The Paddle Wheel

We are visiting from Ca and stayed at the Hyatt across the street and ate next door at Austin’s and stepped in for a few drinks.
Prices are good and they have free popcorn if you want a drink or cocktail come in and have a few. I will recommend to anyone staying real Close and don’t want to pay the high prices at the Hotel bars.

The Paddle Wheel has all the elements of a great Nevada dive bar: stiff drinks, second-​hand smoke and slot machines. What they don’t do is comp drinks for patrons who are gambling, like every other similar bar in the Incline/​Crystal Bay, and even South Shore. This is a weak practice, as I’m sure when a gambler hits a jackpot, the bartender expects a big «percentage tip.» 3 stars for this reason.

We were next door at Austin’s waiting for a table and it seemed like it might be awhile, so we decided to pop in here to check it out and maybe get a drink or two. Walking in it’s mostly just a bar and no food seemed to be served here. It was pretty smoky smelling, but hey, it’s Nevada and this is a bar! It really had a locals vibe. Walking in no one greeted us so we stood a the bar for a bit. Enough time passed that the person at the bar talking to some other dude, never said anything, so we left. No big loss, if they don’t want business, then it’s no business of mine. I don’t see how the place stays in business. Odd to have such a locals place right next door to a total tourist restaurant. We went over to the liquor store across the parking lot and got a couple of beers and say and sipped while we waited. So much for the Paddle Wheel.

BRIAN IS THE MAN! If I didn’t move east like a sucker, I would be planted up at the bar right now, smoking a stoge and eating some awesome popcorn. Best bar in Incline Village!

Our favorite local dive bar. Right down from our house. Old-​timers, locals, video poker, cheap drinks and plenty of cigar smoking. What more could a cigar smoker want? Plenty of TVs playing all kind of sports. Bartenders with characters and stories. Great conversation. Come down and enjoy a good ol’ fashioned bar from way back when, before the PC baby boomer crowed ruined it all.

Cool little spot. Dropped in for a drink while waiting to be seated at Austins. Very friendly staff. Prices are AWESOME!

The bartender Kevin and the locals were extremely friendly and welcoming. They made us feel comfortable as soon as we walked in thanks to «Bobby» from Rookies lol. Good drinks, fast service and best of all clean bathrooms! I would definately come back!

It’s the Wheel! You don’t understand unless you’ve been to Incline. Great hole in the wall. All the bartenders are pretty cool. A bit smokey at times but overall a decent place.

Really really smoky inside!!! Lots of smokers hang out there! It’s a typical hole in the wall bar that a lot of locals hang out at. If that’s your cup of tea, great! Not mine. Way too smoky and dirty.

I’ve known Tahoe to have a few dive bars, but right next to the Hyatt? We came here with some friends who used to work at Lone Eagle and it turns out this is like the local cheers. Everyone definitely knew their names after quite a few years away from the area! This spot has a down home locals vibe. There’s a limited draft selection, mostly domestics, full bar, TVs and other remnants of the olden days, a popcorn machine and an electronic dart board. We grabbed some brews and baskets of popcorn (just eat from them and try not to look at em), and setup shop in front of the dart board.
Someone chose to play a game of Cricket, which no one knew the rules to. We randomly threw plastic darts at the board trying to figure out how to score points. With 4 very amateur players the game went on FOREVER, and it wasn’t until about round 26 or so (yes, that means we threw more than 300 darts) that we got it dialed in. By round 36, I was done, so I ran up to the board and ended the game, which made me the winner (by cheating) and ended our night here.
The Paddle Wheel is all about their regulars, some of which have been coming in for almost an eternity. Seems nothing about this place has changed much, and I don’t expect it to in the future. If you need a quick, affordable nightcap near the high end Hyatt, this is your place.

I’ve been frequenting this bar for about 10 years now. I used to work at the Hyatt down the street, and the Paddle Wheel was THE local hangout. So the 4^th star may be just for nostalgia’s sake, but I’m going to try to justify it!
It’s a dive bar. Like, you know those places you go, and you call them dive bars? Probably 50% of them are not actually dive bars. THIS place is a dive bar! It’s dark, it’s smokey, people are playing video poker, there’s a great jukebox, a dart board, a popcorn maker where you can fill up bottomless bowls of popcorn, and a random assortment of locals who have been going there twice as long as I’ve been going there.
Drinks are inexpensive, staff and patrons are unpretentious, and there’s plenty of seating. Definitely a fun place to stumble into with a crew of people late at night for some good drinks, good music, darts, popcorn and fun!

We came here for a late night cap with some friends while up in Tahoe. We played the world’s longest game of darts! It was a pretty fun time to just hang out! They have popcorn for the customers which makes for a super nice treat while you are chatting or playing a fun game of darts. This was a nice low key place to hang out and have some fun with our friends. There were not a lot of people which was nice. The locals were very friendly chatting with us as well as offering advice on our dart throwing =0) The only downfall for me is that it was extremely smoky in there. I left feeling a little smoked out, however that kind of is expected in a smaller bar.

Fantastic atmosphere!!! Scott was super helpful with choosing dinner, drinks, where to be when the sun went down… If you can think of it he could help narrow down the best options even the extremely difficult ones!!!
Thank you locals for all the great advice!!!
KCCO