Miguel's Bar and Grill

I know I am going to out myself here, but any regular reading is about to see how far behind we are at writing these blogs posts.  Lucky for you, we make notes while in the bars, so we can refer back later about things we liked.  We visited this bar on Christmas Day...after the family festivites had settled down.  What better way to celebrate the birth of Jesus than to sit at a bar we had never heard of and drink a frosty brew in His name!  If you aren't a believer, thats fine too, in that case we were just drinking a frosty brew because thats what we like to do.  I am so off topic.  Miguels is in a little shopping center on Jacolyn Drive and Johnson Avenue hidden away in a little tiny spot near the end.  Size is deceiving here, because the place is long inside.  Right in the door you may think you have entered the wrong place, because apparently they make a killer pizza too.  Most of their business appears to be takeout, and we were far too stuffed from all the holiday meals to waste precious belly space on more food.  This place is a little run down, but they make the most of the space with good atmosphere.  Lots of TVs behind the bar, and only a few people brave enough to drink on Christmas to share the night with us,  Luckily alcohol does not take a holiday.  The people that were here seemed to be a younger crowd.  Again, that might be because of the holiday, might just be a rad place to kick it any day of the year.  Regardless, the place smelled delicious on account of the pizza being crafter about 10 feet from the bar.  No complaints about that.  For some reason I put in my notes that they had Busch Light on tap.  I'm not sure why I wrote that, but since it is there...I felt it necessary to mention.  Jen and I both really liked this place, and if you live around those parts, I would drive over there and check it out.  Also, someone should tell me if their pizza is good.

Mahoneys

Jen and I went here on our first date.  Yep, its true, I take girls to the bar on dates.  What a romantic I am.  Actually, this was part two of our first date, part one was also a bar/restaurant/awesomeness out in Sutliff, Iowa...which I won't review here as it is outside the scope of this here bar tour.  After drinking a few PBR's at Sutliff Tavern, we moseyed on back to civilization, and Jen suggested Mahoneys.  Now, if you haven't read our review of J M O'Malleys yet, then before reading this, please acquaint yourself with that review before going on any further.  Read it?  Read on:  Mahoneys is a great example of what the bars in the Irish District should be like.  It, like its cousin O'Malleys is a hole in the wall, nothing special, small, regulars only type hangout on the weekends, but that doesn't stop you from being able to walk in here, and not feel like the floor might collapse under you.  O'Malleys is small, and admittedly, it has a flaw, and that is parking.  However, they work with what they have, and they work with it well.  It is nice inside and out.  It makes good use of the little space it has, and we had great service.  The bartender even took the time to tell us about a Chili Cook-off they were having the following weekend...seeing as she didn't recognize us, she assumed we didn't know about it...and we didn't.  This is the type of stuff that we love on the bar tour.  Of course, this all happened well before the bar tour was conceived, but the point is this.  How do you grow your bar, and make people want to come back with new friends?  Warm up to the people who aren't regulars!  Serve them drinks!  Engage them in hearty conversation!  Tell them about the Chili Cook-off or whatever silly but awesome ideas your bar happens to be hosting in the near future to help promote yourself.  I don't ask a lot of the bars I go to, but judging by how bad O'Malleys was at the critical things I want in a bar, I think they could take a lesson from their neighbor down the street.  I don't have the highest hopes for Paddy O'Rourks, which is around the corner from Mahoneys, but I will keep an open mind.  I personally think on top of the fact that we had good service here, its pretty cool that a year later I can remember the details of our experience here down to the Chili Cook-off because they made a good impression.  Moving on...

The outside of Mahoneys

Longbranch

I know what you are thinking.  This is a hotel.  Ah yes, but it also has a bar.  This bar also has karaoke often.  This bar also has really cheap food almost every day of the week.  We are talking taco buffets, or nacho platters, or anything else you could possibly want.  The place is straight out of the late 70s and the decor has never been updated, but that doesn't mean you can't have a good time!  Jen and I went here quite a few times about a year ago whenever we had large groups of people, or generally wanted some karaoke craziness in a unique place.  Its definitely not your typical bar, but everyone seems to be on the same level here, and there is no judging.  Also, there doesn't appear to be regulars in the way that some hole in the wall bars get.  We haven't been back here in a few months...I'm thinking it might be time for a revisit.  Check it out.

Sidenotes

I went through and added some random pictures we have taken along the way to previous blog posts.  So if you are a regular reader (all three of you) and want to see some of the pictures make sure to browse through some older posts and see the additions.  You can click most of the pictures and make them full size if you would like.

Also, I added a section to the right on the main page that allows you to filter out meaningless blog entries (like this one) and just see the reviews.  So if you are new to the site and don't want to read things like this, give that link a click and these entries will go *POOF*

La Cantina

This place rocks!  If you haven't been here, then please go.  This is by far the place we frquent most often, so if you go here, look for us sitting on the corner of the bar.  Most of the time when we tell people we are going here, they respond "Where?" and then we have to describe where it is at.  It is on the corner of 1st Avenue and 2nd Street, down a couple doors from Gringos, and next door to Red's Public House on 2nd Street.  This is a fairly new place, but with all the right ingredients to make it great.  The owners are nice, the people who work here rock, and the food is pretty good too.  It is defiantely traditional mexican fare, as in, not Carlos O Kelleys, but it is great anyway.  I have had a few things on the menu that made me wonder if I had gotten the right thing I ordered, but I still went with it, and usually come out the other side happy.  Jen and I LOVE LOVE LOVE their steak tacos.  She often posts on their Facebook wall about how she wants them, or just had them, or had a dream about them.  Anyway, pretty kid friendly, restaurant style before 9 PM, and then thing get more bar-like after that, so you get the best of both worlds here.  Live music on the weekends quite often, and many specials as well.  New, hip, vibrant, it is just what we love in a bar.  Check this place out for sure.

P.S. I took my Dad here right before Christmas when they were in town visiting and I convinced him to have the steak tacos and I believe his exact words to the bartender after finishing were, "I don't even like Tacos and those were good."  True Story.

Just Coz

What a strange little bar!  I have driven by this bar hundreds of times in my years living in Cedar Rapids and I guess in the back of my head I knew it was a bar, but I assumed no one went here, and that it was a dump.  I was wrong about both!  The one thing that I hated about this bar, is its terrible parking situation.  There is basically on street parking, on the side street, and thats it.  We parked across the street and down some in an empty parking lot and then walked.  Since it is on 6th Street, there is no on street parking there, only on the side street.  Anyway, parking nightmare aside, what a great place this was!  Everyone knew we were out of place, but they were all really friendly, and happy to include us in the festivities.  This place is the self-proclaimed "Home of the Depth Charge" which also happened to be $2.00 that night, so of course we had to try one.  Jen didn't like it, but I thought it was alright.  It is a 12 ounce draw of beer with a shot of Rootbeer Schnapps dropped in and then consumed bomb style (a.k.a chugging if mom is reading)  I'll tell you what, it wasn't half bad, and when the regular draws of beer are $2.50, and don't include extra liquor, you would be stupid not to just get the bomb and drink it instead.  The bartender was super friendly, and came over to us many times to refill out drinks, Jen played a games of pool, and we talked with a few of the poeple hanging around.  All in all not a bad place.  We had heard from a few people that this place is kind of rough around the edges and sometimes doesn't have the greatest crowd hanging out there, but we didn't experience any of that.  Blame it on Christmas spirit maybe, but we enjoyed it.  Sorry, no pictures of this one, you'l have to go yourself and check it out.

Just Jules Pub and Restaurant

This was one of the bars that we discovered while driving around randomly one day looking for bars.  It is not really hidden, but it doesn't scream bar from the street in the traditional sense, and so we didn't know much about it.  After discussing with a few people, I guess other people know about it, so its not a complete secret.  It is just up the street from Cedar Rapids' best kept secret - Homeport.  When you walk inside the first thing you will notice is how big it is.  It is suprisingly big.  The place is pretty run down in the sense that is is dated, and the owners clearly haven't put a dollar into any kind of renovations since opening.  However that actually didn't turn us off to this place.  Super big bar, and a pretty nice atmophere...all things considered.  Jen mentioned that in the womens bathroom there are not stalls, but instead two toilets separated by a cinder block half wall, which she found akward.  Beer was cheap, and the service was ok.  I noticed quite a few times that the bartender left her perch behind the bar to walk over to a group right next to us and ask them if they wanted more shots/drinks/etc and walked right past us a few times without asking if we wanted another.  They were clearly regulars, so they got first dibs on service I guess.  However, she did come over at least twice in the time we were there and get us a couple more, so all was not lost.  We would probably go here again.

P.S. I have a picture of their menu too, I will upload that later as it is pretty dark, and I will need to Photoshop it to make it more readable.

Just Jules Pub

Jerseys Pub and Grub

Fairly new bar within the past 5 years.  It sprang up around the time the Yellowbook traffic and housing started popping up out on C Street.  It is a ways out there, at least from Marion, but it is a great place.  It has an open airy feel inside, very industrial, but in a nice way.  Jen said it felt like a Buffalo Wild Wings, and I tend to agree...except this is clearly a bar that serves a full menu, not a restaurant that has a bar like BWW.  I have had their food many times and was pretty impressed with it.  They have wing nights where they are cheap, and drink specials during each of the sports seasons that will surely satisfy your craving to drink and watch your sport of choice.  They have big cushy booths around the outside against the windows, and they are a great idea.  It is a little bit far outside of town for a lot of people, but it is nice enough, and new enough, that I think a lot of people would be comfortable here.  Give it a try and decide for yourself!



Image from Google Maps