The bartenders here are awesome. Prices are very reasonable and this place always has the most interesting people. I love that I can come here in my jeans and hair up in a poiny tail with no make up on and I can fit right in.
Last week they had the Local 215 truck parked outside and I loved it and hope the truck comes back again.
I am not a smoker and usually hate bars that allow people to smoke but they have fans going and the smoke isn't nearly as bad as other bars that allow smoking.
Everyone here is down to earth and they have pool tables upstairs. And you are welcome to come in with your own food or get delivery to the bar.
Easily my favorite bar in Philly.  Very laid back with real cheap drinks, friendly staff and customers.  Beer of the week 2$ special has me trying great beers weekly  And on weekdays they have a great special where you get FREE pizza with purchase.
If you shoot pool there's a nice table upstairs where you can find some friendly competition. Â
This bar is cash only but there's a PNC a block away.
Love Love Love my Dive!!!
I got ten points o' love for my Dive post-Valentine's Day....
But first a confession...I was MUCH feart at first...avoided going for two years, tho' I was mighty curious...why?...'cause I have no tats, no longer wear black exclusively , and am decidedly a wonkish-bookish lady type...
Boy, was I wrong wrong wrong! Â Talk about judgin' a book by the cover...I was WRONG. The people here are smart, cool without sweatin' it, sometimes a little down on their luck but fearless, funny, sometimes stupid crazy, sweet and bittersweet, and much much more...
1) I can smoke. Thank you. Sorry for the haters, I do understand (quit for 8 years). BUT GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. Ya got plenty o' options.
2) I can read (believe it), type, hang out, keep to myself, buy a guy or gal a drink with no funky  "issues", meet a diverse group of people who are the most NON-judgmental folks ever. I can get real deep into a philosophical conversation one minute and talk all "trashsexual" the next---and I love that!
Aside: could we all please get over thinkin' everybody with a tattoo is a "hipster" or a "wannabe". (And by the way, they ain't so bad, either, if you just bother to take the time to get to know any of them personally.).
3) BEST beer selection ever. Hands down. Never mind the cheap prices (though always a good thing, especially in recessions)---the selection is eclectic and shows that the keeper and the crew know their stuff. Givin' props!
4) THIS IS KEY!! The FRIENDLIEST, Â most accommodating, most exceptionally sweet, most patient, Â most awesome "pourin' -n- keep-it-comin'" barkeeps EVER to grace this Earth: Mike, Jenny, Sam, -n- of course, the unflappable, hilarious and incomparable owner, John---I love you guys soooooooo much!!
5) I get my "dog-love" jawn on every day!
6) Saturday night "B" sci-fi or horror movies. Sunday night Walking Dead. OK? :)
7) The young ones, the old-er ones, the middle ones...you get my point.
8) The crazy "take-me-back-to-the-DAY" AND "what-the-heck-is-this-NEW-stuff???" music on the juxe. As a former music seller, I love this much.
9) "The Royale crew". 'Nuff said.
10) The pool table---though I don't play no mo' (I better not, or I'll lose even mo' money I don't got!)
Yes. This is the Dive. It's smoky. Â It's cheap. Â It's dogeared (like some of us out here.)
And it's all about the love, people. All about the love. Love it or leave it. Peace out.
Smoking is allowed here :( So if you detest smoking, you will detest this place. I've only ever been to the second floor which is teeny tiny. Bartenders are nice. Beer is cheap. And they're kind enough to allow literary readings on their second floor, which is the only reason I put up with the secondhand smoke.
Probably a great place if you don't mind getting lung cancer.
A standout spot in South Philly. $2 Happy Hour of beer better than anything else priced at that or below and two slices of pizza. I cannot think of a better deal in this fine city.
Fridays and Saturdays you got Mike the bartender working and he's a great pourer of beers and an even better conversationalist.
Come on down to The Dive for a welcoming community, diverse in ages and in backgrounds.
Oh Dive Bar. Â I love your concept, I love that you have pool tables. Â I can't stand the smoke.
I know, I know, I should not go to a place that has smoking if I don't like smoke. Â I get it. Â I'm not going to complain anymore about it. Â I said my peace and I'm done.
The beer prices are great and I think you're guaranteed to meet some real characters here. Â The whole place just has a good feel and I like it very much. Â I enjoyed my interaction with the staff. Â The bartenders were friendly, down to earth and they get you a beer quickly. Â That's all you need really.
I'll be back, I know I will, and I'll hate myself in the morning.
Happy hour starts at five. I get out of work at six. If I'm quick I can make it for the tail end for some free, cold pizza and whatever two dollar draft is on special that day. If I'm not quick I'll be there by seven when the ashtrays are distributed and the smoking begins.
There's a microwave behind the bar that heats up a few "entrees" including hot pockets, personal pan pizza and other conventional oven fare.
The food is cheap and gross and I don't think anyone there expects you to eat it. The jukebox is much better than the food. The beer is cheap and the shots are big.
I'm ripping Daniel C. off when I say "You are DISQUALIFIED from consideration as a Dive bar if: 1.) You have the word "DIVE" in your title"
Bars that call themselves "dive"bars are really hipster bars that are pretending not to be.
Sadly I learned this the hard way at "The Dive Bar." I was so happy when I found this place and the fact that it was stumbling distance to me house -- how can that not be a winner? But once you walk through the doors (that look sort of like you're walking into someones house -- someone's very dirty old house) you're transported into the very heart of hipsterdom, noisy, self absorbed crowd and bartenders who are either too cool to serve you or are too annoyed with the rest of the crowd to serve you -- either way not a winner.
Until a recent change in staff this was my spot, as I've been a regular at the dive for years. Â
Lets start by stating that this bar was never a great place, it was a bar that had a great atmosphere because of the staff and crowd, both of which have moved on.
John's a douche and reminds you of the neighborhood dork that no one liked growing up; he says "cheers" to you every time you grab a new beer, which I guess makes the dive a worldly place. Â The girl bartenders have no bartending skills and the other younger guy that works there is in the wrong field. Â If I ever come around it'll be to reminisce about who you were "the dive" not who you are.
Oh Dive Bar, how I love thee. With your disheveled looks and your old man-who-smokes-too-much smell you're hard for me to dislike. Â You're like the neighborhood hooker that everyone knows a little too well. Â
You wave your cheap drink about in such a tempting fashion and I do  drink them while perched on a barstool checking out the regulars and not-so-regulars. Â
You sashayed in front of me with your dangling Dive Bar sign and drew me in for life (or as long as I'm in Philly). Oh Dive Bar, how I love thee.
Seriously folks...
The bar: Â
It's one of the few bars in Philly where a smoker can light up and have a stiff, quickly poured drink by a really, really, reeeeeaaally happy bartender. Â If you're not a smoker, be ware, yes there is a wall of smoke. Â If you complain about the smoke, know you're probably out numbered.
The drinks: Â
Ssssssssssstiff and poured with a smile and quickly too! Magically quickly. Priced fairly too. Â That's always a good thing.
The crowd:
I see some people here have described the crowd as hipsters. Â Far from it. Â The regulars mostly live in the neighborhood. Â It's the place they go when they're sick of staring at their own walls and maybe, just maybe they'll run into someone they know for a good conversation. Â The people I've met there are everything from artists to IT guys, those who no one is really sure what they do to make money to nurses. Â People from jeans and t-shirts to polo shirts and khakis. Â
Middle class hipsters? I think not. Some are poor, some are rich, some are middle class but hipsters? Not so much. Â They just *like* the bar because it's not some pretentious, overpriced, meat market. It's a dump with some OK folks and a few douchoise as patrons but hey, that's any neighborhood bar.
All in all, I like this place and will keep going back as long as it's there.
File under "Too old for this crap anymore", I guess, though I can't imagine liking this place even when I *was* young and poor and kinda stupid. Â
Sorry... wanting to get hammered on a budget, wanting to hang with the cool crowd in an unpretentious atmosphere... these are NOT sufficient motivation to set foot in The Dive. Â The place stinks, figuratively and most definitely literally. Â In its apparent effort to be a hipster-antidote to all things pretentious, it's cultivated and nailed its own version of pretentiousness. Â Yuck on every level.
Given the distance from my home base, I doubt I'd come back, but I can dig it. As a smoker, I can appreciate a place that permits smoking. But even I couldn't hang too long.
In the end, it was fun and all. Had I not been in the hood, it wouldn't be worth it to travel to this place.
The bartender is as nice and cool as everyone says he is. Prices were decent. The menu is quite hilarious. Otherwise, it was actually quite forgettable.
Oooh, I think I just figured out another new year's resolution! Â Quit grading Philadelphia businesses on a curve! Â As in, well yes, it pretty much sucks, but it's not that bad for Philadelphia!
That said, yeah THE DIVE isn't great...but doesn't suck for Philadelphia? Â No, it's an OK bar. Â It's real sweet of them to have free (certifiably delicious) pizza during happy hour, and to serve you monster sized cocktails when you feel hell bent on murdering tomorrow. Â
The upper floor where there is smoking, and strange men walking around barefoot is actually quite cool as well.  I'm just beginning to get the sense that a.  I'm too old b.  Philadelphia sucks  or c.  I don't know the right people...to have fun in this town. Â
But yeah, THE DIVE! Â A completely acceptable bar!
Jesus, people, quit crying about cigarette smoke in a bar. Â Personally, I'm thanking all that is unholy that there is a bar that is not afraid of anti-smoking fascists. Â (Oh yes, I went there.)
It's cheap (I was slamming back Dogfish Heads for under $5 each), near my place, not as annoyingly hipster as you might think, and I will 100% be back on the nights when I'm not feeling Devil's Den or POPE.
This place is pretty obnoxious. Â Granted, I've only been in about three times, but each time I liked it less than before. Â
First: I suppose naming a dive bar the Dive Bar is supposed to be clever, but personally, I find it self-aggrandizing. Â "Oh, this bar is soooo dive-y, you'll be slumming-it chic whenever you're inside!" Â An actual dive bar doesn't need to advertise the fact: it just IS.
Second: the patrons are all of one type. Â I hate being in a place where everyone is clearly part of the same clique, in this case, young hipsters fed up with their middle-class existences.
Of course, I can't get down on their beer selection or prices, which are very good. Â The atmosphere really repels me, though. Â I just can't help but dislike it.
Oh Dive Bar, how I love you. I can't begin to count the ways.
I like the fact that I can step out of my door and be there in 30 seconds, that's for sure.
I love that you have a plethora of booze that won't empty my wallet, and that one of my favorite beers (franziskaner) is only 4 dollars!
I like that the majority of the crowd that frequents you is very friendly, and laid back, and that sometimes I get to pet cute dogs.
I like your free pizza during happy hour which is 7 days a week!! And that you always have a great selection of draughts that are totally not typical of your average dive.
I love the fact that I can catch great food shows / discovery network / science fiction / horror films / adult swim on the tv. Yes I have stayed to watch From Dusk Till Dawn in it's entirety.
I love that I can eat popcorn, and white castle burgers, and drumsticks there.
I don't mind the smoking, it's not really bad as everyone says it is.
I just love you. Okay.
If any bar takes its name literally, it's this one. Immediately upon entering, you're greeted with a wall of smoke so thick that you feel like you're visiting your great aunt's house in coal country. The bathroom smells like Philadelphia's biggest landfill. No really, there's a serious disregard for the courtesy flush rule...every time I go in there, I'm met with someone's last meal.
I want to like it, because I know you all do, but I. just. can't.
The only thing that makes this bar so relaxed and cool is the people in it. I used to love going there until I stopped smoking and now I can't go there without coming home smelling like an ashtray. On a good note though they have really friendly staff, good drink specials and they always have something sweet like horror flicks on the tv.
Until then I have to go elsewhere  :(
First off lets address the smoking situation. How comes it seems like no one remembers when you could smoke in all bars? I remember it, and I also remember going home stinking up like cigarettes, I also remember that I hate going outside in the freezing weather for a cig. So I like that you can smoke here.
The beer is cheap, there is free pizza everyday, Jon is friendly. Good bar.
I mean free f-ing pizza everyday, think about that the next time you order up some bar chefs latest experimental b.s. plate for 14 bucks.
Who would have thought that a place named "The Dive Bar" would actually be a dive bar! Â What a genius name.
They had [Adult Swim] on the TV, and served up some hot pockets.. Â I was midway through my PBR and thought, am I re-living freshman year of college?
The charm of this place is that it has none. Â In fact, it's an outright shit-hole. Â Still, with the $4 beer and shot (PBR and Jager) special, I'll be back for more.
Relive your childhood at The Dive Bar with selections from Chef Boyardee and snacks like Hot Pockets, popcorn and ice cream. Sadly, I'd already had dinner when I ducked in here, or else I would have partaken.
Instead I grabbed a pint and settled comfortably in at this neighborhood bar. Patrons were singing and folks were generally sweet. An old dog lay on the ground and enjoyed being stroked by various patrons.
If you smoke, you'll love this place.
If you don't, either light one up or take regular fresh air breaks outside. Trust me, you'll need 'em.
This place is tops as far as I'm concerned. Besides having a great selection of beer (I had something apricotty - wait, is that even a word?) and enjoyed overhearing the conversations of the other patrons. I wish I could recount them for you, but the very best ones weren't very family friendly, hence, my love for this bar.
Nobody would ever dream of bringing a child in here, unless they were up for "Worst Parent of the Century." The music was good and there was even an interlude where a Monty Python song was simulcast on the speakers, television and from the lungs, heart and soul of the customers. Plus, the bathroom did not skeeve me out at all. Who woulda guessed?
If you don't mind walking out smelling like an ashtray, then this just may be your favorite bar in Philly.
If you judge a good Dive by the hangovers you've had after going there, this is a real winner. Â
I've never been not wasted here, somehow. Â Once I flew at John in a panic cause "his" ATM ate my card. Â He said, "Are you sure you didn't jam it into the receipt slot?"
Well, yeah, that is possible, since it's one a.m. and I've been drinking your triple shots of Powers for three hours and I've actually smoked  a few of Kelly's cigarettes and watched Metalacolypse and this weird dude has been trying to talk to me the whole time so I was drinking faster to avoid talking, and I think I ate  a Lean Pocket, too, who fucking knows what flavor it even was. Â
Anyway John magically unstuck the card from wherever it was  jammed and I got more money and kept drinking until the girls put me over the top bar of my bike and rolled me home.  So, yeah, good bar.
As far as neighborhood bars go this one take the cake. It's not even really in my neighborhood, but I'll take a quick bike ride there anytime for a cheap can of beer and munchies that bring me back to after school special days. Add free pizza happy hours and I'm set.
The upstairs was closed for a while, which, I'll admit kept me from coming. But now there's pool again and plenty of DJs spinning, including my friends Just Jess and Klembot. Yeaya!
It's a great place for an after-work drink or just to chill for a while. Damn, now I want a drink.
Now that the upstairs is open again, The Dive has reclaimed its status as being really unique in a city of boring bars. John the bartender is great and always listens and makes boisterous conversation (which isn't always a good thing).
Everybody knows about the 2 dollar beer of the week from 5-7 as well as the free pizza from J&J's, but I have to say that the main reason I go here is because of the TV and Pool table. I don't  have cable nor a 31 inch flatscreen, and I love the Discovery Channel and insane Japenese games shows like Ninja Warrior.
I simply do the math: 2 slices of pizza+2 good beers for $4+1hour of awesome TV after soul-crushing work=slightly more acceptable existence. That is, until my liver gives out or the pizza gives me a heart attack.
Wow, I didn't even realize this place had a pool table. I will hit that up next time I'm in the hood. I had a real nice time when I was here, good beer, good company, good times, and dogs like to hang out here too.
There are all kinds of quality imports(La Fin Du Monde for instance), and of course budget standards(PBR) They also have all kinds of microwavable goodies to eat, all I can seem to recall right now is the popcorn though. And the Juke is pretty darn good. My bar experience is always exponentially increased when I hear something from Primus, and the AIDS song by Ween.
It has been entirely too long since I have frequented the Dive, due to my relocation to West Philly. Â But just like Chapterhouse, it's a place like this that will bring me back to the east side of the river when my lease is up.
I agree with Marissa - there's no pretention at all. Â There's always a good crowd, some assorted dogs sitting with owners at happy hour ,and so on. Â The happy hour is hands down one of the best in Philly - free f'in pizza, with the beer and liquor of the week. Â Beyond happy hour, drink prices are still reasonable. Â And of course, there's Philly's friendliest bartender, John. Â How can you go wrong?
Basically the only thing i will miss about all of Philadelphia.
Best staff in the whole city, good beer side by side with canned Schlitz, free pizza, cheap pool, forced mingling due to narrowness, a bunch of sluts, artfags, lesbians and neighborhooders, Adult Swim, sex on camera, shirtless dancing, pot pies and LOVE.
The Dive, i will always have my hat tipped to you. Â I'm still looking for your Chicago equivalent.
Quite possibly my favorite place in the world to get a drink and shoot a game of pool (yes the second and third floors are open again).
I'm so biased it's hard for me to even write a coherent review. In general, the friendliest people, a good happy hour, a great selection of beer for a place this size, really reasonable prices, and just a great vibe.
Friendly neighborhood bar. One of the only places where I don't feel embarrassed for going to more than a few times a week. Jon, who is the owner and bartender, is a self proclaimed "beer snob" and is extremely friendly and knowledgeable about the product he is serving. They have a great rotation of seasonal draughts -- I highly recommend the Peach Wheat when its in season. But don't worry, he won't make fun of you for ordering a $1.50 can of Schlitz and a $1.00 shot of Mad Dog 20/20 -- my usual when I'm thirsty and tight for cash.
Above all, a great place to bring friends, meet some more, eat cold pizza and get extremely wasted.
Now I'm ready to review The Dive, much to the chagrin of a Twelve Steps Down loving schmoe. I walked in for the first time last night and instantly felt welcome from the very beginning. It definitely had a good lot of things that appealed to me:
1) good beer variety ranging from PBR to Hop Devil and Flying Fish on tap
2) Random Khyber posters that flashed me back to some good shows.
3) FREE PIZZA!!!
4) a friendly bartender and interesting tattooed regulars.
5) a jukebox that played random songs by Primus and SLAYER!!!
6) a radioactive sign on the mens room that at least made them kind of honest.
7) A bar that lets you smoke inside. take that for what you will. but I didn't mind it thanks to the air conditioning.
8) Cartoons and Comedy Central on the Television instead of sports.
9) a priceless sign that said EVADE HOT NADS placed randomly in the corner.
Overall it's a good place that has a little bit of something that anybody can appreciate.
Alrite, first off, the name of this place eats shit. Â
By just reading the name, the bar automatically depicts itself as a hipster-wanna-be discharging hole. I even got a few friends who wont touch this place solely based on its name.... which might make them elitist assholes, but, they admit to that... so... Â Â anyway....
So yea, this place is cheap, its gotta big flat screen tv over the bar that plays cartoons and bad movies, and an upstairs rec-room that your allowed to smoke in. Â The main clientel here is cute, "dont call me a hipster", bad tattoo sportin', 20 something lez-chicks mixed in with neighborhood lackeys, and the run-off of the Royal Tavern.
This place is novel the first few times you show up to it, and it makes you sorta wish you lived closer, but as you keep going, you sorta look up the street and see the lights of Royal Tavern, and look down the street and see the darkness and filth of Rays Happy Hate Day, and you start wonderin' what your doin stuck in the middle.
When your on Passyunk Ave, you either gotta get classy or get nasty, those are the two options... and Dive Bar isn't one of um.
The Dive Bar used to be my neighborhood pub back when I lived in Bella Vista. Â It moved in to the space which was formerly Low Bar, a dank, cliquey and pretty awful den of debauchery. Â In an even earlier incarnation it was Smocky Bar (yes, that was how it was spelled) which hosted the type of clientele you might see in the bars in Ghost Dog. Â Most of the bar flies were old Italian-American men who wouldn't curse in the presence of women so if a chick walked in they said nothing at all.
Now feels much more alive. Â Jon opened up the second floor for DJs, live music, quizzo and the occassional poetry event and the third for pool, darts and video games. Â The bar definitely caters to the young at heart with an X-Box and Adult Swim sponsorship. Â Their brews are reasonably priced as is the liquor. Â A four dollar Fin du Monde and a John Powers for another four? Â Yes, please. Â (Note: I don't do Schlitz and PBR which is MUCH cheaper). I'm also a fan of the mural of a naked boobie which the lesbians (who have a weekly 'Dyke Night') petitioned to have kept up when Jon was planning to paint over it.
The jukebox is good and the music the staff plays is usually rocking (punk, new wave, hardcore, etc.) Â I love the staff. Â They are the perfect blend of surly, funny and cool. Â Good kids, all of 'em.
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