I know a lot of people on here (wasn't much into it myself) are big fans and would agree. Here is the list.
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-college-bars-in-us-2014-3
There are definitely some I'll have to check out.
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I prefer the Hokie house. Though I will say, TOTS is cheaper. Sharkey's, also good. Someone in Blacksburg needs a wheel of shots though. If by the time I'm back there someone doesn't have a wheel of shots, I will open a bar with a wheel of shots. I might even only have the wheel of shots.
I was a cook at the Hokie House for a while...
That being said, despite eating for free at HH, I preferred Sharkey's while I was a student, but only because it seemed to attract a lot of hot girls during my time.
I was also a Sharkey's guy. Both in the old location and the new one, when they took over that other bar from the other place.
We thought for sure the corner location where it is now was cursed. My freshman year, it was some place named Woody's, and the year before it had been something else. When Sharkey's moved in, we figured it was doomed, but it has survived so far!
When I started it was a sandwich shop whose name escapes me (I think it shared a name with a building on campus), then I think it was a bagel place, and then the something else you mentioned, then Woody's.
Grad student with an adviser who knows a bunch about the town of Blacksburg. Apparently the two locations were owned and leased by one gentlemen who was notorious for being a complete and utter jerk. The owner of Sharkey's was doing well enough in the one location that they bought the corner property off of the owner and moved in there. Upon moving in they noticed that the water/gas (don't know which) lines went through the corner property over into the second space. Seeing this, they shut off the lines leading to the second location in retaliation to the previous leasing issues. Sharkey's refuses to open up the lines until either the owner of the second property sells it or passes away.
Moral of the story: Don't be a jerk.
Owner(s) plural: The family that owns most of the real estate downtown are the founders of PK's (Pete and Kevin) Kevin is the one you are referring to above
Woody's was Preston's and before that Arnold's It changed from Arnold's to Preston's after a shooting occurred involving three brothers and a wedding party on the street directly outside the bar. Shots were fired, windows in the bar knocked out and a member of the wedding party was killed.
This was the best I could find on the event:
http://www.highbeam.com/Search?searchTerm=publication%3a%22The+Virginian...(Norfolk%2c+VA)%22&orderBy=Date+DESC
I was a bouncer/bartender for both of these places while at Tech, and we were always slammed but the owner was paying such high rent to that family that he wasn't making much money.
Kevin was notorious for coming into the bar and getting completely blitzed, not pay his tab (which the owner just wrote off) and then the owner would expect someone from the staff to help Kevin stumble his way home. He was living in a house about three or four blocks behind the bars at that time and it rotated who got the fun task of steering him home after work was done.
Not sad to hear that they have sold some of the property down there and are having problems using other properties. Dude was a PITA and a lousy tipper.
Arnold's! I was racking my brain trying to remember that name from when I was there (1993-98. I didn't want to leave and become a grown-up so I stayed an extra year. Anyone got a problem with that?)
When Adam Sandler came to Tech for a show, toward's the end he asked what bars he should go to. Someone shouted out, "Arnold's" to which Snadler replied, "Alright, I'll go to Arnold's, but the Fonz better be there."
Hokie House FTW! Power hour was the best. They also served nachos on a giant pizza tray.
Chu Cho's had a wheel of shots and a great happy hour, but it is in that cursed location. Since I've been in Blacksburg, it's been Boston Beanery, Bud Foster's, Chu Cho's and now is becoming a Five Guys location.
Is there going to be 2 five guy locations or are they closing the one by macados?
That I don't have an answer to. Those locations are so close to each other, I think they could go either way. I know there is one in Cburg near target as well, so maybe it's just going to be another location.
They're closing the one by Macados. I forget what they're putting in there, though.
I was never a big TOTS fan when I was in school, and Sharkeys is still my go-to bar in Blacksburg, but now I do try to stop in for a Rail every time I'm in town.
I worked at TOTS back in the early 80s. 1st as the guy in the Sub Shoppe below it and also as the hotdog guy in the stairwell down on College Ave. Then I was a cook and bartender upstairs (moving on up, do-do-dut-do, to the...) for my last year at school. Had some interesting run-ins with hungry drunks... Did lots of homework on weekdays downstairs. I invented the "Smitty-sub" for my fraternity bros on weeknights. Owner transitioned to some big muscle builder dude - I don't remember his name, he was an OK boss though. Place was always busy from Wednesday through Sunday.
Tots Tuesday is the big thing now, no specials or anything, but somehow they've gotten it to be a pretty big deal.
Karaoke on tuesdays
It's also a night when no Sorority girls have greek life conflicts, so all the girls are out, at one bar.
Most sorority women only have conflicts Thursday to Sunday. We just used it as a socially acceptable way to drink on Tuesdays.
Tuesday's were awesome back in the late 80's with ladies lock up. I think it was nickel beers for two hours and then the young bucks were allowed to enter. It was a great time. Girl with largest stack of empty cups was always a very popular lady!
I think that his name was 'Thor'-(not kidding.)
One of my friends had a run in with him, and lived to tell about it.
I think you're right on name. He was huge, no neck guy.
What year? There was a Thor Kritsky at VT, former nose tackle from the early 80s.
That's him. Good work!
I worked there from 1983 - Winter 1985
Big ALS in my favorite right now, although for no particular reason.
I don't mind Tots in the summer when it's not too crowded and you can hang out outside and play cornhole, but I won't go near it during the school year (unless I go to Jimmy John's). If I had to pick a favorite, I'd say whichever one has skeeball, for no other reason than skeeball.
^This. I avoided TOTS like the plague during the school year, but during the summer, that was my spot. My favorite was always HoHo's
I've only been to TOTS during the summer as well. Man are those rails tasty. Now who
has skeeball? I would be very interested in skeeball.
I cannot for the life of me remember. I want to say either Big Al's or Champs.
Its Champs, otherwise known as "The place I don't go because the scary townies scare me"
Yeah, but skeeball, tho
I thought the Underground was the place with all the townies.
exactly why I preferred it
Champs has the next-best drink in Blacksburg though, little-known secret called the Wide Open
I didn't know Danny Coale already had a drink named after him...
When I lived in Blacksburg, I only did TOTS in the summer - it was great during Steppin Out when the stage was closer to Squires - they have since moved the Stage to the intersection of College and Main. The same guy owns both PK's and TOTS.
PK's on Thursday was where you could find me - Tijiuana Toss!
I go to Steppin Out every year. Love having a quick rail. Only been to PK's once but I did
like it. Clearly I need to check out more bars in the burg...
PK's back deck is actually pretty decent - and in the summertime, you can usually grab a table. Their food isn't that bad either and they were getting in a decent number of bands over the summer, which is was always cool
Guess I will be checking it out this summer! :)
Like me some PK's. Getting the cheesy fries with bacon (and some ranch) = heaven.
God Yes those fries are to die for!
Since a lot of my fellow HT seniors arent giant drinkers it is nice to go there for a bit then those of us that want to hit up HH or Sharkeys can break off. Ironically the sister of the new Corps/student life liaison is a bartender there now!
Good call, Tijiuana Toss is awesome (even though my win-rate is probably worse than Mike London's).
Even at full price, a pizza and a BAM at PKs, enjoyed outside on the deck, is one of my favorite things in life.
London would call a timeout in the middle of the coin flip.... or maybe even two.
TOTS over the summer is awesome. Cornhole, beef brisket, fried green beans and rails is a potent combination.
i enjoyed most of the bars in summer. In short summer in Blacksburg is pretty cool. Everyone should spend at least one summer session there.
I was also a big fan of PKs myself. Went there alot of thursday nights after wine class for a chance for a free dinner
Wine class? Man I was in the wrong curriculum...
Haha well i was a Building Construction major so it was an elective. But it was probably one of my favorite classes. Very interesting, and very fun class.
In Food Science and Technology (my program), we could take Wines & Vines (all about wine including tasting) or Brewing Science (all about beer where we could drink in class and made beer) for our in-major elective credits.
I already knew that I went to the wrong school. Now it is for sure.
I had a feeling they would list the Phyrst as the best college bar in State College, PA. This is the dive-iest dive that ever dove. Crappy little downstairs bar, seems to always be dirty. I'm convinced this list is stupid and it's fat ugly face is as dumb as a butt.
But do the students go there?
TOT's is a shithole too (downstairs bathroom stalls made of particle board), but they have rails and lines out the door every night. Hence why many agree it's Blacksburg's best college bar.
Yes I agree the womens bathroom is disgusting and usually somewhat flooded.
Hey, don't sugar coat it HOAT...tell us what you really think about it...
Am I the only Cellar Dweller here?
I was a frequent Cellar Dweller for dinner (Pita Pizza) and a few rounds of Luck of the draw. Then I would go to the other bars for the night.
i love the cellar. i think the cellar has the best selection of good beer. its a little more low key which can be nice, so its a good place to start your night of drinking
No way I am at the cellar for Hammertime at least once a week
Hammertime is amazing. My friends and I have to systematically order pitchers at the right times so we each drink a pitcher in that hour (they don't let us order a pitcher for just one person).
Cellar has some of the best food available in Blacksburg at bars. I used to drink at Ton 80 with the Civil Engineering professors.
Oh boy Ton 80. Talk about towny. I went through a switch of bars, like old sharkeys, ho hos, champs, PKs. Of course these would change per semester.
About two weeks ago I stopped in town, they have a Blacksburg Tap House now. A bit pricey, but decent beer list and food. Seems craft beer is picking up. Even have a fest.
I'm loving the Tap House. It's an improvement over the Irish Pubs they kept trying to stick in there. Believe it or not, the Tap House is a bit cheaper. It has the added benefit of the new parking garage the town put in behind the Wendy's and El Rods. I think that's part of the reason the Pubs never succeeded, along with the prices.
Is it owned by the same guy? I knew the guy who ran the Irish pub(s). He owned my ex's stable. I know he changed the name a couple of times. I remember the food was alright and it took forever to order and pay because of them using iPads.
Anyway, I think the parking situation kind of ruined the place. They had spots for like 4 cars and you had to park blocks away or risk Valley Towing in the Taco Bell lot.
That place used to be Sigma Kappas house.
Yeah I'm not sure if it's the same people now or not. I know they don't do the iPad order system anymore. They're still a little slow but not as much as before. I personally liked the pubs but I could easily see how they had issues succeeding in a college town and in that location.
It's owned by the guy who owns Blacksburg Pipe & Tobacco. Not sure if he's the same as previous owners. But you can smoke a cigar while you're there.
This year will be the 6th Annual Brew Do beer fest and competition.
Last year it was in the big lot back behind Bull and Bones. Looks like it'll be there again this year too.
This year it is 25 Oct. Always a Saturday.
If you go, stop and say "Hi."
Blacksburg Brew Do
In my time, the Cellar was where you went when you had a date and wanted to go elegant. haha..
but they did make great long island's, with just the right touch of coke to alcohol so that the whole concoction only turned a light shade of pink.
And the owner of The Cellar is a hardworking good guy.
I'm not a huge dt patron, but I'm a rather big fan of the Underground (food's great too, especially their burgers and weekend brunch, who knew?) and PK's is another favorite of mine. I tend to stay away from Hokie House or TOTS simply because I'm not all that big on a huge mass of people being between me and my whiskey, pool and darts.
Not a single mention of Rivermill...I'm disappointed. Definitely my favorite.
Rivermill tots or fries are so damn good. Plus they have a great selection of beers on tap. And of course, Boogieburg!
Left Hand Nitro...mmmm...such an amazing milk stout.
I was there between 04-09 and i wasnt a big fan of TOTs. I only went there to down some rails before the night began (in and out).
I'm very opinionated on the Blacksburg bars, as my friends all know. I can't believe nobody has mentioned Rivermill yet. It's got a huge selection of great beers on tap (shout out to the Left Hand Milk Stout), darts, pool, and the music isn't so loud that you can't hear yourself think. The only downside is the dirty mop water smell, but I've come to love it.
Hokie House is okay downstairs for happy hour, but upstairs gets too cramped and smoky for my tastes. And the music gets turned up to 11 for no reason. There's no room to dance, so the music only serves to make it impossible to talk with friends without screaming.
Big Al's is the antichrist of bars. I know 2 girls and 1 guy who have been roofied there. In addition, the bouncers are complete assholes. They kicked out the nicest girl I know because she accidentally miscounted her change and instead of tipping $0.75, was $0.25 short. Even though she apologized and tried to give them a dollar, they just flexed and kicked her out. Never again.
TOTS is completely overrated. Maybe I'm just weird, but I don't like scrounging up cash, which I never have on me, to pay a cover in order to fight through crowds in order to drink from a crappy beer selection and either a) compete with a bunch of sweaty dudes on a cramped dance floor, trying to dance with girls too drunk to know who they're dancing on, or b) not find a table outside and end up cramped in a corner. If I wanted to do this, I could just go to any Pheasant Run party ever.
Really the only bars worth going to, in my opinion, are Mill, Thunderground (or The Underground as everyone else in the world calls it), Champs (occasionally), and Hokie House (downstairs during Happy Hour).
Thunderground is great once you get over your irrational fear of townies. There's great beer, plenty of dart boards, and, most importantly, NO OBNOXIOUSLY LOUD MUSIC. Same thing goes for Champs, minus the beer selection, but plus pool and shuffleboard.
I just really wish the bars would turn down the music. TOTS at least has an excuse because of the dance floor, but it's already really hard to try to talk to people when they're drunk. The loud music just makes it impossible. Maybe I'm just getting old, though. Get off my lawn.
This.
You and I would have been friends while in Blacksburg.
At some times, TOTS can be a great bar, but at other times, as you describe, it can be the Mister Days of Blacksburg bars.
Love the mister days reference.
Back in the day, at the end of the night, my friends and I always ended up at Mister Days somehow...
What a meat market...
What about Mr. Fooz? I'm too young to remeber, but my dad (class of '76) said it was a nice place to hang for a while
/gets off your lawn
I've been lurking here for quite a while and this topic finally pushed me to join up! I have to give a shout out to Frank's (attached to 622 North). Consistently has some of the best beer in town (only the Rivermill comes close in my opinion) and the bar food is prepared by the same chefs that make 622's food, I believe. So it's really really good. There's a little more of a townie feel there but it's not a deterrent like some other places. It's just a good place to go to relax. Music usually isn't too loud, but they do have some (good) live bands frequently, in which case it does get a little crowded and loud.
Have a turkey leg and welcome!
Thanks!
You're absolutely right. Frank's has the best variety of selection on beer and they have Tap Takeovers consistently. Ommegang, Dogfish Head, Sixpoint, and Stone are just a few breweries than have come through for tap takeovers.
Oh yeah, the Stone takeover was one of the best times for me in that place. Lots of great beer.
Also really like the staff there, feel like they've all been there for years and years.
Stone makes a ton of high alcohol beer. I think I had 3 and was pretty drunk.
TOTS: Ever have a few "RAILS" and try running home?
Can't....stop....watching...
I had three rails once...then I became this Raptor
me too. after roughly 3.5 rails things got really fuzzy.
Thank you. This is awesome.
yup that's me
Scanga's Place was the best when I was at VT. You need to look it up in the yearbook aournd 1981 or 82.
I miss Blacksburg...
I think a lot of people in this thread are missing the point of the article. While places like Underground and River Mill might be great bars, they aren't typical "college bars." A lot of these lists look for bars that are packed with co-eds and offer more of a party scene rather than things like an extensive beer list. If you go downtown on the weekends you'll see that TOTS and Big Al's are really the only two bars that can be considered as Blacksburg's best "college bar." Recently the trend has become that most Greeks hang out at Big Al's with a little bit of everything at TOTS.
Hot high maintenance ass went to big "gay" ALS and cheap sorority ass went to TOTs. Other bars are where you could find your wife.
The key to TOTS was to get there before they charged a cover, so you could snag a table. Their patio is great when the weather is nice. Also, it's fairly popular with the Greek crowd. I, a sorority woman, loved it because we knew everyone. My husband, a Cadet, hated the "douchey frat guy" crowd who happened to be my friends. He is not a fan.
Funny story:
I was at TOTS last night, covering it's first "Comedy Night" for the CT (which was honestly one of the funniest stand-up shows I've seen...Tom Simmons absolutely killed it.)
Among the packed crowd, I ran into:
Kevin Jones, just chilling watching the show.
David Wilson (I think...or some other guy built like a horse, dressed in a snazzy/fancy purple outfit and macking on multiple girls at the bar)
and Andrew Miller, discussing the finer points of bashing someone's face in with the bouncer (which I assume is a typical Miller conversation).
Good lord I love this town.
David Wilson was in town for the pro day. Nice to see our NFL Hokies come back for visits.
For me downtown wasn't as much about any one bar, but more about where on that night I knew someone behind a bar if I wasn't working myself. Working downtown came with that amazing perk, as long as you tipped well, you basically drank for free. If I had to list my top places because I knew people there it would have been:
1) Sharkey's (Being right next door to my bar we were frequently BSing with each other out front as bouncers)
2) Hokie House (Especially downstairs close to closing ordering a ginourmous breakfast to go with my well endowed drinks)
3) RiverMill (had the on again off again thing with one of their lady bartenders and the beer selection was phenomenal for Blacksburg at the time)
4) TOTS (Knew the entire staff, picked up odd shifts there occasionally if they needed help with a big event, always left buzzingly happy if drinking)
5) The Library (Some of the craziest S I ever saw went on down there in that basement) Saw several good bands there, also saw Jimmy's Chickenshack there. Probably the most ingenious bar name, since all that showed up on credit card receipts was Library, so kids with mommy and daddy's credit cards would rack up huge bills and tell their parents they had to buy some additional books or supplies.
6) Big Al's because that's where a lot of my friends would be
7) Drawing a complete blank on the name because it changed every year I was there but the building that's actually behind where Woody's/Sharkey's is. That place was always losing their liquor license for serving everyone and usually had solid DJs.
Places in my mind I didn't really think of as bars:
The Cellar (Always was a date place for me)
PK's (was more an afternoon food/drink/away game place for me)
The funny part was that I didn't actually drink most nights I was out because I was a brother of Alpha Phi Omega so I did a ton of designated driving late night down there. I might on occasion though have had the drunks I was driving home make a "side trip" to IHOP in Christiansburg to buy me breakfast at 3am. That place would have been the source of so many video's if phones and video recorders were prevalent then as they are now. There would be people getting it on in back booths or others asleep on the floor of the restaurant almost every weekend. Was always amusing. Oh the good old days.
Naming it Library was a genius move, you're right. I think I saw Jimmy's Chicken Shack at...Burress? Somewhere in Blacksburg, I think. And many times at the HFStival.
Does a bouncer named Bunny still work down at Sharkey's? Guy was cool as all get out. I didn't start going downtown until senior year or so, about 2004. Wasn't much of a drinker.
The place behind Woody's \ Sharky's was The Warehouse (199?-2001) and The Nerv (2002 - 200?).
And VT's from 2006ish to 2009ish? It is still vacant today I believe.
Did anyone ever go to Crazy May's on North Main past the Food Lion? 3.50 bombs (Irish, Jaggr, etc) all day everyday. I think it was open from 2003-2007?
We call that space Goodwill now
I thought they were talking about that sports bar outside of maple ridge apartments
Yep - always served anyone - it was a hot place for a freshman happy hour!
TOTS=THE BALCONY
It was The Balcony when I was on campus. My fraternity used to have a 2am-6am party once a year, on a Thursday night. The Balcony would piggyback on our party and open at 6am Friday for "Kegs and Eggs".
If you could make it to 6am for breakfast at the Balcony, then you were a serious drinker....
Not surprised that no one has mentioned Hawaii Kai, because no one should. Ever. That place was awful and practically wall to wall freshmen. Going there at least once was practically a part of orientation.
Also not mentioned yet, unfortunately, is South Main Cafe (RIP). That place was always pretty good for seeing bands even in the middle of the week, especially with the balcony and the side room with pool tables.
saw Hootie &TBF at S Main in 94 - their last show in Blacksburg before getting huge. ~wall2wall hotties~
Hawaii Kai- was that on College Ave.?- the name is memorable the place is forgettable
except remember it being super-EZ to get served w/o being carded. First(&worst) place I got served besides a beer distributor (PA)
Dalton definitely did NOT work there...
Hawaii Kai was on Main St. right next to College Ave. I just remember everything being painted black inside. I would hazard a guess that getting served so easily was why it was packed with freshmen and also why it never stayed open for long.
I miss South Main.
Wednesday night 50 cent cover, cheap beer, good bands, walking distance.
sigh.
Yes, the Hawaii Kai was awful, but it was loaded with drunk freshman girls...
What about the nerv? Or the library? Remember seeing Emmett swimming at the library (may have been Pedro's at the time)
Man... One thing that sucks after you move away is that when you come back you have very little tolerance for the supremely jam packed bar situation in Blacksburg. Went back for a game this year. Waiting in line to get into a bar? Who does that? Having to shove through crowds once you're in there just to get a drink at the bar? What?
That said, when I was at Tech, I loved places like Sharkeys, Rivermill, Hokie House, Tots whenever I could plant myself outside, downstairs at Champs, and PKs for the toss. I didn't mind the crowds, and hittin on hot co-eds was always nice, but now? Yikes, drive me out to Bull & Bones, where its NEVER crowded, even immediately after 3pm kickoff on a Saturday, let me drink delicious beer at the bar without having a hoard of people pushing past me, and I'm happy as a clam.
back in 88-92 I used to work at Steve's hot dogs (later became BoJo's hot dogs) 2 doors down from TOTS (think it was still called The Balcony when i first started)...I think the storefront that used to be Steves hot dogs is now a campus emporium....anyway on friday & saturday nights, we would get absolutely flooded with people coming down from TOTS when the bands went on break to get a couple of cheap hot dogs...we'd get like 50 people coming in all at once...but the nice thing was that most were pretty liquored up already and tipped pretty freely...