1. Big V’S Saloon
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 645-8472
Address: 1567 University Ave. West
Description: Big V’s Saloon features live music from local and national indie bands every weekend and some weekdays, and karaoke on Sunday and Tuesday. The decor of the bar is fabulous—the walls feature an old menu from the 1940s, while the bar itself is a classy antique curved wooden affair with a mirrored backdrop. The placing of the stage is a little inconvenient, tucked back where only patrons in the back room can actually see the stage, but considering that the saloon doesn’t usually have a cover charge of more than a few dollars, not many people complain.
2. Station 4
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 298-0173
Address: 201 East Fourth St.
Description: Station 4 features local rock and some national touring bands. The club is divided into two parts, one with a long bar with lots of dartboards and the other for the music. There is a large stage and lots of seating for the young bar crowd, who on weekends fill the club. Station 4 always runs shuttles to Wild hockey games and other big events at Xcel Energy Center. The bar includes separate areas for all ages and for 21+.
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Address: 1601 University Ave.
4. Wild Onion
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 291-2525
Address: 788 Grand Ave.
Description: The Wild Onion is St. Paul’s attempt to show Minneapolis that the bigger city doesn’t have a monopoly on sweaty booze-fueled grinding—and it’s a very convincing attempt at that. By day, the Wild Onion is a mundane purveyor of beer and wings; at night, it comes alive with awkward dance moves the likes of which you haven’t seen since the last time your foot fell asleep.
5. The Dubliner Pub
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 646-5551
Address: 2162 University Ave. West
Description: The Dubliner Pub is an old-style Irish themed bar for its working-class industrial location. The cozy, box-shaped pub is painted green and has a beautiful long bar, where Irish, English, and domestic beers are on tap. There is also a small stage for Irish music on the weekends as well as darts and free popcorn.
6. Half Time Rec
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 488-8245
Address: 1013 Front Ave.
Description: The Half Time Rec is an authentic neighborhood Irish bar that attracts large crowds on the weekends for its live Irish music, numerous ales and stouts on tap, and boccie court in the basement. It features a long, U-shaped bar and an adjoining room with a stage for music Tuesday through Saturday (the show is free Tuesday through Thursday). At the Half Time Rec, patrons vociferously have fun. They frequently sing along with the music or get up and dance to the jig-inspiring Irish music. The Half Time Rec is a few miles from the major thoroughfares, but it is well worth the effort.
7. Artists’ Quarter
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 292-1359
Address: 408 St. Peter St.
Description: The Artists’ Quarter’s acoustics are great in its small basement space, the stage is big enough to hold a full piano and an accompanying band, and the bar serves cheap tap beer as well as wine and liquor. Primarily a haven for local jazz artists but occasionally featuring a national act, the club is a great place to stop by late at night to unwind—the bartenders are friendly, the cover charge is usually under $5 during the week, and most of the bands that play here are a lot of fun.
8. Great Waters Brewing Company
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 224-2739
Address: 426 St. Peter St.
Description: Great Waters Brewing Company serves flavorful microbrews from its location inside downtown St. Paul’s Hamm Building. The brewpub’s beers include cask-conditioned ales, served at cellar temperature of 52 degrees F and “hand pulled” from casks in the basement, and pushed beers, which are served at 38 degrees F, similar to other tap beers in the United States. Beers include the Saint Peter Pale Ale, Flying Circus Big Hop Ale, the Knights Who Say “Nee” ESB, and the “Jumby,” the latter brewed with wildflower honey, ginger root, and orange peel. Great Waters also brews its own root beer and has an outdoor patio and full menu, featuring several pastas, grilled duck breast, jambalaya, and a top-notch London broil.
9. Groveland Tap
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 699-5058
Address: 1834 St. Clair Ave.
Description: The Groveland Tap is an old-school bar in a neighborhood that’s defined by old schools. The glossy logo is the only sign of gentrification at the Groveland Tap, where, as it’s been for years, you can safely expect to find a decent burger, a bottle of beer, and a bunch of people sitting around relaxing and watching the game. If you live in the neighborhood, you’re probably a regular. If you don’t live in the neighborhood, it’s good to keep in mind for when you need an uncrowded spot to kick back before or after a movie at the Grandview or Highland. Other than that, it’s not really a destination bar—though if it were, the fried pickle spears would be what made it one.
10. Happy Gnome
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 287-2018
Address: 498 Selby Ave.
Description: Ask a Minneapolitan to name one St. Paul bar, and chances are he or she will name the Happy Gnome. It’s a memorable place, built from a former fire station. Inside it’s cozy but spacious, and the deck seating out back is some of the best in the Cities. The food is decent but overpriced, while the beer list is far better than decent: there are dozens of varieties on tap, and the knowledgable staff rotate them regularly. Tell the bartender what you usually order and ask him or her to suggest a different beer to try; you won’t be disappointed.
11. Muddy Pig
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 254-1030
Address: 162 North Dale St.
Description: The Muddy Pig is the middleman in the great triumverate of Selby/Dale bars—it’s not as scene-y as the Happy Gnome, nor as neighborhood-y as Sweeney’s, and it’s physically located right between them. It’s a nice spot to grab a fine beer (its tap selection, while not as extensive as the Happy Gnome’s, is nonetheless top-notch) and a meal as well—its food is better than the Gnome’s, and less expensive. Smokers, and drinkers seeking fresh air, will get social real quick: The Muddy Pig’s outdoor seating is arrayed along a thin sliver of real estate.
12. O’Gara’S Bar & Grill
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 644-3333
Address: 164 Snelling Ave. North
Description: O’Gara’s is at the boozy, beating heart of St. Paul’s Union Park neighborhood. This is the St. Paul that Peanuts creator Charles Schulz knew: When he was a boy, his father’s barbershop was just around the corner from O’Gara’s, in a space on Selby that is now part of the expanded bar. When Schulz’s mother fell ill, the family moved to one of the apartments just above the shop, where they lived for a number of years. You’ll always find a happy crowd of locals at O’Gara’s, and on St. Patrick’s Day, good luck squeezing in the door. The adjoining O’Gara’s Garage hosts local bands, mostly straightahead blues-rockers.
13. Sweeney’S Saloon
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 221-9157
Address: 96 North Dale St.
Description: Sweeney’s is a local pub with beautiful woodwork and a popular patio bar open during the summer; try to score a spot near the fireplace so you don’t have to move when the night gets chilly. With many excellent beers on tap, lots of booths, and a pub-food menu, Sweeney’s attracts young, cute singles and attached (or not) 30-somethings looking for a pint or a pitcher.
14. Grandview Theater
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 698-3344
Address: 1830 Grand Ave.
Description: Two neighborhood theaters showing first-run movies survive in St. Paul, and the Grandview, opened in 1933, lives on at its Grand Avenue location near Macalester College and the University of St. Thomas. The theater has two screens, a large theater downstairs and a smaller room upstairs (originally the theater’s balcony). Designed in the art moderne style, the classic theater—today part of the Mann Theatres chain—is a neighborhood treasure.
15. Highland Theater
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (651) 698-3085
Address: 760 Cleveland Ave. South
Description: This 1938 art deco theater in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood shows first-run movies (like the Grandview, the Highland is owned by the Mann Theatres chain). Competition from suburban megacomplexes has hit many one- and two-screen cinemas in the Cities hard over the years. The Highland is a holdover from another era.