The greatest dive bar in the world.
If you're looking for a place to get drunk in the dark and not meet anyone you would ever want to meet again, this is the place for you.
The regulars are true jp locals- not hipster college kids, the drinks are strong (bordering on blindness-inducing), and the atmosphere is perfect. Perfect.
One word of advice- Do not order a beer you don't see everyone else drinking. Ask for a blue moon and you'll get swill that's probably been sitting in the keg for 10 years. And it will taste like feet.
With the charisma of an aging whore, the Drinking Fountain offers slack-jawed entertainment on a Wednesday night while maintaining a comfortable distance when the parents are visiting.
The house pour is "I lost count" because the bartenders don't care, everyone talks to everyone because the patrons don't care, and the resident pool pro (who, I swear, is a honest-to-hoodness pimp) gives tips on the game because he actually cares. Just not that much.
There is a jukebox that never stops playing, festive fudge for sale behind the bar (applicable holidays only) and what's likely 10% your crowd/90% the crowd your crowd will be in 30 years.
You may leave wearing a layer of antique dust held fast by a pleasant film of tacky humidity, but like the pain of a foot that's fallen asleep, you'll find this dull and weird sensation intoxicating.
Or maybe that's your drink. Whatever.
It is what it is. Â There are cheap drinks. Â A juke box. Â Naked lady hunt. Keno. Old men. Â Pool. Surprisingly clean bathrooms. Â Cheap drinks. Â And locals of questionable character.
Oh and one of those scratch ticket vending machines that I end up chucking dollars at after a few heavyonthegin gin & tonics.
But here's what I like about this place the most: it ain't hip. Â It's not even "ironic hip." Â So don't come here looking for some equally hip girl or dude to pick up. Â You'll just meet old men. Â And maybe me... but I'm taken.
Yes. Â A true dive. Â A place that could be a bucket of blood on any given night, but most nights has good, oddball locals getting blackout drunk and singing Frank Sinatra songs and and slow dancing with busted women. Â All races, ages, and cultures are here at the end of the world every night. Â A place Tom Waits would hang out.
If you refer to yourself as a "Yelper", you probably have no business here. Â This is not a place for whiners.
Keno, darts, jukebox, pool. Cheap beer. Lotto machines. Chips. Strong drinks (mixers for color).
There is hole where the bathroom door handle used to be. Â There is a shotgun blast hole in the bathroom. Â There is a joy and desperation about this place that makes me feel honest. Â People pump the jukebox full of old vocal jazz, motown, and soul songs, and not for nostalgic purposes. Â One glance at any of the mugs and here and their story springs into your head.
It's a place with heart.
Let me ask you this, and be honest now.
Does the shotgun hole in your bathroom door conform to the aesthetic laws of Feng Shui? Would you light your home with Keno paraphernalia??? Do you enjoy trying to talk louder than a TV blaring Lynne Thigpen era Law & Order???? Do you love watching naval tattoos seemingly melt off the leathery forearms of octogenarians???
Go here!
This place fuckin Rules.
The Drinking Fountain is a top-notch dive bar. Â We stopped by late on a Wednesday evening to continue our buzz on the cheap. Â Stella and Shock Top will run you $3.25 a pint - what a bargain! Â And our bar tender was extremely nice and attentive. Â
The atmosphere is perfect  - walking in here is like going back in time to a simpler era.  It's definitely a locals bar, but everyone seemed pretty friendly.  Just keep it respectful and you'll be fine.  There are also a couple pool tables, a scratch ticket machine, and snacks available for purchase (all St. Patrick's Day candy is currently 50% off).
Not sure I'd make a special trip just for the Drinking Fountain, but the next time I'm in the area I wouldn't be opposed to stopping by for a frosty beverage.
Scary place. Â I like dive bars as much as the next guy but I actually feel my life in danger in this place. Â The back of the bar has a pool table with some very sketch people hang out around it. Â The bathroom has a hole in the door. Â The bartender looks as if she can kick my ass, and I am a big guy. Â Plus, Â the women in their playing Keno really show the pits of society. Â Stay away.
Review Source:I dont believe in reviewing a place only after one visit. Â Ive been to the drinking fountain three times now, so not a regular, but have a decent feel for the place. Â It's got a great interior, like stepping back in time. Â It's just an old dive bar but there is something really pretty about it. Â It's got high ceilings with fans and I think dark wood beams? Â Neon signs everywhere and framed photos of the bar back in the 70s and 80s when the elevated orange line tracks went right over the bar.
Two pool tables in the back, magic touch games, keno, jukebox. Â Usually a lively crowd in there, hee hawing it up. Â I never feel uncomfortable although it seems the clientele are all regulars who know each other. Â They had desperate housewives on the giant tv there this week which is a serious no-no but whatever, i was two eyeballs deep into some naughty lady photo hunt.
I ordered a PBR draft for $2.25 and got a blue moon back. Â So my beer was wrong and i watched her pour it from the PBR pull which is weird, but i did get a really cheap blue moon so i got that going for me. Â I thought they had hot dogs but i guess they don't, so no food besides bags of chips. Â
The first time i went to the fountain, a fight broke out between two chicks. Â It was entertaining but a little dramatic for when you want to just relax and have a beer with friends. Â Sometimes i feel like i could get shived at the drinking fountain but that's all part of the allure i guess. Â
Well I dont come here very often (i'd rather go to the fireside) so i guess that says something about the place, but all in all, it's a classic dive. If you fancy yourself a dive bar conossiuer, you should check out the drinking fountain at least once.
I've been here once. Â It was a random-ass Thursday. Â But I doubt the "scene" changes much with the days of the week, the month, year, or decade. Â I was served some jack'n'cokes that were officially a 10 on the "strong-as-fuck" scale. Â The Bruins game was on at roughly 15 dB over standard OSHA requirements. Â A lot mass-slumping was going on as well. Â And Keno tickets ABOUND.
One thing to note is that the place is like 15 times bigger on the inside than you'd think it would be from looking at it from the outside. Â On the inside, pool tables, darts, and townie-what-have-you.
So yeah, I dig it, and I'm sure I'll be back there for some of "that".
The Drinking Fountain...or Smittie's as we call it in our house...is yet another JP dive bar. But like a previous reviewer said, it's really a house for alcoholics. I've enjoyed myself there. I think it'd be the kind of place where my grandfather would've gone. Older crowd, variable music and pool. We go there to drink cheap beer and play pool. Other than that, the Drinking Fountain really has no appeal.
Review Source:Gather around little children - the Drinking Fountain is one of the last real dives in this yuppie city of ours - a real alcoholics hangout. I love it. Â Be warned, however, I have NEVER been there at night. Â This is the bar where the mailman delivers the first and third of the month checks that are addressed to the bar for its customers - I am NOT fooling. The bartenders are friendly- Mary is a real character, but I hear she's gone (what the hell could she have done!). Â I can't remember the guys name that used to give me free ginger ale on hot days while I sat in there during my lunch break watching the news, but he was a big Irishman with huge hands that looked like he busted a few jaws in his day. Â The old fashioned telephone booth - or call box, or whatever they called it back in time - is a relic that adds to the charm. Â The place smells like death. Â Like Moe's Tavern, there are NEVER any women in here (aside from the aforementioned Mary). It gets three stars purely for its very existence. The dopes buying condos over on Gartland must be horrified. Â This little gem at the corner of Washington and Rossmore deserves at least one visit. Â Enjoy it while it lasts.
Review Source:Things That Might Happen at the Drinking Fountain
1. You order a gin and tonic. You receive a big glass of straight gin. You drink it, invoking the spirit of Ace Frehley for protection, and order another. It is mixed exactly the same.
2. While wondering whether or not that's a shotgun hole in the men's room door, you notice that someone has taken the time to lovingly frame and hang a picture of Larry Bird holding Julius Erving in a headlock.
3. A man resembling the Boston Celtics logo introduces himself to you as "Lucky the Leprechaun," bums a smoke, gets into a fight with somebody in a passing car.
4. Someone falls asleep in a pile of losing Keno tickets.
I'm not going to lie to you. Bad things have happened at this bar. You hear stories sometimes of Boston bars where ultra-violent Whitey Bulgeresque gangsters used to hang out in the 80's; most of those places are now serving tapas and flirtinis, but the Drinking Fountain remains, a bulwark of the bad old days in the same neighborhood that begat the Alchemist Lounge. There's a certain perverse charm to going here; you're never quite sure if you're going to make it out alive, but every now and then it's cold gin time again. Whoa yeah. Ow.
Indeed, this place is a dive in the truest sense of the word. I end up being conned into going here by friends from time to time if the Midway has a long line or is boring. Basically, I only go here if I'm forcibly dragged from the OTHER bar on the block. All I can figure out about the draw of this place is that it's awesome... if you play Keno. It appears to be one of those sketchy dens of Keno iniquity that are so prevalent in this crazy city.
A word of advice to all the ladies who are planning an expedition to this bar: the wall in the women's bathroom seems to consist of a glorified piece of corrugated cardboard with linoleum paneling on top of it. If I can hear every word of the conversation of the pool players on the other side, they can probably hear me pee. Comforting, really.
Every time I come here I always meet the craziest people when I'm outside breaking for a smoke. Once, this guy told me that no one wears handkerchiefs anymore, but he always does (and had one tucked into his navy blazer). He said he learned his lesson in Turkey when he saw a man stabbed (he said this is how Turks get revenge on you) in the butt (they aim for non-deadly but troublesome spots) and used it as a tourniquet to stop the blood (handkerchiefs save lives).
Viva la drinking fountain!
One of the remaining old school neighborhood bars in Boston. During the week the TV's on too much but they do have a decent jukebox. When the place is packed it's a real nice place to be. They have two pool tables in the back and they're almost always open. Watch out for sharks. Plus cheap beer and drinks!
Review Source:
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