The Press Bar & Parlor

Being that it’s located smack dab in the middle of downtown St. Cloud, swarms of college students make their way to the Press every weekend. If you are from St. Cloud, you’ll most likely run into everyone you know from high school. St. Cloud’s downtown scene is limited, so you’ll end up constantly seeing familiar faces here. If you aren’t from St. Cloud, you will notice how packed it gets on the weekends. You can barely move around downstairs because there are people everywhere.
Here’s my breakdown of the place:
1. Service? ¹⁄₅ stars.
Terrible. This could be because every single time I’ve been there, they have been crazy busy, but either way, this does not excuse their attitudes. The bartenders, one girl especially, are not accommodating. The drinks are either made too strong or too weak depending on the bartender. I have never had what’s considered a well made drink here and there is no «happy medium.» On one occasion, my friend had to tell the bartender that she made the wrong drink. She asked for a Long Beach… and she made it incorrectly. It wasn’t a complicated drink and somehow, she even admitted she didn’t know what it was, so she made something on the fly…
The only reason why I’m giving this 1 star is because of the security/​door guy. He was much nicer than the guy over at Brother’s and I made sure to tell him that. He high fived me for it.
2. Ambiance? ³⁄₅
Alway’s hoppin’ and upbeat. I’ve never seen this place appearing «dull.» The music can get pretty loud, so don’t expect to come here and be able to be talking in an inside voice.
3. Sanitary? NO.
It’s gross. Like most bars, the Press does not keep up with cleanliness. It is clearly not their priority since they fail to wipe up tables or floors for that matter. I remember taking steps, and feeling my shoes stick to the floor. DISGUSTING.
I would say to give the Press a try, but don’t expect much.

Everything needs work here, in my opinion. Customer service is always awful and i’m still curious how they are open and haven’t been shut down by the health department. When you walk in on a Wednesday-​Saturday night, you just feel dirtier immediately having walked into the building. An obscene amount of college students, many who get in with fake ID’s. I would avoid at all costs. Pay a normal price for drinks and go to DB Searles across the street, or head West down the block and go to The Pickled Loon or The Whitehorse — great atmosphere’s at those places!

Over the weekend, I went to St. Cloud from out of town to help my nephew move back to campus. He was returning to St. Cloud to start the new college semester after winter break. We went here in hopes of having a good time and to help him celebrate a start of a new semester. This visit was a huge mistake! Granted, I was considered the «old person» compared to the customer base that night. I did not mind that aspect. That aspect has nothing to do with my displeasure of this place.
I felt highly uncomfortable with almost everything about this place. The employees do not appear to have a good eye on cleanliness and order. Every other table was extremely messy; therefore, we had a tough time finding a good place to sit. When I asked one of the employees to clean one of the tables for us, he walked away from me and did not say a word to me. I did not see anybody return to clean any of the tables until much later. By the time the cleaning came along, it was too late for us. They waited too long. Also, the bathrooms looked like a disaster and obviously neglected for some time.
The bartenders, the security, and the other employees were extremely rude to my nephew and me. When we ordered drinks, they employees barely made any eye contact with us, and they had an awful tone of voice. I noticed that they treated the other patrons the same way. Their customer service needs a lot of work. Upon ordering drinks, I felt highly uncomfortable approaching any other employee the rest of the night.
Their drinks were weak, and they did not taste great. I ordered a vodka cranberry, and my nephew ordered a white russian. Normally, these are simple drinks. Considering the horrible customer service had been getting that night, I did not feel comfortable asking them to fix the problem in fear that they may give us more bad attitude.
The overall experience was so bad that after we finished our drink, we left. We went to Red Carpet, which is down the street, and they are much better. Anytime I am in St. Cloud in the future, I will be staying away from The Press Bar. I recommend that others do the same.

same old music every Thursday night, nothing new. Dj won’t play music that will «hype» you up. So what’s the point? cheap drinks though.

It has been many years since I have been here and I was amazed at how this place has changed and keeps evolving. When we were there, it was a Wednesday evening and there were not a lot going on.
Being from Texas, I was amazed at how cheap you can drink. Obviously, I am old enough to be the father of anybody drinking here. However, it was a good time.
I had fun talking politics with some of the college students.

I want to like this place I am a rock fan but the sub par atmosphere and cash only policy make this collage focused bar low on my list.
Edit: I am adding to my review in the end the basics of my first review have not changed but the bar has continued to decline poor service, atrociously dirty, no paper products in the bathroom and more

This is ! Wild & Crazy Bar I Love this Place! it has not changed much since the first time i have been there but the Weird Railing around the stage a Bit Odd for Bands, Cheap Stiff Drinks and Allot of Fun !

this was one of my favorite bars when i lived in st. cloud. there are great people on staff and every tuesday night was dollar beer night and charlie’s band would play upstairs… oh the memories! the only warning i give is that you should expect college students… everywhere.

Very typical college bar! $ 0.50 tap nights is a thirsty Thursday special. Downstairs they usually have a decent cover band and upstairs is the dance club. The bartenders are pretty fast even when it’s crowded and the scenery is good. This place is dead in the summer-​time when school is out and everyone is at the lake.
Say hi to the Asian dude with crazy mullet in the dance club. He must be mid to late 30’s by now, 5′ nothing, still chasing the dream!