Sidebar

Went to this place for lunch, sat down and the waitress said it would be at least 40 minutes to get food. Why? Because there were only 3 people working there. The food was mediocre at best and the 40 minute wait wasn’t worth it.
The bathrooms had no soap or paper towels. The waitress had to give one of my friend a plastic fork and knife because they ran out of regular utensils. It was just a joke of an experience.

Went for my bday and was treated like royalty! The bartenders were attentive and awesome! One of the kitchen guys came out after his shift and bought me and him shots of their pineapple soaked vodka! Felt important and it was a great way to celebrate!

Pretty mediocre bar. Nothing really special. It was dead when we were there, so service was fine. We had the BBQ nachos and a buffalo chicken sandwich. Pretty average, but did the job. Plenty of tvs if you want to watch the cards game. Some outside seating.

The food is the best on Washington Ave for casual dinning. They have a house infused pineapple vodka that maybe the best shot I have ever had.

I will never go back to Sidebar.
My friends, brother, and myself stopped at Sidebar a few months ago after a wedding reception for a few drinks. The place was relatively dead at the time, so we were able to snag a table for about 8 of us. We ordered drinks at the bar, and just sat around and talked. I guess since we weren’t ordering rounds of shots and spending tons of money, the young bartenders were bored and unhappy and decided to throw ice at us. I’m not really sure why… we are all in our late 20s/​early 30s, professionals, and non-​confrontational people. None of us made any snide comments to them to begin with. Yet they decided to throw ice at us, I guess to be funny and get us to leave. It worked… we left, and as we were leaving we received a lot of comments and attitude from the bartenders.
It’s still pretty confusing to me. I called and talked to the manager, but I am sure these two bartenders still work there. I can’t believe any manager/​owner allows people like this to work at their establishment. I could understand the bartenders trying to kick us out if we were being drunk and unruly, but we were all sitting there in our suits and dresses post-​wedding reception, just chatting. In the end, it’s no sweat off my back considering there are plenty of other bars on Wash Ave that will happily accept my business and will treat their customers properly.

I try to stay away from Sidebar. It gets outrageously crowded to the point where you can’t even move, let alone get to the bar or snag a table. And even if you do get a spot to park your drink or yourself, you’ll constantly be jostled by the other patrons. It’s also LOUD, and the prices ain’t cheap.

Not sure about the food… but after concerts, Blues games and Cards games, this place is usually full of fun folks of all ages and often great live music. LATE. Check their live music schdule. Big, long, massive bar makes it unque feel, can get busy quick… check their schedule for bands on weekends. Fun for an outing if you are in your 20s, 30s and even 40s. Goog for groups. Always something fun to see late on weekend nights.
LATE BAR: Bands often play 11PM to 2:30AM

Good for drinking beer outside. The servers are typically friendly and the bar food is far better than Flannery’s across the street.

I can only speak for their burgers as that is what I ordered the two times I’ve been there. The burgers are absolutely delicious. Good flavor, great texture, and served with Texas toast in lieu of a traditional bun. Top notch.

The atmosphere seemed to be relaxed and reminded me of a bar I went to in Chicago (Smallbar, represent!) but I was incredibly disappointed. The service was okay at best. I ordered a chicken BBQ pizza (half no onions since I was sharing it), it was awful. Half came out full of toppings and onions… Half came out with none. I complained to the waitress and she laughed about it, but didn’t address it. I had a piece of two from my side, but it was practically inedible… literally just cheese on a cracker. When I complained a second time, the waitress said that all she could do was buy me a beer to compensate. How does that help my food situation? She assured me that this was all she could do. I will never come here again.

I visited here with a friend a month or two ago. We were hanging out downtown and wanted a pizza and wings. He had been there before but it was my first time. I’ll say I hated that every beer was bottled. I’ll also say that I love an eclectic environment but this place was full of hipsters and I felt judged for not being a hipster with them.
I don’t really remember the service (that could be good or bad) so I can’t speak to it.
However, the pizza (though expensive and small) was great. It must be from a fire-​heated pizza over or something. It was great. The wings were sufficient; nothing special.
I really want to like this place but it just isn’t my scene. I’ll probably be back with my wife just so she can try the pizza.

Good typical bar food. The pulled pork quesadillas are surprisingly awesome. I’ve also had yummy nachos, pizza and burgers there.
You must try a shot of the pineapple infused vodka! So good!
Nice big TVs for watching games. My fiancé and I live a couple blocks away and go here for basketball games a lot. Gets pretty crowded at night.

Solid 3 star joint. Came here after a head-​start at the classy jive and wail piano bar down the road. At around 11pm, a large drunky wedding party came in, which made for some enjoyable people and dress-​watchng. Typical dive bar with yucky carpet and sticky table but strong drinks and surprisingly great cover band on a Sat.

If you are looking for a prototypical noisy/​crowded bar with cool live music, this is a good spot.
Nothing I would write home about, but fills said void in STL.

My guy and I stop through on occasion. The wait/​bar staff are pretty and sweet. The trashed wings and buffalo chicken sandwiches are excellent.

This club was hoppin when i got here! the drinks were fairly priced and i liked the overall atmosphere. everyone seemed to want to have a good time and there wasn’t any fights breaking out so that’s always good right, place was kind of grungy, but it was dark and everyone had already had a few!
Mixed feeling on this place, i guess if i was in there area but no where i would go out of my way to take people to, not «THAT» fun

One of the things that the Sidebar does better than most of its competitors on the Washington Ave. strip is the food. It’s not anything magnificent, but the other pub grub guys around the block set things so low that when I am craving a giant pile of nachos or a sammich, this is where I’m the most likely to go.
The service is off and on, and there are times that I get a really attentive server who wants nothing more than to make sure my beer is full. However, there are other times that I get the cold shoulder. In one of the instances this occurred, I ended up getting my meal for free. So, at least they know when they make a mistake and when to correct it.
The beer selection is a little on the weak side. To balance that out, they do offer up some flavor infused vodkas that they make in house. If you’re ever there and spot a large glass jar filled with peppers, I highly suggest trying out that spicy vodka creation.
Overall, this isn’t a dive and it isn’t high class. But, I never have a bad time here. On the weekends you will spot a live band and the place is usually packed, and there is something to be said about that. So, if you’re downtown and you’re looking for some food and drink, the Side Bar won’t totally disappoint. However, there are other options.

Every year on my birthday, I ended up here at end of the night. By that time, I’ve normally had more cocktails than I should and ready to get my dance on! I genuinely love this place when I am tipsy. Why? It’s always packed with a mixed crowd (from dressy dressy to bums in jeans); there are no frills, no fancy lighting or seating, but unlike Lucas Park, which has all the frills, Sidebar always has a happening dance floor. Also unlike pretty much every other place with a dance floor on Washington Ave, Sidebar does not play top 40 crap (well, at least not on the nights I went there); They have awesome live bands that play non grinding-​required music and to top it off, they don’t charge covers.
For all these reasons, year after year, I decided to wrap up the night by stopping by here on my birthday and bust out a few «Elaine» moves right under the band leader’s nose. I am super thankful that Sidebar exists.

Came here on a Wednesday night with some coworkers and this place didn’t seem to be as busy as some of the other bars on Washington ave, which is good or bad depending on how you see it. Got here around 8pm and stayed until midnight, and there was a steady crowd going in and out of the place, but never overly packed.
They have a pretty good beer selection (including my favorite, Magic Hat number 9) and they aren’t playing overly loud music.
The waitstaff was very friendly and attentive!
Overall, a good place to come and enjoy some good company in a relaxed environment

Tonight I went there for the first time with some friends of mine. Needless to say, I felt like I was on an episode of Cougar Town. I was the youngest of my friends there (mostly in their 30s and early 40s), and they were a hit with the men that were my age.
First some mid 20 somethings buy us a round of whiskey shots, next, we have 3 guys come over and start picking up the tab too! OMG! What a dream. Plus they were pretty cute too. Age wise, this is definitely a bar from post college age to mid 40s. There isn’t really a set demographic other than it is more of a younger crowd than older.
Ok. Ok… I’m done on that note. Now the review.
I really enjoyed this place. Food was good, drinks are made well, and it holds a pretty nice crowd considering we went on a Sunday night. The place was packed. We got there @ 8, and didn’t leave til almost 1am with a steady crowd the whole time. Not overwhelmingly crowded though, Just enough fun where you could people watch, and still wait on your drink for a couple of minutes. A happy medium.
There is plenty of room for large groups or small groups. Standing room, plus there is a decent size stage. I’m assuming bands play there on the weekends. Not sure about covers.
I had fun. I would go there again too!