Silver Dollar Tavern

This is probably the divest place around the square area but not really the divest bar I have been in and I had a great time while there. The sign says since 1933 and I thought is this place almost a century old.
There is a shuffle board, pool table, ATM, dart board, music box and poker machines. There is a long wood old school bar worth matching mirrors and wood work, see my pictures. They do make frozen pizzas if you need a cheap meal around the square. There is a couple flat screens for the games and a few taps on hand.
This is a real down to earth place with friendly people to talk to. This is a far away universe compared to all the hipster trendy places that fill the area. This kind of a place is what you find in other neighborhoods but it stopped in time around the square.
We all had a great time while there and the bigger guy bartender was very friendly and even suggested other dive bars we could try. He suggested we try the brain food shot which was a mix of two liquors that I can’t remember but it was ok.
This is a really cool neighborhood stop if you are in area and want to get away from all the kids that fill the square.

In my humble opinion, shuffleboard should never cost anything more than the cost of a drink. Perhaps the upfront investment helps keep riffraff away. Otherwise, this old-​school watering hole hits the nail on the head, as far as dives go. It’s got screens, good drink specials, and a colorful clientele. Bring cash… and don’t come lookin’ for food other than a bag of chips.

The Silver Dollar is AWESOME! Super laid back, convenient location, super reasonable prices, nice and patient bartenders, cheap juke box, shuffle board and darts!
It’s cash only, but has an ATM in the back. The bathroom are some of the cleanest I’ve ever seen in a bar. The bar is long with lots of seats and there are several large tables to accommodate your party, whatever the size.

Rude, racist, dark. Unconscious drunk people at the bar or at the entrance smelling like urine. Homeless old men grabbing at my date. Pretty much an assault. Place attracts the detritus.

One night a very short fellow kicked a very dear friend of mine in the genitals because he asked the vertically challenged dude and his friends if they were all going to go home after the bar and 69 each other. This was after a friend of the short dude was caught trying to steal valuables from our jackets. In short, this place is awesome and I am shocked… SHOCKED…to not see more 5-​star reviews.

I really enjoyed coming here. They have cheap pitchers of beer and shuffle board, which is a great way to spend an evening. The bartender I had here was really nice too.

No frills or gimmicks here. They serve beer and booze and frozen pizza outta a pizza oven. A couple TVs, pool table, and a shuffleboard. A nice change of pace from having a vested mixologist whipping you up a potion around the square. The crowd is pretty varied which also adds to the atmosphere. Who will show up? A lawyer? Grad student? Construction worker who just finished his shift? An alcoholic who obviously hates his liver given the amount of shots he just consumed? Yes!

The Silver Dollar is the diviest dive bar there ever was. Despite its prime location right next the Capitol you’ll feel like you just walked in to a bar you found five miles off the highway in the Indiana countryside. It’s tiny, it’s dingy, it’s poorly-​lit, the beer is warm, and sometimes it smells weird.
A dive bar isn’t some trendy place where you Instagram your beer with your iPhone and pretend it’s the coolest place serving PBR that nobody else has ever heard of. A dive bar, by nature, is what some would call shabby. This isn’t the place blasting dance music and bringing in attractive young college students. A small portion of the clientele here may or may not be homeless. The strange little art installation outside of The Silver Dollar has, after all, become the newest homeless haunt ever since they demolished the old Peace Park. It’s not The Dollar’s fault, but it does seem to impact their business.
The Dollar became a bit of an inside joke among my friends in Madison. We’re not the types who enjoy a crazy bar scene, especially the crowds. You tend to find us playing darts and pool in the back. We prefer classic rock to modern rap. And The Silver Dollar was pretty good for all of this. But after a few bad experiences, and for the aforementioned reasons, we had to move on to something better.
Because, after all, it is a dive, in the actual sense of the word.

For a dive bar it’s 5 stars. But being a dive, 3 is the best I can do.
Hits: shuffle board, cheap and quick service.
Misses: cash only
Hints: ivory room (across the street) has an ATM.

Not a lot of frills at this dive bar surprisingly still kicking by the pretension center err overture center. I’m sorry I’ll get off hating that hob-​nob dump. But it really is amazing that a dive bar still exists where it does downtown.
The barkeeps are adequate, the place is cash only, which I actually like! Be 21, be prepared, bring greenbacks instead of buying round after round and closing out each time making the entire process slow down. It’s usually not crowded even on weekend nights so you can play pool or shuffleboard if you want.
If you just want to chat you can usually find decent room and snagger cheap miller lites or guinesses.
Nice place to rally the troops up before deciding between square or state.

A lovely no frills dive, Silver Dollar is there to serve you cheap drinks and doesn’t try to be much more. They offer large, round tables which are great for groups to crowd around, bar games like shuffleboard, darts, and pool, and everything has that delightful patina of cigarette smoke residue (even though there’s been a smoking ban for years, the place has clearly never been hosed down).
The bartenders are always very nice, and though it’s often loud, it’s never so loud that you can’t hold a conversation. I love you, Silver Dollar.

Fun place to go if you need to get off state street for a while– hasn’t been updated since the 50’s and it shows. It’s only a half block each off of the capitol square and state street.
It does get busy on weekends, so be ready for that. Shuffleboard and pitchers are the prime attraction. Can’t be missed on a pub crawl.

A brief meditation on the subject of taking risks.
All but the most casual observer would note that I happen to be willing to take risks from time to time. Some small (recreational risks, like rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, etc.), some much larger (like transcontinental life relocation). Notably, however, unlike some people (including my brother), I don’t have the risk-​taking, adrenaline-​junkie gene. Indeed, I spend much of my recreational risk-​taking time silently screaming in my mind (the other skiers on the double-​blacks tend to frown if you actually scream out loud, so I figure this works best for all concerned).
The reality is, I’m actually quite risk adverse. BUT, I have confidence in my ability to assess and manage risk. Maybe it’s 12 years of living with someone in the brokerage industry, but I never forget: no risk, no reward. Just don’t be stupid about it. Identify and quantify the risk, then figure out how to manage it. THEN, if it’s worth it, do it.
All that being said, when the bartender here poured me a shot composed of equal parts tequila and Tabasco sauce and told me it was called a «Buffalo Fart,» I politely walked away. And never looked back.

Best dive bar in Madison.
Shuffleboard. Cool bartenders. Diverse clientele. Surprisingly clean. Probably hasn’t changed since I’ve been alive.
Not a whole lot of fun on those rare nights when it gets packed, but otherwise a place night to relax with some friends.

It’s not the worst of the worst, but I just can’t get into the Silver Dollar. Admittedly, the first time I went there, the scene was… bleak. The only customers were the alcoholic regulars, slung low across the barstools, faces in their drinks, half-​conscious. You know the ones. It was very, very dark. And I don’t care what anyone says – the brightly lit shuffleboard table was NOT THERE on that first occasion. I was a bit skeeved out by the place, so ordered something I thought would be impossible to screw up – an Electric Lemonade. It was awful. So, so awful. So awful that my face is scrunched up right now, as I write this. Seriously, bartender… it’s UV Blue and lemonade. Get it together. And yes, I know I could’ve gotten in the spirit and ordered a Coors Light, but I wanted a mixed drink. Hard liquor was the way to go that night. :p
The second time I went, it was teeming with people, and yes, the shuffleboard table was there. It was brighter, the music was loud, conversation was lively, the legal capacity of the bar was probably maxed out, and the temperature was approximately 200 degrees. I had a good time, but it entirely because of the people I was with. It had nothing to do with the bar, which I couldn’t wait to get out of (as I mentioned, it was like the surface of Mercury in there).
I don’t understand why people like it, and frankly, I don’t care.

I always forget how much I love the Silver Dollar until I am there.
Every time I go back I run into someone I haven’t seen in forever and I am thrilled to see, I have interesting (usually random) drunken conversations with people I just met, and I get to my happy drunk state for not that much money. Woo! Definitely one of my favorite dive bars in Madison.

Who doesn’t like an awesome dive bar with a shuffle board and real down-​to-​earth bartender?
This was an unexpected and pleasant discovery that I made recently. Now I think I’m hooked. This is the kind of place you can always count on for a good time and good drink. The patrons on Wednesday night were «know how to drink» type — my kind of people — as oppose to «I just turned 21» kind of inconsiderate duetsche. It’s nice to see a bar like this amongst other over-​rated crappy places around the Capitol. I bet that this place will grow on me more with time.

If you’re here and see a taller bartender with blonde hair (may have a hat backwards) call him Bruno and tell him to shut it down.
I used to go here as it used to not be so packed. During football Saturdays I wouldnt say this is especially a good place to go to escape the lines. Usually a good crowd in this place at night, not too many old folks lingering looking to bum smokes or Ben Gay.
Love the dartboard in the back and the poster of all the old Madison bars right by it. Love to hole up back there with Mike EZ TV and a Budweiser.
I’ve never played shuffle puck here but it does exist. I’ve never played the juke, but I’ve seen it. Since its up by the capitol, its no way as crowded as your standard college haunts in the town.

Prohibition was slain, and lo, there upon a glacial drumlin in downtown Madison, the Silver Dollar was born.
Opened in 1933, the Silver Dollar is THE low-​fi, old school, no frills, strangely hip dive bar of Madison. And it’s located just off the Capitol Square near the top of State Street, the holdout anchor of an otherwise vacant terra cotta string of storefronts that long ago sold out to a developer.
If you want in on the shufflepuck table, be sure to lay your quarter down to reserve a slot — or risk a ruckus.
The jukebox ain’t half bad, and a pitcher of Spotted Cow will usually do — depending on the season. No specials either. None. Never. Trust me, I’ve asked.
The back of the bar with its mirrors and elaborate Art Decoish woodwork and lights is a thing of beauty.
In the afternoons, old-​timers haunt the nearly vacant place, the doors open in the summer time. On some weekend nights, the place seems like the unlikely site for a flash mob — and the clientele seems strangely good looking and more suited for Brats or Brothers.
You can get a few light snacks like pretzels or a freezer pizza, but otherwise spend your time perusing the jukebox — a modern type making quite the anachronism over on the wall near the door.
Oh yeah. If it’s hot and muggy enough outside and the bartenders are feeling lenient enough, I’ve also seen a few dogs roam the place. Like the time my old Spanish TA, a hippieish fellow named Homer from Madrid — who liked to wear too-​tight Rolling Stones tees — brought his golden retriever in to pant underneath the shufflepuck table the whole we played.

Shuffleboard, dart boards, a quality jukebox and Old Style on tap. What else do you want from a bar?
The Silver Dollar is basically a small townie bar which just happens to be smack-​dab in downtown Madison.
Maybe it’s from the fond memories of just living down the street on Mifflin, but this is still the #1 bar I try to hit anytime I’m back home.