Library Bar

Been here twice first time was a year ago and boy this place has changed since then. It used to be a chill spot low dim lighting but I recently came here for my birthday night and it was an experience. My friends and family liked it. They have a dj now spinning everything especially old school music. Had so much fun here, minus one star because it’s so small gets crowded fast, and what I didn’t like was that. It took me 15 min if not more for a bartender to assist me. Like there was 2 workers kept looking talking to each other ignoring us. Smh. Until finally a girl bartender helped us. Didn’t like customer service here that night. But my buddy is the bouncer here and love the music so it’s OK for a fun night and avoid the club scenery.

Came here yesterday and coincidentally arrived during happy hour which is from 3−7pm.
This is a very chill and unique gastropub that has a very quaint and has an old school feel to it. There are actual books too but I doubt you’ll want to read them because of the low light.
Definitely a good place to come just to chill or when you’re out with someone since the public library is across the street.
The crowd here varies. Yesterday when I went the crowd was on the more maturer older side but there were people in their 20’s also.
Parking can be annoying since there’s really only meter for $ 6 and hour if you come at around 4pm. There is parking lot across the street which does $ 10 flat fee or you can come at 6pm and the library bar will validate you for $ 5 for another lot that’s across the street.

Review ³⁸⁄₃₆₅
I came here on a Saturday night thinking.“library bar sounds like it’d have a cool vibe to it. i can sit and chat with friends… we can just sit back, hang out, and enjoy ourselves.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. While the interior does have a cool vibe, the music was so loud, I felt like I was in a club, minus the clubbing. I also felt extremely out of place– it seems like they’re trying to attract the college student crowd– possibly students from nearby USC. My friends and I spent no more than 30 min here and bolted.

My how things have changed. What happened to my quiet, chill bar? Came here recently on a non weekend night and it was packed. A DJ was spinning in the corner and there was barely any room to move. I took one look and knew we had to leave. We walked in, attempted to get a seat at the bar and within seconds, my date whispers «You want to leave, don’t you?» YEP. Good thing he doesn’t like crowds either. Luckily we were within walking distance of one of my favorite bars so we headed there instead, where there were few waits AND a much better view.
Maybe this place is better for HH, but I don’t think I’d come back at night.

This place is adorable!!! It’s small and quite intimate, which makes for a great weeknight hangout spot, but I don’t think I would come on the weekend since I could see it getting REALLY crowded.
Based on the ambience alone, I just want to keep coming back again and again and again. The décor makes this spot really unique, and it’s quiet enough to still hold a conversation with the person next to you without having to yell. They have a good variety of beers; I tried the Heff and it was really good. Looks like they have some good happy hour deals too! I haven’t tried the food, but everything sounds amazing.
I wish there were more spots like this!

My coworkers and I come here often for happy hour after work, and I love it because the happy hour prices are pretty good. They’ve got lots of old books for decoration and I’ve never seen the place too crowded!

Came here to grab a bite and a few drinks before a Kings game at Staples. We decided to walk which actually took longer than expected. Ended up Ubering it back to Staples since these city blocks were pretty long. Walking from Staples or LA Live? Not recommended. Über was the perfect solution though.
No place to sit! There are actually a few benches lining the wall and some bar seating, but this is more of a ‘stand up and mingle’ place if you ask me. There are some tables around to put your drinks down but definitely not a sit-​down place for a dinner. Caught us a little off guard there, but we went to mingle anyways, so all good.
Food was awesome! Great gastropub food. Served to share. Great with any of their drinks.
Chorizo sliders: Very good. You just gotta try them. My favorite of the night.
Grilled cheese sandwich: crisped edges. cheesy. tasty. wonderful!
Garlic parmesan fries: Came out pretty well done and crispy which… was FANTASTIC!
Overall good experience. Would definitely come back. A party of 2 to 4 is good.

I came here with Candy W. because of the great reviews this place has. It was super packed inside because it was a Saturday night. The bartenders are friendly and the drinks here are good and cheap. I always judge an establishment based on the upkeep of their bathrooms. I was surprised how nice the bathrooms were, despite how crazy crowded it was. There are also many places where you can sit down and lounge.

A library-​themed bar. Sound boring right? Well it’s awesome! Take a seat indoors in the «library» or you can go outside and enjoy the foot traffic of DTLA.
The drinks here are amazing. The bartenders are top-​notch. I love the Old Fashioned I ordered here. It was made to perfection! My go-​to drink at one of my favorite bars in DTLA.
This isn’t your bar with a dance floor. There’s music but everyone is just drinking and having awesome conversations. Definitely an old-​school feel to it.

This bar was definitely pretty trendy. There are books lined in the interior of the venue, which I think really enhances the ambiance. There is limited lighting inside which also enhanced the mood as well.
I would try to go on weekends since there seems to be a better crowd turnout.

I love this bar in downtown but hate the parking around it.
It’s pretty pack on the weekends but it’s relaxing and a great place to hang out and have a drink with your friends during the week.
The ambiance is dark and very welcoming. There’s books all placed against the walls and right across is a full bar. This place isn’t big but they sure can fit a lot of people on the weekends!
They have a decent beer selection that changes every once in a while. They also have food but haven’t got around to that yet!
This place is a def better choice if you’re not in the mood to party over at the Standard.

What can I say about this place other than AWESOME!
I came here with a group of 6 and we wanted to have a fun night of good food, good drinks, good vibes and great music. The Library Bar fulfilled all of it.
The food was well prepared and delicious. The pork belly skewers were easily the highlight of the menu. The taste is something you will never forget. Please try it.
The drinks were great as well. I forget my bartenders name but he was a class A gem for us the entire night. I opened a tab early and he made us drink concoctions all night. Service was excellent. I ran up a $ 400 tab and didn’t mind giving him a $ 150 tip since he was so gracious to us.
I highly recommend this place.
Oh and I called early and made a reservation for 6. When I arrived they had my name reserved on the table. A little touch like that goes a long way in my book.
I’ll be back… Maybe next week.

I love going to the library and I like drinking. If I start to love drinking, then I most likely will be having an alcohol dependency problem, hence the differences in feelings towards the two things.
I came with friends during one of our bar crawls. I got the pear cider. It was extremely interesting, just more sour than regular apple cider.
And there are real books in the back! That astounded me and I felt so ready to just spend the night reading the book and drinking my cider except that it was a bit dark and I really don’t want my eyes to fail any more than it already are.
They also serve food, but since we already ate, have as of yet to try.
Definitely a very chill place for the semi-​alcoholic bookworm inside all of us.

Cool trendy bar. Great drinks, decent bar food.
This is a small place but different areas of seating. No real place to dance. One of the walls is a book shelf. Looks pretty cool. This is defintely one of my go-​to bars.

Been here a couple of times now with my boyfriend. The place is usually filled with law students and gets pretty full. The food here is really yummy though. The kitchen closes at 11.
The asian chicken wings are fried perfectly and are flavored perfectly. Not a huge fan of the chorizo sliders (too much bun to filling). The garlic parmesan fries are a dream for garlic lovers and I crave them on days I don’t eat carbs.
Green apple mule drink that was so yummy that didn’t taste like alcohol at all.

I’ve been wanting to come to this place for quite some time now so I decided to take two of my out of town girlfriends here for drinks on a Saturday night.
The bartender was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. We each ordered a vodka infused drink with lime and agave. It tasted really good. The drinks are average price (around $ 10).
The vibe was trendy and relaxing. It strikes me as a place to talk, relax, or meet new people. It was pretty dark inside and rather small for the crowd that it generated. Overall, I would love to come back here for drinks during the week!

I’ve been here several times over the past couple of years with mixed results. The latest time I visited was this Christmas Day. For obvious reasons, most bars were closed but I thought I had found the perfect oasis to wet my whistle.
I showed up at 11:50pm to find 4 police squad cars in front. No biggie, the Library Bar is still open so I figured something must have happened outside of the bar. We’re made to wait because apparently it was at capacity (doubtful, but it’s cool). The doorman looked visibly uncomfortable since it was a cold night out so I start trying to make small chat because I’m a friendly guy. I ask what happened with the police and if the incident was inside. He looks at me and completely ignores me. Fine, no biggie. Then while I’m waiting first in line, he lets two other groups of people in. No worries, I’d do the same for regulars, but maybe not on a chilly night.
Finally get inside to a half empty place. I’ve seen it packed and it wasn’t nearly at capacity based on those experiences. Head to the bar to try to order. We wait, wait, wait some more, and finally by a stroke of luck, we take over two bar stools. They’ll service us now for sure! Wrong. We went at least 25 minutes waiting for a drink. 5 groups that had gotten in there way after us got served before us, including one who ordered from behind me. It was extremely annoying to be ignored so many times when I’m literally sitting at the bar. Maybe I should’ve climbed on the counter like one of the girls that came after me then got served before me. I’d like to make it clear that being skipped at a bar is nothing new and quite normal, but the frequency and blatantness was enough to note on this particular night.
Furthermore, the bar space we were occupying was full of used glasses that just kept piling on. First 6, then 12, and ultimately 24 dirty glasses in front of me before someone decided to pick them up. Maybe they thought I had drank that, which is why I didn’t get any service? Not sure. Meanwhile police are coming in and out of the bar. Would’ve been useful to know that something had happened inside, but my questions inquiring about this were ignored.
Eventually it did pick up and the bartenders were seriously busy. No complaint there; I’d just like to point out that the service was lacking before it was full. It was bad enough that a guy offered me $ 50 for my seat at the bar. I declined.
The venue is nice and compact. It has a homey feel and warm ambiance. The couches are neatly placed and the bar stools are comfy. Small bars are not uncommon for me so the bumping and grinding that comes from a small space is a familiar feeling which I don’t mind. The dj’s are generally good and alter the mood pretty well with their selections. The beer selection is also good, but a bit difficult to read considering they’re written on mirrors surrounded by ambient lighting. The old fashioned I ordered was so-​so, but decently priced.
The service eventually improved and I was satisfied with the drink selections, which is what salvaged the second star. If you like cozy places and waiting in line, this is your spot. Bring your outdoor voice and leave your manners outside if you want a drink. Overall, I would come here again. I like the crowd it attracts and the drinks are good and fairly priced. However, I would definitely recommend having a drink before entering to hold you over while you wait for one inside.

For obvious reasons, this bar is designed to look like a library. They have books all around and you can take them down and read them while your having a drink. They have some local beers from around Los Angeles here and it possesses quite a fun vibe. The place is small and they also do have some bar food selections like hamburgers and fries. Drinks range from $ 6 beers to $ 10 mixed drinks. The place does have a «high» class feel to it, so you will see more business to business casually dressed people here.
It’s a fine spot to grab some drinks and hang out with a few friends to start a night out in Downtown Los Angeles.

This place is small, and given that people know that it’s a good bar, it can get crowded, particularly on the weekends. So with that in mind, I say it’s a strictly an early evening or weekday kind of bar.
In spite of that, I love the low-​key atmosphere that this bar CAN have. Really laid back bartenders, surrounded by decorative bookshelves (and even a movie or two projected on the weekends), this is a great place to saddle up with a $ 7 cocktail special IF you can find a seat. When you’re so lucky to have the stars line up for a good Library Bar, it can be a good spot.
If you’re fighting with downtown yuppies for a spot on the couch, jamming past tired bankers a few hours past happy hour who need to go home, this place can also be a drag.
All in all, you just need to hope for the best with this spot. 4-​stars leaning toward 3 but not the other way around.

Came here during Hard Summer weekend. Found this little gem by referral of my little sis. I went with my 2 friends and this lil spot was actually pretty chill. They had a inhouse DJ that played mainly top 40 as well as a outdoor seating area if you are too stuffy inside.
However, I would definitely recommend taking a seat in the library section, grab a book from the shelf if you want to catch up on some literature or if you are trying to spark a conversation with someone sitting there as well. Definitely well designed area. However, beyond the outdoor patio and the library section, seating was scared as they rather put a dancefloor in place of it (super small). This is NOT an all-​night spot but more of a pre-​game location before the grand events.
I like small spots like this because it forces people to interact and the music allows you to have fun and get in the mood of partying. Oh the gem of it all is that the bartenders here are SUPER quick and very friendly. Definitely a must stop if you are staying near by downtown.

I have a secret admiration for old school libraries. That is, ones with bookshelves filled from end to end with classic novels and literature. You’re telling me that a place in LA has that PLUS it serves alcohol and great bar food? My God.
This place is always a stop on my trips to downtown LA. Sadly, I’ve always come here after eating dinner or late enough that the kitchen closes, so I just have to resort in staring down the food that people have ordered (sorry for the creeper status).
I had an amazing milk stout here that I should have asked what brand it was, as I’ve been trying to find something that comes remotely close to it. I’ll be back for you, milk stout and also to try out those amazing pork belly skewers.

I love the name and look of this bar because it looks like a bar that’s in a library. It’s small, and seating can be limited but the few times I’ve been here, it seems that people move in and out of this bar quickly… more of a stop along the way place. The drinks here are good and they have a good happy hour. Lagunitas IPA on draft for $ 4. Can’t beat that in LA. The food was ok. I wouldn’t eat here again. For vegetarians they had grilled cheese. It was delicious, but had way too much cheese. I also ordered a side of the garlic parmesian fries to split with the beau, they were good but later gave me the worst stomach ache because there was so much garlic!
I hate to give this place 3 stars because I totally plan on returning for happy hour occasionally, but that’s only because I live close by and can über. I knocked it down a star because there is absolutely no close by parking unless you want to pay $ 7 in a garage. I took it down another star because while one of the bartenders was good, the other (a blonde lady) acted like we were bothering her soul! My friends and I tried to order food and I ordered first and she tried to walk away then… even though my other friends hadn’t ordered. I didn’t know we had to specify that we ALL would like to place an order. She was not friendly and barely looked at us again.
So overall, this place is good to grab a drink along the way, but don’t get the garlic fries if you’re on a date ;)

The Library Bar is my usual jump off spot in DTLA. It’s easy. It’s central. Drinks are strong. The crowd here is an interesting mix of LA — All ages, all cultures, UCLA, USC, Deloitte, you get the picture.
Basically, this place is easy. You can start here or you could end up here and have a good time either way. Cheers!

I don’t know that I would want to come here late night on a weekend, because if that’s so, then I’d to expect to be standing hip to hip with all the other strangers in there. Not feeling that, but that was the case during my recent visit.
The trick is to make it early in the evening to catch a good spot. Once you grab a space to relax this place seems like a great hang out. They serve food, the drinks are modest, the music is cool, and the bar presentation is pleasant.
I like the Library Bar but I think I would rather make it in for happy hour, that is if they’re open early.