Otter Saloon

Cheap, strong drinks in a small intimate but friendly corner dive bar with well organized karaōke, they actually have a rotation & stick to it! If you’re there on a slower night, you might hear some local singers! Awesome Karaōke dj’s & locals vibe!

I love this place! Karaōke every night, decent drinks, great location, good parking… not much more you can ask for! It definitely isn’t an ambiance kind of place, but you’ll have so much fun that you won’t even notice!

Used to love this place… many memories made and many late night karaokes! Unfortunately me and my friends won’t be partying or ending our nights here anymore because of the one bartender — what a jackass! Many good times ruined by a total douche.

Great place for karaōke, always a fun atmosphere with a variety of people coming in to try their hand at karaōke. Perfect dive bar!

LOVED this place! It was wall to wall people on a Saturday night with karaōke! I was designated driver and have never had so much fun being sober before. The perfect dive bar!

Bartender had no personality and was not friendly at all. He wouldn’t say more than one word to us and only seemed on content when he wasn’t talking to anybody. From somebody in the industry’ find a new profession!

My friends and I went there tonight, and it was terrible. The bartender was drunk, and gave my friends card to some stranger, which said stranger made charges on. They also screwed up mine and all of my friends card, and the drunk bartender literally just gave us all of the cards and told us to pick out which one was ours. When confronted about this, they yelled at us, and called my friend a b***h. An employee who worked there, but wasn’t scheduled to work tonight, was also taking cards and bills, and also intoxicated. After we walked out of the bar, both the bartender and the other employee came out, and got in our faces, even though they were wrong and they were the ones that gave our friends card away. Though they wouldn’t admit this. I would not recommend this bar.

Oh you are going to love this little dive. Great people. Excellent karaōke host. Crowd gets into it. I recommend you try this place out often.

You walk in and maneuver around chairs and people. The singing all-​stars are college kids and locals with a variety of taste. Gold mine in a karaōke joint. The only thing actually wrong is the bathroom. But that goes with a true hole in a wall. This is a legitimate karaōke dive bar. Kim, the bartender, is the best. The host seemed nice.
I had a lot of fun, the place brings a fun crowd. It is not a dull place to sing at. Great music selection, unless you like obscure rock classics. If you’re shy like me, this is a great place to start.

Sometimes you need a cheap beer and pull tabs. Come here for those needs.
But for real, this little, angular bar reminds me of my home state of Iowa in a sort of endearing way. Seems like they have a lot of regulars, but we were treated kindly as we ordered our $ 2.50 Nordeast. I’ll most certainly be back.

Did we hit this place on its worst night ever or what? (It was a Saturday.) We were worried about hipsters, but Jeezus, any hipster would have been a welcome sight. The place was packed with dump-​ass Vikings fans and stumbling drunk idiots. (And not the jolly, fun kind.) The karaōke host was a sweetheart but the time it took to get a song up was a joke. We had a party of 5, stayed for 2.5 hours and 3 of us got to sing 1 song each. There is no actual platform for karaōke– you are standing on the floor a foot or two away from the sea of chest-​high tables and there are drunk fools wandering within inches of you the whole time. Everyone is screaming so you can’t even tell if the person singing is worth listening to. God help you if you have to sit near the bathrooms. Only giving it 2 stars because the karaōke host was a nice guy and I’ve only been there once– otherwise I’d give it a flat-​out 1.

I love this bar
They have fabulous bartenders like juhl, and the bouncer ben, and karaōke guy Kacey
Great entertainment, great group of people
Decently priced
juhl and Ben are my favorites

I’ve only been here for karaōke on Wednesday nights. It’s a pretty decent place to get a beer, hang with friends, and listen to people belt out a few tunes. It’s tiny, but there is plenty of street parking… on Wednesday nights, anyway.

The Otter is a karaōke bar in the shape of a triangle; it’s a triangle because the building is at the intersection of Central and 1^st in Northeast. I’ve been to the Otter probably more than 20 times. I have sang karaōke songs at the Otter both as myself as as Zombie Prince, and in both configurations of karaōke equipment (by the northeast and southwest parts of the bar). The Otter has pizza, kind of. Josh Hartnett once came to the Otter and heard me sing a Chris Isaak song; and then we asked Josh Hartnett to come hang out with us at The Vegas Lounge. Josh Hartnett did not hang out with us at the Vegas Lounge.
Drinks at the Otter are cheap. Their karaōke selection is appropriate. The Otter exists and has a new sign because of humans drinking and singing. It therefore has flourished at doing exactly what it is supposed to do, and I will miss going there.
If you don’t like pizza or potato chips, and you are hungry after singing a song or asking Josh Hartnett and his cool friends to hang out with you; there is a White Castle across the street.
I think everything in Unilocal should be written in MS Comic Sans font.

Very loud atmosphere and pretty cramped seating. I will say, it is a great people watching place:)

Came here Saturday night, have a buddy going through some stuff and a night on the town was just what he needed. I am glad this place takes cards now as I was cash poor for the evening. Have not been in a while and was glad we came in!
First off, it was not as packed as I remember so that was a good thing. The karaōke was entertaining as always, although none of my buddies wanted to do a drunken duet with me.
Total dive, but you know that already. Bartenders were friendly. Go for a good time.

To pay homage to Otter Saloon’s former name, U Otter Stop Inn, I will write my review like so:
‘U Otter’ get to know Opal. My friends and I went in for an early happy hour once and she fed the jukebox 26 times for our quarter-​less selves.
‘U Otter’ chat with the regulars. They will resemble «Friends of Santa Claus.» They will cheer you on while performing. They will never heckle and frown upon anyone who does.
‘U Otter’ put the heels away. This is a down-​home, we-don’t-care-if-you-shower-daily kinda place and we need to keep it that way.
Lastly,
‘U Otter’ perform a karaōke song. Just see yourself out if you have no singing plans. This place ain’t for you.

U Otter Stop Inn? Otter’s Saloon? More like I otter not be going into work tomorrow.
If you are not having fun at the Otter, please leave. This spot is a gem, its corner location on Central and 1^st Ave make it the perfect place to get out of downtown and into the fun zone that is the NE. Plus they serve Heggie’s Pizza, it’s tasty and the real deal of zas, how can you go wrong!
Pro — intimate space, cheap drinks, and Heggie’s (trust me, it warranted another shout-​out)
Con — when packed it’s the worst cluster and I can never see who’s singing
This place is quickly surpassing Vegas Lounge as my #1 karaōke joint.

Even though I’ve lived so close, I’d never gone to the Otter Saloon. A lot of it was rooted in the fear that I would encounter inside the otter humanoids so prominently displayed on the murals outside. But last spring or so, I heard rumors of new management, taps returning, and the cleansing of potentially hostile otter humanoids.
A friend really wanted to check it out, so after a few drinks at the Red Stag, we headed over. Though the location is small, it isn’t dingy. In fact, it smelled faintly of bleach, like they just hose the place nightly. It was a Sunday night, so it wasn’t crowded. Just got to watch some random strangers surprise us with great singing.
Drinks are way cheap and cash only. I’d advise against the bartender’s choice shot, it was pretty much poison and knocked me out for most of next day. Could have been all the other drinks I downed that night, but I’ll blame it on the shot.

Definitely not what I expected when I drove by. It was actually much better and much more fun! There was karaōke, friendly bar tenders and horrible singers… And some good ones too!
A nice change from the «upscale» downtown scene.

Wait a minute… this place is called The Otter Saloon? Since when?
I’ve had some good times here. I’ve had some bad times here. But lately, it’s a safer bet that I’ll have a bad time than a good time.
My Otter days are over.

Hey boy, sitting in your tree, Mummy always wants you to come for tea. If you can name the artist (*B-​witched) or finish that tune, this may be THE place for you.
Sketchy building, quirky crowd, & fun tunes. Oh, the U Otter Stop has so much character! Thanks to Unilocal,this place popped up on my radar when attempting to find a new place to go out in NE. If Karaōke is your game, then this is your go to spot, everyday of the week if you wish. C’est la vie, Jock Jams, Whoomp! (there it is), and Sweet Caroline were just a few performances of the night. However, as others have mentioned, be prepared to wait around an hourish or so until you get to sing, so please plan accordingly.
This dive bar is a new favorite of mine, for singing, people watching, $ 1 chip eating, and cheap beer. Can’t wait to be back U Otter. Next time I’m bringing Aaron’s party back, if the Otter has this on file.

Anyplace that has 2 for 1 screwdrivers at 11am on a Monday is alright by me. So what if it’s well vodka in a plastic jug and quite possibly Tang instead of actual OJ… you love it.
Definitely tops on my list of return visits next time I find myself back in the Twin Cities.