The Atlantic

The music and atmosphere were nice, but the bartender gave us a drink we didn’t ask for and expected us to pay for it. The hard cider we bought had soured and was like a bottle of apple cider vinegar.

A cool find thanks to a random movie poster/​ad we saw while at dinner the other night! Thinking we were going to see a movie at an independent theater in Gainesville, we were shocked to walk in a bar with a projector screen set up on the stage and informed, «THIS is the theater!» And it was! A full service bar to the left and the movie set up on the right. No popcorn or overpriced concessions but I would much rather have a gin and tonic than twizzlers anyway. $ 5 for the show and $ 5 for the gin. Can’t beat those prices.
The bar in itself would be very cool to hang with its dive bar décor and friendly bartender. Can’t think of a better place to watch a movie based on Chris Farley’s life.
Cheers!

I love the Atlantic! Great local bands over the best adult beverages. You can’t find a better place to cut loose and have fun.

I’ve had good times there, but the manager who was standing outside last night does not know how to run a business or treat customers. Will not be returning because of that douchebag

Went on a Thursday night (supposedly the best night). Not good service and expensive drinks. Also very rude when it came to coming with people under 21. We had a group of five 21+ year olds, but with one underage and they gave us a hard time even though the club is 18+. I do not recommend unless you wanna pay for expensive drinks in a somewhat empty club.

Be really careful at the Atlantic, especially with DJ Cameron. His musically capabilities are extremely low (good luck Gainesville with his inexperienced spinning & intimidating demeanor) and he is physically intimidating. Please be careful with the shady musical characters; if you go with friends and avoid the musical talents, you’ll have a good time!

Shady, dirty, grungy, I love it! There’s nothing highfalutin or flashy here, just a dance floor and a packed house of sweaty co-​eds.
So here’s the deal. We’re in Gainesville, maybe the podunkist town I’ve ever had the pleasure of living in. There’s nothing here. No quality in any direction I can possibly think of. However, I need to dance. After doing so in my apartment night after night after night, it was time to find actual humans to dance with. So, it’s a bit cliquey and everyone is basically 20, but… we’re in Gainesville, I’ll take what I can get!
Thursday nights are dancing night and you can generally expect it to be pretty packed and full of people around midnight. Come and visit, you’ll leave the place laughing!

One of the first dancing venues I’ve been to since moving to Gainesville and I must say it’s a decent experience at best. Ambiance is pretty fun, and probably the best dancing club in town. It has got booths in case you don’t want to dance and just listen to the music; staff is pretty okay, very friendly, no real complaints against them. Drink prices are okay, 4 for a single shot mixed drink with a $ 10 minimum isn’t that bad.
My biggest hang up with Atlantic is music selection. People will tell you that the night to go Atlantic is Thursday nights, which yes you should go. But the music selection is terrible and lacking in variety. The worst night was 90s night. There was no variety in the music and it was just nothing but 90s rap. It was good 90s rap, but nothing really else was there; maybe two Ace of Base songs and a Nirvana single and that’s it.
Compared to the rest of the dance clubs in town though it’s probably the best, but it’s certainly not the best dance club I’ve been to.

This is one of the first clubs I came to when I moved here 3 years ago. I usually go on Thursday nights which seem to attract a younger college-​age crowd. Other nights of the week they act as a venue for bands and sometimes have themed dance nights (like disco or 80s). The great thing about coming here is that I can dance as crazy as I like and I will fit right in with the crowd!

Watch out for the snarky bartenders. 80’s night would have been fun without the skunk beer and attitude from the bar tenders. It was like the guy got hit by a nuke on the way to third grade, absolutely no understanding. Fucking Morons! Please go somewhere else!

The Atlantic is the perfect club to go to on a Thursday night. The music consists of well-​known songs that are remixed and some indie classics. It is a little on the small side, and it can get very hot inside, but the two stages allow extra room to move around and get out of the crowd. It’s a very down-​to-​earth club so no high heels required.

Cover was cheap. Music was surprisingly danceable eventhough I don’t usually dance to indie music. They even played some hip hop style music towards the end. It was a not what I am used to but the difference was refreshing. People were rude though. They would bump into you and not even say sorry.

Two nights after arriving in Florida, I am cruising the club district looking for an interesting night… I guess this place has potential, the DJ/​performer was doing something that I have never seen Dj’s do, which was actually take center stage and kind of had a group of people around him and chanting/​singing something. I was’nt too thrilled, but I’m kind of jaded and having been all over the world and in so many different clubs, not too much gets me going much. The space seems to be set up for performances mostly, there was’nt that much people for a Friday night. I guess it must serve some niche of some sort, the front door dudes were pretty informative though, so I’ll throw in another star for that! Cover charge was negligible so that was cool…

The Atlantic was my favorite venue from my trip to Fest 10.
I love the intimacy, the large and weird various predatory cat velvet pictures hanging on the wall, the owl that is sitting on the bar, and definitely the cool lights, places to sit, and being able to hear what the hell you’re there to listen to.
I wish The Atlantic would find it’s way to the Pacific side of the country.

I didn’t know Thursday Indie night was Gay Teen Night.

The Atlantic is the place to go for the best themed nights in Gainesville– whether it is Hair Metal night, Yaght Rock Night, or All Request 80’s. This place really supports the Gainesville scene. I am an old lady, so I actually wear earplugs here because it can get really loud.
The bartenders are sweet, and the doormen are sweet-​er. There is a cover charge, even though they must make a killing on drinks. The Session beer is actually decent and cheap, too. However, I mostly drink the Crack and Coke (rum and coke) and it tears me up just fine.
You can come here for the retro ambiance or the casual hipster watching. The AC could be a little cooler at times, or maybe just add some more fans. Plenty of seating and even some hidden dark nooks to make out in. There are velvet paintings and the most awesome movies playing on the flat screen over the bar. Last night was Breakin’, with a short cameo by JCVD. Sometimes when I come to The Atlantic, I wonder, «What would JCVD do?»
The bathroom has paper towels and running water. What else can you ask for?

I want to love this place — the music is always fresh and the crowd pure hipster fun — just watching them is worth the price of admission … but I simply cannot breathe in there. They need to do something to fix the airflow /​quality — its beyond horrid.

I always have a great time here. Love the décor. Love the weird movies or cult TV shows playing behind the bar. Love watching live music here. Love alcohol. Just go.

One of the best bars/​venues on town. Always has good sound and good drink specials. I’m not sure what else you want?

Let me begin by saying that I have only visited the Atlantic on Thursday nights which is Indie music night. I LOVE IT THERE! Great music that will not hear at any other bar in Gainesville (ie: Passion Pit, Of Montréal, and Peter Bjorn John). The dance floor is always full of people just having a great time dancing with friends– not worrying about a thing. Everyone is VERY chill and its a very fun environment… probably because beer is free every Thurs from 10−11pm. As was said, this place is very «indie» and you will not find meatheads or anyone Greek here. The design of the place is very random– there is a TV over the bar (usually playing Star Wars or other classics), garage sale finds all over, paintings of Spanish senoritas and they just installed a FREE fuse ball table. The bar is pretty smoky, so beware of that if you dont like smokey places. Cover is only $ 3 if you’re over 21– which is nice.
Previous Unilocalers had some bad things to say about the Atlantic, but they visited 3 years ago– things have changed.
I love it here and I hope that everyone checks this bar out.