TC’s Lounge

I don’t think I’ve had a single normal interaction in this place with anyone, ever. I appreciate the large collection of bizarre people. I appreciate the bad attitude. I appreciate the demonstration of what an actual dive bar is like.
If you want your night to take a turn for the weird, go to TC’s. And don’t talk back to anyone working there.
Sorry, but I love this place.

Dressed in a Celtics jumpsuit of green velour, with a Celtic baseball cap pointed sideways, Danny has a long gold chain hanging around his neck that goes down to his waist. A winter time regular at TC’s, Danny enters the bar. I hear the bartenders comment amongst themselves.
«Daanny Boy is here».
«I thawt he only comes when the games aare on».
«Get him a caan of ‘Gaansett. He is staarting early this season.»
Right across the street, but tucked away down a flight of stairs on a side road from the classy Berklee Performing Arts Center and the high end Back Bay area, lies one of the few authentic dives in this part of Boston.
Beers on tap are limited strictly to Sam Adams, Sam Adams Seasonal, Miller High Life, Miller High Life (After all, why have one tap of the «Champagne of Beers» when you can have two).
There are also tall boy cans of PBR and Narragansett for 3.50 as well.
Very promising thus far.
TC’s Lounge has been voted «Best Dive Bar» in Boston for many years in counting. I know this because they post this award all over the front of the bar.
That is pretty self-​conscious for a dive.
But this is Boston, and image means a lot.
With that said, TC’s Lounge is still pretty cool.
This would be similar to any townie bar in Albany, but here in Boston selling (relatively) cheap beer and having Buck Hunter is a rarity.
The clientele was way more diverse than the beer selection. All walks of life seem to assemble here to get away from the poshness of the Back Bay neighborhood.
The interior, like all good dives, is decorated with everything from Bobby Orr posters to lewd bumper stickers. There are also a few other nice touches: a porn prize claw grab machine thingy, a candy bar dispenser, and cafeteria-​style table for seating.
They also advertise a deadly shot called the «Oxycotin». Thankfully, we did not try this.
With the help of some High Life and Pabst, good old fashioned boozing commenced until last call and I was happy until we stopped for a late night slice (see Supreme Pizza review).

I came here with a group of friends on a Friday or Saturday night and went up to the bar to grab my first drink. The bartender was a white guy with a goatee. I waited at the bar a while he served no one. He was busy yelling stuff about «faggots» at a group of people.
He finally came over and I ordered a beer. I gave him $ 10 and he gave me back the wrong change. I was confused, so he asked how much I gave him and I told him $ 10, then he grabbed the correct change from the register and gave it to me. NBD.
As I’m walking away from the bar over to my table, he screams from behind me, «Are you making faces at me?!» Then he actually leaps over the bar, runs up to me, and gets in my face. He is furious over a situation he imagined or is making up on the spot so he can yell at someone new.
Him: «Did you make a fucking face at me? I made a mistake. Do you have a fucking problem?»
Me: «No.»
Him: «Well you better not have a problem. What are you gonna do about it? Nothing, that’s what. Is this your fucking bar? No. It’s my fucking bar. So don’t make fucking faces at me.»
After he was done trying to bully me for no reason, he jumped back over the bar so he could continue screaming at people and not doing his job.
If you like a useless, coked-​up meathead bartender yelling «faggot» and «retard» at people and threatening to fight them for no reason instead of serving customers, this place is great. Otherwise, it’s just an average dive bar near Berklee with an aging, fist-​happy Boston asshole who probably thinks he’s in the movie Roadhouse. At least they have Big Buck Hunter.

I passed by this hidden dive bar twice before deciding to finally go in.
It seemed sketchy and a little dirty, but once I went in, the fun-​drunk activity smacked me in the face.
It’s a small, uneven, crooked space, with the bar taking up half of the first floor. The second floor features 5 arcade games and a classic claw-​crane game full of porn prizes.
The bathrooms are awesome and there are more booths and seating to the left of the arcade machines.
Try the «Oxycotin» shot… and you will stumble out of the bar.
Overall, this was a fun, fun, fun, fun dive bar, fueled by alcohol.

Oh yeah guy.
I like the feel. Beers are cheap. People are chill. I can kill zombies on the arcade.
Nice.

This is not the every weekend bar, but this is the «let’s go grab a beer on a Tuesday bar.» I love the atmosphere, the people and the games.
This place deserves 4 stars for two simple words, Porn Machine. Not only can you play Buck Hunter, you can also take home a nice adult prize.
I don’t know if this place is for everyone, but it is definitely worth a trip.

Divey dive dive dive.
Naked.
Sex.
Boobs.
Grab Asian body parts with a metal claw in a machine.
Sing along to the jukebox.
Did I mention DIVE?
Repeat.

Atmosphere
This is the type of «dive bar» you trek to either a) begin your night or b) end your night. It’s most helpful when you or a friend lives within a few blocks radius of the bar. I think that it’s considered a «dive bar» by Back Bay standards, but after a bit of traveling and «roughing it» as a college student, it’s really not all that «divey.» What makes it «divey» may be the profiles of people who wash in at certain points of the evening. Depending on when you go, you may find crowds of people with helmets hanging off their belt loops, or young professionals in (wrinkled) business casual, sitting down at a table and speaking less gruffly after a longer week of work over a (¾ full) jug of (what looks like) hard lemonade.
Bartenders
Matt and Tony are real characters. They learn your names quickly and even ask their regulars (considered «family») to set aside the seats (which these regulars aren’t really sitting on, but really just resting their knees on), for your newer crowd. When the bar is too crowded to even stand around, the small groups occupying the large tables are friendly enough to let you squeeze onto one side of the table, introduce themselves and share recommendations for places around the city (just settled into Back Bay at this point).
Drinks
Drinks are stronger here for less. If you’re on your second drink and point to your old one, flash a smile and hand a large bill, they might even be kind enough to give you a drink of standard concentration but in a water glass. Love this place.
Expectations
Just don’t come here anticipating polished onyx countertops and bartenders with pressed shirts.
Summary
Good drinks, fair prices, plenty of personality, somewhere to spend a good 30 – 60 min before/​after another stop.

I recently spent over 5 weeks studying for my dental boards. Thi long and strenuous process was nearing its end when I realized my brain had decided that any time I pulled out a flashcard (of which I had 1500) I would immediately doze off. To remedy this problem I decided to study somewhere where people could see me so that I would be guilted into staying on track. Of course, I took this public outing as an excuse to hit up TCs, have a few pints and cram oral surgery knowledge.
Upon arrival there were a few guys in the bar. Apocolypse now was playing and they were all chatting with the very friendly bartender. I got my first cheap pint o’ High Life and settled in. I was there for the changing of shifts and the new bartender was cute and super friendly. He made popcorn for all of us and we as patrons started to enjoy each other’s company more. I settled into drink # 2 and the jukebox started its turn.
… Fast forward a few hours and you get screams of joy while winning hardcore porn in the prize grab machine, giant vodka sodas in pint glasses, and leaving to go dancing with my 2 new gay best friends
I don’t know what it is about this place, but it consistently incredible. Can’t wait to be back.
disclaimer: it was not me who got the porn :)

You know, my friend Lea B. from the East Bay should probably ghost write this review for me.
Well, first I posted blurry photos on her Facebook. Then I think we had a text message conversation that went kinda like this:
Lea B.: Hey, what are you up to?
Me: sakjd lksdjfhlksdjf kjsdhflksdjhf wiejrfewj FUCK THE YANKEES! lsdkjf lskdjflskjdf slkdjflksdf
Then that finally lead to a real phone conversation.
The only plus about having most of your back-​home friends three hours behind is that they’re still sober and getting their nights started when you’re drunk dialing them from the cab ride home.
Yes, cab ride. Despite TC’s proximity to the Green Line, the bar seems to be a time sink and I lost track of the fact that the T turns into a pumpkin around midnight. Whoopsie…
So here’s what I remember. There’s a snap shot of UFC’s Chuck Liddell on the door of the men’s room (at least that’s what I was told, it was blurry and, as a former UFC widow, I only kinda recognized him), they sell TC’s onesies and g-​strings, there are nakedish women on the ceiling, and the women’s bathroom is ungodly pink. The mixed drinks could be a tad heavier… but I really should just drink beer like everyone else. Then I ended the night eating nachos from ⁷⁄₁₁ – which is something that no self-​respecting 30-​something should EVER do!
And don’t think for one second that I didn’t spend a considerable portion of the evening running the long list of pregnant friends through my head to decide which one needed a TC’s onesie. My BFF of 25 years just had a son. She’s getting dive bar onesie bombed this week.

Bartender called me pretty — STAR– (not sure where the douchey bartender everyone is talking about was when I was there but the bartender was pretty cool, I mean he called me pretty…)
Wackiest ladies room in the city, bar-​none — STAR
Big Buck Hunter and Golden Tee — STAR
Grabby claw machine game with porn and dildos as prizes — STAR (yeah, sorry mom that gets a star)
Divey and cool. I like this place.

Finding TC’s Lounge is like finding the full heart container on the raft in Legend of Zelda for the first time. You just feel goddamn cool about yourself.
I won’t rehash everything, but pr ()n claw machine (good luck getting that pink dildo.) Buck Hunter, Golden Tee, HUGE terminator machine, the punching bag game, $ 3.00 drafts of High Life, cups of chili and chowder made by the owners and frozen on-site…ready to be reheated in the microwave. Every square inch of the walls and ceilings are covered with something interesting. Sensory overload-​prone folks, be advised.
The bartender is perhaps the perfect bartender for this bar. The patrons are from every social strata. This is a dive bar for everyone.
Cash only, folks.

This place is a crappy little dive bar! So of course, IT“S FREAKIN AWESOME!!! Can’t give it 4,5 stars because I don’t really want to frequent the spot. Give me a few more times there and maybe I’ll change my mind… I do live around the corner after all.
Here’s a tip, if you aren’t expecting to go to a total dive bar you probably shouldn’t walk into bars that have an entrance that looks like TCs, tiny little hole in the wall with no windows and a sketchy looking entrance.
Heard some of the bartenders are jerks, haven’t had that experience… in fact the bartender when I was there (cool little lady) was quite nice and accomodating… especially after I busted my hand open on the boxing game.
Shot pours are big, beers are reasonably priced and they sell pitchers. Probably not my go-​to Saturday night spot but a great place to stop in and kick it like a slimy hard workin local.

I live in the area and (used to) frequent TC’s Lounge quite a bit. But after what happened two weekends ago, I will never step foot inside. And am trying to convince others not to either.
Two weekends ago, a group of about 6 of us went to TC’s. Literally two minutes after getting there, my friend bought two pitchers. He came over to me with them shaking his head. «What happened?» I asked.
«Um… the bartender just called me a retard.»
«What?» I inquired.
«Yeah, he said I was retarded because of the way I poured the beer. Nothing spilled, he just called me a retard for some reason.»
At this point, curious about who this bartender is, I turn and look over at him. He immediately makes eye contact with me and screams: «WHAT? WHAT? YOU HAVE A PROBLEM?»
I step forward and answer him. «Yeah, actually, why are you throwing that word around? What did he do?»
«HE IS A RETARD! AND YOU ARE A RETARD TOO IF YOU DON’T KNOW HE IS A RETARD!»
And then a bouncer told me I had to leave. After leaving, I asked the head bouncer, who knows I am in there sometimes, what the deal was. He said the bartender was an asshole but there was nothing he could do.
So, yeah, never going again.
If anyone who owns it is reading this, your thin bartender with dark hair and facial hair is a bad human being first and foremost, but a bad bartender secondarily (which hurts your business.)

Buck hunter, BAC tester, claw game with sex toys, and cheap crappy beer pretty much sums this place up. It is definitely nice to take a night off from hectic downtown and head over to this sidestreet off of Mass ave that doesn’t seem to receive too much foot traffic. I would say this place is more relaxing then anything. However, I don’t think the BAC machine works that well. It said I was okay to drive at about 9 beers in. Either, I am a drinking God or the machine is effed up.
Not too many tables and doesnt make sense to show up with more than 4 or 5 people.

Here is how my Saturday night goes:
Friend: Hey, I went to this really awesome bar last week, want to come?
Me: Sure.
*both of us enter the door and friend hands bouncer ID*
Bouncer: Sorry, we don’t accept out of state ID’s.
Friend: But, I was just here last week…
Bouncer *pointing to sign this time*: Sorry, we don’t accept out of state ID’s.
*I look at some Berklee kid playing duck hunt*
Me

Here is how my Saturday night goes:
Friend: Hey, I went to this really awesome bar last week, want to come?
Me: Sure.
*both of us enter the door and friend hands bouncer ID*
Bouncer: Sorry, we don’t accept out of state ID’s.
Friend: But, I was just here last week…
Bouncer *pointing to sign this time*: Sorry, we don’t accept out of state ID’s.
*I look at some Berklee kid playing duck hunt*
Me: this place looks like it blows, want to go somewhere else?
Friend: Sure
— End Scenario
Really, in a city like Boston, you don’t accept out of state ID’s SOMETIMES?
Get a swipe machine.
Oh and by the way. SUCK IT.

If you go there, you know it’s a dive bar. So I’m not understanding all these reviews about it being dirty and stinky and sticky and full of porn. How is that NOT 5 stars??? Ooooh a mean bartender that doesn’t want to make your fruity pathetic drinks, :(cry me a river you dirty hipsters. Who drinks booze with milk in it anyway? That’s disgusting.
Anyway, I love TC’s, always have and always will. The low ceilings, the random stairs to the women’s bathroom (ladies: consider wearing longer skirts) the 80’s Miller posters in the men’s bathroom, BIG BUCK HUNTER, and a crane machine with porn and fake bling and for some reason, Yankees gear. What is this place missing? Me, there right now.

If it wasn’t for Hemanth G., I wouldn’t have gone here. I lived right by this place but never thought of going there. This was also my first UYE and it was great!
The décor is awesome, very cheesy! Cash only, cheap beer, random pictures of beautiful and strange women, and if you’re there with good company, you will get lost in the moment and walk out with a huge smile.

Although the bartender insults the patrons and refuses legitimate requests for drinks… no wait, there’s no excuse for that. There’s a class A d*** bag who works at this place. Not just b/​c he told me I couldn’t have an Alabama Slammer or a White Russian because there were too many ingredients in it, but also b/​c the bouncers agreed with me — yeah, they said, he is an a**hole! They didn’t look too psyched about him either.
Went there last Saturday night, he refused to sell me anything but beer, was rude, and everyone (patrons, bouncers) knows it. Too bad because the place has a cool vibe and a certain dive bar charm.
You know who you are bartender… and you suck. Is the writing on the wall for the owners to wake up and fire you? Hopefully.

This place is great because it’s so hard to find, and you would never go there or even know to go there unless someone else tells you about it or takes you there. It has that speak easy kind of feel to it.
It also has a fun, dark, psychedelic atmosphere, cheap pitchers, buck hunter, punching bag, strange bathrooms, posters of athletes and women, and of course, it’s cash only. I’m a big fan.