JP Looney’s Sports Bar & Grille

Fact File

336-852-1331

Type: Sports Bar

Location: 3021 Spring Garden Street, Greensboro, N.C.

Price Range: Entrees under $15, sandwiches under $10

Hours: Open 7 days a week

Payment accepted: Cash, credit card.

Overview: Located at the corner of Spring Garden and Holden, JP Looney’s offers appetizers, wings, burgers sandwiches and entrees. Amenities include a full bar with daily drink specials, over a dozen televisions, karaoke and games. Catering is available and there are additional locations in High Point and Oak Ridge.

Review by Zac Goldstein

Sometimes, there’s something to be said for the comfort of familiarity. JP Looney’s embodies just about every sports bar cliché imaginable, but in the end, it still manages to satisfy. The menu, for instance, is steeped in sports jargon. Appetizers are “The Starting Lineup,” salads are “Spring Training,” and so on. And if that doesn’t fulfill your quota for corniness, look no further than Looney’s chicken wing motto: “We pluck ‘em, you suck ‘em.”

In spite of the questionable marketing, the wings rate among the best in the Triad. They come in more than a dozen different flavors, bone-in or boneless. Try the latter in sweet teriyaki and you won’t regret it – those succulent suckers go by quick. BBQ-style, in either medium or hot, rate a distant second.

The rest of the menu varies in quality. Burgers, mozzarella sticks and ribs are done right, but a chicken sandwich was tough and bone-dry. Despite all the sports verbiage, nothing here is actually a steal: burgers and sandwiches run in the $6 to $9 range (choice of side included), while 10 boneless wings go for $9 an order (bone-in are only 30 cents less).

Finding seating at Looney’s is a gamble. Show up when there’s a popular game going on and you’re looking at a wait for a decent table. If you are able to get in, you may find yourself in the middle of “Dick Cheney’s hidden bunker,” as one friend put it – a room covered wall-to-wall with television screens. As with any sports bar, you can bet on sporadic earfuls of cheering and hollering. Servers are friendly and will gladly change TV channels for you, but don’t count on promptness if there’s a sizeable crowd.

As a dining experience, Looney’s leaves a bit to be desired, particularly if you aren’t in the mood for wings. But if all you’re looking for is a spot to get some food and watch a game, this is as good as it gets, bar none.

7/10

Old Town Draught House

 

Fact File

336-379-1140

Type: Bar/Pub

Location: 1205 Spring Garden Street, Greensboro, N.C.

Price Range: Varies for drinks. All food items are less than $10

Hours: Food available from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily

Payment accepted: Cash, credit card

Overview: Located on the UNC-Greensboro campus, Old Town offers appetizers, sandwiches, salads, burgers, pizza, vegetarian dishes and southwestern fare. Outdoor seating, a jukebox, and multiple televisions are available. Food and drink specials change daily.

Review by Zac Goldstein

Fair or not, being an on-campus bar carries with it a certain stigma. You would expect a campus establishment to serve up food quickly and cheaply to student clientele who value convenience over quality. But in Old Town’s case, those expectations go out the green awning-covered window.

First and foremost, the food isn’t bad at all. The burgers and sandwiches are about what you’d expect from a sit-down place, though the meatloaf sandwich – a house specialty – is well-seasoned and decidedly above par. Ditto the chili, which is great on a cold day, but only available on special. A choice of sides allows the health-conscious to sub fresh fruit for fries and the hummus and black bean burrito should satisfy meat eaters and meat-haters alike. Only the chicken fingers, chewy and flavorless, were a disappointment.

But with better-than-expected quality comes higher-than-expected prices. Burgers and many of the sandwiches will run you $7 and even a basket of veggies or fries costs $4.50. These aren’t outlandish prices, particularly when you factor in the sides, but if you’re looking for cheap, try the food court.

Service and ambience tend to fluctuate. Sometimes, you’ll be surrounded by twenty-somethings; on other occasions, you’ll see an older crowd. On a good day, you can eat outside in the shade. On a bad one, you’ll have to shoulder your way to the bar and shout out an order. The bartenders are reasonably friendly, hard-working and fast on their feet, though there are times when they seem overburdened.

As a place to go with friends after class, Old Town is as good as you can hope for. You can take in a meal without feeling like you squandered your money or punished your stomach. But factor out the convenient location and the flaws begin to show. If you’re going out for a meal, there are certainly better options nearby.

7/10

College Hill Sundries

Fact File

(336) 370-1372

Type: Bar

Location: 900 Spring Garden Street, Greensboro, N.C.

Price Range: Varies

Payment accepted: Cash, credit card

Overview: A neighborhood staple, the bar features drink specials, a jukebox, a pool table and an outdoor area.

Review by Charles Wood of Gate City Blues

College Hill has been a staple of Greensboro for decades.  Jason Paul has owned the establishment as long as I can remember, but then again, my memory is never good after a good night of drinking there.

Its location, at the corner of Mendenhall and Spring Garden Streets, is perfect stumbling distance for a good chunk of UNCG students.  Its prices, especially on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when domestic bottles are only a dollar, also appeal to broke drinkers of any age.  College Hill’s patrons range from older, blue collar workers to V-neck and bad tattoo sporting hipsters.  The place, especially the boys’ bathroom, is utterly filthy but charming anyway. 

It’s a great place to drink on a Sunday afternoon on the patio with a few friends, or you can go on Tuesdays when it’s jam packed and hard to move if you want to meet new, interesting, and highly intoxicated people.  The bartenders are all nice and friendly, unless you’re rude, then they’ll treat you like the piece of shit you are. 

8/10