TakoBAR

I first learned of TakoBar and Takorea when they catered a luncheon I attended. They offer $ 4 mimosa, margaritas, and sangria on Sundays. The «takos» consist of flour or corn tortilla– which ever you prefer. They include lettuce, cabbage, cilantro, and onions. Btw, the soy sesame vinaigrette is on point! O tried the shrimp which was fried with hoisin tartar along with corn and pineapple salsa. If you prefer the chicken, it’s marinated and grilled spicy or you can try the KFC (Korean fried chicken) «my favorite »

Just had a big birthday party for ~50 people here this past Sat night. Jared and his crew did an amazing job to make this an amazing night. They have a great DJ system and we secured our own DJ that plugged into the audio system there. The food is awesome and they cut the cake and served it up on plates for folks and the drinks were awesome. Everyone loved it and the space was perfect for this many people. This reminds me of the best places in NYC (Lower East Side, etc) and is now a go-​to spot for us for future parties. Great job all around!

This place is AMAZING!!! I just threw a private birthday party there on a Saturday night. The staff was a 10, service a 10, ambiance a 10. It made my whole party top notch. Thank you to Jared Holt and the crew for making it a great evening.

I came here a few months ago in the winter time (when it was still cold). Don’t remember the date, but my friends and I were looking for an excuse to get out of the house. We ended up here because they’d advertised a kpop night and I sadistically wanted to check it out. I sat at the bar and waited for it to get bumpin. Let’s just say I got a taco and had a few cheap drinks and called it a night.
First of all, they tried to charge 10 at the door, which they eventually changed their minds about because we liked their page on fb and also because I was a Korean and the door girl had a Korean friend she wanted me to talk to. There were some young looking folks, looked like they were from Tech or something, complete underclassmen. They were segregated in their own groups and there was almost no mingling. The only funny part about this night is that the door girl’s friend (another Korean girl) had been brought here by said girl to show her some «night life’ (cough), and said Korean girl spoke no English and we chatted for a bit in Korean. I invited her to the next place we were going to and exchanged numbers but she never called. so that’s the only interesting part about Tako Bar. Oh and $ 3 fire ball shots.
DJ was actually pretty good, he did a great job of blending the annoying sounds of kpop with difference genres like dance and rap to a ear-​pleasing mix. Too bad the venue was not as exciting.

This place was super dead this past Saturday night. A friend and I went there around midnight, and there were literally only 6 people there including the bartenders. This place has potential to be great, but no one goes there.

This place is a VERY welcome establishment in midtown. There are too many clubby and/​or lame spots, but this place is super cool. After a delicious dinner/​brew with a buddy at Cypress Street Pint & Plate, we took a stroll down to Takorea, and the waitress suggested the downstairs TakoBAR for a more lounge-​y drinking atmosphere.
After heading downstairs, we realized that this place is still fairly unheard of. The DJ was nonetheless rocking out, spinning jams ranging from Daft Punk to Justin Timberlake. He spun a ton of really cool lounge-​friendly remixes of pop songs, and is all-​in-​all a very cool guy.
As far as the service is concerned, I was super impressed. The gentleman taking care of us downstairs was also the bartender, and didn’t mind socializing and chatting us up along the way. I was a bit unsure about trying a Korean beer, he offered to replace it with a Sapporo (always delicious) when I told him it wasn’t all that great. Furthermore, my friend and I were able to sample free tacos, since the kitchen closed after we made our original order. Although we tried the chicken, beef, and pork, the bulgogi (beef) tacos were CLEARLY the winner.
All in all, cool ambiance, great place for a chill night, excellent food, caring bartenders. Do NOT leave this place without trying their bulgogi in some shape or form (bibimbap, taco, etc)! This place won’t let you down :)

I dont know what they do to the beef but its soooo good. I recommend the beef build a bop and the mango jalapeño margarita. I also recommend coming on Kpop night every first and third Friday.

I’m not really sure what to think of this this place. Tom C. and I heard about TakoBAR through Thrillist (
) and decided to get a group of friends together to go check it out. Well good thing we did because otherwise, the DJ and two bartenders would’ve been the only people here on Saturday night.
TakoBAR is located below Takorea, the restaurant. There are a couple entrances to TakoBAR. Basically, just enter the basement of the Takorea building. TakoBAR is more of a lounge than anything. It’s open Fridays and Saturdays from 10pm to 3am. During opening hours, the doors will be propped open for you.
TakoBAR serves the same Korean tacos that Takorea serves. They also have a full bar (with special jalapeño tequilas) and the aforementioned DJ. Part of the lure of coming here was Thrillist’s mention of TakoBAR spinning K-​pop (Korean pop). I asked the DJ if he could play K-​pop, but he said he didn’t even know what it was. Oh well, he was still cool, though. I heard from Tom C. that they play K-​pop on Friday nights, not Saturday nights.
I recognized the space of TakoBAR from having dined previously at Takorea. It used to be Takorea’s basement level of restaurant seating space, but apparently, they’ve now converted it into a late night lounge.
Overall, this place has a very chill vibe with groovy, glowing red, ambient décor. The bartenders were friendly. The bar had one TV tuned to ESPN. Apart from the bar, there are a few tables in the center of the small space and couches along the walls. We were responsible for about all 20 people in there, so it felt kind of like our own private house party, except with bartenders and a DJ.
TakoBAR has some potential. They have the right idea and a nice staff, so hopefully the word will get out about this spot and it will succeed.
Note: TakoBAR is a play on the words taco and tako. Tako is Japanese for octopus. Do not confuse TakoBAR with Octopus Bar in EAV, though. That’s what our friend Aaron D. did. Haha.

TakoBar is located below Takorea. You can enter from the back or the side. If you ignore Takorea’s main entrance and just go to the left side of the building, then you’ll see the entrance for TakoBar.
I went on a Saturday night, and it looked dead. It is not K-​Pop night on Saturdays. It’s just your normal, everyday hip-​hop night. Except, the only people you’ll see are the staff. I think they need some advertising or something.
They don’t serve any of the Asian drinks on Saturdays. It’s your normal, everyday alcoholic beverages. However, they did have jalapeño tequila which tasted pretty good.
The space is tiny. The staff were friendly and accomodating. Also, they had free pitchers of water for you to get. I liked that. With the small space, I think they were going for an intimate, friendly feel where everyone can chill.
They also didn’t have any cover or bouncers either. You can park on the streets for free or one of the pay lots. This is not a place to meet new people. But it’s a good place to bring a ton of your friends to chill, drink, and listen to whatever the DJ spins.

To… korea (Takorea) to a bar (Takobar)?
So the famous Takorea decided to open up a bar downstairs that will only be open on the weekends. How was it?
I don’t think I can give you a full detailed impression. I came here on an event night so I know this is not a usual night for them.
I came to a «Kpop and Hip Hop» night which ATL greatly needs and it was hosted here so I attended.
First impressions are it is a cozy space like «El Bar». The bar menu has your usual stuff except they have soju cocktails, Korean and Japanese beer, and drink specials (very cheap and affordable). The bar was well decorated and chic. The crowd that came was very young (college kids) and there was a lot of dancing with the joyous sounds of kpop and hip hop.
So far I had a good impression but I know this wasn’t a typical night here so I’ll have to come back and check it out again.

Let’s be fair and start off with the fact that Takorea upstairs is a fantastic restaurant. Then we add Johnny aka Mister hottie promoter and The TakoBar which is downstairs and guest bartenders every Sunday and incredibly delicious drinks and for me the night is off to an Amazing start. I was lucky enough to receive an almost «It’s prohibition time» underground secret handshake invite to the TakoBar on it’s first night opening and every Sunday it is now a tradition. Tonight I went to support a favorite bartender and friend of mine and after some tasty Saki infusion shots and a few rounds of drinks… I looked around and the place was jumping. I took Johnny to the side and it looks like they have some plans to start opening the bar from Thursday til Sunday. The entire area on Juniper where it is located is turning into quite the hotspot to be seen… there is a great breakfast place and a new Pub type restaurant on the corner.

Went and got wasted and only spent 30 bucks. I like to drink heavily and was excited to see my pockets weren’t empty after I left.