Lee’s Liquor Lounge

First time I’d been back to Lee’s since the new ownership. They made some changes to the interior all much needed. Great music, friendly staff. I still love the place. Drinks where a little pricey for a «Dive» bar. But I’m sure they’re in line with the rest of downtown. Bartenders were cute, but in need of training. Bartenders were a bit slow and seemed clueless. But still a great place for live music.

Went to the swing dancing night on Wednesday — was super fun for a measly $ 5 cover! Good service from the bartenders. The only reason I didn’t give it a ‘5’ was because we went outside for 5 minutes, and our pizza and drinks were tossed despite leaving our jackets on the chairs, but they got us new stuff for no charge. Just a brain fart, I guess. Would totally go back for more swing dancing. We’re sorta young, and it was an old crowd FYI… no biggie, just be aware!

I LOVE dive bars and this is one of my favorites! Friendly staff, moderately priced drinks, prompt service, clean bathrooms, lively locals, and great honky tonk live music on the right nights. Usually has live music nightly and covers are based on the band. Thoroughly enjoyed the BOB FM’s country singer contest Dec, Jan, & Feb. Lots of fun & live music & early night for a Monday night.
Great tip~ Park in their parking lot across the street for TWINS games, go inside & buy a beverage and parking is usually free and just walk across the bridge to the game. Easy!
Will be here often as it’s one of the few true wooden dance floors to country swing on! New remodel opening in April 2016.

Great music, great new owner and amazing bands. Staff is amazing and they are now taking credit cards!!! Stop by before concerts and Twins games. Cheap beer and old school flavor. «Working class country ROOTS & rock music» the best old school bar left in Minneapolis.

You will either love or hate Lee’s. I am in the first group. What’s not to like about an institution that just keeps going forward doing what it does well: diverse nightly music lineup (cover, rock, country, rockabilly), big dance floor (that can get overcrowded and «bumpy» when the drink are flowing), huge bar that if you can snag a seat on a music night is a great base of operations, and lots of cheap and more expensive drink and beer options. Go PBR or IPA pounders; red bull vodka or martini. The bar staff has been there for years and will get you what you need.
I hope this place is around for years to come. Nye’s gets a lot of the buzz… but Lee’s is where it’s at.
Free parking in the dirt lot across the street.

I imagine this place is different with each band that plays there. I would try it again for a different band.
We arrived early (about 9) and the first band was kind of folksy. The crowd was 99.9% white people over 50.
We had one drink then left. Decided to head back at about 11 for the One Hit Wonders. They played a couple oldies that got everyone up dancing (867‑5309)…then they played a few crappy songs in a row and we lost our groove.
They have a big parking lot and there is ample on-​street parking for overflow. It’s in a shitty part of town, but I felt safe with my group.

We loved this place! Great find before the ball game or for live music or just to stop and enjoy a easy beer and relax a bit…
This place is everything… Everything that makes dive bars awesome! Truly. Some examples:
*Owners are working… And knows peoples names
SPOTLESS. I dunno if I have ever seen a cleaner bar! This is awesome! My gal pal even commented on it.
*Drink prices that are not an arm and leg! Good mid pricing but the mixed are tasty and poured proper.
*Great quick service
*LIVE music. good acts! good variety with energy, fun and talent!!! oh. and they have earplugs so you dont go deaf! Thank you for the plugs.
This place is bit of everything done right. Really glad its there and that we can easily get to it. Parking? Oh yeah. FREE parking that is EASY to get in and out of! Worht stopping and trying for that alone!

Lee’s is one-​of-​kind. If you’re into rockabilly tunes and dancing until your feet hurt, this is the place to do it. There’s always music on the weekends and gents will come over and ask you to dance (it’s harmless and fun, I promise). The bar is cash only so come prepared or use the ATM inside.

Taxidermy and Elvis? What’s not to like?
The only thing that’s changed over the years at Lee’s is the ownership and some of the clientelle. While you’ll always have the bellied-​up regulars, music lovers, and the panhandling door guardians… the building of Target Field has also brought the pre-​game warmup into the lounge.
There’s no frills with Lee’s. You drink beer here… or you get simple drinks like gin and tonics. The long bar is a fun place to belly-​up and chat. The tables and stage area is an intimate place to see local bands and some travellers through. Lee’s is a part of Minneapolis history and a great place to visit.
Stop by and tip a few!

We came to ELNo here and it was a fantastic venue for it. I had never seen this band before and the music was great. It was 80’s and I did know a few of the songs. The venue is very divey, and by very, I mean its all original fixtures. Including the wood paneling and linoleum tiles. The parking lot is across the street and mostly dirt and seems a little sketchy. I would be nervous going here and meeting people here alone at night.
Also, this place is kind of out of the way and tucked in by itself with not much within walking distance so this is definitely a destination place. Plan to stick around or make sure you have sober driver.

Without a doubt the cleanest bar in America! Classic place with lots of good music. Drink prices are very affordable. I love the atmosphere and can never get over just how clean it is. Leo runs a tight ship… It’s a little out of the way from downtown but not unreasonable. This is not a chain pablum bar… it’s an old school place with character and class… get away from the masses and go where the people go, Lee’s!

I love Lee’s! I go there weekly on Wednesdays for the swing dancing, and sometimes on the weekends for Miss Shannon’s Sock Hop, and only very occasionally on other days.
Drinks? Lee’s has a full bar and prices are in the low to medium range, about $ 4.00 when music is playing, and that’s the only time I’m there. I buy a bottle of water, 12 ounces, it’s $ 2.50. Tip the bartender, he’s working hard for you!
Parking? Free and right across the street. If the Twins are playing nearby, or if there’s a really popular band, it might be very full. Hang around, a spot will probably open up pretty soon.
Ambiance? Divey in a good way. Inside the place is clean and safe. Outside, you’re close to downtown Minneapolis, and if you get uncomfortable being panhandled, or asked for cigarettes when you’re outside the bar, stay inside. No, you can’t smoke inside. This bar is for people 21+, and cash only. Lee’s has an ATM on site.
Food? You can buy a personal size pizza.
Music? Wow! There is a wonderful variety of bands that play here all week, not just the great bands on Wednesdays. Praises be for the new big fan moving the air around! When several dozen people are dancing hard to a lively band, it gets really warm! Tip the band! It’s hot on that stage under those lights!
Dancing? If you love East Coast Swing and you’re at Lee’s on Wednesday, you’ve found the right place. Shannon and Bill Butler (
) do a beginning East Coast Swing dance lesson weekly each Wednesday. They are, in a word, fantastic! What a great way to get an aerobic workout! On other nights, Lee’s has lots of bands to listen and dance to! Check it out at

Lee’s is a place that I really want to like, but each return trip is a reminder of why I go elsewhere. It wants to be a dive-​bar/​music venue/local’s watering hole but a pile of shortcomings keep it from being a pleasant experience. There are just so many other better options in Minneapolis.
Let’s get the good stuff out of the way. Lee’s succeeds at being an above average place to see live music. The dance floor is big and the bar’s positioning gives it good sight lines. The crowds are pretty fun too. Décor is kitschy in a good way. It’s all of the older domestic beer signs and wood panelling you’d see at a small town legion. The Elvis shrine is a worth a visit.
Now, the shortcomings. The most glaring is how awful the service sucks. I get it, I’ve been to my share of dives, service isn’t why you go to Lee’s. But between being hassled about my empty lunchbox being a possible vessel for outside booze and virtually ignored by a bartender much more focused on the young women flirting with him at the end of the bar, awful is an easy description. I’m not normally a stickler on bar service but when I pay a $ 10 cover and tip on every drink, my beer shouldn’t sit empty for a half hour while I try to flag you down.
The bar is run to maximize profit at every opportunity and it comes off as cheap. You will not get a napkin/​straw/​olive with your drink. You will pay in cash and only cash. It’s quite obvious they do not want to install tap lines. Want water? It comes in a bottle for an extra charge.
Because of the shortcomings the novelty of the «dive-​bar» excuse wears off really quickly. You can go to any other dive bar in the Twin Cities and get a tap beer and pay with a credit card. Unless there is a band you desperately want to see, avoid Lee’s.

If you don’t like Lee’s I’m not sure we can be friends. It’s a no frills, VFWish style place that constantly has great music and some of the more diverse clientele in the city. the location is odd and can be sketchy but I think that’s part of the charm. I mean there’s a song written about the place so it can’t be all that bad. (Dale Watson-Lee’s Liquor Lounge… spotify it).
The drink prices are reasonable. Don’t come here for anything beyond an beer or liquor and a mixer. It’s just not that type of place. This is just one of those joints that’s just a bar with live music and a lot of regulars. Aside from the really random live music this is a really old style Minnesotan bar… the type that existed and has been the same since before hipsters attempted to make make it cool.
They frequently do dance lessons for a variety of musical styles as well.

This is literally the worst bar that I have ever been to. I went here to see a friend’s brother’s band. I, mistakenly thinking that a dirty gin martini would be a simple drink, ordered a dirty martini. What I received can only be described as olive juice neat. I asked the bartender for a correction, which he then argued with me over, and ultimately charged me $ 5 for, on top of the $ 10 he already charged me. THEN, the waitress took my ¹⁄₃ full martini when I was not looking, and brought me back a drink which could only be described as sake and olive juice. When I asked the bartender for a fixed drink, he argued with me, and ultimately «shushed» me for complaining. I will NEVER go to this bar again, nor should anyone else that want to receive and then consume the drink they paid for.

Lee’s is a slice o’ life, truly.
There’s no other bar in the Twin Cities like this one, where you can see live rockabilly, swing, honky tonk and classic country on the regular like this. Where the median age of the staff must be about 65. Where there’s a big shrine to Elvis. Where people dance in pairs un-​ironically with real dance steps. It’s a bar that could just as easily be in Austin or Nashville… but instead it’s on an urban island of downtown near the Minneapolis Farmers Market. We’re so lucky to have it.
From the moment we arrived, our dance cards were pretty full. I say that as a figure of speech, but it’s the kind of place where I think I could bring a legit dance card and no one would bat an eye. My pals Meghan and Alex look like they are straight out of a pin-​up calendar, so I’m pretty sure I was riding their coat tails as gentleman after gentleman asked us to take a spin on the floor. So much fun.
Last night we happened upon a really good show with a higher cover than usual ($ 15), but typically cover is free or at least more affordable than that. There’s even free dance lessons on Mondays. It’s cash only, but they do have an ATM if you forget your Hamiltons.

Unique atmosphere, a fun place for people watching while you enjoy a beer and listen to some great music (Reckless Ones played some impressive modern rockabilly on the night I was there).
Prices seem reasonable for drinks, ample parking, what more could you ask for?

We came to Lee’s to see a specific band. It’s the only reason we were there. We had an enjoyable time watching the show but are not sure we’d go back for a random visit. As someone else mentioned — we did definitely get the idea that most people here are regulars. It’s a dive bar, but not a dirty grungy dive bar… I really did enjoy the décor, which very much gave the feeling that it hasn’t changed in a couple of decades.
People weren’t rude, but they weren’t super friendly either. The private parking lot across the street was a mega bonus… when we walked in, we asked if it was OK to park there, and the guy at the bar said basically, «As long as you’re paying to get in here, then yeah.»
We sat at the bar for most of the night, where we were immediately informed that it was a cash bar but there was an ATM. OK – well I wish I’d known that in advance, but we had some cash, so it was OK. The beer selection was kind of eh – I drank Leinie’s Honeyweiss all night. Seemed like the safest option. The bar itself was kind of odd — a nice high bar that provided an ample view of the stage. Then there are some booths with table service, and some tables closer to the stage. There was a smallish dance floor and you have to check out the Elvis shrine over the door. It wasn’t a bad time, but again — not sure we’d be convinced to just go hang out on a Friday night. I think we’d go see another show there if we were interested enough in the band playing. But for a casual drink out, might choose a different venue.

Really overpriced.
It’s a cute place, and there are some great bands that come through Minneapolis and play here, so that’s good.
The bartenders and wait staff are about ⁵⁰⁄₅₀. A few are really nice, pleasant people, and a few are surly and rude and obviously hate their lives.
But really, the amount of money they charge for a very small drink is rather ridiculous. Not to mention the price of just a can of soda… And they don’t give you water; you have to buy a bottle of water.
It really is a nice-​looking place, though.

This is possibly the cleanest bar I have ever been to. It was so clean, I could see my reflection in the tile. I liked that a lot.
My boss took a group of us out her after a wine tasting, and I had a great time! The bartenders are insanely quick, and about as old as my grandpa. It just goes to show that the younger generation can’t always keep up with the Baby Boomers!
It’s cash only, and they have a $ 2.50 fee ATM, so you won’t be totally stranded. Their prices were also quite fair, and their parking lot is a great, probably the only free parking lot that close to downtown.
Seriously, though, I can’t get over how clean it is here. Check it out… you probably don’t have to use a mirror.