The Bench Warmer

My favorite bar in Ventura. Great vibes, reminds you of Cheers. Really great people and ownership. Best neighborhood bar in town: there’s not many of these types of places left. Lots of dart boards with a dart league if you’re interested in some good competition. Also a pool table, a pin ball machine and keno. Lots of regulars!

I fell in love with this lil bar! The drinks were stiff and the bartender was effing cool! Just a quiet watering hole where everyone is so mellow. I will be back soon.

So — before I finished the following paragraph, a local bought a round for everyone at the bar — 12 of us. Gotta give it one star for friendly — but still not my kind of place. Here is what I was writing:
Completely reeks of stale cigarette smoke. That and 5.75 for ordinary beer (only 4 beers on tap, no IPA). Definitely a local dive for people who don’t mind smelling like cigarette smoke when they leave.

Wow. I was extremely underwhelmed with this one. I saw all of the reviews for a great dive bar, so the hubs and I were in town and decided to hit The Bench Warmer. The bartender was a bit clueless on any fun, fruity, girly drinks. There wasn’t any vanilla vodka to go in the soda, so if I were in the mood for just beer, I could have had one– as long as it wasn’t Michelob Ultra… The jukebox was playing old 70s style music– which would have been fine– if it were rock. I felt like I should have been twirling in circles with flowers in my hair while bras were burning in the background. THAT would have been much more exciting and preferable to the ten other patrons that were staring at each other over the pool table in the back. Maybe it was an off Saturday night. The TV’s were also the old 400 pound type, not a flat screen to be seen in the joint. Although the place is supposed to be smoke free, several people were puffing away on those disgusting E-​Cigarettes (Right under the NO SMOKING sign) so the place reeked of old, stale cigarettes and watermelon vape. BARF.

This place is the closest you can get to Cheers in real life. Ages range from 20s to 80s. Strong drinks and friendly people. Gets younger as it gets later.

Terrible service ran by a lazy and arrogant bartend… had the arrogance to ignore me for a good 5 minutes then whine saying he’s at the far end and why can’t I go to him… the owner needs to get rid of that guy, made all the ladies go in a broke toilet because he didn’t want to deal with it.

Threw a surprise party for about 30 people at the Bench Warmer last night and had the best time! The staff was so friendly and easy going, taking care of everything I needed to make a great party! The guys played darts and pool while us girls hung out and enjoyed our drinks. Thanks again. We will be back!

I drop in here from time-​to-​time for a few ice cold Rolling Rocks, a couple of shots, and to watch NFL football. During the day, the crowd leans towards an age range in the 30’s-60’s, but I hear that the patrons get much younger in the evenings.
They have tons of (older) televisions, the NFL package, a comfortable outdoor area for kickin’ it, as well as very friendly patrons if you’re open to meeting people with similar interests such as sports & cocktails.
As others have mentioned, they’re serious about darts here, too. Frequent competitions are going on and all are welcome to join in. I don’t have steel tip darts, so I didn’t get the opportunity to throw dangerously sharp projectiles after downing my fair share of adult beverages. Next time!

Great dive bar.
Some highlights:
— Cheap drinks, heavy pours.
— Monday football night is fun there. They have food in the back on Mondays.
— Darts! Always fun to play a game of darts. Loser buys next round. :)
— Laid-​back bartenders. Locals joint. Love it.

The Bench Warmer gets 5 stars because frankly in Ventura the neighborhood bar is a dying breed. If you want to grab a quick drink before, during or after work the Bench Warmer is your place.

«Friendly staff. Strong drinks. Flat tonic out of the bottle. Weird white stuff floating out of the olives.»

I love this place. :)

My new favorite bar. Drinks are reasonably priced. Everyone is extremely welcoming.
I feel like I could really get better at darts n pool if i stick around this place.
Pool is cheap. only a buck a game.
Great patio and space. multiple dart boards with good quality darts. Plus ping pong!
It’s a dive bar, but just labeling it that doesn’t do it justice. You have to see for yourself.
Oh and amaaazing music all night from Nirvana to Steve Miller band to Jimi Hendrix.

Grab a draft from a limited selection (only two), some free darts, and catch the many games at the Bench. Tons of TVs, jukebox, quarter pool table, and huge smoking patio. Pretty laid back with an audiece of mostly neighborhood bar regulars. Great place.

The Warmer is a serious locals bar in Ventura. Good back patio for smoking– I like to fire up a stogie there once in a while with my boy BIG L. No kitchen, but sometimes they’ll have sloppy joes or hot dogs for football games. Get in the betting pool or shoot the shit about the VHS Cougar’s chances for a league championship. It’s all good. Carlsberg on tap with a shot of tequila is my standard at this sports bar. No happy hour specials, which kind of blows.

The warmer has it all for the small neighborhood bar lover. They have cheap yet stiff drinks, a mellow atmosphere with billards, darts, pinball, a jukebox, as well as a heated patio with TVs. Everyone I’ve been to the warmer I’ve had a blast. Best part is that you can afford to buy rounds of drinks without breaking the bank. Tired of downtown Vtown? Check out the benchwarmer.

These guys hosted the darts event for Ventura County Corporate Games 2008, and while Invitrogen lost in its first round, we were good sports about it then drank some sorrows away.
Plus it’s Wednesday night. What’s a better night to drink than Wednesday?
Don’t answer that.
I only ordered two drinks — citroen-​and-​tonic and rum-​and-​diet. Both were amazingly strong and made me wanna hurl, but I stomached them both, kicked it with the coworkers (and Michael S.), and peaced out to venture forth into downtown Ventura… kind of.
2 Stars because their drinks sucked, the place was divey but I didn’t feel at home, and because we didn’t take any medals for darts in Corporate Games.