Just go in there and experience the place, if only one time. We wandered in on a Sunday night so our time there was short, but I appreciated the grumpy older guy bartending because clearly he had listened to far too many idiot customers crap in his life and he just doesn't really care for nonsense at this point.
Ask for a Budweiser and it will usually thaw his icy demeanor
I discovered Evangelos several years ago when staying at a friends house off Old Bishops Lodge Rd. Â My travel companion, Nancy, and I were up and ready for a stellar Sunday August morning eager to bless the day with quality Bloody Mary's.
We were a little too eager it seems. Â Even with the throngs of Indian market in full bloated swing , thousands milling around the square, we could not find any place , high end hotel or otherwise , to make us a Bloody Mary at 10:00AM. Â We were about to give up and were making our way back to our scooters ready to head back to the house when we spied Nick sitting at Evangelos bar with an enormous pile of cash that appeared crumpled and disorganized. Â We took a chance and opened the unlocked door and asked if it was possible to get the elusive Sunday morning Bloody Mary. Â He told us that he was not really open but invited us in and made us some of the best bloodies I'd ever had.
An engaging surreal and wonderful conversation ensued as Nick explained the pile of cash, that looked like some kind of art instillation, was part of the previous nights take, Â it had apparently been a very busy night!
An hour and a half and 4 bloody Mary's later we decide that we were sufficiently inebriated to suffer the crowd of Indian Market and walk off some of the liquor before mounting our scooters. Â The Market use to be a celebration of cultural micro communities spiritually and naturally connected to their environment. Â Now it is a celebration of the dollar, highly over priced and pandering to the tourist and rich Texans and Californians
Evangelos has some of the best live music and the crowd leans toward the local population, Â making it a great place for impromptu conversations that can yield little known info on other local places and , of course, salacious gossip if your lucky.
For me Nick and Evangelos represents the kind of subtle hospitality that was prevalent before the billionaire glitz invaded.
Loved this place! Went every day of our stay to see Nico, the owner. Â Great history, great guy! Not sure,what all the talk about him being a jerk is about. Â He was very friendly, great pours on his drinks, bought us shots and was happy to see us. Â Felt like we'd been going there for years.
Review Source:What a fun place. Â A real Santa Fe tradition. Â It's pure honky tonk, Santa Fe style. Â A sign hanging in the bar (well, several, actually) makes it clear that no plastic is accpted. Â
And NO f'in BUD!
Live music, and the owner/bartender is a character in and of himself.
The pictures of his father, who was made "famous" by being on a US stamp that commemerated WWII feature prominently. Â
It's not the usual Santa Fe chi-chi-froo-froo vibe, but it's a vibe all it's own and lots of fun.
Yelp has been pressuring me in to writing this review with that "Your Next Review Awaits" at the top of its page for months, so finally I've succumbed.
This place actually can be cool if you can get past the grumpy owner who serves beer with a look of contempt and the bouncers who can seem like caricatures of the most ogrely creature one can imagine.
There's usually some cool, bluesy music to vibe to from local bands and a great selection of beers---my last visit I had a Paulaner Salvator, not exactly your run-of-the-mill swill. In general, the crowd is older and there can be some real characters in here, but that just adds to all the fun for me.
Downstairs on weekends, you'll find a younger crowd and rowdier music, although this doesn't always translate to good.
Anyhow, in the limited time that I spend in the capital I don't get out much, but it seems the bar/pub/nightlife scene is slim pickings, so this may be the best the town has to offer.
We went to the Underground, below the bar. Limited selection of liquor but the bartender hooked us up with weird mystery drinks that did the trick. Cash only, beware. ATM upstairs sticks you for 3 bucks to take money out but what are you going to do?... BTW: one of the most "on it" bartenders I've seen in a long time. Kid was lightning fast and made a damn good drink...
Review Source:Don't know what all this talk about a cover is...There was no cover and a one drink minimum...no problem for me...This was the most fun we had in Santa Fe!
The History of the bar, the funky dive-y-ness The fantastic music on Saturday afternoon with Sam the Soul Man and Johnny Pink's 'cucumber coolers' Â had us smiling all afternoon. Definitely the best bar in Santa Fe!
A couple of years ago I took a Facebook Quiz about what Santa Fe bar you were and I was matched with Evangelo's. No way! This bar sucks. They will have good music playing with some regularity, but the owner/bartender is worthless as a bartender and cops a major attitude to boot. The Underground is okay once in a while if you want to go dancing, but the bartenders are generally terrible there too. I have been to The Underground quite a few times over the years, and I have literally never once seen a smile on the female bartenders' faces. Seriously, NOT ONE - EVER! And they're slow. if you're going to be slow and terrible at what you do, at least show me those pearly whites. The only reason either of these places is getting two stars is because I have generally enjoyed myself when I've gone to either, but that was mostly because of the company I was with.
Review Source:Fifteen years ago this was the place to grab a drink near the plaza.  Now this lounge is outdated, overpriced and falling apart.  The bathroom was a mess without  a properly working sink and no paper towels. Moreover there are obvious repairs needed like a cooler door that was falling off the hinges.  There was a reasonable cover, $5 to see a great band: Stephanie Hatfield and Hot Mess; the only good thing about this place.  The old man behind the bar (the owner, I assume) was slow, lacked any sense of urgency and customer service and was often rude.  At one point I ordered two drinks and was told I could not pay with a credit card. "Cash only" I was told in a rude tone with no explanation given.  In addition, there is some other club downstairs from Evangelo's that was blaring loud music heavy with bass, so hearing the band play upstairs was difficult to say the least.  If you are looking for a place to have a drink near the plaza, do yourself a favor and go somewhere else where your patronage is appreciated.
Review Source:I didn't really get this place. They wanted a cover to get in to hear some bad musicians. It was a Saturday, so I would've thought it would be a good set. It was not. The female vocalist was terrible. I came up from the bar downstairs to get some cash and use the bathroom and heard an annoying talentless voice over the sound system. I seriously thought some drunk chick was singing along with the musicians cause it was like, her birthday or something. Well, it was not just any drunk chick, it was the entertainment. Also, wall to wall old people. I can't bag on the tourist-vibe, cause I was one, but this place definitely felt stale and I wasn't about to pay for that experience.
Review Source:So I'm the designated driver for a group of four, and I ask for a glass of water... The bartender says I have to buy bottled water... WTF??? Â I was going to tip him anyway... He also didn't mention that there was a canister of free water downstairs.... Staff and owner are rude as hell. Â I will not support this establishment.
Review Source:I loved this place. Great old guy behind the bar, the place was quiet and just what we wanted. The bar has been here for 60 years, and is cool if you love divey places. Downvoted because the door guy was a cock. Basically everyone in the bar left because he stoodup for some ass that knocked his girlfriend to the ground... Yay locals club!!!
Review Source:Evangelos is great to go in when there is a really good band, mostly blues and rock. A lot of people have mixed feelings about Nick, the owner, but if you're a female then he'll most likely be a peach! It's a dive bar, people...you don't go for the service, you go for the entertainment and atmosphere.
Downstairs, however, is a totally different story...check out The Underground's reviews for that...5 stars from me!
An interesting place that had good old-school live music the couple of nights I was there. The thing that annoyed me was the cover charge. Really? With a half-empty bar? And 6 people that will buy several drinks each... My friends liked it a lot more than me so the third star is in their name.
Review Source:The atmosphere is fantastic. I can see why movies have been shot there. I had always wanted to go (been to Santa Fe about 20 times) and finally did.
Would love to go back - when there's a new owner. Â I had a horrible experience which I don't care to recount but I found him to be a complete jerk.
What's that? a $10 cover?
*gazing inside* Old people city and blues musings hmmm...
NO! There is no question. Go here. Pay any cover they strike you with. The bar has a legacy. It has a way, and it has some great locals inside to chat with. All the beer is the same price for the $5 you'll pay so get your tastebuds ready and tell the economist in you to shut its pie-hole and enjoy the music.
Living in Austin with the ridiculous amount of bars we have here, I'd trade lots of em to have a gem like this in town.
It's a dark bar that you might be reluctant to step into on a beautiful and sunny day in Santa Fe. However, the music played by the Sante Fe Chiles is what drew us in and kept us there for two margaritas and a few hours. The band was definitely fun to watch, marching from the stage to the entrance and playing outside for the passerbys, but it was really the crowd that we loved. You might think I'm talking about artsy musicians or scenesters but I'm talking about the exact opposite. I felt like I was the only one under 50 there, so much that one of the band members asked me if I was on Spring Break!! Got a kick out of that and the guy who played an excellent harmonica/trombone. The keyboardist had been playing for 50 years and it after chatting with her you begin to realize that there are hundreds of bars just like this where truly talented artists are playing all types of jazz. And I want to find them! Ok, so this review was more about the music, but the bartender/owner also made the effort to  get to know his customers and the margaritas were solid.
Review Source:Nick is the owner of this fabulous niche in the crazy historic downtown of Santa Fe New Mexico. The door is on the corner of San Francisco and Galisteo St. This is where the smoker stands, laughs and perhaps makes friends with real people with very good musical tastes. Gary F. plays there with the Trouble Makers, the sound of that harmonica whistles down the street and sticks to the beat of anyone's shoe. Definitely not shy open mic night is sure to to draw in the most different of people with good rhyme, great voice and cheerful outlooks through fine wine covered eyes.
There are hippies, artists, critics and fabulous smiles that are sure to welcome the most timid of folks. It's the place you're likely to consider if Matador (love ya Caesar) is too loud and El Paseo is too tense.
From a former Santa Fe Gal, enjoy your visit and go say hi to Nick!
I was surprised when I walked into the Basement of Evangelo's on a Friday night and found a bar with a cool ambiance, a dj spinning great electro music, and lots of 20 and 30 something people having a great time. Â My friends and I got there at about 10 pm after asking our waiter at the Blue Corn Cafe for a recommendation. Â The upstairs room had live music but not a lot of people so we checked out the basement which had a totally different and hipper scene. Â By the time we left at midnight the place was packed and people were dancing on the small dance floor. Â I'm glad I went there and saw a totally different side of Santa Fe than you see at the galleries or in the main square.
They even had flyers advertising Brigitte Handley and the Dark Shadows performing there - psychobilly in Santa Fe? Â Definitely not your average Santa Fe bar.
My friends and I came here a couple times after our conference to decompress after hours of Anthropology being crammed into our brains. Nick regailed us with the stories of his war hero father. He creepily stood next to me while I tried to pretend he wasn't there. We drank some beers. Had some laughs. It was a good time. Â It seems to be a tourists spot as we only saw a couple groups of locals come in and as soon as they walked in, they left. Strange. The question that was left looming at the end of the night... Why is there a bullet hole on the BOTTOM window closest to the bar? Was someone sitting on the sidewalk and did they then decide to shoot someone in the leg?
Review Source:In the early 1990's, this bar was somewhat interesting with it's tiki motif and constant revolving cast of characters who would brighten the space. Nick took over after his father died and it kind of went to hell. So Nich remodeled the bar, which probably coust a couple hundred thousand dollars, and for the most part, the locals vacated. So essentially at this point in time it's just like every other bar in the downtown area of Santa Fe... Scrapping for tips, annoying door people, an attitude from the bartenders, and watery drinks. I would contest the "normal bar prices" stated below since even in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles... typical bar prices are lower.
Oh yes, if you don't like overly loud obnoxious tourists, this bar is probably not up your alley.
Most bars you walk in, select your poison, chat with friends, repeat as necessary, and then leave or eventually get kicked out. Â It's not often that one walks into a bar and it's a real "experience".
We strolled into Evangelos in search of a nitecap on a weekday night and certainly didn't expect what we would find.
After ordering our drinks, we started chatting with the bartender Nick  and eventually the story behind the naming of the bar was revealed to us.  The bar was named after the Nick's dad, Angelo Klonis.  Don't know the name?  Think of one of the iconic pictures of WWII (eventually made into a stamp)...that's the guy.  The whole story is at <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitaljournalist.org%2Fissue0510%2Fswanson.html&s=501194da97a9f6675c0b2ca72dffe45101681f73364b471082fecc5635f56543" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://digitaljournalist…</a>.
Anyway, talk about serendipity. Â What a great night we had talking to Nick about his dad and his dad's experience in WWII. Â Ask Nick for "the binder" that explains the entire story. Â Our experience was like stumbling upon a family reunion and being asked to sit down and stay awhile. Â There is a long line of veterans in my family (WWII, Vietnam and Iraq) so the story and emotions involved were particularly touching for me.
The bar itself? Â It's well stocked and appears to have live music on a regular basis. Â
But the amazing story that we heard dwarfed the Bass and Amstel Light that we drank that night...too bad that we only had one night in Santa Fe. Â
If I lived in Santa Fe this would be a regular haunt!
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