Monkey’s Uncle Tavern

Rudest employees I have ever met. Tried to order a drink and was never served. Bad services all around. Do not waste your time here. There are a million better places to drink in Jax.

Bunch of god damn bullshit!!! Terrible service and over priced drinks! Live band was dog shit-​oh, not to mention I did the responsible thing and called an Über to leave. Sorry, you can’t re-​enter to take a piss after 2am, NOPE-​not even to piss. I was instructed to piss in «some trees» by a bouncer, while waiting on an Über. DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR $$$$, go absolutely ANYWHERE else!!!
P. S. Don’t bother wearing a backwards hat, you’ll be told to turn it forward. Because of course everyone who wears a backwards hat is a Gang-Banger…smfh, fuck this place.

I don’t consider this a dive bar, as others have suggested. It’s perfectly respectable with nice wooden tables, comfortable chairs and a chilled out kind of ambiance. We ordered a burger and wings, they were outstanding (much better than Kickbacks). Even better, was the service. Our waitress was attentive and genuinely nice. I sure wish there was a Monkey’s Uncle in Riverside…

We love their Bike Night — great bands, great crowd and a large enough place to accommodate everyone comfortable. Some of the venues aren’t big enough to hold the crowds of Bike Night comfortably but this place is great. It’s typical bar food, lots of nachos, cheese sticks, that sort of thing but we had Chili Chees Fries and Cheese Sticks the other night and they were good. The drinks are generous and the staff is friendly. We will attend the Wednesday Bike Night every chance we get.

This place is kind of tired, and definitely not the place a remember from years ago.
The food was «bleh», the service tired and haphazard, and the atmosphere was of a place that I was surprised to see still operating.

The bar itself is filthy and not well kept up.
And yes they will pad your bill if you don’t watch them. Drugs no problem here.

If you go, which I do not recommend, count your drinks & save your receipts because they will steal from you. I have a receipt for 12.75 but charged bank account 13.75. $ 1 is not a big deal, you say? Well if they steal a dollar from every customer every day it adds up quick. God only knows what else goes on here.

After an event at Comedy Zone, I ended up over at Monkey’s Uncle because that’s where my friends wanted to go. I can sympathize with folks who have also been dragged here. Monkey’s Uncle is definitely not my kind of place, but definitely a spot for folks with more of an inclination for a country type bar. There are a few pool tables, darts, TVs, and there was a live cover band playing that night.
Let’s start with the good. I was impressed by the service. We waited at the bar for no less than a minute and 30 before Tara Reid’s clone took our drink order. After finding a seat, we were checked on every 5 – 10 minutes by wandering bartenders. And that’s where my praise of Monkey’s Uncle ends.
My first strike for Monkey’s Uncle was a complete lack of local beer. I’m not sure how having just one beer on tap makes them a supporter of local breweries. They had Duke’s by Bold City Brewery, but that was all. I don’t expect our bars in town to not have inBev products, but I do expect them to have more than one local, Florida or Georgia brew in their selection to be considered a supporter. Again, that may just represent the clientele who frequents this bar.
My second strike is the smokiness. I typically go to bars that cater to smokers and I’m not bothered as ventilation is much better at those places. I also don’t leave smelling like smoke. At Monkey’s Uncle, there are these weird fan type things on the ceiling that just seem to wave the cigarette smoke back down on the patrons. It’s gross and you can barely breathe.
I can deal with going to bars that really aren’t my style, but Monkey’s Uncle struck out for those two reasons on their own for me.

Drinks are alright, decently priced. If you aren’t a smoker, get out of here before 9.

Where can I even begin with this place? Anyone who has lived in Mandarin has probably been dragged here for drink or ten.
The bar itself isn’t that bad. It’s a large, square wrap around so getting a drink quickly isn’t a problem. There’s a plethora of TV’s near the bar so watching whatever game is on isn’t an issue either. I’ve never been here before 10 pm so I really have no idea what the décor is. All that I can recall are some weird fans that help move the smoke around the place.
Service is pretty good. Last time I went, the bartender kept the beers and fireball coming without me even asking. This left me wondering though, does he think I’m a drunk or is he just that good? I eventually had to tell him to stop and bring my tab. It was clear by the total that he had missed a few items. That’s fine by me!
On the weekend nights they have a band playing. I don’t think it’s a house band because it’s changes every so often, but the tracklist stays the same. Come here for some rockin’ 90’s alt.
Really, if you’re in mandarin looking for a late night drink, this is one of only a few options. You could do worse. If you grew up in the area be warned, you’ll probably run into someone from your high school. So for the general good service, i give Monkuncles a ³⁄₅.

We stopped by the Monkey’s Uncle to see the band that was playing – the Dirty Gringos. If I could rate the band, they’d get 5 stars. But this bar gets a two – barely. And they only got the extra star because there was no cover charge.
This bar was the epitome of a dive bar, but not in a good way. It smelled like an ashtray. I literally reeked of smoke when I got home. And our waitress was not of the friendly type either. I won’t be back to visit this bar.

Ok… obviously different people are looking for different things.
On a Saturday around 2pm… they don’t have waitresses you have to go and order from the bar.
The food is ok– like average ish bar food.
SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE… helllllooooo smoke. If you love to smoke it up lung cancer style… this is your place!
I also came back that night to watch the game and it was wild. PACKED with older people trying to get a slice of the death metal band…
Its like a bad high school reunion.

Mallory is the Best and you can’t ask for more out of a local Tavern! This is a Local Dive Bar at it’s Best! Great Food, Killer Drink Specials and Great DJ through the week and Live Band Music on the weekends! If you live in or near the San Jose/​295 area, Make this place your local spot!

Can’t even breath in here for all the smoke. Music was always good, but the crowd seems to have gotten rougher over the years. Can’t go anymore, just can’t bring myself to go to a place this dank, rough, and smoky. Don’t bother with food, it’s terrible, even for bar food.

This could be a coold bar, if not for the SMOKING. Yuck. Who wants to breathe in secondhand smoke all night?
The band sounded good as they were setting up but we didn’t stick around to hear the set b/​c of the smoke. Otherwise it is a fun little bar where I’m certain many, many drunken night have occured!

I probably haven’ t been to Monkey’s in 10 years and back then it was in a different location. I liked the newer digs that Monkey’s now offers at its Mandarin location. The service was nice, the drinks were strong, and the other customers were fun to hang with. My ONLY complaint is that while there were only say 15 people in the whole place, half of which were my own friends, when we asked to turn on the music machine (you know the update version of a jukebox) the refused because of the football games that were on. Now I enjoy watching games, but we all know that hearing them is not necessary to enjoy watching them. Other than that, I would recommend Monkey’s Uncle Tavern to anyone looking for a low key, fun place to hang out with friends.

One of the few places in JAX that supports their local brewery «Bold City» Dukes Brown Ale on tap. Good music. Some bands are better than others so far ZERO-​N was the best band I’ve ever heard here.