B Bar & Grille

Tragedy = some idiot buys a hotspot and tries to make a restaurant out of a bar that most people know has no tables — except for in the back in a tiny room. Yeah it is now closed. Ruined a classic. That space has held some great places. Hopefully something good will rise from the asses — ashes.

Sorry folks, but this bar closed on Aug. 4^th, 2015

I used to love Bills Filling Station. It was a place once filled with great performances and was quite the staple on the drive. I remember being under 18 and wishing I was old enough to enter its doors. Up and comers like Lady Gaga once made stops on their gay club tours to perform here and Tranny Palace was the première event here.
Now that its been taken over by what I imagine to be new management… its changed for the worst.
The drinks are weak now. The weekly Monday ‘Rupauls Drag Race’ viewing parties hosted by Absolut Vodka with open bar during the show are gone. Smoking is no longer allowed (understandable) and its a ghost town. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw tumbleweeds rolling by because on the weekends its just awful how empty its become.
The name itself is also a put-​off to me and probably many other old customers of Bill’s. Its almost as if this place was on old friend who used to be a lot of fun but got married, had kids, and stopped talking to you. I wish they’d renovate the interior and completely change it so that it wasn’t such a reminder of what it used to be and I could take it as a brand new place– sorta like what Progress Bar did to New Moon.

Best service and best fried pickles ever loved the and will be back for more need to bring the popper things back but these will do for now

Awesome place! The changes that they have done so far are looking good with the new paint colors! Great staff and no non smoking!

Visited here last weekend. Friday night seemed slow and uneventful. Saturday was busy with a diverse crowd. The bar seems clean and smoke free. The drinks didn’t seem stiff and well poured.

When will the hell ever end? How can some one be so bad? Kill me now… My ears… My ears… Why God why? Make it end !!! I wish I was dead

Im giving two stars because the food was editable! The owners were drunk at the corner of the lower bar. Our food took 35 minutes (fried chicken tenders), the bartender seemed to think it was an acceptable wait. I approached the owners, who told me to meet them at their corporate office in the morning at 9am. Unacceptable. Unprofessional. Poor customer service!

Met my bf here 5 years ago. Seems like the place we end up going to as a last resort, but have a nice time here. Really really need some updating. Nothing special but they have some fun nights.

Many years ago, I found Bill’s in their old location near the railroad tracks, and though it a great men’s bar, much like the Full Moon in Orlando (now closed). It was a smallish space, which gave it a cozy atmosphere.
Now that they’re on «The Drive,» though, Bill’s is a large, warehouse-​y space that focuses on the dance floor and stage. It just doesn’t have the same vibe I remember.
I have seen many comments about «bears and cubs» so clearly we were here on the wrong night, as instead we were witness to a drag show — SO not what I was expecting, nor looking for. (And the show was the least enjoyable I’ve seen, though your mileage may vary. But when the emcee has to remind audience members to tip the performers…)

Friday nights is where it is. Bear night. They have 2 for 1 drinks until 10 and again after midnight. Cheap drinks and hot men.

Can be very hit and miss like most of Wilton Manor. Sometimes it will be packed. Other times there is nobody there. I rarely seem to get it right. But I like the layout of the place. Often the leather crowd will take it over. Woof

I have not been to Bills for a few months — -WOW, has the food changed. I had the $ 6 burger special. I ordered the meat rare, it was delivered extra well done; I ordered all the condiments on the side, they were on the burger AND another side of all veggies came with it, what waste.
I am just so, so disappointed in the quality of the food; onion rings and burgers.

We always have tons of fun when we go Friday nights and they have great burgers at lunch.

Thank you Kevin L. !!
My partner & I had the same «miserable» service .
Arron is a bitter, nasty man that needs to be out of the service industry. I am sorry, but I have worked in «the industry» for over 20 yrs. & I have never been that nasty on my worst day. I refuse to give any gratuity to condone being treated rudely (I know this is FTL and that is becoming the norm, unfortunately) and others should follow suit!
We waited just as long for food & drinks, even thou we got there @ 7pm for a 9 o’clock show!!! 90 minutes for food and 20 minutes for drinks is absolutley inexcusable. We actually got our food as the performer was making his entrance, so much for getting there early to enjoy the evening.
Come on guys, you knew this was going to be a maximum capacity show, you should have had more than enough help and even more staffing, this was much busier than a weekend night.
If it wasn’t for Frank, I would never come back here. He is the only saving grace for this place. Keep him @ Mustang Lounge and I will return other than that… go to Sidelines!

If you are looking for a real dive gay bar you’ve found it here. The patrons are nice (lots of friendly drag queens and assorted «off the grid» gay guys. but it is dark, not very clean (I wouldn’t use the restroom here) and pretty sketchy. I won’t be coming back anytime soon.

Frankly, I have never been able to figure out what the theme or orientation of this gay bar might be. Some say a bear bar; I see a few there. Some say a sport’s bar; it has pool tables. Some say an entertainment bar; it has karaōke. until the last drunk sings… along with an area offering of professional comedy, song and drag entertainment.
The interior is intentionally industrial and rather crude; certainly not elegant in any way. The crowd pretty much runs the entire gay gauntlet of stereotype as well as the everyday common guy who isn’t representative of any particular sexual orientation or stereotype.
Overall, best I can say is that it tends to be pretty much like any other bar, be it gay or not, but somewhat leaning toward the dive bar side of things. One of the best features is that it has parking in the back, though not enough parking. However, there isn’t any place in Wilton Manor that has enough parking other than City Hall, which the powers to be have restricted for their own use with their «damn the public» attitude their idiotic removal of 98 necessary public parking spaces. Worse, they blew all the money on building a Taj Mahal without reserving any for public parking. Besides that, the City Hall should have been over on Old Dixie, not on Wilton Drive. If they had one ounce of sense in order to promote businesses and attract customers to Bill’s Filling Station and other such venues, they’d move City Hall over to the Equality Pride Center and put Equality Pride in where City Hall is now located. The Lord and others certainly know that Equality Pride does more for the people than does City Hall.
Ah, I’m sure you’ll excuse my somewhat of a rant about City Hall but it clearly affects Bill’s Filling Station as well as all of the other business I review on Wilton Drive.

«Did you see those new neighbors moving in? Hmm? Grown men with hairy legs prancing around half naked? «We’re bears.» What the hell is that supposed to mean? «- Big Ethel, in John Water’s A Dirty Shame.(2004)
I’ve been a fan of Bill’s Filling Station for a while now. The first time I went to Bill’s was back in 2006 at the old location on the train tracks. While the old establishment had a more unique «flavor», the current location on «the Drive» in Wilton Manors has helped Bill’s become a central part of the gayborhood, welcoming to all… sigh, even those with anchovies for eyebrows. (come on South Florida men, enough already).
Now, I will be the first to admit that I am a poster child for the bear cub community. Short, furry and round, I fit the bill (pun intended) for this establishment.
The beauty, though, of Bill’s is that, in truth, there is no bill at Bill’s to be fit. All are welcome. At Bill’s, the worn-​out, tired idea of a gay bar being a pose-​down of tweaked-​out, bad bleach jobs is tossed out the window. The most common sight at Bill’s on a crowded night is groups of three or four buddies, laughing, talking, catching up, being bitchy, you name it. But, there’s fellowship, and that’s good enough for me. In the end, isn’t this why we homos go to «gay bars» instead of Applebees? Be it sexual or social, we all need somebody to lean on. (at around 1:30 am, that becomes more like propping yourself up against someone, but whatever).
Bill’s drink specials vary throughout the week, ranging from your usual 2−4−1 specials, to the outstanding $ 2 Long Island Iced Teas on Thursdays. Friday nights seem to be the best nights, currently, if you’re looking for a big crowd at Bill’s where, at midnight, Miss Kitty takes control of the mike and hosts a contest of sexiest body parts. One week it’s legs, the next it’s butts. Variety is the spice of life. Sunday late nights can be a lot of fun when the bar becomes «Trannie Palace». Alibi’s, across the street, recently won a big contest declaring their having the best burger in town. Ask any server or regular at Bill’s, and they will say the best burger is right there in their own kitchen. I’ve never tried one, but I should sometime.
A recent article in the New Times offered a nice glimpse of life at Bill’s, including an explanation of how Lady Gaga got a very important career launch on Bill’s little stage.
Woof.

We hit the usual places in the strip mall across the street from Bill’s on a Friday night (Alibi and Boom). Once Boom started to thin out, we decided to head over here to check out Bill’s Filling Station. This is usually billed as a «Bears and Cubs» bar and that was mostly true on this night, but overall the clientele here pretty much ran the gambit. When you first enter, you walk back through a long hallway to reach the actual bar (the entrance is at the front of the building, sandwiched between a few storefronts, but the bar itself is at the back of the building behind all those stores). There are 3 dart boards and a small bar to your left once you enter the place, but keep walking and you’ll find the much larger, full bar to your right. On the Friday night we were here, they had 2 for 1 domestic beers until 2 a.m. Nice!
Once you move beyond the bar areas on the upper level where you entered, you step down into a space where they have a few pool tables, a stage and a small dance floor. On the night we were here they had a projection screen on the stage showing music videos the whole time. On this lower level you’ll also find another large rectangular bar with seating on all sides of it. Move into the next room at the back and you find another large bar with a black baby grand piano in the corner. This bar seems a bit more quiet and secluded when there’s no piano music going which can be kinda nice. There was no pianist here for the hour or so we were at Bill’s so I can’t comment on the kind of entertainment you might expect to see here in the piano bar.
Overall, Bill’s is another good stop on the usual Wilton Manors bar crawl (Rosie’s, Alibi, Boom, Bill’s, Sidelines, etc.). A very laid back place where most show up in a t-​shirt and jeans or shorts, not really a place to come dressed to impress or to show off your best moves on the dance floor. More of a place to come with friends, chill, have a few drinks, some laughs and check out the eye candy.

Bill’s Filling Station,
, is now located in the former «Chardees» space on Wilton Drive in the heart of Wilton Manors.
From back to front:
The Mustang Lounge, located in the back of Bill’s with a seperate entrance, features a large, L-​shaped bar, videos, a piano, and various entertainers. Go to the website’s «Mustang Lounge» link for the latest and greatest scheduled to appear.
The main bar is two levels, featuring several serving bars, barrel-​style seating, video games, a large screen TV, pool tables, a stage, and a small dance floor.
Bill’s has done a great job of offering various drink-​specials throughout the week. They also co-​sponsor various artists and guests, entertainers (like RuPaul), and parties like the Sea Monster Reunion, RSVP sendoffs, «Miss Thang» contests, the «Sleazy Awards», T-​dances, and features on Markslist, to name a few.
The crowd at Bill’s is a healthy mix of twinks, bears, cubs, attractive ³⁰⁄₄₀ somethings, visiting guests from various backgrounds, and of course the locals.
Pretty good bartenders — plenty to see and do — nice crowd — drink specials — what’s NOT to like? Give Bill’s a try. you won’t be disappointed.
Hint: Stay away from drinking too many of the Long Island specials. The liquor is «middle-​shelf» at best. You’ll thank yourself in the morning if you get top-​shelf, or something else all together.