Bub O’Malley’s

This place was the perfect spot for a few drinks and darts with the girls. The bartenders were attentive and super/​friendly. We were the only patrons (it was Tuesday and relatively early) but I can see how this would be a fun place when full.
Food was delivered from another location, promptly.
I will defiantly be going back!

Lots of games and good cheap drinks but people tend to play really loud country music here and I can’t stand country music. But I like the laid back atmosphere. If you can manage taking over the juke box, it’s a nice place to chill

Pros: Super cheap drinks, free ping pong, shuffleboard, darts, foosball, not free video games
Con: Lackluster ambiance, have never seen it «poppin»
Bub O’Malley’s epitomizes pre-​game bar. You go there, bro out, play some games, and imbibe slightly more than the volume of liquor necessary to speak to women. You then go to a bar that is actually populated with women (Topo, Goodfellas, Fitzgeralds, etc…) where you overshare, «dance,» and ultimately vomit all over your freshly minted Sperry’s.
Then because of a masochistic relationship with your gastrointestinal tract, you venture to the always open Sup Dogs to throw up some last minute mustard laden hail Mary’s before stand up passing out on the U line and realizing that you’ll always be alone.
Bub O’Malleys: The perfect start to probably not he worst night of your life.

Come for the multitude of bar games (foosball, pingpong, shuffleboard, darts, and more), but otherwise Bubs is a typical dive bar. It’s also a nice way to escape the college bar scene on Franklin Street and spend time with the local Chapel Hill residents.

Surprisingly good beer selection, and lots to do as far as entertainment. Ping-​pong, darts, and shuffleboard for free as well as pool, foosball, and video games. Laid back and not pick up bar or club, which is a good thing. All around fun place to just chill.

Wednesday nights is ping pong. A group of us go, have a few beers, and play some great ping pong. The atmosphere is fun… loud music, loud TV, people playing pool., and everyone OK with us hitting ball all over the bar. Sports usually on TV. Very good on-​tap selection. I like the Red Oak. Bar tender brought me a Red Oak after my third time there. Very friendly place but still give you your «space». Impressive. And the prices are easy.

So I asked the cabbie to let me out a little too far from my destination, Bub O’Malley’s, at about N. Columbia St. Having never been to BOM before, I knew it was east on Rosemary a bit, but didn’t know how far. I walked east, and heard a tinkling of awful, godawful music pumping in the air. I was like, «What is this tinkling of awful, godawful music pumping in the air?» I brushed it off and turned my collar up to the wintry chill. I kept walking, and the off-​key caterwauling grew louder and louder. I was like, «What is this off-​key caterwauling growing louder and louder?» It wasn’t until I crested and descended the mini-​hill of Rosemary St. past N. Columbia that I realized what was going on. Karaōke at Bub O’Malley’s. Yay!
What’s F-​ed up about this karaōke is that there is a «DJ», a guy who queues the karaōke for you so you’re ready to play. What you don’t know is that his mic is turned up louder than yours (because let’s face it you SUCK as you are NOT a professional (tho that’s not the point, right?) (and yours is basically turned OFF so sing f-​ing LOUD)). What you ALSO don’t know is that this guy is singing along into his OWN mic, possibly drowning out your off-​key caterwauling, but also laying down his own commentary afterward. E.g. «The Beatle’s ‘Hard Day’s Night’? THAT was random!»
Don’t you ever piss on The Beatles, random karaōke DJ slash song pirate. Of all the things you do in your life, don’t you ever, ever question that anyone would ever want to sing The Beatles.
They have tall-​boy beer deals here, but they don’t serve white wine spritzers. I know because I asked.

I will preface this by saying I was here on a Wednesday night in the summer with no college kids, so my opinion would probably change if I were to visit while college was in and there were a lot of students. That said, this is a really cool dive bar with a surprisingly great beer selection. Several NC beers on draft and a good mix of bottles too. Prices are good too, got a Lonerider Sweet Josie for $ 3.75.
If I lived in Chapel Hill/​Carrboro this is the kind of place I’d like to hang out at more often. Also, as far as I could tell there’s no restrictions on the use of credit cards. My tab was under $ 10 and I was allowed to use a card. There’s a whole bunch of signs hanging up about how they take credit cards now too.
Definitely a cool spot, but I’d be a little more hesitant when all the UNC kids are running around.

Bub O’Malley’s is a college bar, in that it has things like shuffleboard, karaōke, apparently trivia, pool, a jukebox, etc. All that stuff is here for good ol’ fashioned fun.
Bub O’Malley’s also has a surprisingly excellent beer selection: multiple types of Sam Adams and other good beers, as well as a decent tap selection make it a surprisingly interesting place to grab a good beer.
There are downsides: it’s a $ 10 minimum to use a card, so have cash or use the fee-​loving ATM in the bar. Otherwise, it’s a nice place to grab a drink, especially when it’s on the quiet side.

Chapel Hill’s dive bar which not many students frequent. Don’t expect to find a fancy or clean place, this is a dive bar through and through. That being said, it still has a great atmosphere and some fun things you can’t find in other area bars (billiards, shuffleboard, etc.)

Bub O’Malley’s is entertaining as hell on Thursday nights. You walk up some dingy stairs in a building next to a dingy parking lot and you walk into a dingy place. A dingy place that will be some of the best entertainment you can have. The bartenders are amazing, super nice and entertaining. The karaōke DJ is fantastic. The best is when the DJ and the bartender sing, you’re sure to be amused :) (And impressed!!)
You get to embarrass yourself in front of many people and watch them embarrass themselves as well. The singing is fun because the whole bar gets into it. You can sign up for the 100 beer club and start working on your card. Play darts or pool? They have that too! Hah, whatever you like to drink, Bub’s has it, beer? liquor? Water? Ok only bottled water… but still, they have a good drink selection for beer drinkers for sure.
They now also have geektastic trivia on Tuesday nights! You should all come out and try it! It’s fantastic and will put your geeky knowledge to the test!
Bub’s is a ton of fun on Thursday nights for the karaōke and on other nights for just a nice chill bar. I recommend that you try it out and see if it’s your kind of place.

Didn’t get to spend much time here, but wish I had. If you like the sticky dive bars, you’re SO at home here. They seemed to have every bar game possible and the fact that membership (Idiot NC Legislators) was only $ 1 was pretty awesome. The staff was super friendly and the beer selection was good. Next time I’m back in Chapel Hill, I’m definitely spending some time here

Many nights have I spent in this run-​down, sweaty, beer-​only bar, singing along to the most beloved 80s tunes and downing a plethora of beers along the way. The friendly feel, loads of games, and attractions like karaōke and 80s night brought me and my friends to Bub’s along with many Chapel Hill revelers. We enjoyed the good drink specials and wide variety of beers available, and found ourselves there at least one night a week.
Now, though, Bub’s has become a bit of an afterthought to the Franklin Street scene, possibly befitting its location behind many of Chapel Hill’s longstanding and burgeoning hotspots. The good news is that you probably won’t have trouble finding a seat, and you’ll still get the variety of beers at good prices (and liquor, from what I hear). It’s still a great place to hang with a couple of friends and unwind over a beer, and maybe the addition of a full bar will help to bring a little life back to this Chapel Hill old-​timer.

When I was a student my Tuesday nights were usually reserved for Coffee Shop (in the winter) or He’s Not (in the summer), so I’ve only visited Bub’s a couple of times. However, I did have several friends that I could never seem to drag away from 80’s Night Tuesdays and Karaōke Thursdays at Bub’s. I never really understood the fuss — sure they’ve got some entertaining activities (pool, shuffleboard, foosball, etc.) but the layout always made it seem much more crowded than it was. Since it’s apparently lost some popularity in recent years, that might no longer be a problem. The place is also filthy and the floors are always sticky — it seems like it should be a basement bar, but instead it’s on the third floor. They do have some specials, but it’s still nothing compared to the deals that some other similar bars offer.

Ah man, Bub’s. It’s great (though almost a little surprising) that this place is still in business. I used to climb these stairs for karaōke. And then I came for pool and shuffleboard. The jukebox has always been a staple («Sweeeet. Car-​o-​line. Dunh. Dunh. Dunnh!»). Used to be beer-​only, but it’s evolving just as much of Chapel Hill is. It’s a dirty, sticky, dive kind of place (you’d have to pay me at least a million dollars in small bills or in designer dresses to get me to lick the floor), but it’s friendly and never too crowded.

Bub’s is another welcome addition to the Chapel Hill dive bar scene, though not as lovely as we might hope. What we’re looking at here has half the seediness of Hell and one fourth the fun.
Bub’s (until recently) was a solely beer joint, with a full hundred beers available for all your blackout needs. Now they tell me that they’re going to start serving hard liquor also, which some purists decry and I celebrate. It’s about time, you know?
The popularity of this place has lessened of late, so you’re almost always assured of a place at the bar without too many strangers jostling you, if that’s a concern. On the other hand, it can feel kind of lonely. Drink specials are mediocre most of the time, but occasionally you’ll find something good. Thursdays for karaōke are the best time to show up.

Bub’s has died down over the past 3 or 4 years. It used to be a popular venue on Tuesday nights for 80’s night, but now, even then Bub’s is leaning more towards dead than alive.
The old dive bar keeps on kicking though, and Bub’s is still in business. I come here every so often to play ping pong, beer pong, or foosball. They have great drink specials every night, and the staff is always efficient and appreciative. Maybe if Bub’s got a face lift, more people would start coming, and it would return to it’s days of glory.

For that college black-​out drunkness move.
Dammit Bubs how much do I love thee? Immediately when you walk up the two stories of stairs that quickly become periless after an hour at this bar you know that the hike must be worth it. A mere stone’s throw from great franklin street this bar has everything you need to black out and meet young college girls.
The music and crowd basically depend on the night although they both lean a little towards fratty. The games are unlimited as they have pool, shuffleboard, ping pong and the likes.
So strap on your drinking boots, get here a little early and start hitting the cheap booze. After an hour the place will look slightly less dirty and far more crowded. Highly recommended for the college experience.