The second time a tried to take another acquaintance of mine to The Bear Bar it was full and was hosting a trivia night so I couldn't get in.
Third time lucky and I decided to take my first acquaintance to The Bear Bar hoping it wouldn't be too noisy, crowded or full on Saturday night. It turned out to be a suitable place for what we needed to do.
The reviews online were pretty positive and I was intrigued by what was suppose to be a "Scandinavian" theme to the bar.
It's an underground bar - decending a set of stairs, the first thing you notice are stuffed teddy bears big and small (refer photos attached) . 2 small bears organised on a bench and 2 life sized bears organised around a dining table on chairs with a winter backdrop behind one bear and the words "Bear Garden" on the adjoining wall behind both of them.
I noticed a sign on the bears' dining table reading "Thursday Night Special Cupcakes $1 Each". Oh how sweet! A drink with a cupcake. At this stage the bar could have been mistaken for a kids eat and play hangout. Look more closely and you notice that there are quite a few shiny beer barrels beside the smaller bears on a bench display and the bears actually have bottles of wine scattered across them on the bench making them look like they have been drinking a little too much!
Look closer at the life sized bear display seated around the dining table and you notice the cupcake sign actually reads "Thursday Special Alcoholic Cupcakes $1 Each" - Not so sweet now a drink IN A cupcake not a drink AND A cupcake!
Walking through the entrance to the bar and dining areas, the first thing you notice is the backwall constantly screening snow scenes. Was this meant to make you feel you were having some apre ski in the middle of winter somewhere ? (destinations unknown). We have Winterfest events for that! There were plenty of log tables and chairs but where was the open log fire place? Even a fake one somewhere?
My acquaintance and I sat on the couch to have a drink and use the coffee table for the netbook to sit on - not my idea - I have to say it was the most uncomfortable couch I had ever sat on! So low and sunk I would have preferred to have sat at a high log table.
I looked at the menu and it had a lot of salmon and meat balls on it - remind you of something Swedish?
I didn't expect a bar to have free wifi or a power point I could actually use but my acquaintance did find a usuable power point for the night and commented on how good the wifi actually was!
We ordered a drink each. My acquaintance ordered a beer and later complained to me that it was a rather small beer for I think $9 - maybe it's just the typical English! A cider at the Shady Pines Saloon was of similar price and my acquaintance didn't complain about that. It was me who paid for it in the end because my acquaintance misplaced his wallet - hopefully not on the train!
I didn't actually want to drink that night so asked if there were any NON Alcoholic beverages available - (notice I put the word NON in capitals and there is a reason for that). I was advised that there was a fresh fruit mocktail which was not on the menu . It sounded nice so I asked how much it was ($8) and ordered it.
It took a very long time for my mocktail to arrived but when it arrived, it looked like a stawberry daiquiri only to be whisked away as soon as it arrived with an apology advising it was actually not my drink but someone elses and contained alcohol! A few minutes later my mocktail finally arrived and it was great - served in a moscow mule mug you could see the pieces of fresh fruit at the bottom, taste the ginger and it had plenty of ice cubes in it - tasted rather sweet - it could have passed as a kid's drink such as a green lemonade which my parents used to give us as kids which actually contained a very small amount of midori or lolly water as it is known but we didn't know any better then as kids.
My acquaintance rated The Bear Bar 6/10.
I rate it 7/10. It definitely is no Shady Pines Saloon which I forgot to rate as a 9/10 by the way.
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