Doug's Topside Tavern

I love a dive bar and this place and this place sets the WV definition.  Let's start with the gravel parking lot.  To hell with paving and lines, just slide in on the ancient gravel.  Now for the building.  How about painted and peeling cinder block with no windows?  You just know this is going to be a classy place.  The door is a gray slab of steel and once again no window.  Who knows what's happening in there!

I open the door to a bar, a pool table and a very few tables.  The bar is really classy.  It's made of varnished plywood and there are six patrons sitting at it.  Every single person is drinking a Bud bottle.  The first conversation I hear is patron Earl ordering another beer. "Hey honey, I've only had nine, I could use one more."  To which the bartender replies, "Earl, you've had 11.  One or two more and I'm going to shut you off!"  You should be getting a feel for the place by now.

I grab an empty seat and order a vodka rocks.  The whole place gets quiet.  From the other end of the bar I hear, "Whoa, big spender in town!"

I quickly start a baseball conversation and everyone decides I'm OK even if I am from Philly.  For the next hour I had a great time and it would be a pleasure to visit again.  Definitely an A OK place.

This dive-y, old time West Virginia bar sits in South Charleston across from a chemical plant.  It is an old building that is the only one standing among a host of crappy new motels, gas stations, and typical efforts by WV to "preserve history" by building most anything that will pay money...anywhere.  So I see it and think...interesting...will this college professor, yuppy type fit in here? If I didn't, they didn't seem to mind.  

This place is fantastic. They welcomed my entire family at a hard time in their great bar.  Was in town for a funeral and we all needed a drink.  

The kicker here...and what earns the 5 star rating... is that on Friday they serve the best steaks I have ever had on a grill out front.  Marinated for 24 hours.  salad bar laid out near the pool table with about 50 commercial dressings in their original store bought bottles.  A huge huge ribeye, salad, and potato for $15.  I am salivating just thinking about it.

There are no craft beer here...it is an old time bar that clearly served the worker in that plant across the street.  Typical selection of American lagers.  

Last, we took my 91 year old grandma.  They treated her like a queen.  This is why I am proud to be from West Virginia.