drinks are gross ! go somewwhere else for good mixed drinks. they couldnt even get a long island iced tea right. and theres indoor smoking so be aware ur going to go in and come out with cigarette smells. and there are some strange people here. last time we went some dude came up to my friend and asked if we were his girls to sell so dun come alone !
the only good thing is the cheap pool tables.
Personally this is my favorite bar in town. It's a dive bar there's no doubt about that (which is all I tend to frequent) but it has a charm I can't describe. Maybe it's the badass bouncer, I don't know, or the badass bartender Reymundo I'm not sure...I know it's the ridiculous people that go there everyday and leave you with a story you'll always remember (like the time I got a free meal with my friend Ivan when we drank from morning to late night or the scary old confused guy trying to hook up). It has a charm which no other bar will match.
Review Source:Whenever I'm in Santa Cruz on a Wednesday I end up at the Avenue, simply because the $5 pitchers make the cigarette-hot-boxed dive bar worth braving. My friends and I can almost always find a booth to settle into, where we promptly get to drinking. They also have an awesome outdoor area which is perfect for the afternoons! Â Â
Tip: They don't like in when you bring in your skateboard, which sucks, but you can usually get away with it.
Stopped by here to pregame for the Boardwalk and loved it. It's a typical no-frills dive with cheap drinks, a low-vibe, and ashtrays on the counters. Not for the casual drinker, but perhaps the casually dressed serious drinker. Great patio, cool bartender. I will be back next time I'm in SC.
Review Source:Looking for a dive? Look no further than The Avenue! Cheap, strong drinks, verry interesting crowd (shady characters, to a few homeless, old men, women with no teeth, college students, groups, singles - anyone and everyone)
Only thing I don't like about this place is that you can smoke in doors, but if you sit by the door its not that bad; nothing like the Rush Inn where you can barely breathe - at least theres airflow here, so its tolerable.
Bar tenders are nice - made me a drink so strong once, I could barely down it - not bad for $4.50
We started our Cali road trip drinking in this bar. Took the advice of fellow Yelpers and we headed down here looking to kickstart the night.
We were a little saddened to note a lack of clientelle our age (mid twenties/college) but we had fun ourselves regardless.
We took control of the jukebox and tried to illicit a response from the locals by playing just about as much British music as we could afford. Seemed to go down well! As did the $5 pitchers.
We sank about 3 pitchers each, our pool got progressively worse, and we off in the search for something a little livelier.
We enjoyed it! Think we hit SC on a quiet night though?
My favorite dive bar in Santa Cruz. Wednesday nights are THE nights to go here for the $5 pitchers of domestic beers. The bartenders and bouncers are all nice guys, especially once they notice that you're a regular. The pool tables are a little banged up, but all are workable, and sometime the pool is even free there. Definitely a good hang out spot for friends. Just don't stick around outside of the bar.
Review Source:OK, another dive bar review:
It is a Monday around 8:00. A very mixed group of folks (jerseys/diamonds/goldteeths vs. ski-cap/yogapants/slugs) all watching a Riaders game. I find a nice booth all to myself and get to work on my beer. I ordered one of the several beers they serve from Uncommon Brewers (small local brew). At 8.5 percent alcohol there was no time to waste, I downed it and called the bullpen for a relief. At this pace things were bound to get a little "Fear and Loathing" but that is a story for another time.
Looks like the have about thirty beers on tap and they stray away from the stock taps and throw in some beer you will not find most other places.
When my girlfriend is drinking vodka mixed with sweat and filth at the nAsti next door, I will be chilling on the nice little backdoor patio with a quality ale.
So we went to this little place during our trip to Santa Cruz for training. It was a good time. I'm not really a cheap beer guy, but they had plenty of it. Bartender man kept making these declicious whiskey and cokes that had TONS of whiskey in them. Just how I like it. We did notice that there was a large contigent of wheelchair-ed folks there. No problem at all, just kind of wierd. All in all, dive and good.
Review Source:Classic Bar to get drunk and have a good time. Â Good with groups as they have a nice back area (although very crammed)
My favorite night at the Avenue is the $4 dollar pitcher Wed last time i checked (used to be $3). Makes for a fun midweek night out with some friends.
Grab your own pitcher and get to work, Guys and Girls all over will be caught fisting there own pitcher. Â
The only bad aspect which is expect with such a cheap drunk is the large amount of people that pile in on wed and even cause a line at the door as the place nears capacity making it even harder to go into the back area due to way to many people.
Cheap, Fun end of story.
I don't know what it is about this bar but every time I come here I always end up getting way more drunk than planned.
They always have a few good beers on tap, and they make pretty strong mixed drinks as well. The bartenders are always friendly and it never takes long to get a drink. Maybe this has something to do with my wastedness...
On my friends 21st, one of the bartenders poured Bacardi 151 into a heart shape on the bar, lite it on fire and poured a shot glass in the middle of god knows what for my friend to take. It was pretty impressive, or so I thought.
The only thing negative about this place is a game of pool costs the same as to play one song on the juke box. Granted it was Led Zeppelin, but still $1 for a song?! I payed it, of coarse, anything to hear zeppy, and not to mention, I really couldn't stand anymore country songs for the evening. ( No offense to country fans).
Not matter where we are downtown, we always end up at The Avenue, and it always makes for a great way to end the evening. With me wasted hanging my head out the taxi window, yelling "Taxi pull over, I'm gonna puke."
Oh yes good times, good times.
This place is a total dive, and I loved it. I used to frequent this classy establishment when I was in college. The drinkswere strong and the bartenders were super. The bathroom was Dis-Gusting and they let people smoke inside, which I hate.
The Avenue is kind of like the total asshole you date right when you're done with college and you haven't found a career yet and you hate yourself and he's totally mean to you but he makes you feel really good at night when it matters most.
There is pool table and foozeball!
I don't know if they still do this, but Wednesday night used to be $4 pitcher night. Get your own pitcher and sit in the corner by yourself. Tons of fun.
It is kitty corner from Saturn Cafe and across from Taco Bell. Being near the goodies is good.
This is a genuine dive bar.
pro's: 4 pool table($1 in quarters), 2 dart boards, foose ball, internet juke box, back patio with lots of seating, huge selection of drinks
con's: my favorite bar tender just left
Sounds like a real nice place, but when you get in there the drinks are cheap, the bathrooms are disgusting, there's random nascar shit on the ceiling and the atmosphere is consistently divey despite its large sq footage. This place looks a little like jails after party on given nights. If you like shooting pool, cheap beer, and aren't looking for Mr. or Ms. Right go to the Ave.
There are many stories in Santa Cruz. Some of them are sad, some funny; some are stories of madness, of violence. Some are ordinary, yet they all have about them a sense of mystery. The mystery of life. Sometimes the mystery of death; the mystery of the woods--the woods surrounding Santa Cruz.
To introduce this bar, let me just say that it encompasses the all. It is beyond the fire, though few would know that meaning. It is a bar of many, but it begins with one. And I know him. The one leading to the many is Armando Quesada. Armando is the one.
As I mentioned in my Asti review, the Avenue Bar is right next door with it's outdoor area, so you can easily zip back and forth visiting friends drinking in both worlds. Â Here too, the crowd is really eclectic and there's a little bit of everything.
Make no mistake, the Avenue is trashy, both inside and out, but it's always interesting. Â If you're looking for something nice and upscale, you'll hate it.
See and be seen here is more like drink and be drunk.
There are multiple pool tables in the back which is a good thing. Â When I left my last job, my buddy and I were drinking here and I was unbeatable on one of the tables for about three hours as everyone came up to feed coins and play me. Â Not a gambler, so it was for fun, but what a blast!
To get to the back outside patio, you have to walk through the table area and then past the bottleneck by the bathrooms which on a busy night will be overflowing with patrons trying to use them. Â Overflowing is the key word as the men's room is always disgusting and will be doing the same. Â I've heard the ladies room is even worse.
Crowd can get a little sketchy and crazy on certain busy nights so use your discretion. Â I've never seen any real trouble break out here though.
Still, on those warm summer evenings, I've had some fun times on the back patio here, drinking and hanging out with good friends. Â Some real good times and I wouldn't give that up for anything.
The last time I was here, I heard that a guy was caught giving oral pleasure to a girl on the back patio in public the night before. Â What a crazy place!
Right, Dave? :)
I loved this place.
The drinks were cheap and strong. We could smoke inside (although I think they cut that off starting yesterday). The bartenders were friendly as hell. And we were able to sit at the bar all night on a Saturday without getting pushed outta the way.
My only thing is that the bar patrons weren't the friendliest. The chicks seemed slutty and only really cared about making out with their bff while the guys oogle.
The patio seating is a redeeming quality, but this place is skeeze central. Â That's not meant to be a classist knock, just an honest assessment. Â They still allow smoking indoors (pleases the Libertarian types, I guess), and other people always spill their drinks on me here. Â I've also seen plenty of fights break out between wasted patrons at this joint.
It's the kind of bar that I'll go to when friends drag me, but why anyone would suggest it to begin with is beyond me. Â Try the Rush Inn or the New Jury Room for a taste of the local scene without the overwhelming gross feeling.
A good compromise between the Asti and some of the other bars here in Santa Cruz. Good outside seating with plenty of stand room, Beer Pitcher specials on Wednesday Nights with some Hip Hop/ Rock/ Metal battling it out on the jukebox. A place where locals and college kiddies can for the  most part play nice. Bar inside and outside which is convenient for lazy folks who call "1-2-3 not it" on getting the next round of drinks because they don't want to go inside. Most folks can be seen here with pitchers..cups are useless unless you are sharing the pitcher. I like their Midori sours :-).
There are pool tables which can get a lil awkward when it is crowded and you are trying to get outside... I have definitely party fouled a few times and accidentally knocked someone's cue :-/. Â
Bathroom situation can get a lil sketch...they are usually dirty because folks can't aim or in case of females-- they become sloppy/puke that rancid stench...making it unbearable for the next person who walks in... I have seen my fair share of tear eyed girls with their make up running stumble and struggle to open the door. Due to the bathrooms being in the door jam and the "gateway" to the outside.... that area can get clogged.
Smoking outside can be a downer if you are allergic to cigarette smoke. I have also smelled other smoke outside, but the security does a good job with crowd control/ceasing "illegal" activities.
Why is it so fucking hard to find a bar in Santa Cruz where a woman alone can have a drink and feel like she can have a friendly chat. The Avenue comes close for me surprisingly enough. There are enough tits on a platter hoochie mama's in this place to not make rack a target. I ended up getting adopted by an aquaintance who introduced  me to everyone she knew. I ended up playing pool (not well) with a whole bunch of very tall, swarthy, gentlemen, who took great pleasure in 'teaching' me how to play pool. which I've done, oh, a hundred times. But it was fun for me to pretend to be innocent. " oooh, you hit the WHITE ball? That's silly"
Review Source:I'm rating this as a dive bar, not as a regular bar.
It's a good one, better than the asti next door.
It's got pool tables for cheap, a fancy jukebox (the ones you can select songs online), an air hockey table and darts. Â All are good for when you've been drinking with friends. Â They also have an outdoor patio area which you can smoke, it's medium sized and relatively clean.
The place itself is a little dark, the bartenders aren't usually friendly, but the beer and drink prices are on the cheaper end. Â And they have the three dollar pitcher night, I haven't gone but I hear it gets crowded.
"Jesus can't play rugby cause he's got hooooles in his hands"
Pretty song. Right?
It's the cleanest one I heard Saturday night while at a UC Santa Cruz alumni rugby social.
The other songs involved raping boobies, slapping bitches, hanging dogs...that sort of thing.
It wasn't my favorite party.
I mean sure, it's fun to watch ridiculously hot shirtless men drinking cheap beer out of $5 trophies while standing on a decrepit lawn, freezing my cougar ass off, but not enough fun enough to sacrifice my reputation of a lady of means (means being $200 in the bank and few pairs of designer jeans)
So we went to The Avenue....where everyone may know your name....but most likely won't, and where everyone smokes like the surgeon general has been on vacation in Tahiti since 1906, and fat guys with tattoos openly ogle your tatas, and angry black men argue with the bartender about being served then ask for the bartender to count the money out, like your in some shady Reno casino.
Every time I go here I end up leaving with my hair smelling like I washed it with cigarette butt shampoo and frost bite on my toes from sitting outside the entire night talking to an old friend who used to smoke an ounce of pot every half and hour, but is now a cop who shows me his badge under the table; or watching your newly single friend get progressively more and more snuggly with the ridiculously hot, long haired lawyer-to-be; or getting a foot massage from your ex who likes to repeat himself and reminisce about the night we met and how he told me he loved me 10 minutes after our introduction
I come here and feel dirty. I come here and smoke a carton of cigarettes. I come here and flirt shamelessly with toothless men with chest bigger than mine. Â I'm sooooooo coming back.
This is where I used to get hopped up and make some really poor and unguided decisions. Â
Hell, who am I kidding? Â I got drunk there this past summer and made some even worse decisions.
Wednesday nights are lovingly referred to as "Drink n' Drown". ($3 pitchers)
You will pretty much always find half of UCSC there during school time ready to get drunk and/or naked. Â Hopefully both, but there isn't always time before the drowning part.
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