St Nick’s

I curse the place that replaced you from the pit of my soul. I pray it gets sucked deep into Satans anus and gets crapped out into the bowels of hell!!!
You will miss your dive bars when the last one closes, L.A., mark my words, as the glaring light from the flat panels mounted high on the wall finally drown out your vision and very capacity think and you cowar in a spotlessly clean corner in a ridiculously uncomfortable table set, while yet another smirking shit bartender dangles yet another crap tasting IPA over your head and you realize there’s no place to run.

This bar was an iconic dive bar in a great area of LA. The memories are too great to remember them all. Sorry to see the place go but I guess it was time. All but one of the great bartenders left by mid 2012 and the rest of them couldn’t understand half of what you were saying. Bad business to allow bartenders with such large language barriers serve drinks. Ultimately… poor staffing choices and untrusting management led to the decline of this once larger than life establishment. Sad!

This was my go-​to place on a Friday night when I wanted to have a low-​key evening to grab some strong (and cheap!) drinks and rock out to the jukebox. It’s rare to find a legit dive bar, especially one without the LA shi shi BS that is so common in this area, but this was it. And so imagine my dismay when I found out that St. Nick’s closed without warning, and was going to be replaced by a «farm to table» organic joint. Really? Because Los Angeles needs another one of these types of places…
My CHEERS has closed, and I’m sad to see it go. RIP St. Nick’s — you are missed.

One of the greatest bars the city of Los Angeles ever had.
Jameson/​Ginger in a pint glass (even if I had to sometimes tell the bartender where the hidden bottle of Jameson was). Great Turkey Burger (I know, weird). Had one of the best Jukebox’s ever, before the digital one… that one was great as long as some dude didn’t play all of Zeppelin IV (which happened).
Miss it dearly.

Havent been here for a year. But I wish I had! If the rumors are correct and this place is indeed closed, thats sucks.
This was a dive bar. Pure and simple. You know what you get. And I remember having a great time, with great music.
I’ll be driving by to take a look as to if this place is gone.

Since word on the street (err, internet) is this place has closed (without any big warning), I figured I would add my two cents.
They have/​had amazing hummus. Good jukebox. Interesting cast of characters at the bar an in the booths. I’ve heard so many stories.
Great bartenders. Wouldn’t let me pay for my diet coke one time.
The downside would be parking (or lack thereof). I dunno, maybe the idea is people are coming to drink and shouldn’t be driving? I always found it frustrating. Sometimes someone would bring up going here, but as the usual designated driver I hesitated when I thought about having to find street parking. (Although for all I know they could have recently added valet).
I’m not sure why a good old fashioned neighborhood bar needs to be dethroned for another organic restaurant. Sure, add organic food to the old place, but replacing it entirely with Toca Madera is not cool. ‘Not cool you guys, not cool’.
Will I avoid the new spot to honor the old? Or will I return in hopes of keeping some of the memories alive? That remains to be seen. There are plenty of other places to get ‘farm to table’ food that I don’t go to as is (Amish restaurants in Pennsylvania don’t count).
Wish I had known it was going. I could have stopped in for lunch… one last diet coke and hummus.

Awesome dive bar where there is only reedy crap. Rock the jukebox with good stuff and hang. Not much real good beer selection. Sierra Nevada is prob best bet! Dark fun and not loud always booths so one can actually talk with others. How bout that?
Hipsters keep away plz. No valet parking dood!

When I think of dive bars, I automatically think cheap beers. NOT. $ 5.50 for a Miller Light bottle… WHAT? Maybe for LA standards, that’s cheap, but not where I’m from. My husband has been to St. Nick’s a couple times and it was my first. Was totally disappointed :(
We did not eat there but a lot of others were. I didn’t look at the menu but I saw mozzarella sticks, huge plates of fries and chicken fingers. Typical late night bar food although I’m sure it wouldn’t stand out to other places.
Should also mention that there were only two bartenders for the whole place. There were 1 – 2 bus-​boys who also ran all the food but for a place this big, should most definitely have a server or two. If you’re sitting at a table, be prepared to go to the bar to order all your drinks.
The barstools are old, creaky and… wait for it… are red velvet upholstered. Gag. The whole place has a stale beer stench that even for a dive bar was gross. Ehh. I know we’ll be back because it’s so stinkin’ (no pun intended) close to our house. Removing the wood-​paneling wallcovering, a paint job, new carpeting and sanding and refinishing the wood furniture would do wonders for this place. Oh. And replacing the revolting velvet barstools.

Went on a Tuesday night, beer is overpriced for what it is. There was a chip in the mug. Ordered a Guinness and it was poured into a mug… got to be something against doing that.

Average wait time for a drink at the bar, 15 minutes. Seriously, 15. I’m all about dive bars but this is one I shall not be returning to. Oh, and if your drink is $ 5.50 and you give $ 6, don’t expect change. I guess they assume you won’t tip so they keep it…

Came here after dinner with a friend. He had been here before and when I suggested we go to a dive bar, this was the first place he thought of. It was Sunday night and only 4 or 5 people were there. That was perfect enough so we can hear each other talk. Drinks were good and decently priced. Very clean and the bartender was cool.

This is one of the best dives around. In a great location and always has a diverse crowd. Food is OK for late night bar food. Cheap beers and a good time. Big back room which is good for groups.

I came here with friends and there was quite a few people here.
My friends ordered some beers and they were cheap.
The atmosphere was ok. Quite a few people played 90’s music from their jukebox. They have a lot of places to sit and the place is very large. The interior looked kind of old. I think they could do a little better by updating their furniture just a bit.
I’m not a bar person, so I probably won’t come back here.

Solid pub. Really large drinks — $ 8.50 gets you a pint glass sized whiskey ginger. The highlight? SO MUCH SPACE. This place is pretty big, so when it’s quiet that means you have more of a choice of sitting area, but I imagine when it’s crowded that increases your chances of getting a table. It also doesn’t seem like the place to bump music so loud that you can’t hear your friends talking, even on a weekend night, so that’s always a plus. Unless you don’t want to hear your friends talking…

St. Nick’s is the bar to go to after work since it’s right around the corner. It’s chill for the most part, except for those odd nights where it’s tightly packed and protective shoulder pads are needed just to get from the door to the bar since you’ll be shoving people left and right. Coming here often provides me with juicy stories to tell for the day after.
So far, I have been semi-​forced to dance when my stool got dragged across the floor by a normal-​looking girl with behemoth strength, stepped on a vomit trail while walking back to my seat, witnessed/​heard a cat fight in the bathroom 10 minutes before closing as I was sitting/​talking with a friend, been in the middle of two tables having an ice cube fight instigated by a woman who looked like she was having a mid-​life crisis/​a really old-​looking tweaker, etc.
Despite the aforementioned, the guys that run St. Nick’s are all very sweet and awesome. Jonathan is quite possibly the nicest doorman I’ve ever encountered.

My reviews aim to not waste your time with irrelevant personal nonsense.
Type of Bar: Contrary to common opinion, this is not a «dive». It’s a legitimate, well kept bar. Easily a level above a dive bar. People tend to think there are only nice bars and dive bars… with nothing in between.
Space: Relatively spacious. It’s not as big as a mainstream sports bar. But it’s quite larger than a stricty linear-​type bar Long bar, and many booths. Booths are in main bar and also in adjoining rooms.
TVs: Numerous TVs with a variety of sports.
Groups: Has enough space and booths to handle groups of 6 skinny people. Can get crowded on busy nights.
Atmosphere: Low /​mood lighting. Heavy wood. Cool. A no-​frills drinking bar, but still nice. Can be romantically casual, with the emphasis on casual.
People: Middle income, 20s, 30s, early 40s people. Enough of a mix of regular, to off-​center, to slightly hipster types to make things interesting. Generally friendly. Does not attract extremes of either dirtball, or pretentious people.
Bartenders: Reserved. Somewhat cliquish among themselves. Good and competent. Perhaps they are nicer to the regulars. I don’t know them enough to comment.
Food/​Drink; Full bar. Typical bar food. Many cocktails will be served in large pint glasses if you don’t specify… kinda dumb. Honest pours.
Jukebox: Computerized. Large selection of classic rock to 90s rock. The speakers suck and have no low-​end.
Dancing: Doubtful, but go ahead, what’s the worst that could happen?
Noise: Average to above average. Nothing too bad. You should be able to maintain a conversation with slightly raised voice.
Parking: Typical LA street parking. My advice is to use the valet parking of the nice Japanese restaurant one block east.
Date Worthy? Sure. Nick’s is clean and well maintained. It’s cool, without being uptight or too hip. Relaxed, without being sloppy.
Bottom Line: Nice bar for a laid-​back casual night.

Great pub with a lot of space. It has a diverse crowd which is nice. A lot of people behind the bar, drinks were never hard to get.
I’ve only been there when half the bar is open, but there is another part i’ve heard they have occasionally open.

Oh St. Nick’s… never at the top of my list, but always a solid contender.
me: where should we go tonight?
(any of a few friends): How about St. Nick’s?
me: i guess so — I could even walk there. see at __o’clock.
Then there was the Bizzaro night:
Most times I went, it would be a weekday night, and it was never too crowded. Until this one Saturday night when the place was packed, and I was consoling a friend who was having a fight with her boyfriend. «let me get us another round»… and then another… After about 3 drinks in, I noticed the bar kept going… I peeked around the corner and suddenly there was an entirely different room of St. Nick’s! When did that happen?
Next, there were a couple of pink elephants dancing around my head… hmmm, maybe that room doesn’t exist?
So after 9 years of living within 2 miles of the joint, I obviously don’t know it that well. drinks are moderately priced. The setting is informal and laid back. the people are pretty friendly. Jukebox has good options.

Thanks to Unilocal’s iphone app, I was able to find this little joint to grab a few drinks before dinner! This cute little red-​bricked walled pub is less than a mile from the ever so popular restaurants in LA (Morton’s Steakhouse, Stinking Rose, Lawry’s, The Bazaar, etc.) I’ts not too easy to spot if you come here at night, but if you look closely enough, you will be a lit up «Open» sign in front of the hole-​in-​the-​wall looking building.
We came here around 9:20pm on a Friday night– wasn’t crowded at all, had a small bar, a few booth/​tables, and enough room to stand and hangout, but not enough room to turn it into a dance floor. It wasn’t happy hour, but the drinks were average priced, about $ 7 for a shot of vodka, a few more bucks for top shelf. The shots were a little on the smaller side for my taste, but the friendly service made up for it :]

If you order a vodka tonic it comes to you in a 16 oz pint glass. Too much. You think you are having 2 or 3 drinks and it turns out to be 7 or 8… The next moanin’ you have a severe headache.
Also, the booths are comfortable. Uncomfortable on your back.
They do have a cool juke box though. And the bartenders were cool, we met some nice folks there also.