The Neighber’s

I don’t often do review updates, but I’ve been here enough and enough has changed so that I probably should. I’m going to polish up my original review.
Oh, Neighber’s. Where to begin with you?
First of all, I’m not positive, but I think the place was named after someone’s last name, which would explain the spelling. At least, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that during one of my drunken nights there.
This bar… is unique. Sure, you may go there on a slow night and just sit around by yourself, wondering what you could have done differently in your life, and what it was you did to end up here — but that’s any dive.
This is my default, go-​to bar, for whatever that’s worth.
Most of the bartenders are pleasant and chatty enough to keep things from being dull.
The bar opens early — I wanna say at 6 AM. I think that’s specifically for people coming off of graveyards, which is much appreciated after a long night at the office, though most of the people I’ve seen come in that early are nurses and the like from the hospital. It’s also kinda neat to walk into a bar and see a bunch of people in scrubs downing beers.
They’ve done some minor updating — new TVs, tables, chairs, etc., and the place feels a lot cleaner than it used to. Make no mistake, it’s still a small neighborhood bar with that divey feel that 4 out of 5 doctors recommend.
There’s an ATM, though they now take cards as well. You’ve got your other standard perks: Keno, pool, darts, jukebox, and beer garden. The jukebox is just about always playing here, though I hate the new one because it’s a pain in the ass to find the one-​credit songs. The dart board is used much, much more than it was years ago, and like most of the other bar darts in Omaha, it’s electronic (for any dart shooters reading this). Don’t play the claw machine; Whoever runs that thing needs to tighten the claw big-​time.
The pool tables are easily the main attraction. There are plenty of nights in which the «quarters on the rail» system is abandoned in favor of the chalkboard, due to so many people wanting to play. On most nights, it’s super easy to get a game going, and most of the regular shooters are friendly and easy to strike up conversations with. You may be a terrible player or a great shot, but nobody’s going to judge you either way. My only gripe is that the tables are not as meticulously maintained as they used to be. They’re not bad tables, mind you, they’re simply not outstanding any longer.
What really makes this bar, though is the diversity. You’ll see everything from hard-​up alcoholics and dopers to the occasional medical specialist and lawyer. It’s not hard to find a good conversation or to even make a friend or two.
Due to the location and the diversity, over the years I’ve seen fights, lots of bare tits, breakups, hookups, drama, forged friendships, and all kinds of stuff here. I’ve only started to think the place was getting dull once or twice, and right after, some random, weird, crazy thing will happen that keeps me interested.
After moving back about a year ago, I can say that there isn’t much craziness here any longer (which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on where you’re at in life, and which medications you take). The trade-​off is that the weeknights aren’t as dead as they used to be, or as slow as many other bars in the area. As a guy that doesn’t like being in a completely dead bar, I won’t hesitate to swing by around 9 or 10 on a weeknight because there are usually people there, if not the random large crowd.
This is definitely a place worth checking out once or twice — especially if you’re looking for a regular joint to call home. After a few nights of drinking here, you’ll have a few new bar buddies.
The reviewers that gave low ratings should really go back and try it again. I doubt they’d believe it was the same bar.
In summary, whether you’re the shy type, a social butterfly, a pool player, or simply a people watcher, this bar has got a little of something for everyone, and there’s definitely a good «neighborhood bar» vibe going on most of the time. On a good night, it’s a great mixture of cozy and party, and I generally feel at home here.

We went on a dive bar crawl down Leavenworth St. for a joint birthday party on a Wednesday night. Having never been to Neighber’s, I can’t say I was surprised by what I found when I walked in. It’s your typical dive bar. There were two guys in the whole place, both of which were sitting at the bar with their own individual pitchers.
We got our beers and headed to the back where there was a pool table. It’s cash-​only in here, so come prepared. Also, the beer is cheap! The woman working the bar seemed friendly, as well. Not much more you can ask for here!

How do you review a dive bar?
Take everything I say with a grain of salt because I generally don’t go for dive bars. And this is about as divey as they come… not like ‘fun hipster divey’ (homey inn) but actually divey (happy bar), for serious drinkers only during normal operation on a Saturday at midnight, I’d wager.
We were there for a birthday party, so I can’t imagine on a normal night there would be a large crowd of people eating cupcakes and cheesy blasters, lighting sparklers on the patio and playing the claw machine with a skull & crossbones on it.
During this glorious evening, we were privy to the special ‘watermelon drink’ a concoction of who knows what, with copious alcohol masked by sweetness, served in a small pail that at one point I thought I’d be able to sling over my shoulder and carry like a handbag, while continuing to drink. I did not spill on myself, but did snag it on my arm in a panicked moment of impending spill… (it’s that kind of place).
The kind of place where cleaning products are sitting out a dirty bathroom floor (a Clorox bleach kitchen cleaner bottle with a duct tape label that says ‘Windex’. The kind of place where mixed drinks are served in a bucket and cost $ 5. The kind of place where nobody knows your name, and you like it that way.

Trashy bar with no class. Spend five minutes inside & its no surprise they spelled «Neighbors» wrong.

Let me start by saying that Neighbers is a bar I’ll be rating for daylight hours only. This is a bar many health care workers frequent after working night shifts. It’s conveniently located near the Med Center, and it’s also open early in the morning (around 0600). That being said, this isn’t the kind of place I’d ever set foot in in the night.
The inside of Neighbers can be described as a «dive.» Even though there hasn’t been smoking in bars now for a couple of years, you can still smell the scent of many years’ worth of stale cigarettes, as they are forever ingrained in the walls of the bar. I doubt the décor has ever been changed. The bathrooms are downright scary and I try to avoid them. There is a newer deck area outside for smokers, although I sometimes sit out here because it’s decently furnished and the air is somehow fresher than on the inside.
Neighbers is a good place to chill in the morning after getting off work, and there are plenty of games to play within the bar. Pool, darts, Ms. Pac-​Man, and even a claw machine. There’s a jukebox in the back. On any given day, you may hear Creedence Clearwater Revival, Mary J. Blige, Flogging Molly, or Warren G., and possibly in that order!
Neighbers has core set of regular patrons who are not health care workers. These are typical hardcore alcoholic types. Some of them are creepy. Some of them stay there for many hours at a time and drink themselves into oblivion on a daily basis. Fortunately, most of these people are nice, and if they act up at all, the bartenders keep them in check. The bartenders are not afraid to give someone the boot if they are being obnoxious.
So far my review may make you cringe at the thought of coming to Neighbers, but now I’m getting to the good parts. The owner of Neighbers, Dottie, is hands down my favorite bartender of all time. I probably go to this bar about once a month or less. It doesn’t matter how long it has been since I’ve been there because no matter what, if Dottie is working, she’ll remember my name and know what I want to drink. She’ll ask «Is this a bloody Mary day or a Mich Ultra day?» She knows that if I have the look of «it’s been a long night» that it’s a bloody Mary day.
Dottie’s mixed drinks are great (she’s very generous with the alcohol) and the prices are extremely cheap. I don’t know where else in town I can get a good bloody Mary for about $ 4. On holidays and special occasions, Neighbers will sometimes have free food set up for people in the early morning as they get off work. The bar completely caters to health care workers, and they really appreciate our business.
This is why I love Neighbers. However, like I mentioned previously, this is a bar where I wouldn’t go after dark. While the crowd in the morning basically consists of the regulars and graveyard shift workers, the night crowd is a different bunch… I’ll leave it at that. If you’re a graveyard shift worker, this is a great little hole in the wall to have a drink after a long night.