good bars/clubs to meet/hookup? (early to mid 20's) (Minneapolis: coupons, school)

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Clifford63

Smokey bars are a thing of the past with the statewide smoking ban.

Not in Georgia. I know a few places where people still smoke. I went to Bailey's Pub and Tavern in Kennesaw,GA. one night. There was so much cigarette smoke and I went home with stinging eyes and my clothes had the stench of cigarettes.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Not in Georgia. I know a few places where people still smoke. I went to Bailey's Pub and Tavern in Kennesaw,GA. one night. There was so much cigarette smoke and I went home with stinging eyes and my clothes had the stench of cigarettes.

When did this become the peanut farmer thread? Just kidding around, but you do see my point I hope.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Clifford63

When did this become the peanut farmer thread? Just kidding around, but you do see my point I hope.

Kennesaw is a suburb of Atlanta, not a hick town.

[krillbee]

Ditto on what everyone was saying about downtown bars not being the best place to meet women. I also agree on the part of women not being into meeting men out on the town as much, you have to find a sneakier way to get into their bubble.

Small bars do carry a little more of a personal feel. Getting the attention of a female there is probably more awkward since the smaller bars don't have that "anything goes" vibe quite as much, but at the same time if you muster yourself to work past the awkwardness, I believe this approach will score you a better success/failure rate in the long run. I have a hard time walking into a bar that is only 1/4 full on a Wednesday night though, and hitting on a girl when all eyes are on me. The other part about women in small bars is that they might want more than just a one nighter, since they see your approach as being more serious in that kind of environment. Conflict of interests is never fun to deal with.

Honestly, I don't recommend uptown bars if you are an outsider to that area. People in uptown tend to know each other and have a tight circle. There is this "stuck up" vibe that is present in most of the places within uptown.

For example: The Red Dragon is a good place to get hammered, but there just aren't enough facilities to bring forth a more socializing type of environment. Tables are low to the ground, making it harder to approach people and join them with a smooth transition. There are booths, which have an obvious limited seating capacity (4 people). The bar stool area is pretty small, and there are very few places that you can stand with your drink and talk to people, without being in the way of others and without looking awkward.

I've found that most uptown bars are notorious for having these types of problems, and are mainly intended for coworkers to get a drink after work, or for friends to meet up for a drink at night. There are no places to dance in uptown except for bar abilene, which has a pickup environment that feels similar to downtown.

I haven't been to the 7 corners area very much. I have vague recollections of it not being that bad a spot when I visited bars there back in college a couple times. The environment wasn't anything like downtown or uptown.

I've enjoyed dinkytown the few times I've been there, but you might feel out of place if you are nowhere near the age of a college student.

I haven't been to Nordeast much, but it was okay the few times I've been there so it seems like a decent place to try.

No bars particularly stand out to me as being very good for a pickup scene. Some are better than others, but none are consistently reliable. There are better places than the bar to pickup women, but the bar has it's own little element which makes things entertaining. Also, for some people the bar is the only place they really feel comfortable approaching strangers.

[dirk13]

I hadn't checked this thread for a little bit because I was out of town (and still am, Thailand baybee!!!!).

Anyway, just popping in quickly, I see some conflicting opinions here, and definitly some stuff I'd want to condense and think about (and/or if someone else wants to do that into a mega-post that's good too, heh).

Anyway, I'll read it through more closely when I get back home in a few days (since i'll probably be down to go out, since yeah, won't be 24 for that much longer, and I think while I am I still am eligible for the college crowd).

Anyway post more later, and yeah krill, i'll give ya a PM.

[dirk13]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

I have to agree with knke0402 on this one, either go to any bar in the 7 corners if you want to hook up with a college girl or go to a neighborhood bar if you just want to hook up with any girl. The club and bar scene downtown is the wrong place to try and meet someone. It can happen, sure, but do not expect it. As stated, those places tend to be 4 guys for every 1 girl and most of the girls go to just hang out. And if they are looking for fun the chances are that you are not it.

Check out the bars on Lyndale (Mort's, Rudoplh's, CC Club, Bulldog and maybe the Red Dragon or the Country Bar). These bars may or may not offer your ideal girl but I can guaranty that you will get your night of fun a whole lot easier here than at any of the bars downtown or Uptown (except for the Independent and the Uptown Bar).

Ok so fill me on what the 7 corners is? Because i'm not totally sure what it is. And also what are the good places to hit up there and why?

I've been to the Red Dragon amongst those Lyndale places and honestly if the other bars are anything like that I dont think it would be what i'm looking for. I mean, Red Dragon is great to go with people and get wasted, but it's not really condusive to going alone and meeting a girl (drunk or otherwise).

Again though I have trouble seeing how a plain old bar is good to meetup with people alone, I mean I don't often see cute girls by themselves at a plain bar very often.

If there's music and dancing like with a place like Drink at least you can approach them in a less ackward sense, as it's actually hard to stay together in that environment anyway.

And then there's the fact that there are two Drinks (and if I dont find a similar but superior place, I may go back). People keep saying the Downtown one sucks, but is the Uptown one any better? People said bad things about Uptown in general because it was clicky, so if I had to go back to Drink, which location would be best?

And again though, I actually liked the idea/setup of it, as I could get "familiar" with a girl without even having to talk, and usually as the night progressed people would get more and more loose and unhibited

So really it's more about the crowd and the people (which of course you cant control, even drink probably has both good and bad nights for that, I wonder which one I went out on). But I imagine there might be a similar place with on average better people. Maybe one in this seven corners place (I can handle people younger than me, I'm only 24, so for the most part maybe just a bit too old for 18-20, but that's about it).

[green_mariner]

The Red Dragon is considered a place to go and get hammered, but I look at it like this too. If I want to get hammered, I can go to the store, buy some beer, go back home and get hammered in my own home. I would be rather embarrassed to get drunk in public. As for meeting people, I normally go to places alone, so the Red Dragon would be a no for me.

[jonjacob_83]

Uptown is always a good bet. Check out Bar Abilene, Drink, Williams, Chino Latino, etc. All the bars in Uptown are fun or check out CC's Club and The Bulldog on Lyndale for a couple drinks.

[dirk13]

Originally Posted by jonjacob_83

Uptown is always a good bet. Check out Bar Abilene, Drink, Williams, Chino Latino, etc. All the bars in Uptown are fun or check out CC's Club and The Bulldog on Lyndale for a couple drinks.

...So wait, now Uptown is a good bet? I thought it wasn't good?

I actually did give it a try last night though.

I went to drink first just to compare it to the downtown one, and there was nothing going on, I mean there was no dance floor (although I had recalled there being one). Funny that I suddenly care so much about that, since I really don't dance, but it seems like a great and easy social lubricant when combined with heavy drinking.

I waited around until about 10ish to see if something would happen but there was nothing. Felt more like a restaraunt. Atlhough there was also no cover.....

There were ALOT of hot girls there, but I dunno, without loud music and dancing, I didn't see myself really approaching them (and most of them were with people anyway).

I then went to bar Abilene because it did have a dance floor (one that did start to get going around 10ish).

It wasn't half bad, but I would say on the whole the Downtown drink may have been better. Somehow I felt a little more smothered at Abiline and it felt like there were less possibilities (although the one girl I ended up sharing a kiss with was signifigantly cuter than the one at Drink, she kind of dissapeared, well I won't say dissapeared as much as ended up with a different guy doing the exact same thing, and probably ended up going home without him or in more likelyhood dissapeared to go vomit somewhere....since she did seem a little too messed up).

[krillbee]

This weekend I went to:

The Imperial Room - nice multilevel bar, has lots of potential, but we didn't stay there long.
The Lounge - I do not recommend this place. Not a very friendly crowd. Smells like incense everywhere
First Ave / Too Much Love - Had a good time. This place is usually pretty fun, especially if you go with a friend or two.

Someone please tell me what these uptown bars have to offer, other than different beer specials and patios (which dont do jack in the winter time).