The Grove Bar

I always WANT this place to be good. I’m ALWAYS disappointed.
I took my wife out «on the town» for a date while we were in town visiting family. Vero is not known for it’s nightlife, but the downtown area does have a few good restaurants and bars. This is not one of them.
We walked in and it was pretty quiet, which I liked. That didn’t last long. More on that later.
The place smelled like old vomit. It’s as if The Grove wants to be a dive bar, but can’t commit to it so it tries to do things to make it feel a little nice. But don’t be mistaken, it’s a dive.
The problem with that is, when you order the «house red wine» and then get the bill, you quickly discover it’s an $ 11 house wine. Which really means one of two things: 1) the bartender doesn’t know what he’s doing. or 2) they don’t have a house wine. Either is disconcerting.
The draft beer selection is also kind of underwhelming. Not much variety especially in terms of craft beer selection. I was able to find a decent IPA. Eh.
Then, the typical Vero dude bros come in and the place gets louder and louder, music goes up to compete. Vicious cycle. We quickly left. If I want loud, I’ll go to Kilted Mermaid and hear a decent live band and have a really good beer (and food!). Oh, and it won’t smell awful. The Grove is where everyone goes to be seen and smelled,

Family members of mine own this bar and friends of mine work at The Grove.
I don’t live in Vero anymore, so I was not there for the opening, but when I came back recently I was impressed.
This is place that has the same vibe as a bar that you would find in Chicago/​NYC/​LA.
Good décor, good alcohol selection, staff is friendly and helpful and just an overall good place to hangout and grab a drink.
I told a lot of people when I was home last that if I lived in Vero again, I would be at The Grove multiple times per week

they increased the size of the stage and the bar but not the building… standing room only situation… more likely .if you arrive less than an hour early for any show you will be elbowing your way into the place for a drink… perhaps youll get it out intact to stand outside on the sidewalk to give a listen… way too small for a bar… like most places in this area way over priced. unless you like to constantly be in a life or death struggle to keep your drink and yourself from hitting the floor it may not be for you… i know i wont be going back again.

Clean… fairly new bar, open about a month now.
Two for one specials on well drinks… pretty good prices… BUT…
Staff could be a little more friendly… seemed to me like they don’t know how to smile and joke around with their customers to well… and I’m saying this because I am a bartender as well.
Gonna cut them a lil slack being that they JUST opened and give them the benefit of the doubt that they will get better at conversing with their customers and not act as though they really can’t be bothered… she had 2 customers… US (my boyfriend and I)…and just seemed like she could care less and the guy that came in just before we were leaving… was either in a bad mood and is just always an angry type person… just my opinion… we asked about live music and he didn’t even look up, just pointed (behind his back) to a board on the wall and said…“It’s over there”.
Seriously? Wow… yeah, really made us feel like we’d like to hang out here…
We will probably go back and give them 1 more try… hopefully they will have things together a bit better and be friendlier! :(