The Upper Deck Tavern

Jenga. Nuff said.
That being said, I reviewed upper deck on the request of a jenga block.

The only true dive bar on this stretch of King St. Hard to find but worth a stop for a beer. This place is kind of like if you had a bar in your basement, decided never to do any maintenance on it, let it completely go, and stored all your garage sale «finds» you don’t like in it.

A hole in the wall that has extremely affordable beer which is great. Clientele is a bit hipster-​y which is the only reason I give it three stars instead of four. Bartender was a nice guy.

My Husband and I came here one night on our honeymoon. The bartender was super friendly, there are tons of games available to play, and the drinks were cheap! I played connect four (probably the most intense game of connect four ever in my life!), yhatzee, and I watched a very fun game of jenga take place. We have a great time and everyone there was super nice. I would definitely go back to the upper deck for drinks again!

I do so love a dive bar. it is my favorite type of bar — no pretension, just there to drink and have fun and not get all fancy about it. The Upper Deck Tavern definitely fit the bill and obviously I loved it the most of all the bars we visited.
I am not sure exactly how we found the hallway entrance to get in this place but eventually you will find it. Down the hallway and up the stairs is the bar. There’s a dance floor area when you first come in, then some tables and barstools around the bar in the back. Not a lot of seating if it gets packed, but we didn’t have trouble eventually getting a seat at the bar.
We went on Thursday after having dinner so we were definitely the most dressed up of the bunch. But the drinks were cheap, the bartenders were friendly, and we met quite a few random folks just by sitting at the bar. We came back again on Friday night and the disco music was pretty festive although it took a while for everyone to start dancing. It looked like they had little fuses on all their liquor bottles like fireworks (for the Fourth of July) — fun! Sadly we couldn’t get our energy back and so we left early.
The bathrooms are, in fact, atrocious, but hey, you can’t have everything. Don’t be greedy.
This is the type of bar you can stop in at any time, with any type clothes on, and have a good time. Just because King Street is full of posh stores doesn’t mean you have to be posh here. Dive on in and get your drink on!

Reunited and it feels so good. That is how I’ve come to feel about Upper Deck. I used to go here all the time back when I was in college, which up until recently, was the last time I think I was in here. I’ve been back a few times in the last couple of months and man, it’s been fun. Two of my friend’s birthdays happened to fall on Wednesdays in November. Naturally, you might think «Bummer. What is there to do on a Wednesday night?» You go play bingo at Upper Deck, that’s what you do. And have a seriously good time. The last time I went was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We rolled up with 15 – 20 people and it was a blast. We had the best time since naturally we dominated pretty much every round of Bingo. Games happen once every hour and you get a free card for every drink you order. Warning: be prepared for a physical challenge. I won’t spoil the fun and tell you what these comprise of but they’re a good time no matter what.
In between bingo games, you can try to snag Jenga to pass the time until the next game. My favorite thing about this Jenga is that people have written things all over the blocks and it makes for some interesting reading material. Don’t judge me but my favorite thing written has to be «fart in your hand and then throw it in a friend’s face.» Apparently I have the humor of a schoolboy but I chuckle every time I read that one. What am I talking about, I’m chuckling right now.
Yes, it’s about as dive-​y as it gets but that’s the thing I love about it the most. And as much as I’d like to give Upper Deck 5 stars, those bathrooms keep me from it. Oh, those bathrooms. They are indeed as bad as you’ve heard. I can’t even adequately describe how god-​awful they are. It’s something that can only be experienced.