Hahaha, Oh Emma's....
I love this place. It looks like in it's former years, it was some lame hick bar. Now, it seems like the local hippie/punk/hipster/LGBT crowd had adopted it into their hearts. I fit right in, lol.
They have a small selection for off-sale, nothing impressive. What IS impressive are the awesome bartenders, mainly Gary. More about him later... They have a Touchtunes jukebox with a wide variety of music on it. It's great. There is always plenty of random indie stuff you have never heard of blasting out of that thing :) It's great people watching there, if anything. Drinks are CHEAP, which is always awesome.
Funny story... The last time I was there, I was sitting with my boyfriend minding my own business, when these two drunk guys walked in. We were sorta the early crowd, so I guess we were the only people there that didn't fit the "norm" or whatever. They walked up to us to ask where the ATM was, and we shrugged and said "I don't know." We actually didn't know if there was one there or not (there is btw).
He proceeds to walk up to at least two other people asking where the ATM was, finally asking the bartender (duh) where it was. Afterwards, while ordering his drink, he looks back at us and says rather loudly, "HIPSTERS." I yelled back, "What did you just call me?" Hilarity ensued.
After getting a shot of Jack bought for my troubles and having one of  the most worthless conversations of my entire life, they left. I walked up to Gary behind the bar and asked him if he knew those dudes, to which he replied that he had no idea at all who they were. He laughed and said, "I liked the way you handled them though. That was pretty funny."
Other then that one somewhat unpleasant incident, Emma's is a pretty chill place to go. I like the fact that it's one of the few places in River Falls that has not been overrun by frat boys, bros, sluts and hillbillys.
I have frequented this establishment for over 13 years. Â The jukebox is full of real bar music Cash, Nelson, Jane's Addiction, Floyd, Zeppelin, etc. Â The bar staff are veterans. Â They make drinks to order. Â I have had some really great original concoctions served. Â Off sale prices are the best in town. Â They remodeled in early fall of 2010 after the WI smoking ban. Â The place is very clean. Â Prices on drinks/beer are great. Â One pool table at an angle, which makes for some very interesting pool shooting. Â One/Two dart boards, Â and video gambling games. Â Very laid back crowd, not a dress to impress kind of place. Â If you are looking for a "normal" bar in WI, this place is great.
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