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They've repainted the exterior of this place to resemble the Green Monster, and didn't do too bad of a job of it either. Â The interior has been remodeled to more closely resemble a filthy shithole. Â Especially the "men's bathroom".
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This place is a hole. A dive of the first water. A sleazy, weird place where all sorts of bizarro stuff is likely to happen to you. Many of the regulars are the sorts of...ahem..."characters" that you read about in books.
And It. Is. Awesome.
Seriously. From the gravel parking lot just off Revere Beach Boulevard, up the wooden steps to the well-populated smoking deck with benches and ash cans...through the swinging doors into the dimly lit barroom with tables off to the right, and a "stage" area that does double duty on weeknights as a dart area...
...this place screams dive. And it's glorious. Once you've gone there two or three times, the lady who runs the lotto (oh yeah, they have a separate lotto booth for keno, like you do) will remember your name.
Also, the skinny, leathery hooker will probably try to talk to you...you'll witness some kind of argument between a drunk couple....you'll get hungry and order a pizza from the place next door that has a window into the bar...you'll run out of cash and have to use the ghetto ATM in the back room with the ancient video poker/slot machines...you'll do some shots with the bikers who are playing Skynrd on the jukebox....you might even get lucky and witness one drunk chick trying to convince another drunk chick to be a stripper.
Bottom line is that something entertaining always happens here. You should go. You should have beers, a couple of shots, and smoke a cigarette (I know you quit two years ago, so did I - but I can't resist a couple of drags after a couple of bourbon shots) on the deck and watch the drama unfold.
Holy fuck! Â We're a long way from Harvard Square, Toto. Â
The sign on the front door boldly claims: "Shirts required after 8PM." Â It was 5:30PM, I took off my shirt, entered the bar, and instantly fell in love. Â
Surly locals, $4 whiskey with a splash of coke, a delightfully pissed off bartender, pinball, this bar had it all. Â A crack head was using the outside window as a mirror, some Massholes tried to go fuck in the women's bathroom, and there was a pizza place connected to the bar through a small rectangular hole on one side of the bar.
My new home away from home.
It's hard to imagine having a rip roaring good time while also fearing that you're going to get your throat slit. But Bill Ash's Lounge pulls off that double as few bars in the greater Boston area can.
Several things make this place awesome ...
There is pizza in a hole. (Get your mind out of the gutter and ask the locals what it really means.) There is a trough urinal in the men's room -- a mark of any true dive bar or football stadium not named for some dopey corporation. There are cheap drinks; three bottled beers and a double vodka soda will run you $11.
Above all else, there is the intimidating bouncer (think Bob Marley on steroids in a wife beater) who pulls off a rare double of his own by relentlessly eye-molesting your female friend -- and eliciting terror and a good ol' fashioned bucket of laughs from your group. (Maybe not terror, but at least the sobering sense that this dude's fist could turn you into one of those cartoon human accordions.)
And since this is Revere Beach, you can sit in a booth next to the window and watch the, um, characters harmlessly stroll on by -- was that really a meth head with a toddler? -- as they enjoy a beautiful Saturday evening.
As others have mentioned, this isn't a bar for those with delicate sensibilities. This is a bar in the truest sense of the word, the type of place where you could imagine factory workers popping the top on those squat cans of Budweiser in the 1970s. This is cheap cold ones, a view of a beach that has seen better days and salt-of-the-earth people you'd never meet in Beacon Hill.
And what's so bad about that?
Located on the pristine Revere Beach, Bill Ash's Lounge has more character than a majority of the bars in downtown Boston put together. (Please read "character" as "dirt").
Bill Ash's Lounge is filled with really friendly locals who don't bat an eyelash when some "City-iots" post up in a corner booth with the goal of getting drunk. (Please read "friendly" as "highly intoxicated").
The last thing that makes Bill Ash's a great divey place on the beach is the very welcoming bouncer who will check on your table with great frequency and can even recommend a beverage. (Please read "welcoming" as "will forcefully hit on you" and please read "recommend a beverage" as "will describe you as 'A hot cup of tea. Sip slowly and enjoy'".
Basically, this place is freaking gross and I love it.
Bill Ash's....THE Best Pizza in the WORLD. Ever. Â
Every pizza I eat is compared to Bill Ash's. I call it Beach Pizza - because, for me, eating that yummy slice is a part of my childhood beach memories. Â
As for the lounge - it's exactly what it says it is. It's Bill Ash's Lounge - not an Irish Pub or a club or a Tavern. Â If you're in the mood for the quintessential Revere Beach Lounge (some call it a dive bar, which is a fair assessment) then you've found your place. Lounges like these are created over time, weathered, worn down, with a deep, sticky layer of grunge. Â It's terrible and awesome all at the same time. Â Don't come asking for handcrafted IPA from independent breweries. And don't come alone (at least I wouldn't).
If you want a place to people watch, drink on the cheap and maybe have some pizza, then this is it.  You will see some real drunks clinging to the bar and the song "It's a hard knocks life" pops into your head.  There's also a slight feeling of danger but that just adds to it.  Ultimately, it's a bar in Revere, not the projects.  I live out of state but when I come into town my cousin and I sometimes make a stop here for beers and a slice.  We're  both married, educated, my husband is an engineer and her husband owns a construction company. We're not trash and could afford to go somewhere else. But for us it's also nice to make a visit. Revere, the beach, Bill Ash's - it's part of our history, our parent's history. It's sad to see what's become of Revere but it holds a special place in my heart.  If you have a crappy attitude then put your coach wallet back in your purse, turn around, keeping going until you hit Newton/Weston. You'll find your people there.
This place is classic, almost a relic of what Revere Beach was in the late seventies minus the amusements. A drinking establishment whose clientele varies by the time of day and the day of the week.
Daytime weekdays and weekends are Suffolk Down's Veterans and former Metropolitan Police.
The nights belong to ex Rockers. Revere has long been a home for wanna be rock stars.
Revere. They have dive bars down to an art. Come to Revere Beach on any given day and you may mistakenly think you've been teleported to the Jersey Shore sometime in the late 80's/Early 90's... and that's okay when there's booze involved.
Bill Ash's is everything you want a dive bar to be. You can even order pizza from the place next door via a hole in the wall. It's the type of place you go to, sit quietly in the corner and watch the world unfold around you. The people watching potential here is off the charts. They don't have any beer on tap, and what they have bottled is your standard piss beers, Bud, Bud Light, Miller, Miller Lite, Heineken, Corona, etc. The hard alcohol is cheap and worth it. There's a Viagra clock over the register which lends its own special charm to the place. The mix of booze and the salty air of the beach create at atmosphere that is classicly Revere.
Go here. Play Keno. Stay out of fights.
OK during game one of the world series myself and a friend went on a world tour of dive bars.....this was the clear winner!
OK picture it with me....you walk into a dark shady bar after coming from a Karaoke bar....the three Guinness's you drank at the lost spot are catching up. You enter the bathroom and it appears that they only have one toilet, which is rather odd seeing as its a pretty big bar. Then upon leaving you notice that the large sink to your right was actually a trough....that's right a trough I haven't seen one those since the 80's.
You take a seat at the bar to watch the game and the place has grade A people watching. I was at one point sitting next to a woman wearing a bright red frayed leather jacket and it was at that point that I realized that either I was unknowingly in a Whitesnake video or at that this place plays on every Revere stereotype.
So after my third water downed tequila and orange juice...we decided to head across to the street to an equally terribly awesome dive bar.
If I had an entire bottle of Jack Daniels and my beer goggles were thick enough to make Rue Paul look like Vanessa Williams I still wouldn't have found one female in this place even remotely anything other than incredibly scary. This is a bar where pro's drink. I was next to three old ladies who seemed like they were there drinking hard liquor since Paul Revere himself was there with Sam Adams imagining what it would be like to start a brewery and name it after himself. One of them kept talking to me. I couldn't hear her and she didn't care and I doubt it would have made sense anyway. I wouldn't order any Cosmo's here either. I doubt they ever heard of them. (which is a good thing)
 They don't serve Sam here by the way. They have Bud, Heiny's, Miller.... you know nothing good. Drink booze and your set. It's cheap. Bill Ashe's Pizza is next door and it's the best pizza almost anywhere. You can order through the hole in the wall.  Live music all the time and it;s good. The place is owned by a cop who is tough as nails and the bouncer is a big black dude with an English accent who NO ONE would  F with. So it's totally safe but what a crowd man. I almost wanted to take my camera out and take pics. This is a diverse crowd and no one seemed under 35. Some 35 year olds looked 60 too.
ya gotta love Reveah. Workin class bar with real people.
Is that a good thing? The jury's still out.
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