Jollies West

Still one of my favorite neighborhood bars but after the renovation it’s just not the same. The food is still good and the drinks are still good and reasonably priced but they lost some of there good bartenders so service isn’t what it used to be and the crowd feels different.

WHY?
All I kept asking myself was WHY?
Why did they renovate this place? The reduced the bar space in half. They painted the place a bright white so now it looks like a lounge. That’s all well and good for the trendy side of town but let’s face it, this is still «Scooters».
I also had a horrible experience with a gorgeous bartender who was too busy taking shots at 4:30pm than to serve my colleagues and I. That shaded my experience. I will go back because I have hope for this place. I’ll need to go back once I get the bad taste out of my mouth though

The food here was sooooo yummy! My bro and I had fish sandwiches and fries. We had an option of whiting, salmon or tilapia. We choose tilapia on a roll. The roll was SUPER soft, fish was fresh with a very light breading that was not overly seasoned/​salty or oily. A hefty and yummy portion of golden crisp fries. All for a total of $ 15.00 for two platters!!! That is cheap.
Oh and they don’t use cheap lettuce!!!
The food section is called, The Shaq and should be judged on just that, the food and service. Everything (bar service, drinks, crowd, music etc.) else should be separate as you can order food and go.
This place has been majorly renovated and now looks super trendy and fun. The graffiti art is tooooo cute, the walls, floor and tables were clean and the bar looks inviting.
As for the bar, I have no clue on service, we didn’t drink or go directly over there. I liked the hip hop music and the mixing (a lot of dj’s don’t mix the songs these days. They just play the hottest songs and that’s considered being a DJ. But, I digress!)
Security is great, swift and engaging. Cool dudes for the most part. There was a minor argument with two girls and they were out by the time I turned my head.
Friday nights are suppose to be theeee night to go, so I might check that out if I’m ever curious.

From the endless amount of photos I saw on Instagram of people like «Omw to Jollies West»…“It’s a movie right now at Jollies West!!” I’m not sure how I ever confused this as a different location to the oh so proper and entertaining establishment that is Jolly’s Dueling Piano Bar. Oh what a difference an ‘ie’ can make.
I had to use the bathroom very badly so that was my first stop and boy was I appalled. The women’s room here looks like it’s a stable for midget horses. I went in when it was empty and quickly tried to go before anyone else came in. If you’re tall, I promise you your entire upper half is exposed. Of course I was mid pee when a woman walked in. She was very cool about the whole thing as we joked (very seriously) about how she could almost see my vagina and how they might as well not had any doors on the stall. Ha ha ha… That awkward moment when you can see the stranger you’re talking to while you pee…
Besides that, this place is where the old timers who think they still have it go. There were a bunch of I still think wearing Kangols is cool type old men and a few drug dealish looking younger types mixed in. They had a DJ which I liked, mostly rap/​hip hop played. On the (only) positive side, I must say the food here is quite good. But I believe that the same people have a food truck in the city so it’s not even worth stopping past for that.
Perhaps I came on a bad night, I don’t (and will never) know. I’m very big on the bathrooms so I would never come back just because of that experience. But I’d also rather not frequent a bar that has women my mama’s age twerkin’ on tables too.