On a typical Saturday night, a drive down SMU Boulevard reveals herds of college-aged students aimlessly crossing the street, drunkenly laughing in large groups. Rain or shine, students walk just steps from Southern Methodist University’s campus for a night out, hopping back and forth between Barley House and Milo’s Butterfingers. These two SMU hotspots have long stood as essentials of student nightlife, fueling long college nights filled with cheap drinks and baskets of greasy fries.
While both spots remain rightfully iconic, opinions among SMU students on which bar deserves the title of go-to remain divided. Regardless, both establishments have planted roots in the social culture of SMU student life.
Barley, long dubbed an ‘upperclassman bar’ where students would pregame before heading to the iconic Homebar, feels like a long-standing part of SMU’s campus culture. The sports-meets-dive bar opened its doors on SMU Boulevard in 2005 after its original location in Deep Ellum closed. Since then, Barley has been a go-to for SMU students, for convenience and inexpensive beers in Dallas’ high-cost climate. It is a place that fills up on game days and after classes, drawing all kinds of college kids who make up SMU’s student body.
For Wes Kirkland, an SMU senior and Dallas native, Barley will leave a lasting impact on his college experience.
“Barley feels like a little piece of SMU’s heartbeat, where memories are made between laughs, late nights and familiar faces,” Kirkland said. “It’s one of those places that turns random nights into stories you’ll still be talking about years after graduation, making it a small but special part of the Mustang experience.”
According to Aaron Brewer, general manager of Barley House, SMU students make up a significant portion of the bar’s customer base.
“We definitely feel it in the summer whenever you guys [SMU students] are gone,” Brewer said, noting how closely business aligns with the school calendar.
Barley has become a familiar gathering place where students return week after week, often greeted by staff who know them by name, a sense of authenticity that is intentional.
Brewer emphasized Barley’s commitment to staying involved with the SMU community, from sponsoring student events and student DJs to collaborating with student-led businesses such as senior Luke Froeb’s pizza truck, Pozzo Loco.
“Once Barley realized that Pozzo Loco had built a culture around bringing students together—pitchers of ice-cold beer and wood-fired pizzas on the patio every Friday afternoon after class—it was hard to deny that this was exactly the kind of culture Barley was built on,” Froeb said.
“I really love being involved with the students, knowing them by first name and catching up with them when they come in,” Brewer said. “That sense of community is huge. Plus, we have generation after generation of students whose parents also went to SMU and came to Barley.”
Barley’s longevity has also helped it build a multigenerational reputation among Mustangs. With alumni visiting campus, many recognize the bar from their own college days.
“Parents’ Weekend is always fun,” Brewer said. “Parents come in and say, ‘I used to come here when I was at SMU.’”
These events further reinforce Barley’s reputation within SMU as a staple in an ever-changing Dallas environment.
Milo Butterfingers emulates a similar divey sports-bar energy to Barley but offers amenities its counterpart lacks, such as pool tables and a larger space inside. While Milo’s doors have been open for quite some time, it was not until a recent renovation in 2024 that the spot really became more on the radar of the student body.
Tommy Donahue, the manager at Milo’s for the past 39 years, explained that while SMU students have always been part of the crowd, they have never been the dominant demographic.
“I’ve always said about 10–20% of our clientele is SMU,” Donahue said, estimating that the percentage has remained relatively consistent over the years.
What has changed, however, is scale. Since the new owners, who are the brains behind beloved patio-bar Chelesa’s Corner, renovated, Milo’s overall traffic and revenue have increased significantly.
“We’ve doubled our revenue since the renovation,” Donahue said.
As a result, even if SMU students still make up roughly the same proportion of customers, they now represent a share of a much larger and more diverse crowd.
Milo’s demographic has always leaned slightly older, with many regulars between 25 and 35 years old, along with longtime neighborhood patrons.
“One of the reasons we’ve been here for 55 years is the constant turnover of a customer base,” Donahue said. “I’ll see people and say, ‘I haven’t seen you in three years,’ and they’ll say they got married, had kids, moved to Plano— but they come back because they know they’ll see familiar faces.”
For SMU senior Will Schmitt, Milo’s appeal over Barley lies in its crowd, which feels like an escape from the SMU bubble.
“I like that Milo has a more diverse crowd. It makes the atmosphere more relaxed, but I still bump into people I know, which I enjoy,” Schmitt said.
Though Barley and Milo’s draw the SMU crowd differently, the stories of the people who run them reveal a shared support system rather than competition.
“If we were the only bar here, we wouldn’t do nearly as well,” Donahue said. “It’s a symbiotic relationship.”
For SMU students, choosing between Barley and Milo’s often depends on the occasion, and typically, the night includes both. Barley offers a campus-adjacent, student-centered atmosphere rooted in tradition and school spirit. Milo’s offers a mature experience with greater crowd diversity and a revamped space. Together, they form a small hub of nightlife outside of campus that has evolved alongside SMU itself.
As student tastes change and the Dallas bar scene continues to grow, one thing remains clear: SMU Boulevard wouldn’t feel the same without either door open.
“We really value the students—their business and their presence. We love hosting them and taking care of them,” Brewer said. “It’s honestly kind of sad when seniors graduate; we really miss them.”
