Two popular Dallas bars, Gold Bar and Bar Dallas are making changes. These bars, which were popular among SMU students, are now simply fads of the past.
Tuesday dollar-drink nights at Gold Bar accounted for many Wednesday morning absences.
Tuesday night’s trip downtown was routine: same cheap liquor, same knock-off DJ, and a visit with those same huge bouncers, every week. It was a tradition, and it was great. But after closing its doors early in January, Gold Bar, sadly, is gone.
Enter Pacific Grill. Located within a block from the late Gold Bar, Pacific Grill hopes to pick up Tuesday nights right where Gold Bar left off. The bar, which fronts as a restaurant at lunchtime, is described as “Eclectic New American/Casual” by Dallasdinesout.com, or simply “New Gold Bar” by many SMU students, longing for the Tuesdays of old.
The openness of “Old Gold Bar” is missing at “New Gold Bar.” With four distinct areas in a multi-level design and a significantly smaller bar, Pacific Grill seems cramped, a feeling that the short ceiling adds as well. But with the same marble-and-champagne ambiance as Gold Bar, SMU students can still sip their $1 drinks in style.
Although we will all remember Gold Bar fondly, Pacific Grill is a satisfying successor. And don’t worry, those same old bouncers made the move, with all the cheap liquor and that DJ as well . . .
Downtown isn’t the only place where the bar scene is changing. Instead of moving locations, Bar Dallas, located in the West End, only received a facelift. But unlike Pacific Grill, which keeps a hint of class in the name, Bar’s new name, Tiki Bob’s, makes it sound like a theme-park burger hut.
Although Bar Dallas never had the intrigue for SMU students that Gold Bar did, Tiki Bob’s seems to be targeting the party-hardy, 8-12-year-old crowd.
Tiki Bob’s might not offer the same attitude that Bar Dallas did, but we can hope Tiki Bob’s will offer a fresh new face to the bar scene. According to a Coolcitiesusa.com account of Tiki Bob’s, “if you didn’t know you were in Dallas, you might feel out of place with anything less than a bright Hawaiian shirt and sandals.”
Change can be a good thing, and a South Pacific, hula-hut venue can always be fun. Still, isn’t Bar Dallas a better name than Tiki Bob’s for a bar . . . in Dallas?
Dallas’ other late-night scene is also adding a bar to the mix. A new Coyote Ugly branch opened this January in Deep Ellum, hoping to add to the success the chain has had in cities such as Las Vegas and Atlanta.
For those who have seen the movie, you can probably get a feeling of the atmosphere of Coyote Ugly. For those who haven’t seen it, just don’t order water.
While the nightlife scene is changing, one thing remains constant: SMU students know how to have a good time, and will continue to do so at these new bars.
