The Elbow Room is what it is. A neighborhood bar with its collection of regulars and the occasional drop in. That would be me. Went there out of curiosity after reading other Yelp reviews. It's a place I might frequent if I lived nearby but probably would not travel to. Dive bar ambience. Decent selection of major name beers with a hint of local brews. But I can get that closer to home. There are, however, two things that make Elbow Room worth the trip. First, the service. Our waitress was excellent. Efficient and friendly. She knows how to treat customers and that makes a difference. Second, the pizza. Fantastic! Â Prepared next door. Reasonable price, excellent taste and generous portions. For me, this would be a fine place to grab an afternoon beer and maybe a burger.
Review Source:I was introduced to this gem recently and I'm glad for it. As dive bars go, this bar has it in spades. We joked and drank with an elderly man who must've been around 85 years old and is most certainly a regular. We were drinking PBRs and enjoying some horse racing. Nothing like getting daytime drunk with a senior citizen!
The bartenders were extremely friendly and gave back as much flack as we gave them. The food was also on point. My friends had the thin crust pizza and I had the Italian sausage myself. Definitely a great establishment to add to my rotation list of bars.
Out of the way bar near downtown, with average food, average prices, but nice folks.
My first visit here was tainted by the fact that their air conditioning had gone out. Â This did not stop a smallish crowd from sitting at the bar and singing along to a country tune that was playing on the sound system. Â Not my bag in music, but their enthusiasm was refreshing. Â But the heat was not, so we made our way out to the patio. Â There was a minor breeze that helped, but not too much. Â We ordered the pizza, which was okay, but on the smallish side.
So we sipped our drinks, finished our pizza and moved on. Â My companions were headed a different direction, however, and were not sure how to get back to the highway. Â But a friendly patron stepped out of Elbow Room and heard our discussion and offered to let them follow her and said she would lead them back to the highway. Â
Yep, you will find some nice folks at Elbow Room. Â But unfortunately there was not much else there to get excited about.
I performed here last night with a few others in an improv comedy troupe as part of a fundraiser. (Brownie points for them in hosting the small fundraiser.) We ended up grabbing a bite before our set and chatting with the owner a bit afterwards. Â Gotta say...definitely a fan now.
The food was surprisingly good for a dive bar...I thoroughly enjoyed my lasagna (the waitress got really excited when I ordered it and said it was her favorite). My boyfriend ordered a stromboli and loved it. We mentioned it to the owner later and she was very happy - turns out her new chef hails from the CIA. (No...he's not hunting spies...that's Culinary Institute of America.) So as good as the food is now, they've got even more up their sleeves.
The owner just purchased the bar a few months ago and this seems like a true labor of love for her. Â I have to admit that when she told me this was her first time owning a bar, my first thought was, "uh oh...this is how every episode of Kitchen Nightmares starts off." Â However, after talking with her for a while, she has some fantastic ideas that will take what's already a great location and set-up and kick it up a notch.
We love Deep Ellum and thoroughly enjoyed this dive bar that manages to get the right mix of dive and good quality. Â We'll definitely be back.
Elbow Room's back, baby!! After a multi-month hiatus and an ownership change, ER is back in black and is exactly the same as before, except it looks like all the table tops received a new coat of varnish that makes them shiny even in the dark.
Look, ER is a genuine and honest place. I know most of the staff there and they're all hardworking, wonderful people (except for Tom. Haha! Kidding, Tom!)
Drink prices are affordable, the food is the gold standard of bar food (loaded cheese fries with double or triple bacon? Do it. Meat Orgy Pizza? Yes.)
Shuffleboard and pool tables, 3 different large rooms plus back patio with plenty of space.
This is your home away from home. No douche-baggery a'tall.
I tried The Elbow Room this past Saturday night - what a fun little divey bar! The bartenders were friendly, the location is convenient with free parking, close to DART stations and the prices are great. There is no cover and I paid $3 for a beer and $4 for a rum/Sprite.
Don't let the outside fool you - the place is pretty large and has great sized patios with a nice view of downtown.
The jukebox played the BEST MUSIC. I heard everything from Journey to Stevie Ray Vaughan. Loved it! Also, there are flat screens conveniently placed all around if you want to watch a game.
They've got booths, open tables, the bar - lots of areas to sit or mix and mingle. Overall, a great place to start or end your night out! Or to just grab a beer if you want more of a relaxed night.
This is a fun little bar right by BUMC that the students and docs frequent. They re-opened a few weeks ago (had to close due to unpaid land tax or something crazy... but it's all worked out now).
Food-wise, they have really good soft pretzels! And it is confirmed, Mona Lisa is MIA (you can find her still on the back of the menu... censored, of course).
So the rumors about this place reopening and changing names apparently wasn't true. Â Thank the lawwwwd. Â I'm so happy to have my neighborhood bar back. Â The first night I went in alone and I have to say it was a little off, but last night I ventured back in, and it felt like home again. Â There's a new dude behind the bar, but the regulars where back. Â This place is back in full business. Â The only thing missing is the Mona Lisa. Â For all that is holy PLEASE BRING BACK NAKED MONA LISA. Â Kthx
***edit*** Mona Lisa is back. Â She has a new spot above the shuffleboard.
I can't believe I have not made a review for this yet....
This little dive type bar is just great. Loaded with dart boards, shuffle board, billiards, food, booze and a juke box with good music.
Not only all those things... but they also have the best happy hour times every. Â 3-8pm :)
Elbow Room is a great little spot.
I say little, but the place actually seems to go on forever once you're inside. Â I'm sure there's still portions of the patio that I haven't found yet. Â Service is super friendly and it doesn't take long for them to recognize faces, but they're usually a little slow on the uptake when you first arrive.
Elbow Room has a parking lot. Â Can you imagine that? Â I'm still shocked sometimes. Â It's small, multi-leveled, and I think they share it with another business, but a free parking lot? Â I'm sold right then and there. Â Born and raised in Arlington, it never occurs to me to grab all my change and singles any time I'm going out just so that I can park somewhere. Â I seriously can't express how happy that shitty little parking lot makes me.
Drinks are reasonably priced and mixed drinks usually have a nice liquor to mixer ratio. Â A double can actually mean a double here. Â Not just more ice like other area bars.
Beer selection is pretty miserable. Â No Shiner on tap means you're either paying extra for the bottle or finding something else on tap. Â Shiner's the only semi-local beer, which is becoming more and more unforgivable as the DFW and Texas beer scenes continue to grow. Â Come on, guys. Â The only thing holding this bar back from a gushing five star review.
Food is great. Â It's maybe a little more than I'd like to spend, but it's worth it. Â I'm an idiot. Â It's not even that expensive. Â Cheese fries are top notch. Â Really the best part about eating here is the pizza. Â Especially if you've got Chris E. with you and he orders 68 different toppings including no less than 65 kinds of meat. Â Literally, there are meatballs available on the pizza. Â We've even put hot wing sauce as an ingredient. Â This kind of adventure usually makes me feel terrible for days on end, but in that exact moment I love myself and you.
Was closer to home and wanted to be out of the house and needed dinner. Â Came here to get a drink, was some pre-season football and grab some dinner. Â The crowd was actually really scarce (it was 7 or so on a Fri or Sat night) but just grabbed a seat on the patio on a nice night. Â There was wait service but our waitress, who seemingly had two tables, four guests, was pretty non-existent...we actually went to the bar to order. Â Shared two things: Â the italian sub and the pretzels. Â Both were good but nothing crazy outstanding or worth going back for. Â
I didn't mind the atmosphere but not in a hurry to go back.
For some reason, I never knew Elbow Room had a back patio. Not only is it voluminous, with tons of tables and chairs at which to beach oneself, but there are also MISTERS! (which are actually effective given the layout of the patio) The wait staff are attentive, sweet, and friendly.
As for the food, the hand-tossed pizza isn't as delicate as Bryan Street's but definitely less gummy than pizzas from the nearby delivery likes of Zini's or Mama Mia. Toppings are fresh. The chicken parm sandwich was pretty delicious but the chicken was fried, so beware in case you're not expecting that. Pool costs four quarters to play and the tables are way flatter than most bar tables. Oh, and they have a galaga machine ftw!
What a great place to come for a drink. Â In the 10 times I've been here, its always just crowded enough, but never too crowded. Â Their jukebox has to be one of, if not the best jukeboxes I've heard in Dallas. Â Always great tunes, lively relaxed atmosphere, I would recommend to anyone.
Review Source:After seeing patients all day, this is a great place to chill and relax. The ER is more like a dive bar than a bar that you'd find in uptown. It's pretty dark inside and they line their walls with some hipster-ish paintings. And of course, they have essential bar games, shuffleboard and darts, here.
They have cheap drink specials on the weekday happy hours ($3 domestics and wells). But the best thing about this place, is the cheese pizza! It's thin crust and some kind of magical cheese combination that makes my mouth water just thinking about it.
Just be careful when you leave after happy hour, because it is usually so bright outside! (Yeah, the dangers of day drinking...)
This is some of my favorite pizza in Dallas. That's not saying much to be honest, since my experiences at Cane Rosso (I require a crisp crust), Louie's, and Grimaldi's have left me accepting that this just is not a pizza city for the NY-style inclined, but I've finally found pizza that I look forward to going back for. It's not a NY-style level of thin n crispy, and in fact the crust is not specifically remarkabee - chewy and on the thin side but not paperthin (you can get thick Sicilian), but where this pizza gets my patronage is the perfectly lush, stringy cheese. Also, this pizza wayy beats Byran Street Tavern's pizza imho.
I come for the pizza, and because it's a close bike ride away. Beer selection doesn't seem to be great, but they have good specials. Ambiance is nice and divey, and they have a juke box, shuffle board, and pool. All in all, a great place to relax, have a beer, and enjoy some wonderfully stringy-cheesed pizza!
This review is about lunchtime at the Elbow Room. Co-workers and I have been going here for years. The service has always been attentive and friendly. There is never a lunch rush, so there is no problem finding a wobbly table to sit at. Â The pizza/ salad lunch combo is super-cheap. The salad has an assortment of goodies on it, not just a clump of lettuce. There is something in the pizza sauce that is wicked awesome, you'll know what I am talking about when you go.
Another great dish is the chicken parmesan sandwich and home made potato chips. The food here is real damn good.
This is considered a 'dive bar' so keep that in mind. For some of us a good old dive bar is comforting break in the middle of a busy work day.
I love you Elbow Room.
Some friends and I decided to meet here for an afternoon of drinks, pizza, and shuffleboard. We had an absolute blast. Great jukebox, pool tables, lots of room to move around, cool patio...
...and of course, the PIZZA! This is some seriously good stuff. The cheese and sauce are great. If you're not massively hungry, go for a personal size, because a SMALL is about the circumference of a LARGE at Pizza Hut. Food for thought, y'all.
A good hole-in-the-wall bar as far as beer selection and feel, but the service was terrible. Â The waitress we had was very sarcastic and blamed our table for anything we had a complaint about. Â I've only been here once, but doubt I would go back again. Â Here are the stories:
We had about 7 of us just hanging out on a Thursday night, so the bar wasn't very busy. Â We ordered one pizza at the start, and when we had another friend come in 5 minutes later she ordered a pizza. Â The first one came out in about 10 minutes, but the second one took about 30. Â When we asked the waitress, she said "Look, we have a lot of to-go orders, so I have no clue when it is coming out and the kitchen is really busy. Â Just be patientl, ok??". Â I guess I just didn't understand why she was telling us to be patient when we simply just asked, and how so many to-go orders came in between the two orders...
Next, when we asked for beers, she kept saying "you haven't even finished those yet". Â First, so? Â Second, some people finished their beers, others didn't. Â We can order different drinks for different people, right? Or is there a family style rule that we don't know about at this bar...
Finally, when the checks came out, one friend was charged $1.50 for two ranch sauces, while the other wasn't charged anything. Â When asked, the waitress said "well you had two ranches, and ranch cost $.75 each". Â When we told her we never asked for ranches, she goes "whatever, i mean it's only 75 cents...". Â Then when we told her it's just the principle of her charging us for something we didn't ask, she sarcastically said "look, if you don't wanna pay for it I'll cover the 1 dollar and 50 cents ok??".
Anyway, if you ignore the waitresses, the bar is a cool place and sends off a good vibe. Â But I'll just head to 3 sheets or somewhere else in deep ellum.
On a recent happy hour here we scored tons of friends - even being out of our element of the gayborhood. Â 5$ wines, a wood burning fireplace and tons of friendly heteros : it was the kick ass veggie Stromboli that took it to a higher level.
Shuffle board, patio with little wood burnin fireplace.
Near Baylor hospital, out of the way: feels like a staycation.
This is one of the bars that I got to go through a pub crawl I participated last weekend. Â
When it gets crowded, it definitely lives up to the name of the place. Â I remember the Mona Lisa painting with the bare boobs, the jungle-like patio and good space to play pool.
I didn't get to try their pizza and other stuff, but the atmosphere definitely fits the down-to-earth place to go out.
Go for the Mona Lisa boobies but stay for the pizza!
It's basically the break room for Baylor Medical but this place has something for almost everyone, except douchebags!
Great food, down to earth bar staff and customers. Great jukebox, happy hour until 8, short line, if any, for the ladies room and a good patio for smoking.
Parking may suck, especially for happy hour on Fridays.
The back patio is awesome- like a good friend's backyard. Â A good friend who nicely brings you refills. Â (Unfortunately, the good friend also brings you a bill at the end...)
With some good weather, you're likely to feel a nice breeze, and have a glimpse of the Dallas skyline. Â
The sicilian pizza is huge and wonderful. Â Eat it. Â The beer is cold. Drink it. Â
Outside is where it's at, but should the weather turn against you and you have to go inside, there's plenty of games: shuffleboard, pool, pac-mac, etc.
It's Dark.
Seat and booths are old and crackly.
Lots of pool playing, shuffleboard shufflin', and music listenin' going on in here.
Pizza is hot, thick, fresh, and serves as crack for the tastebuds.
Beer is cold. Beer is plentiful. Beer is gooooooooood.
Bikers...geeks...students....cougars....Emo's.....Âand the rest of us, all together in piece and harmony and belches.
This...is a dive bar....this.....is Dallas greatness.
I have spoken.
Went on a saturday night. Â It was definately a dive bar but it didn't have that typical hoarder thing going on like most dive bars do. Â So basically dirty w/o the extra flair. Â The pizza was ok, very good effort though. I think most of you may even enjoy it everyone in my party did. Â (i'm fairly picky) Â The vibe sucked though it was dead. Â So dead in fact the wait staff was playing pool instead of serving. Â
I was trying to cut down on drinking as I realized I may be going borderline alcoholic so I ordered a coke which ran me 2 dollars.
Bring quarters though pool is a dollar a play and they only take quarters.
Just an over-all meh experience. Â Oh if your looking for a Dr. I hear this is the place to pick on up says the sign. Â Where's that bar with a sign that says this is the best place to pick up a Hottie, with daddy issues, and low selfesteem?
What a great place. Â The Elbow Room is your neighborhood bar which serves up cold beer and great pizza. Â My opinion is that the Sicilian Pizza is the best in town and the one in which I judge all others. Â Be sure to try it with Garlic as a topping. Â Good Stuff!
The manager has an eye for cute and fun waitresses. Â And also for guys wanting to meet gals this is the place to go. Â Loads of single, down to earth, good looking and approachable girls with jobs. Â They have a great juke box and plenty of Flat Screens for you to catch some sports. Â
Just an all around cool and laid back place.
This is a low-key, convenient, centrally located bar. I work at the nearby hospital and enjoy its proximity when in need of a quick drink after a long day. Many of my fellow nurses/doctors/hospital workers also have the same idea, which is sometimes not what i have in mind after a stressful day. Meh, its not problematic enough to deter me from returning!
The drinks are a little pricey. The pizza is excellent. The inside is pretty spacious- I generally don't have a problem finding a seat even when they're crowded. It's not too bright and typically not too loud, which are pluses for me. It's ALWAYS very smoky in there, you will leave smelling like the butt of everyone's cigarettes. Again, not a big enough issue to stop me from returning, but I do find it a bit yucky.
There are two things that make me keep coming back to Elbow Room over and over: pizza and those crack-like homemade potato chips.
Seriously, how can some places take the lowly spud and elevate it to such magic-ness that I almost shed a tear. Couple that with their amazing take on cheese fries and I'm just about ready to present them with a bronzed 'tater for their efforts. Â And I haven't even started to go on about the pizza.
The deep dish pizza I typically get is like a wonderous combination of sauce, cheese and croissant-like crust. Sure, it comes off as a tad greasy, but it goes so well with cheap beer and loud dental-school students.
The icing on the cake, naturally, is the fact that the Elbow Room has had one of the best jukeboxes in Dallas for the past seven or eight years.
-Ups-
* Great salad
* Lots of space
* Great place for a drink
* Friendly service
-Downs-
* They're not really set up for a lunch crowd
* When it's not filled with smoke, it smells like ashtray and ionizer
* They're short-staffed
* The bartender (the only waitress, too) doesn't really know the menu
Elbow room looks cool from the outside and is close to where I work, so my girlfriend and I put it on our list of potential lunch spots near Downtown.
It's right by Baylor.
We walk in and the place smells like ashtray and ionizer. It's overpowering. We were the only people in the place (something that makes us wonder when we walk into a joint) and the bartender casually told us to take a seat anywhere. I opted for outside, since it was a nice day and there was no way I could eat in the stench. We really wanted to give ER a chance.
It's really larger inside than you'd think from the outside, and it has a lot of space on the patio. It's a bit rundown, but hey, it has character. There are pool tables, a couple of vidgames and shuffleboard. I didn't spy any dartboards, but they might have'em.
The bartender came out to the patio and we had questions about some things on the menu. She couldn't tell us what was in what or if there was anything but lettuce in a house salad. I had her go ask. She also couldn't tell us how big the pizza sizes were. Oy.
The menu was a typical bar menu, with a bent towards Italian fare. They serve salads, sandwiches, pizza and Italian entrees. Pizzas range from $6-12 (S, M, L), with toppings a little over a buck apiece. The supreme pizzas come in small and large, and you can pick any 5 toppings. The styles are Italian and Sicilian.
We opted for a small supreme pizza and a house salad.
Our waitress, an amiable Deep Ellum type, was kind enough to split our salad into two bowls. It had mixed greens, green beans, fresh onions, fried onions, mushrooms, carrots and grape tomatoes, topped with a delicious lemon vinaigrette.
Our pizza had spinach, mushrooms, onions, canadian bacon and black olives. They put a lot of spinach on the pizza, and it was a little gritty, but it tasted good. A decent pizza.
Lunch was going swimmingly until the wind lifted up a menu and spilled my water on my lap and the pizza.
Overall, the place has character, but I don't think it's a good place for lunch. I can't imagine eating at a place filled with smoke. But it looks like a cool place to hang out and have a drink.
The Elbow Room is that dive bar that you used to have to go to when you were young and couldn't afford the fancier bars. Â It's also the bar that you come to as a full-fledged grown up when you're just looking for cold beer, a dart board and a good time with your friends.
We came late on a Saturday night and the place was packed. Â It's amazing how much bigger this place is on the inside. Â Walking up to the building, you're just sure it couldn't hold more than 20 people. Â But then you go inside and realize it's eaten the Alice in Wonderland growing pill. Â
I don't know how we scored one of the two dart boards in the back, but we did. Â We played for a while, but the bouncing floorboard starting jacking with our equilibrium so we decided to move our party to the back patio, which is absolutely giant compared to the building. We spent the rest of the evening drinking and chatting, staring lovingly at the Dallas skyline that looms over the fence. Â Our waitress did a damn good job keeping an eye on us and only hiccuped at the very end when she mixed up our tabs (which she totally fixed).
The Elbow Room isn't going to win any beauty pageants. Â But considering that's my requirement for a bar these days, it fits my bill just fine.
I'm a big fan of pizza in general and appreciate it in alot of different forms. Â Lately I've been on a "bar pizza" kick. Â Louie's usually does the job, but I always wonder if there is something else out there that I'm missing.
Enter The Elbow Room. Â I'm going to lead with the fact that I haven't been to a smoking establishment to eat in a LONG time. Â I knew The Elbow Room allowed smoking, so I'm going to keep my discussion of the pizza independent of the fact that the smoke probably knocked a star off by itself. Â I know, there are those that will ask why I ding it a star if I knew it was smoking going in. Â There are some places that allow smoking, but have enough ventilation to overcome. Â This is not one of those places.
We ordered a large italian sausage/jalapeno and a small cheese only. Â The crust was nothing special. Â It was between the thickness of a louie's and a slice of hand tossed from any of the chain places. Â I certainly wouldn't call it thin crust. Â The sauce was nice, a good mix of sweet and tangy. Â The cheese was standard pizza grade mozzerella. Â The toppings weren't overdone and I give good marks to the italian sausage used.
The house salad was average at best. Â Underdressed without much of anything I remember.
Decent beer selection, but the waitress only knew about half of what was on tap. Â I was amazed to hear her say the had "Black and Tan" on tap.
I do give The Elbow Room high marks for their Juke Box. Â Great selection of tunes throughout or meal.
If I lived next door to The Elbow Room and I could get there early before the smokers, it might be a once every couple of months place. Â The only way I'll be back now is if I'm invited to an already planned event by a smoker friend.
This is the best dive bar in Dallas. It is dark, which some people don't like. The TVs can be seen from most spots and they have great pool tables, shuffle board and the always dangerous darts.
I am a regular, so when I walk in the bartender has my Heineken open for me before I sit at the bar. The staff knows all the regulars by name. They keep track very well of where I am in the bottle and and give me another without having to ask.
The jukebox is great. It has everything.
The food is better than standard bar food. They have a silician style pizza that is great. The dough is hand made and it tastes like it. The toppings are great and if you ask for extra cheese, you get extra cheese. Ed's Chicken Sandwich is great, especially late at night. The cheese fries are great. The fries are real, which why you have to order them on the side. Hand cut and perfectly fried. The cheese is melted just right. No black spots. The spaghetti is great and the tomato sauce is hearty and filling. Great to soak up all the beer in you stomach. Go here, even if there is no one in the bar the staff is fun to hang out with.
Came here to celebrate my friend Mike's 40ths birthday and we purposely wanted a bad spot to fake him out as his surprise party was the next night.
One of the party goers always pointed out that the service here in his words "sucked" and though it was a busy night the service was terrible. The pizza was over-priced and greasy, lacked flavor and not worth the calories.
When I lived in Dallas this was my favorite place to practice my pool shots. My friends and I would meet here several times a week for a game of pool, strong cocktails and yummy pizza to keep us sober..
The jukebox alone gets 5 stars for everything from Loretta Lynn and Johny Cash to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Beastie Boys..
I forgot how much I love this place . . . I'd probably be considered an occasional regular. The pizza is just awesome. The atmosphere is so laid back and chill. The drinks are cheapish and strong. The crowd is hip, but not snobby (in neither the hipster way or the uptown way). The service is great.
This also has one of the most underrated patios in Dallas. When they open up the bar in the back (which admittedly is rare) this is up there with Ozona as far as cool patios go . . .
It's really everything you can ask for in a bar . . . except hard thumping bass and whores griding themselves on strangers. There's not too much of that . . . although I have gotten a lap dance here, but I won't ever tell you by who . . . (he'd kill me)
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