Bottoms Up Bar

This place is cool and fun. It is very different from pretty much most of the bars/​hang outs closer to my home, for good reason. It is a strip club on one side, and everyone speaks Spanish. I ran into this place by accident, years ago, when a friend’s boyfriend’s cousin’s ex-​husband worked here, and we were meeting my friend’s boyfriend after work, and I needed somewhere to use the restroom. Largely I think this place is known as a low-​ish end strip bar (I know pretty much nothing about strip clubs and this is the only one I’ve ever been in, but I can safely assess that this is not the kind of place people book bachelor parties at.) That said, the premises are divided — with a door and not much back and forth traffic, into a large strip bar area — with several pool tables, and a side entrance bar about a quarter of the size with a couple of pool tables — and some VERY GOOD pool players, and very fun people, almost constantly playing Latin music, and a small bare-​bones bar with take out beer and extremely economically priced drinks. All drinks come in plastic cups (unless you are drinking out of the bottle), and they typically have maybe 2 brands of Vodka, 2 brands of Rum, and 3 brands of whiskey, plus an assortment of maybe 15 to 20 other varieties of liquor available. I used to come here a lot and mostly drank soda or beer, and an occasional shot or two. It’s nice to get a Heineken with a wedge of lemon squeezed into the top of the bottle — that seems to be a cultural favorite amid the culture of this community bar that shares its space with the strip joint.
They serve a little food that is kind of ethnic meets cheap street food meets grease meets grease that’s been in the fryer for a few days. I don’t recommend it. Unless you are starved, in which case you still shouldn’t eat it. Your arteries will thank you.
But the atmosphere is really fun. Very friendly outgoing people (especially if you are a girl/​woman — and some of the men will try to buy you drinks but some people will also try to propose to you, hug you a lot, and possibly try to kiss you goodbye when you leave. You kind of have to be on top of that, lest you not make your inavailability clear (assuming you are unavailable or not interested …) But people are really gregarious, and it is a great break from the boring every day bars of northeast philadelphia, Center City, Manyunk, anywhere.
The pool tables are really fun, and there are some quite enthusiastic, and very skilled players. I have gone there over the years for the pool tables, the most, and the pool table scene.
Other interesting side amusements include people who will randomly walk in — usually several on an average weekend/​more on a weekend night, and try to sell things. This ranges from silk flowers to perfume to bootleg dvds to small appliances. It is really something to experience.
The one bathroom on the non-​strip joint side is small and can range from reasonably clean to really not so great. There is a ladies’ room on the strip bar side of the bar that is virtually never used, except mostly, I suppose, by the strippers. If you want a cleaner bathroom, especially if you are female, I would suggest going to that side, if only to use the bathroom and return to the nice kitchy bar on the other side. And the local bar side is really retro-​kitchy. Looks like something from the 60s or 70s.
Anyway, it’s a fun place but obviously not for everybody. Also, I once took a guy I was having a boring time with from JDate here, to take control of and make much more entertaining what was otherwise a waste of an evening. I definitely sensed that it made an impression.