Made a reservation for my wife's birthday, and once again it was awesome! We absolutely love this…read moreplace. The drinks are on point, and the atmosphere is great. Highly recommend!

I went to this place with a couple of friends one night and it definitely exceeded my expectations!…read moreThere are not a ton of places that you can get a good craft cocktail in Bloomington but this is definitely one of them. You do have to make sure you get a reservation, which can be tricky but if you do it's worth it. There is a time limit on the reservation, but there's plenty of time for you to enjoy a couple drinks and take in the atmosphere. It's a really small spot, but the vibes are strong. They give you popcorn to munch on while you sip your drinks and the noise of the upstairs is completely drowned out. I highly recommend checking this place out.

If I lived around here this would easily be one of my go-to bars. They have a full bar plus 10 or…read moreso craft beers on tap and a PBR tap inside an old Chevy on the other side of the bar. Cozy, chill vibes, great low lighting, clean, unique decor...idk about the deer, but there's a lil something for everyone.  While we were there, the music made me feel like I was at The Bronze. They also have shuffleboard, ski ball, and foosball tables. Note: They do card everyone and ask for proof of vaccination. This is a great place to hang out with friends. All love.

Pretentious bar. No go. Lame. Friends from out of town wanted a nice bar. They accused us of being…read morea bar crawl. We were not. In fact rather aggressive. Bloomington deserves better.

I love this place. I want to own it or simply move in. Badly…read more This is a day drinkers paradise: peanut shells on the floor, solid selection of taps, natural light from street windows (but not too much) and a salty and well seasoned bartender/owner/operator. This very tiny dive is stashed away between two popular destinations, so you might go right past it if you are not in-the-know. This is the kind of bar you belly up with a stool and make yourself at home. The owner will warm up to you after a couple drinks/tips and realizes you are not some college kid bar puker. Definitely one of B-Towns best kept secrets.

The Alley is one of the better bars in Bloomington. I really like the overall vibe and atmosphere…read more-- it's a great place to hang out with friends. The location is convenient, and it has a fun, welcoming feel that keeps me coming back. Definitely a solid choice for a night out!

I am a millennial and probably too old to be here on a Saturday night, but there we were! DJ Bongo…read morewas lighting it up. It almost feels like a speak easy with the not-super-obvious entrance. I like that there are smaller, more intimate spaces for conversations in the Cellar in addition to a small dance floor. I loved the twinkly lights and the vibes. Also, coming from Indy my jaw was on the floor at drink prices -- amazing. What took the cake? A SLUSHIE machine that actually still had slushie drinks in it.

One of my favorite bars in town! Whenever we go out we always make a stop at the root cellar for…read morethe cheap drinks and lively atmosphere. I always suggest going on a dance party night or a themed night because it is always more fun that way. The bartenders are a little rude but that is to be expected from a packed bar on a Saturday night where you aren't trying to get good service just a quick cheap drink

Two weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to go out with the MBA program and had the best time that I…read morehave had in Bloomington. Shelby took care of our entire party and Sarah was so sweet. Could not recommend this place enough. 5/5.

Bouncers are weird and touchy, asked to pat down my girl friends but not me... would not recommend…read moreto the female crowd

My girlfriend are on a quest to visit all the lesbian bars in the country, and luckily my sister…read moregoes to school in Bloomington. The weekend we went happened to be Bloomington Pride, so this place was packed. A fun mixture of college students, 20 something's, and older folks. You enter through a tall fence off of an alleyway, so I'm guessing it's challenging to find if you don't know where you're going, but that's part of the fun. Of the 4 lesbian bars we've been to, this place wins for best decor hands down. We're talking zebra print walls, stuffed unicorn heads, yonic art, glow in the dark paint. Great vibes. They have a super cute outdoor patio as well, and I loved the little food truck on the patio that opens at 9 pm! Great waffle fries and hot sandwiches. Nothing hits as right as hot cheese when you're drunk. They have tons of fun specialty drinks on a menu behind the bar! Also a great mocktail menu for the sober community! Everyone was super welcoming in this space. The one complaint I have is the Dj... we came here to dance the night away and barely made it to 11 pm because the DJ didn't play any recognizable songs or songs with a dancing beat. There were only around 10 people on the dance floor at a given time. On the other hand, this is the first lesbian bar I've been in that has had an operational dance floor with anyone on it, so that's a win. I can't wait to come back again the next time I visit Bloomington!

Ok. Im biting my tongue some in this review. While i personally still do not agree with charging…read morefor mixers, i absolutely agree this place needs to do whatever is necessary to keep their doors open. Its a safe place to foster community of any kind. They support so many local organizations it makes my head spin. I do know the owners on a personal level. That doesnt sway my 5* vote. They are true women who do care. It is undeniably the best place to dance in BLM any day of the week. They do have great drink specials. Some of the bartenders make the best drinks in town, and its not over priced. Gay, straight, anywhere in between has a home here. Come join us.

I have been going there for years and always liked it. Service is good. The beer selection is…read moreexcellent, of course and they now have seltzers and liquor which is great. The food is pretty good. Fries are always great and their sliders are the best in town. But here is the bad: for the last year or so, the place stinks! I can only describe it as a burnt, rancid grease smell. It permeates the entire restaurant and sticks to clothes and hair. Don't plan on going anywhere afterward because you will stink. Please do something about the ventilation in the kitchen!

Really cool place - they have a ton of beer to try! Their beer menu (which was fully printed and…read moreavailable at our table - no scanning a QR code or squinting to read a board at the bar) had a whole page of beers by The Tap Brewery, followed by two pages of guest craft beer representing every major type of beer and with some unique options, all on tap. For drinks, cocktails (and a few mocktails) and a smaller selection of wine are also available. I wanted to get beer but I was kind of tempted by the cocktails. My first choice was a flight that included a mix of The Tap beers and guest beers, but the waiter came back after taking the order and told me that they could only do flights with their beers but could let me sample the beers I wanted to try, so I did that, and the samples were probably around 2 oz each so I basically got half a flight. After that, I ended up ordering a real flight of their beer. The Tap beers I tried were: Kill the Lights stout (regular and barrel-aged), Tapenator dark lager, Frost Bite winter ale, Nefarious Nectar blonde. Guest beers: Jacob Leinenkugel white mocha stout, Weihanstephaner Hefeweissbier, BrewDog Winter Staycation. Not going to waste space reviewing all of these, but they were all fantastic. I was really grateful that they let me sample so many! And they also have food. The menu isn't huge but does have some variety, and it's not just basic pub food. I had the ahi tuna crunch bowl and it was pretty good! It kind of had the vibe of stuff thrown together in a poke bowl, but it worked and I thought the fish was done really well. Our waiter was wonderful! He was really friendly and just the right amount of attentive. My friend and I stayed for a while talking after we had paid and he didn't rush us out at all. Granted, it was a pretty quiet night. We both really liked the vibe of the place. I would love to be back soon!

This location has been a popular spot in Bloomington since the late '90s. If you haven't been…read morethere, it's definitely worth checking out. There's always something going on.

Overcharging for drinks and under serve your drinks. Post that you open at 8 PM. And then have a…read moreline out the door past 8:45 PM and still not letting anyone in. That's fake af. This place is not worth your money. Management is not doing their job. DJ is never good. SoundCloud has better mixes

Ah yes - the Upstairs Pub. I've been there precisely once, and I never left. The first and only…read moretime I came here was because I am a sucker for roof decks, and this is the only place in Bloomington that has anything close to that. Anyway, I mosey on in on a Tuesday and am told that all drinks were $2. Damn. Blacked out underneath the eponymous stairs on an old cot some kindly doorman deposited me on, and next thing I know it's Wednesday. So I decided I'd head back up the stairs to the Upstairs Pub. Was promptly informed that Jello shots are a mere $2 each. So, rinse, repeat, understairs cot (cheap rent) and sleep and--voila--it is Thursday it is Upstairs Pub o'clock and now they are telling me the whole menu is $3. I think you know what happened. When I woke up Friday they told me that Coronas are only $2 any day of the week, and I'm free to sit on the porch and pretend I'm at the beach, even though I'm in the middle of Indiana, and the closest beach is a fetid lake and lakes don't have beaches they have shores. So I made the Pub my beach and I stayed the weekend and woke up on Monday and now they are telling me anything in a can is $3--including Sun King Osiris Pale Ale. This all happened a year ago. 11/10 close all the other bars. Only downside of the Pub is that a guy cannot survive subsisting on popcorn alone.

On January 19th, the night of the IU vs. Miami game, my friend and I decided to celebrate the win…read moreat Upstairs Pub. We are both Black women. Upon arriving, we showed our IDs to the first bouncer, who directed us to a second bouncer for an additional ID check before entering the pub. The second bouncer reviewed my ID and approved me without issue. For context, I am a current graduate student at IU, born in 1997. He then examined my friend's ID. She was born in 1998, yet he told her that her ID was fake and attempted to confiscate it. My friend firmly insisted that the ID was legitimate and asked what she could do to verify her identity. The bouncer claimed that the ID did not look like her and stated that she could prove it by using Face ID on her phone -- a request that made no sense, as Face ID can be used by anyone with access to a phone and is not a valid form of identification. While this interaction was taking place, white women were continuously passing us in line without being subjected to the same scrutiny or additional ID checks. The bouncer did not stop or question them at all. It is important to note that in my friend's ID photo, she was wearing a blonde wig and eyelash extensions, which she was not wearing that night. Despite these differences, it was still very clear that the ID belonged to her. Eventually, the bouncer stated that he was done speaking with us and suggested that we take the issue up with management. Once inside the pub, the first employee we spoke to was dismissive. He waved his hand at us as if to shut down the conversation and said, "You're here, you can just stay." We explained that the issue was not about being allowed inside -- it was about being racially profiled and feeling unsafe and unwelcome spending money at the establishment. As we attempted to explain this, a man standing next to the employee aggressively turned toward me and shouted, "WHAT," in a threatening manner. As a woman, I felt unsafe and intimidated. Engaging in a confrontation with a visibly intoxicated man who could physically harm me was not an option. Another employee, Connor, eventually stepped in and attempted to provide some comfort. He expressed empathy and stated that although he is white, he understands what it feels like to be a minority. While he cannot fully understand the experience of being a minority in America, I did appreciate his effort to acknowledge our feelings and the fact that he was the only employee who showed us any compassion. Based on this experience, I encourage people of color to be cautious when supporting Upstairs Pub, as our treatment made it clear that this is not an environment where we felt respected, protected, or supported.

My days of going to the Bluebird 2-3 times a week are long behind me, but as I was attending a show…read morethis weekend, I realized I have never done a Yelp review, and since it's potentially the best bar on the planet, I decided I needed to correct that oversight. During my college years, a good portion of my Bloomington memories are from the Bluebird. Fantastic bands, good friends and a somewhat aggressive number of drinks were the common theme multiple nights a week. Now that I'm OLD(er) the visits are less frequent, but when the right bands are in town and my calendar isn't slammed with adulting, I still find the Bird to be my favorite place in town. The original Bluebird was about half the size it is today. Several years ago, they bought out the restaurant next door and added a large additional space, leading to a pretty big bar/nightclub with a 'bar area' that includes a nice full bar, booths and tables, and the 'live music' portion which has a big stage, plenty of room for big crowds, and a warehouse vibe that is second to none. When you arrive, you'll start to see pictures of the amazing acts that run thru the Bluebird when they're just on the cusp of being 'huge' - from REM to Miranda Lambert to Gryffin, just about every genre is represented and it's nice to say 'I saw them with a few hundred of my friends' after you give ticketmaster your kidney to pay for their giant stadium shows. Reasonable drink prices, good people behind the bar, and the best bands currently playing the area, you can't go wrong with a night at the Bluebird. I wish I was still young and able to do multiple shows every week, but for now I'll just appreciate having it in my backyard so I can attend with the mood hits . Best bar in Bloomington. Probably anywhere.

A classic IU and Bloomington live music tradition since 1973! Gotta check it out if you're ever in…read moreB-town. Such greats as John Cougar Mellencamp to Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys have played there. If the walls of the place could only speak... and check out the walls for photos of the many famous bands that have played there. #TheBluebird