Dive Bar

I recently held my wedding reception at Dive Bar.
Yep, you read that right.
Rewind to 9 months ago, when we decided to stop into Dive for a quick drink on a Friday night. We hadn’t been there in awhile, so we were delighted to see that they had expanded the bar to at least double the size of what it was. Then we saw the sign ‘Interested in hosting a party or fundraiser here? Contact us’. Dive has always provided us with the best nights out, whether it was to celebrate Cleveland sports or we were just looking to have a few drinks and dance our faces off. My (then) fiancé and I looked at each other and we knew this was where we were going to have the best celebration of our lives. And it was!
The manager at Dive Bar was super accommodating and helpful through the process. They did not scoff at our idea to have a reception at Dive Bar, rather they embraced the idea and helped to make it exactly what we wanted. Because there weren’t any big sports games or events going on that night, we were also able to keep our event private and Dive Bar provided the security we needed to keep it that way (we around 200 guests!). They also provided an open bar, DJ, and (absolutely delicious) catering. I can’t tell you how many people said this was the best idea for a wedding and they had an incredible time.
Even if you aren’t planning to have a big party or event at Dive Bar, it’s still THE place to go to have a great time in the CLE. Many of my weekend memories revolve around Dive Bar, from dominating the skee ball machines to dancing on platforms to partying till close. So now that you know, stop reading this review and get your ass to Dive!!!

Been here a few times in the past week. It’s definitely a fun place. The atmosphere and dress are more relaxed than the other W. 6^th bars. There are a few skee ball games right near the entrance that always seem to be busy. I may be remembering wrong, but I think the drinks were cheaper than the other W. 6^th bars. A buck cheaper for every drink is nothing to sniff at when you are buying rounds for 7 people. I wouldn’t say it’s a dive bar, though. It might have been before the apparent huge expansion, but it is basically the same thing as the other popular bars in the area. That said, I have enjoyed every time I’ve been here. It doesn’t ever get too crowded, I’ve always been served quickly, and the place is clean. It looks like you can reserve some raised up areas in the back of the second bar area.
I can only imagine this place during a Buckeye gameday. Looking forward to many more visits here!

This review is based on my experience during Cleveland Beer Week 2015.
Dive Bar is a dive bar. I kind of expecting the worse and was pleasantly surprise. It was clean and spacious. Maybe it was an event that need tickets to be pre purchased, everything was just so organized.
$ 20 for 4 pints and a snack.
The selection was quite impressive with 30+ beers to choose from. There are 2 bar areas and we ended up hanging out at the back bar with an awesome bartender. Great service and always checked on us frequently.
The patrons and the staff were all so friendly to us. This might be a different crowd compares to the normal DJ nights, but we really have a good time drinking all our beers here!

My favorite late night spot. Good music and drinks. It gets crowded at night but I don’t feel like I’ve waited terribly long for a drink.

This is by far the best bar in town. Besides the amazing food. The bartender are funny, beautiful, charismatic, loving, nurturing, and energetic. Honestly, you have to ask yourself what are you doing with your life if your not here? A «Hella» of a good time lol

If you haven’t seen the new expansion of Dive Bar, get over there! They really have turned this place around in the past year. It’s bigger and better than ever!
What’s new:
— You can now buy «bottle service» and when I say bottle service I mean spend anywhere from $ 200 – 400 for a ‘table’ that comes with a small, medium or giant fridge which you can fully stock w/​a variety of different drinkies to choose from (I’m talkin cases of beer, wine, champagne and liquor)! How cool is that?! Why spend $ 300 on 1 dinky bottle of vodka when you can stock a fridge at dive?!
— They added more bathrooms, hallelujah
— Now have 2 bars instead of one with a lot more seating
— Added more HD Flat Screen TVs
— More drink specials! I think they’ve always had pretty good happy hour/​drink specials but since the new expansion has opened they’ve had a special all weekend.
I love Dive Bar :)

Great bar for those young people that seem to love to live in the Warehouse District. Cheap, lots of drink deals, and improvised dance space. The ambiance screams mid twenties, and I almost never see people over 40 here, but it is still probably my favorite bar in the Warehouse District.

One of the few places on W. 6^th that’s actually tolerable, most of the time. It gets very crowded on the weekends and game days, but other than that the bar usually has a good vibe. They offer a pretty good selection of draft beers and the prices are reasonable. They do a skee-​ball league every Thursday night, which is usually the only time I hang out there. On Thursdays, everything is half off (I think after 9 or 10), so its a great time to stop by. They play some good music, but sometimes the DJ plays some questionable mashups/​remixes. The crowd can be pretty douchey on the weekends, but that’s just the scene of W. 6^th.

Are you in your twenties and looking to party downtown on a budget, then this may be the place for you. I never even knew that it existed. They have about 7 or 8 skeeball machines that only cost $.50, surely less expensive than most eat and play spots.

Dive Bar is like a tacky ass man cave in a home, some one’s personal basement party. Tacky and blue collar come to mind which Cleveland needs less of. It’s a bar that’s a hole in a wall. No thanks. I wouldn’t even go there for «pre game.» I only know about this place cuz I met a Brit from out of town and she and her friends dragged me along down there. WORST bar on w.6^th st. I’m only giving it 2 stars for not being filthy.

While I’m usually a fan of dive bars this one is not really my style. If you went to Miami or OU you might feel at home amongst the overwhelmingly fratty clientele, and you’ll probably see some people you know there if you graduated in the last 3 years.
As far as ambiance think recent college grads going into corporate jobs still desperately holding onto college.
On the upside if there is a game it’ll be on there and there’s always cheap booze and skee ball. Plus, you will likely get to indulge your late 90s/​early 2000s nostalgia when they inevitably play backstreet boys and/​or blink 182.
Wound up there last night, things were kind of slow on W. 6^th until relatively late. The Stanley Cup game was on and we wanted somewhere cheap to drink and watch the end. It was empty when we got there and didn’t really fill up for 20 – 30 min., it’s definitely a later night spot. Got a g&t and a shot for 8 bucks so you can get quite a bit for your buck if you are a beer/​shot person ($ 3 beers/​shot specials every weekend).
So, if you are in the mood for reliving college and hanging out with 20-​somethings in a mildly damp underground bar that smells like an old leaky basement, or you just want some cheap booze and a place to drink it, Dive Bar is the way to go. If you are looking for a sophisticated evening… well you should probably go somewhere that isn’t called Dive Bar.

I don’t even remember enough about this place (due to certain alcoholic beverages) to give it a proper review. I do however remember dancing my face off and that the music was straight out of the 90’s!
So, you know, kudos to whoever the DJ was for making me dance like a fool. You’ve earned Dive Bar four stars.

The new bar in town for the 20 somethings. I went here with a few girls on a Friday night and the music was hoppin’ from today’s top 40 music to oldies. Last time I heard the thong song was back in college but hearing it last night just got me reminiscent the good ol’ college days, lol.
I didn’t get a chance to look at what they have as far as food or drinks, but paying $ 5 for a Stella was hella expensive now I think of it. If I had to categorize what type of bar this is, I would say it’s a sports bar. They have TV’s at the bar and it’s the type of casual atmosphere that you can bring a group of friends to watch the local game. It is located in the basement so when you first enter the place, you might notice a musty smell, FYI.
I might have to come back to this place whenever I hit the W 6^th arena again. :)

Just like they say «just like they say,» Dive Bar is the best! Ski ball & cheap cheap cheap HH prices!

This place is exactly what the name says… A dive. Therefore, if you’re expecting something more, then it sounds like you let the obvious notion slip right by you. It is a small bar that is an open space. They have great drink specials everyday with $ 2 shots, drinks and beers! They are well known for their skeeball machines (and tournaments) and hosting OSU Buckeye game watch parties! This place gets really packed for OSU games. It is hit or miss sometimes outside of that, but I have seen it really packed on Saturday nights because they do have a good DJ that plays a wide range of popular music (old and new!).
This place isn’t much for décor and ambiance… But again, you need to remember that we are talking about a «dive bar» so they do live up to that name perfectly.
I don’t know what the malfunction is in the women’s restroom though. The sink countertop is constantly covered in water all the time. I always feel the need to clean it, but it’s like this every time!

Ugh, places like this remind me why I avoid the bars on W. 6^th… Terrible bar service. Sausage fest. Douchebag central. Just don’t like the people this bar attracts. Lots of different beers on tap so that is good.

Meh is right. My two girl friends and I stumbled in here after escaping from the Jersey Shore douche bags and sluts at Barley House (not the Barley House I know and love in Akron that’s for sure) and with a name like Dive Bar, we were expecting the random crowd that goes hand in hand with dives. Eh, no. The people were just as douchy (if not more douchy) here. The floor is super sticky, the bartenders weren’t friendly and there was a DJ playing the worst music ever there. He actually played that idiotic «I’m on a Boat» song and the crowd was loving it. We tried to request 1901 by Phoenix and the DJ acted like we had just asked him to cut off his own arm. Eh, I’ll never come here again. Oh and the bathrooms were NASTY.

I really want to slam on this place, but for what it offers, Dive Bar does it well.
Friends and I were ready to celebrate a work related event and start the weekend on a Friday night around 8 or 9p. As Keith Charles astutely mentioned, this is a college-​age bar, OSU-​themed, and water hose pressure-​tested. There’s padded bench seating along the wall and a only a few tables. Most people stood while they drank. Hooknasties and hambones abound. Had I been sober upon entering, I would have felt old.
Besides the crowd, theme, and the booze, there’s about 5 skee ball games available — ka-​ching, 50 cents each. They all functioned properly and I love to multi-​task. Despite the crowd, the bartenders actually gave very good service and served our beers in glasses, not plastic cups, big plus for me. There’s also a few TVs as well.
Their happy hour has some of the cheapest prices for microbrews in Cleveland. I was shocked at their relatively broad tap selection: over 15 microbrews on tap, even a few from Michigan (this an OSU-​themed bar, remember) ! $ 3 for Kentucky Bourbon Ale? $ 2 for an Oberon: I never seen it that cheap before, even in Kalamazoo where Oberon is made !
Whenever you would need to live and drink vicariously through college kids, go here.

Dive Bar is most certainly a dive bar. It is clear from the material choices and general design of this bar that everything here is hose ready and is easily cleaned with a pressure washer. What makes dive charming is despite the hose-​a-​bility of a detox center they choose not too understanding that their clientele would be disappointed if they did.
When you walk in to Dive Bar, the first thing you notice is the stickiness of the floors. It is seriously gross how your feet temporarily cement themselves to the sealed concrete if you stay stationary for more then a few seconds. Luckily my friends rarely come here prior to 12:30 so we are all well on our way to hammered town before walking through the doors. In this condition, the floors become a source of amusement and add a pop and lock quality to your fancy footwork.
The décor is a very standard college dive bar with Ohio State theme (ewwwww) and skee ball machines that make this place slightly special. The drinks are exactly what you would expect and they will not entertain your desire to have a martini. I cannot comment on the cost because I simply can’t remember. I do know that if you open a tab, they take your credit card and ID and that they are not open everyday of the week. My friend Mario learned this lesson the hard way. DO NOT leave your tab open here. It will be a huge hassle getting it back.
The talent mix is odd here. It feels like a college bar, except where the hell is a college anywhere near here? And if you are going to be a college kid why not go to the bar on your campus that is just like this one except across the street and lacking the warehouse district premium. After careful thought and multiple trips to confirm my theory I have concluded that the crowd is developmentally challenged peter pan complex twenty somethings not willing to let go of the glory days. But, I am not really one to talk. Just because I have a large collection of fine blazers and sports coats does not mean I don’t snuggle up on the couch with my fraternity afghan on a daily basis.
What I tend to find here is the college educated who are not quite dressed for the lounge scene and desire to slam flavorless draft beers over sipping anything requiring a shaker. The guys are pretty much full chode OH types with blue strip white AE button downs but the women can be surprising hot for this caliber of bar.
Dive bar provides a nice alternative to the conversation killing dance floor music of Barley House and the overly hip scenesters of Suite Sixx. Generally this would be a two star venue, but when the neighborhood, talent, and very fun frat house playlist are taken into account this bar becomes a four star black out good time.
Also worth noting, apparently this place is so divey that no Unilocalers have attempted to review it before. I am glad I am willing to go the joints everyone else in the community avoids.

Okay — we love Dive Bar.
I get it that some of the clientele (only some … not most) may be a little «west 6^th» — but it’s fantastic for these reasons:
1) Thursday ½ off all drinks
2) Skeeball League — we just signed up for our 6^th «skeeson»
3) The bartenders and management learn your names — and treat you well!
Check it out — especially on Thursday, Friday, Saturday’s from 12:00am to 2:00am (good music to dance to), and any OSU or Browns game!