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OK, I know what some of you are thinking: this is a totally stacked deck in favor of Mpls. 30,000 downtown residents vs 6,000 (do they have that many yet or are they still in the upper 5,000s?), now that's just not fair. Just goes to show every now and then that size doesn't matter. So what set this poll off was the fact that there are no great bars in the immediate downtown neighborhood where I reside and bike several blocks north to find the closest spot worth going to was way too packed (bound to happen, I know). So I figure I try the Irish pub across the street which was looking empty and to which I had never been. Eh, it was a generic Irish bar with bad American music. I figure I'll get a cheap beer and go with a PBR: $4. Try to think about where to go from there and there's no place close on the way back. I end up going to another soulless "pub" and I bite the bullet: $4 for a PBR. That's $10 for two measly PBRs w/ tip, but at least this place has wi-fi. This made me realize how well covered Downtown Columbus is with great bars while over here in Downtown Minneapolis they are few in number and spread out on the far-flung edges with only one being centrally located between the two major north-south commercial streets.
My criteria for great bar are: great ambiance, affordable prices, and a low-to-no count of white collars, i.e. a good non-mainstream bent. Remember: these are downtown bars only!
Mpls has:
Club Jager (great bar/patio, staff and background music not to mention Hamm's as a cheap fallback if you don't make their HH which lasts til 7 with a very mixed crowd)
The Depot Tavern (not the cheapest but it's the closest place which offers respite from all of the overpriced and overdressed joints surrounding it like "Seven" whose name alone I find annoying)
Grumpy's (it doesn't hold a candle to Grumpy's NE, but it's pretty good and they have the Monday Minnesota beers deal with severely discounted local brews and tallboys are $3.50)
Pizza Luce (OK, it's a restaurant-bar but there's enough of a chill crowd and they have $3 PBRs and tasty pizza by the slice)
19 Bar (beer is dirt cheap here at $2 for a small "pint" of Grainbelt or Schell's, but it's really just a typical gay bar masquerading as an alt/indie dive and the patrons give it away pretty quickly, so I'm not fooled)
Well, that's about it unless I'm making a glaring omission.
Cbus has:
Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails (historic Columbus themed restaurant and bar which is dimly lit with ornate wooden shelving covering the wall behind the bar where a Bottoms Up is always $3 and delicious (Old Crow and RC cola with a maraschino cherry)
El Camino Inn (has kind of a 70s California desert town bar vibe with cheap drinks, Mexican beers like Carta Blanca and Cucapa and taco truck quality food items)
Dirty Frank's Hotdog Palace (eat quirky $3 hotdogs, drink $3 -real- PBR tallboys at $3 or a bottle Schiltz, which I think is $ something and listen to the jukebox which only features local bands)
Wall Street (I was stunned that Downtown Mpls not only doesn't have a lesbian dance club, but not even a lesbian bar, while Cbus has both. This would be the former and while it's not exactly my scene as a dude how can you not love a lesbian dance club where you have to enter from a dark, stinky alley and they'll even be nice to you if you are too and not a even a lesbian. Props.)
Betty's Bar (It's what Cuzzy's wishes it was: a true downtown dive. Bad wood paneling, $1.50 12 oz-ers of PBR, and some hardcore drinkers. $4 for a PBR? Nope: thrown on another .50 cents and you'll be on your 3rd.)
Little Palace (Retro a la Mad Men with a decent beer selection, bartenders playing lots of good indie
tunes and solid food)
The Main Bar (No frills dive with cheap beer and big-ass corn dogs)
And there have been a couple more that opened which seem very promising, along with a 16 bit arcade and bar set to open. So there you have it: not only are great Cbus bars better distributed for their downtown residents, but they have more unique, higher quality offerings. Bulldog? Eli's? The Local? Get outta here!
The difference between the two is that downtown Minneapolis caters to professionals, sports fans, the club scene, and people from out of town. One will have a hard time finding a true bar.
I know it'll end up being an unpopular stance, but I definitely prefer going out in Columbus to going out in Minneapolis. Minneapolis wins a lot of rounds vs. Columbus, but not this one (for me).
Adding to the bar scene Minneapolis has way more "city" to offer than Columbus. No comparison.
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) Tell me, exactly who gives a s**t, one way or another? (
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