjoy bars that are so crowded your shoulders are always touching somebody else, this place may be great for you. You can move to the very back and shoot some pool, or if you're a loner, they have some of those electronic bar-top games that will keep you company. They also have TV's that are turned on to sports for those sitting in front of the bar so you don't have to miss out on your favorite team.

I don't go to this bar as often as I probably should. It's reasonably priced for Midtown, not incredibly crowded, and it has all of the entertainment and beer to keep me happy. If you're in the area, give it a go and let me know what you think about it. I know you won't be let down.

Anything Else: I have not been to their downtown location - I will update and include a review of the downtown Blue Monkey after I visit it.
Website: N/A

The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium

One of the Greats.
Location: Two Locations

• Downtown - 130 Peabody Place, Memphis, TN 38103
• Cordova - 1400 N Germantown Pkwy, Cordova, TN, 38016

Phone Number:

• Downtown - (901) 523-7468
• Cordova - (901) 755-5530

Cover Charge: Weekend nights usually, $3-5, free for members. (See "Anything Else" below)
Food: Full Menu - heard rumors the Cordova Saucer scored a 40% on their health inspection. It doesn't stop me though, and it may only be rumors.
Entertainment: Occasional Live Music, TV's, Pool Tables (Downtown Only), Darts (Both Locations)
Crowd: Wide variety.
Service: Some rude waitresses and some incredibly friendly waitresses during slow and peak hours. Though sometimes you need to take your own orders to the bar during peak times (Pint-Nite: Mondays, and mostly downtown only.)
Cleanliness: Clean - though see "Food:" section above.
Drink Specials: All nights features a "Fire Sale." This is one beer that sells for $2.75 a pint. Excellent deal if you ask me. The Fire Sales are usually very good beers that you cannot find at normal locations. Pint Nite (Mondays) sells most draft pints for $2.50 a piece. Where else can you find beer such as Newcastle or Young's Double Chocolate Stout for that price?
Smoker Friendly: Yes
Review:
If you're a beer drinker, this bar is for you. If you aren't, a visit or two will turn you into one. This bar has two fine locations - one in the middle of the downtown, and one in the Cordova suburbs. Both locations are great, but each one has its own personality. The downtown location has more of a 'youthful' vibe to it. The big entry room has pool tables, a stage, and picnic table style seating as well as bar stools that face outside. The top half of the side walls open to create an 'open-air' feel. The inside bar area has a long bar with seating and tables scattered throughout. You can find a couple dartboards in the back corner if you're into that. The music playing over the sound system is louder and the song selection caters to the younger crowd.

The Cordova location is similar, but a few things are different. I've noticed the music is a little less loud and caters more to the 'slightly older than the younger' crowd, if that makes sense. The Cordova saucer is generally less crowded and offers an outdoor patio which is amazing in the warmer months. They cover it and put heaters inside during the cooler months. Both Saucers offer the same thing, so both are excellent in my opinion.

The Flying Saucer is also known for its fine-lookin' waitresses. They come ready to take your order in a tight Saucer t-shirt and a plaid school-girl miniskirt. Who can complain about that?

So what if you don't visit on a Pint Nite and you don't particularly care for that night's Fire Sale? They have hundreds of different beers available. Some you have tried, while most you haven't. You can pay anywhere from 3.50 up to 20-30 bucks for a beer if you so choose. They have the beers categorized by types in their beer menu for easy location and selection.

There really isn't much else to say except that The Flying Saucer is a Memphis bar giant. Most everybody knows and loves going to this place. So if you feel up to a fun night with your friends, or if you want to go out and meet people, this is a great place to do it. They have a good reputation and they definitely hold up to it.

Anything Else: Join the U.F.O. club for $14. It gets you a BEERKNURD T-shirt and a personal member's card. Swipe the card when you purchase a new beer, and it will keep track of what you have bought. After you purchased 200 different beers (limit 3 per night), you are rewarded not only with a party in your honor (they'll cover $100 of your bar tab), but also you will receive a plate on the wall with your name on it, letting the masses know what you have accomplished. Becoming a member also eliminates all cover fees. That alone makes it worth it if you're a frequent visitor.
Website: http://www.beerknurd.com/

Neil's Bar & Grill

Location: 1835 Madison Ave, Memphis, TN 38104
Phone Number: (901) 278-6345
Cover Charge: No cover
Food: Full Menu - great drunken appetizers
Entertainment: Frequent live music, Pool Tables, Shuffleboard, Darts, Game Room, TV
Crowd: Mostly college age with some older folks too.
Service: Good service
Cleanliness: One of the cleaner dive-bars. The bathrooms could use a little work...
Drink Specials: $5.00 domestic pitchers, cheap liquor.
Smoker Friendly: Yes
Review:
I would call Neil's your "Steak & Potatoes" of the Midtown bars. It's a very popular place among college students in the area, and has everything you need in a bar and not much more. Neil's is located on the corner of Madison and South McLean and has plenty of parking on the same block. It has an outdoor patio that's perfect for the warmer days, a main bar room, a game room, and a music room.

One of the first reasons to enjoy a night at Neil's is its prime location. If you don't feel much like fighting the downtown crowd and live in the Midtown area, Neil's is just a few minutes away from a cold beer. The second reason to enjoy Neil's is that as long as I have been going there, I've never been charged a cover. So if you don't like it, you're not $5 in the hole. The last reason among many others to have fun at Neil's is their $5 domestic pitchers. They have very fairly priced drinks also. If I'm feeling like getting drunk fast and cheap, I'll order a long island iced tea and they'll load it up with alcohol. It might not be the best tasting beverage, but it sure does the trick for $8.00.

The live music is entertaining also. They usually feature pretty good cover bands at Neil's. While listening to the music, you can order a batch of fried pickle chips (which are amazing), fried mushrooms (which I have heard were equally as good), or you can order any of your typical bar entrees. If you don't feel much like eating, they have plenty of pool tables - if you keep your eye out, you'll be able to snag a table without any troubles.

There is plenty of seating in the main room. They have a handful of bar stools on the bar, a nice size of green booth seats, and some other tables scattered around the room. If it ever fills up, people usually spill into the back music room which has equally as much seating.

The service is very friendly as well. The bartender made an effort to remember my name after only seeing me for the second time. She also remembered my drink and food order from two weeks prior. If you're not sure what you'd like, just ask the workers and they'll be glad to recommend you their favorite appetizer.

If I happened to make Neil's sound like a sparkling gem, I didn't give it proper justice. Consider it a dusty quartz crystal half-buried in the ground. It's not the fanciest place, but it is a lot of fun.


Anything Else: Get the fried pickles.
Website: N/A

Pat O'Brien's - A Beale Street Staple

Location: 310 Beale St, Memphis, TN
Phone Number: (901) 529-0900
Cover Charge: Dependant on time of evening & entertainment. Expect to pay $5 to get in.
Food: Full Menu - Cajun Themed
Entertainment: Piano Bar, Live Music
Crowd: Variable. 21-50s not uncommon
Service: Excellent service when not crowded, Decent service when full.
Cleanliness: Clean
Drink Specials: None that I'm aware of. 3-4$ domestics. More for imports. Small variety on tap.
Smoker Friendly: Yes
Review: Update: As of 8/10/08, Pat O's is closed for good. I'll leave the review up if you're curious - I'm sure the other venues are nearly alike too.

Pat O'Brien's (or Pat O's for short) is a Beale Street must. This bar and restaurant is a replica of the famous original location in the French Quartier in New Orleans, but can also be found in other exotic locations such as Orlando and Cancun. It's motto is, "Have Fun!" and they try hard to do just that. The bar itself is modeled from the old-style French architecture and features brick walls, stone walkways, elaborate ironwork, and even it's famous "Fire Fountain."

Inside, you can find different rooms that satisfy any of your social needs: a main bar, piano bar, patio (covered in the winter, a courtyard restaurant, and an upstairs suite. The piano bar is where I find myself most when I visit this bar. Hosts and hostesses dressed to theme serve you drinks while you sit back and join in during your typical piano-bar songs like "Sweet Caroline," "Piano Man," "Tiny Dancer," etc. I also recommend standing up and show your discourage with two thumbs-down or if you're more adventurous, two middle fingers up, while they play "Rocky Top."

Drinks are a little pricier than your favorite hole-in-the-wall bar, but this is to be expected because it's one of the more popular bars on Beale. They don't have a very wide selection of draft beers, but they have just about everything you need in bottles. They'll also make you just about any mixed drink you can think up. Speaking of drinks, if it's your first time there, ask for one of their world-famous "Hurricane" drinks. You can get it in the specialty glass and take it home as a souvenir too.

You'll find a wide range of ages present at Pat O'Brien's. Look left and you'll see a bachelorette party, look right and you'll see an older couple sitting and smiling in the corner. I brought my parents here not too long ago and we all had a great time. This just shows that no matter what your age, Pat O's probably has something to offer you.

So what are the negatives? I'm a little short on cash coming right out of college, so if I don't make it in before 10:00 PM, I'm usually stuck paying a $5 cover. Also, If I don't make it in before midnight, I'm fighting the crowd to find a seat. That's about it though... Because of its novelty, I give Pat O's five out of five beers.
Oh and before I forget, if you parked in the Peabody parking garage, Pat O's validates. Save yourself a few bucks and get that done before you leave.

Anything Else: Ask for a 'Hurricane' if you haven't yet.
Website: http://www.patobriens.com

The P & H Cafe

Location: 1532 Madison Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee 38104
Phone Number: 901.726.0906
Cover Charge: Not on my visit, but $5 during live entertainment.
Food: Full Menu
Entertainment: Pool, Darts, Live Music*, Karaoke*
Crowd: Mid-town Memphis "Artsy" Crowd. 21-30somethings
Service: Order and receive drinks at the bar - Bartender comes around to collect empty glasses/pitchers
Cleanliness: Typical Dive Bar
Drink Specials: Cheap Drinks

• Domestics - $2.50
  
• Imports - $3.75
  
• Pitchers - $6.00 (Bud, But Light, Bud Select)
  
• $5.00 PBR Pitchers

Smoker Friendly: Yes
Review: This decent-sized dive bar is located in the Memphis Mid-Town district across from the "Strings-n-Things" music shop on Madison. It's well-disguised. I've driven past it many times without even knowing it existed. Tonight at the smokey P & H was Karaoke Night. Songs were being sung by a younger crowd choosing artists such as Lisa Loeb, Journey, the Cranberries, Wham!, and R. Kelly, to name a few. Though a server didn't come to the tables to take drink orders (possibly due to the large amount of people), the service behind the bar was very quick and friendly.

It's very obvious that this bar is located in a very artfully-cultural area. The ceiling is scattered with charicatures of what looked to be a few famous people, christmas lights are hung from the walls in front of a mural of crouching and kneeling crowds that circle the front room. The walls feature unaligned old framed pictures and artwork, and a few dining booths also run along the sides. When I got there at 11:00 PM, tables and chairs were not easy to come by, so if you're bringing a group, either come a little earlier or plan on standing.

The entrance room is where the entertainment performs. Behind the entrance room is a bottle-necked bar where you place your drink orders. It has a bunch of stools and is long enough to hold a crowd. Behind the bar "hall" is a game room. There are 2-3 pool tables, two dart boards, a jukebox, a Galactica arcade game, and the restrooms. Does the city have codes for dive-bar restrooms or do they leave that to the patron's disgression, because the men's restroom was exactly what you'd expect at a place like this. Let's be honest though, nobody comes to hole-in-the-wall bars for their bathrooms...

The crowd was really entertaining. It was fun watching the same 4-5 drunk people get up and attempt to sing their requested songs. The M.C. who was leading the karaoke was entertaining as well. He seemed to know most of the people who came into the bar. Overall, it was a fun place. Will this place still be fun to me in 5-10 years? Probably not, but the staff seemed incredibly friendly and thankful for the chance to give a fun night. I wouldn't recommend this bar to 30-40+ year old tourists who want to experience the city. However, if you are 30-40, happen to own a few smocks and easels, and enjoy a younger crowd, this place might be for you. As for me, I can't call it my favorite bar, but I wouldn't mind coming back in the future.
Anything Else: Free WiFi
Website: http://www.pandhcafe.com/home.asp

*Live Music and Karaoke on specified nights only. See website or call for details.

Welcome to Memphis Bars!

About the Reviewer:
My name is Ryan, I'm a local 23 year old, fresh out of college, who wants to get to know Memphis' night life a little better. I've heard too many people say, "Memphis is a boring city" for me to keep quiet any longer, and I'd like to prove to myself and others that there are amazing places (and not so amazing places) that probably haven't even been discovered yet.

How do I review? I try to take note of things that just about everybody looks for in a bar, whether they know it or not. I also try to keep in mind all the different types of people that may want to visit. This includes college students, out-of-towners, the couple celebrating their anniversary with a few drinks, the suburbians, the midtowners... Obviously I can't cater to every group, so I have found the best way for me to do this is to present it as I see it. Hopefully after reading a review, you have a good idea of what the bar is about, and what they have to offer you.

Also, once a bar has been reviewed, the review isn't permanent. If I go back and experience something totally different, I will change both the review and the rating. This can be good or bad, but I believe 'living reviews' are the only way to do it.

If out of towners are interested in a specific bar, I'd love to try to review it before you make the trip. Additionally, if you want to critique the way I review, just send me an email and let me know what's up.

I'm not paid to do this, the bars I'm reviewing don't know I'm coming, and they also don't know me, so they don't have any influence in my decision. But if you do wanna pay me...

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