The Sidebar Tavern

Had a great time. Beer and drinks were cheap. Got to see live local bands. Definitely had a rock atmosphere. Just a bit cramp. Other than that a great place to chill and hear some cool bands.

If you’re not a regular prepare to be ignored. My husband and I went last night to a show and was hoping to make some friends, but through many attempts we were ignored every single time. The bands were meh at best. Unless you plan on frequenting this place I’d simply stay away.

Awesome atmosphere, kicking music and great beer. Bartender was super friendly; everyone else was a regular and ignored me. I settled in with a draft to read my book in peace. Just what the weary traveler ordered!
Note: this place doesn’t serve food (unless you count beer as food) so previous reviews may lead you astray.

I came here not too long ago to see The Koffin Kats. This place is the epitome of hole in the wall. I think the max occupancy is 55. HOWEVER, do not let that deter you. This place has more character than a comic con. The bartenders are amazing, and the beer is cold. You really can’t ask for anything more.

Pretty dope spot I like hitting this place up for comedy night. People seem chill and nice definitely my kinda scene.

Cool little dive bar, friendly bartenders, nice homey feel. Apparently they have live music here too. May wait and check it out

this place is ok. bartenders were nice but the bouncers seemed like they didn’t wanna be there. beer prices were ok i guess, i was paying $ 4 for yuengling cans. it’s a cool spot for live music with a decent sound system, but there’s no air conditioning, which sucks because in a small bar with a lot of people it can get very humid.

Cool little divey basement space. We stopped in for a quick drink and enjoyed some standup.

Whoever naysayed drinking alone OBVIOUSLY never went to Sidebar for karaōke happy hour. Go ahead, bus. Continue with your delays. Ill be here, enjoying the gloriously high levels of debauchery, and shockingly, talent. For a divey little punk rock bar, this place really turns out some decent amateur action on stage. In fact, bus, I don’t need you anymore. These pints give me superhuman abilities. I think I’ll fly home.

I… dont remember what happened. I remember ordering a Jack and Coke… then it went black. Weird.
This place is dark, dank, dirty, and kinda smells. Its exactly what I was looking for while on vacation! No, seriously.
I went there on an Open Mic comedy night. It was pretty bad, but in a good way. It was very entertaining. Then I switched from beer and ordered a Jack and Coke. It was a loooooong pour. Like, most of the glass was JD. Then I ordered another. Then some shots. Then it all went dark.
The people who work there are really friendly and the prices are great. If im ever back in Baltimore, I’ll return for sure.

Cool place to check out. Super friendly bartenders, especially the short blonde guy with a faux hawk. Not at all rude, and very courteous. They also have 2 hot dogs and a beer for $ 6 every Thursday, Friday and Saturday! Check out the photo I posted of the flyer under the photo section! You can’t beat that anywhere in downtown Baltimore! Make sure to ask the blonde guy with the faux hawk to get the deal!

Cool little punk rock dive bar in a part of Baltimore that you wouldn’t expect a punk rock dive bar. I expected their cheap beer to be cheaper, but oh well.

We came in here for the monthly karaōke happy hour and my first reaction was one of surprise. First off, the décor in The Sidebar Tavern is most definitely punk/​dive but the crowd on Friday happy hour was most definitely not. It was filled with legal types and office dwellers getting their karaōke on.
This tiny bar was packed. Expect a loud atmosphere and intimate conversation because you will need to be close up to hear what your neighbor is saying to you. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and enjoying drinking and singing. Just the way a long work week should end, don’t you think?

$ 7 cover on a Tuesday… I’m out.

Great place to go for a low key happy hour, or stay late and catch a good show.
Anyone else remember the «save the sidebar» button and sticker campaign from like 10 years ago? Glad it worked.

My first issue with doing Happy Hour at the Sidebar Tavern is it’s poured-​over-​the-​brim pints. My second issue with doing Happy Hour at the Sidebar Tavern is it’s relaxed atmosphere. My third issue with doing Happy Hour at the Sidebar Tavern is it’s mere 5 minute walk from the office. Popping in any Mon-​Thurs at 4pm for needed post-​work unwinding’s easy. (I’ve opted out of Friday’s HH karaōke.)
Miraculous mixology? Ha! Old-​style Bawlmer booze slingin’? Straight up. Dusty shelves showcase Stoli, Ketel One, Beam, SoCo, Maker’s Mark, and the Jägermonster. Three taps. One has Natty Boh a-​flow. I did Fat Tire ($ 3.75) and Guinness ($ 4.25). Sadly, radically raucous bands gig here after my bedtime. I won’t see those lively shenanigans. But my imbibing amid an offbeat mix of prerecorded punk, reggae, and Motown made things lively enough for us sparse late day pub patrons. I assume more stools fill after 5pm. The bar’s ambiance makes me think: Mount Royal Tavern’s spunkier Jello Biafra t-​shirt wearing cousin with a puckish John Lydon sneer. (But with Friday karaōke.)
My overall issue with doing Happy Hour at the Sidebar Tavern is it has the cozy, easygoing, seriously sans frills ingredients I sometimes need in a HH to potentially make this sidebar a main attraction. (Just don’t look for me during Friday’s karaōke.)

Stopped in for the first time yesterday. Great little punk bar band stickers everywhere. This place is awesome. I will be back. Great cheap beer the regulars are funny and very welcoming.

I like to call this the people’s bar. You will meet all kinds of people here. People who live nearby and people who work next door. I even met a guy who has been coming here since 1978. Yeah, that’s good history there. It shows that it hasn’t changed to turn off the regulars. It’s not trying to be anything, it just is a good ol’ Baltimore bar. It’s a narrow bar in the basement with a little stage. The lighting is dim so you can kind of disappear into the darkness and enjoy drinks with friends. They have Natty Boh and Fat Tire on tap plus all the liquor you would want. Drinks are cheap! I can’t wait to go back. I can’t believe I had driven by so many times and never stepped foot inside.

I hope you like local wildlife, because there are plenty of weird people with strange hair styles here on any given night. But that’s okay, they don’t bite… Unless you ask them to. The Sidebar is the place to go if you want to get drunk and end up with hearing damage. Loud bands, well-​portioned drinks and fun times await at The Sidebar Tavern.
The only problem I’ve ever had here was with a bartender expecting to be tipped after every drink when they had our card and we were running a tab. The bartender actually told us we’d get served after all of the tipping customers. This is unacceptable, and she really missed out on the good tip she was going to get at the end of the night.

I feel bad that it took me forever to get to the Sidebar. It seemed like every time a band was playing that I wanted to see, I was either (a) sick as a dog, (b) stuck at work in DC, © marooned behind a foot of snow out in the hinterlands of B’more County, (d) didn’t find out the band was playing till the day after the show, etc. etc. I finally did get to the Sidebar and I get the impression it was cleaned up quite a bit after some of the previous reviews were written. Make no mistake, it’s still a grungy-​ish punk/​garage/​stonerrock /​DIY bar with graffiti and band stickers and a very loud reverberating PA under the low tin ceiling, but let’s just say I’ve seen a lot worse. As for the bathrooms, they actually weren’t bad and were a lot cleaner, more spacious and better maintained than the ladies room at Ottobar. For one thing, there was actually TP in them, which is always a plus.
The weirdest thing about the Sidebar is its location, which is smack in the midst of some fairly fancy old downtown gub’mint and historic-​type buildings — not really where you’d expect to see a venue of this nature survive and thrive. There is a good bit of free street parking within a couple blocks (the parking boxes don’t charge after 7 pm or so) as well as the lot next to the bar. The only minus is that a lot of street people hang around this hood at night so you’ll probably get hit up for spare change while you smoke on the corner or walk a block to your car if you don’t park in the lot.
They have a fairly extensive list of happy hour beer specials for 2 dollars and such. Of course happy hour is over before the shows start and the drink prices predictably go up, though not astronomically up. And yeah, the club is loud — wear earplugs if you care about saving your ears for a rainy day.
All in all, if you’re looking for the kind of little DIY bar with hardcopy ‘zines on a table at the entrance and the bands playing so loud you can literally hear ‘em in the next block (which is how I found the place the first time after making a wrong turn and getting stuck in the one-​way street maze), the Sidebar is IT, baby. I’m giving it five stars because every city needs to have a joint like this.