Address: 3331 W. 8th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90005
213.387.7227
The Basics: With the economy down the toilet, now it’s the time to be frugal, thus many of us have get our shiz together and start creating a budget and sticking to it. However, como buenos latinos que somos, no importa que tan de la patada esté la situación, we always manage to save a bit of money to party. Con tantos antros, lounges y bars everywhere, it can be difficult to choose a place to unwind. If you’re tired of the same crowd and the same joints, check out “R Bar” in Korea Town, you’ll experience Los Angeles nightlife like never before.
For starters, it has a 1920’s speakeasy strong vibe to it, “R Bar” is really easy to miss, there’s no sign outside indicating that that’s the place, and you need a password to be able to get in.
It’s seriously just like in the movies, you knock on the door, the bouncer opens a little window on the door and asks you for the password, if you know it you’re in, if you don’t you’re in dire trouble…
“R Bar” is a cozy joint perfect to chill with the cuates: have a drink, talk, gossip, even dance a little bit- there’s a badass jukebox that seriously has a little bit of everything, from the newest jams to the oldies but goodies- ranging from rock and pop to hip-hop and alternative.
If you don’t know the password, don’t even trip, you can always get it from their MySpace page (www.myspace.com/4rbar) or just call earlier to find out what the password is.
What to drink: Even though “R Bar” has a very strong “dive bar” vibe to it, its prices don’t. Drinks are not as pricey as in nightclubs, but you will need to shell out a tad more cash to catch a good buzz. The drinks are pretty stiff… anything with vodka will do the trick- their Vodka and Tonic are quite popular.
What to eat: While they have an ok menu at “R Bar”, you have to keep in mind that it’s no gourmet cuisine and that you run the risk of getting food straight out of the freezer. Fortunately, the only thing that seemed generic were their garlic fries- you can definitely hit the snooze button on those, not only are they not great, they’ll give you garlic breath for the rest of the night.
Whether you wanna fill up the tank before you begin drinking or whether you’re trying to sober up, you should try their most popular items: a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup- a good, yummy and unexpectedly impressive combo.
