I have not been to Bills for a few months----WOW, has the food changed. Â I had the $6 burger special. Â I ordered the meat rare, it was delivered extra well done; I ordered all the condiments on the side, they were on the burger AND Â another side of all veggies came with it, what waste.
I am just so, so disappointed in the quality of the food; onion rings and burgers.
Thank you Kevin L. !!
My partner & I had the same "miserable" service .
Arron is a bitter, nasty man that needs to be out of the service industry. Â I am sorry, but I have worked in "the industry" for over 20 yrs. & I have never been that nasty on my worst day. Â I refuse to give any gratuity to condone being treated rudely (I know this is FTL and that is becoming the norm, unfortunately) and others should follow suit!!
We waited just as long for food & drinks, even thou we got there @ 7pm for a 9 o'clock show!!! Â 90 minutes for food and 20 minutes for drinks is absolutley inexcusable. We actually got our food as the performer was making his entrance, so much for getting there early to enjoy the evening.
Come on guys, you knew this was going to be a maximum capacity show, you should have had more than enough help and even more staffing, this was much busier than a weekend night.
If it wasn't for Frank, I would never come back here. Â He is the only saving grace for this place. Keep him @ Mustang Lounge and I will return other than that...go to Sidelines!!
Frankly, I have never been able to figure out what the theme or orientation of this gay bar might be. Some say a bear bar; I see a few there. Some say a sport's bar; it has pool tables. Some say an entertainment bar; it has karaoke..until the last drunk sings....along with an area offering of professional comedy, song and drag entertainment.
The interior is intentionally industrial and rather crude; certainly not elegant in any way. The crowd pretty much runs the entire gay gauntlet of stereotype as well as the everyday common guy who isn't representative of any particular sexual orientation or stereotype.
Overall, best I can say is that it tends to be pretty much like any other bar, be it gay or not, but somewhat leaning toward the dive bar side of things. One of the best features is that it has parking in the back, though not enough parking. However, there isn't any place in Wilton Manor that has enough parking other than City Hall, which the powers to be have restricted for their own use with their "damn the public" attitude their idiotic removal of 98 necessary public parking spaces. Worse, they blew all the money on building a Taj Mahal without reserving any for public parking. Besides that, the City Hall should have been over on Old Dixie, not on Wilton Drive. If they had one ounce of sense in order to promote businesses and attract customers to Bill's Filling Station and other such venues, they'd move City Hall over to the Equality Pride Center and put Equality Pride in where City Hall is now located. The Lord and others certainly know that Equality Pride does more for the people than does City Hall.
Ah, I'm sure you'll excuse my somewhat of a rant about City Hall but it clearly affects Bill's Filling Station as well as all of the other business I review on Wilton Drive.
"Did you see those new neighbors moving in? Hmm? Grown men with hairy legs prancing around half naked? "We're bears." What the hell is that supposed to mean? " - Big Ethel, in John Water's A Dirty Shame.(2004)
I've been a fan of Bill's Filling Station for a while now. The first time I went to Bill's was back in 2006 at the old location on the train tracks. While the old establishment had a more unique "flavor", the current location on "the Drive" in Wilton Manors has helped Bill's become a central part of the gayborhood, welcoming to all...sigh, even those with anchovies for eyebrows. (come on South Florida men, enough already).
Now, Â I will be the first to admit that I am a poster child for the bear cub community. Short, furry and round, I fit the bill (pun intended) for this establishment.
The beauty, though, of Bill's is that, in truth, there is no bill at Bill's to be fit. All are welcome. At Bill's, the worn-out, tired idea of a gay bar being a pose-down of tweaked-out, bad bleach jobs is tossed out the window. Â The most common sight at Bill's on a crowded night is groups of three or four buddies, laughing, talking, catching up, being bitchy, you name it. But, there's fellowship, and that's good enough for me. In the end, isn't this why we homos go to "gay bars" instead of Applebees? Be it sexual or social, we all need somebody to lean on. (at around 1:30 am, that becomes more like propping yourself up against someone, but whatever).
Bill's drink specials vary throughout the week, ranging from your usual 2-4-1 specials, to the outstanding $2 Long Island Iced Teas on Thursdays. Â Friday nights seem to be the best nights, currently, if you're looking for a big crowd at Bill's where, at midnight, Miss Kitty takes control of the mike and hosts a contest of sexiest body parts. One week it's legs, the next it's butts. Variety is the spice of life. Sunday late nights can be a lot of fun when the bar becomes "Trannie Palace". Alibi's, across the street, recently won a big contest declaring their having the best burger in town. Ask any server or regular at Bill's, and they will say the best burger is right there in their own kitchen. I've never tried one, but I should sometime.
A recent article in the New Times offered a nice glimpse of life at Bill's, including an explanation of how Lady Gaga got a very important career launch on Bill's little stage. <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.browardpalmbeach.com%2Fcountygrind%2F2010%2F07%2Fnight_watch_bills_filling_stat.php&s=b90aa0191f4054fe5395c0a8940e5ddecbaebaef2aefeea6c8a23b0c4bcd4e77" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://blogs.browardpalm…</a>
Woof.
We hit the usual places in the strip mall across the street from Bill's on a Friday night (Alibi and Boom). Â Once Boom started to thin out, we decided to head over here to check out Bill's Filling Station. This is usually billed as a "Bears and Cubs" bar and that was mostly true on this night, but overall the clientele here pretty much ran the gambit. When you first enter, you walk back through a long hallway to reach the actual bar (the entrance is at the front of the building, sandwiched between a few storefronts, but the bar itself is at the back of the building behind all those stores). There are 3 dart boards and a small bar to your left once you enter the place, but keep walking and you'll find the much larger, full bar to your right. On the Friday night we were here, they had 2 for 1 domestic beers until 2 a.m. Â Nice!
Once you move beyond the bar areas on the upper level where you entered, you step down into a space where they have a few pool tables, a stage and a small dance floor. On the night we were here they had a projection screen on the stage showing music videos the whole time. On this lower level you'll also find another large rectangular bar with seating on all sides of it. Move into the next room at the back and you find another large bar with a black baby grand piano in the corner. This bar seems a bit more quiet and secluded when there's no piano music going which can be kinda nice. Â There was no pianist here for the hour or so we were at Bill's so I can't comment on the kind of entertainment you might expect to see here in the piano bar.
Overall, Bill's is another good stop on the usual Wilton Manors bar crawl (Rosie's, Alibi, Boom, Bill's, Sidelines, etc.). A very laid back place where most show up in a t-shirt and jeans or shorts, not really a place to come dressed to impress or to show off your best moves on the dance floor. More of a place to come with friends, chill, have a few drinks, some laughs and check out the eye candy.
Another run of the mill twink bar, they were a bear bar and decided to appeal to the twink crowd just like every bar in town. Drinks are expensive, service sucks if you are not tended by one of the original bartenders, they have these sad excuses of drag queens that appear every nite and spoil the atmosphere. Parking is a pain but that is common to the area. I am sure it was a great business decision for the owners but again, just another bar. I prefer not to go.
Review Source:What can I say about Bill's Filling Station?
Bill's is a definitely worth a stop-over if you find yourself doing what my friends and I dub the Wilton Manors tour. Bill's Filling Station is one of the least generic of all the gay establishments found in Wilton Manors. By the least generic I mean that there is no "uniform" to be had at Bill's. Although categorized as a bear bar, there are all types of patrons who tend to be non-confrontational if you know what I mean. From the outside, the bar may come off as intimidating, but do not let this stop you from exploring. However, I must add that the second hand smoke does linger, it is somewhat dimly lit with a harsh red hue, and do expect to rub shoulders and elbows with other patrons when packed. Â This is not a place for dancing, but a place to stand around, drink, smoke, socialize and people watch. Â The drinks are what you would find in a local dive like this - standard. Come midnight there may be an occasional show. All types of music is played, from the 80's, 90's, and today. Â Worth the visit.
Bill's Filling Station, <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbillsfillingstation.com%2Fnewbills%2Findexb.html&s=781f3b38cc88fdc72a5d3c6262e608e28875cb7ee3fe4aa6e0dd470dd24a2eca" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://billsfillingstati…</a>  , is now located in the former "Chardees" space on Wilton Drive in the heart of Wilton Manors. Â
From back to front:
The Mustang Lounge, located in the back of Bill's with a seperate entrance, features a large, L-shaped bar, videos, a piano, and various entertainers. Â Go to the website's "Mustang Lounge" link for the latest and greatest scheduled to appear.
The main bar is two levels, featuring several serving bars, barrel-style seating, video games, a large screen TV, pool tables, a stage, and a small dance floor. Â
Bill's has done a great job of offering various drink-specials throughout the week. Â They also co-sponsor various artists and guests, entertainers (like RuPaul), and parties like the Sea Monster Reunion, RSVP sendoffs, "Miss Thang" contests, the "Sleazy Awards", T-dances, and features on Markslist, to name a few.
The crowd at Bill's is a healthy mix of twinks, bears, cubs, attractive 30/40 somethings, visiting guests from various backgrounds, and of course the locals. Â
Pretty good bartenders - plenty to see and do - nice crowd - drink specials - what's NOT to like? Â Give Bill's a try.. you won't be disappointed.
Hint: Stay away from drinking too many of the Long Island specials. Â The liquor is "middle-shelf" at best. Â You'll thank yourself in the morning if you get top-shelf, or something else all together.
I can't believe that I'm the first to review Bill's! This place seemed to be popular with local Ft. Lauder-alians and rightfully so. One of the great things about this bar was the mix of patrons. Nobody would feel out of place here. Â
The entertainment was numerous and included 2 pool tables, video games, t.v. screens, a dance floor, and a separate piano bar. When I was there on a Thursday night they had karaoke and a two for one drink special until 9:00. Hell one of the owners even introduced himself and bought my boyfriend and I a round of drinks (and I didn't even have to put out for it). 5 stars for that alone!
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