Bar ONE Beer & Wine Parlour

Bar One introduced me to life in Los Angeles, and for a long time it was the only bar in LA that I actually enjoyed. I was attracted to the decent music and dark lighting, also the bartenders were inviting and talkative. Around 10pm the place would fill up with bright eyed, shimmering 21 year olds and their bright eyed, shimmering friends. This space would make for the perfect eavesdropping / conversation bar if not for one detrimental flaw: The televisions.

Two televisions, positioned at the foci of the bar, caused such an overwhelming distraction that I would often find myself completely stopping mid-conversation to gaze upon a wookie baking gingerbread men, a Japanese man decapitating a horse, or Gael García Bernal doing something sincere. I am a sucker for interesting film, so the film selections at Bar One consistently kept me mesmerized. Too mesmerized. Even if I wanted to escape the entrancing flicker of Ryan Gossling stomping in someone's face (which believe me, I did) there was not a single seat in the place to avoid the foot-stompity allure. But really, am I sitting here complaining that the movies at Bar One are too good? Yes. Yes I am.

Overall: Bar one is my favorite watering hole in the valley.

I absolutely love the atmosphere...small bar, no judgement from the crowd and just overall a chillaxing environment! My wife and I tried the snake bite and the famous Spanish pear... Both were absolutely amazing! Great staff too!!!

Man, this place is having an identity crisis.

I've been coming here on and off for almost 5 years - not a regular or anything, but enough to get a good vibe from the place (and remember when they had DJs every night). Two years ago, I would have given Bar One a solid 5 stars. I could always count on having a great beer or sangria, poured by a kick-ass bartender. For a while they had food trucks, and they also had popcorn. Place was packed to the gills every time I went. Things were looking good.

I moved to NoHo last year, so my patronage has increased a lot in since then. Initially, this was a great thing since they also opened up Steampunk, whose food is incredible on its own. Chicken and waffles plus beer = my idea of heaven. But over time, they pretty much phased out Steampunk to be completely separate from the bar. For a while Steampunk was open late and you could order at the bar, then it closed at 8 and they stopped taking orders at the bar (Dudes, if you arrive at Bar One before 8, you're doing it wrong), and now Steampunk closes at 4pm daily? The hell? When the rules change that much, it's never intentional.

So, maybe my complaints thusfar boil down to "I'm a fat kid who's mad that I can't get my Belgian fries when I'm drinking"... but there's more to it than that. As a couple of the reviews mention, something about Bar One has changed. The last few times I've gone have been completely dead (including Saturday at 10:30). They no longer have that cool little bench area in the front - it's currently dead space that a bartender said they were converting into a stage. I hope I heard that wrong - lord knows we don't need another spot in town for singer-songwriters to do their thing. The bartenders are still pretty cool, but some of my favorites have flown the coop in the last year or so.

I really hope Bar One is doing okay financially, and I don't plan on stopping my visits any time soon. I'm just sort of bummed that a place I really, really liked isn't as great as it's been in the past. But it's cool - hopefully they're just going through some weird growing pains and will come out on the other side. I'll be back regardless. Unless they start doing comedy nights or something. Those guys are the worst.