The Heavy Anchor is wonderful. Â It's a great bar because it's a dive without being a sports-themed bar or filled with smoke! Â I love it. Â The bartenders are always nice and attentive! Â And I like the venue side, which is separate, so you don't have to go for the show if you just want drinks! Â They also have an awesome selection of beers, most of them in bottles or cans, and two on draft usually. Â But they have all the good Saint Louis local breweries represented; 4 Hands, Urban Chestnut, Schlafly, O'Fallon, etc. Â Dollar PBR Monday is where it's at!
Review Source:I think that I'm gonna like it here . . .
As a musician living in South City, it's hard to believe that it took me so long to visit The Heavy Anchor. Â There have been several opportunities for me to go and support fellow musicians, but I hadn't taken the trip until last Thursday.
We were invited to check out Loser, a new game show that might become a monthly event. Â Local fast-talking wordsmith Allison B. was a contestant, and we wanted to show our support for something, frankly, that we didn't understand until we set eyes on it.
Even after the show began, we still had no idea how this was going to go down. Â Altogether, the evening was fairly entertaing, despite a few obvious hitches in the presentation. Â More than anything, I was interested in the stage setup, something that I hope to explore as a perfomer in the near future.
The bar is separated into two rooms: Â the front bar and the music room. Â This setup allows for multiple events at a time, which is kind of cool.
The biggest concern with any South City dive is the location, which is smack dab on Gravois. Â We parked on the street, and I was immediately uncomfortable with the setting. Â Luckily, we were parked next to the door. Â Any further away and I might have been worried.
By the end of the night, Allison was not a Loser but victorious! And I was sold on The Heavy Anchor. Â Another great dive bar in South City. Â Who'd have thought?!
If you're going for the music (which I did), then this place isn't going to offer much. They've got an underpowered PA that makes everything sound thin and weak. It's weird, because they've gone to the trouble of sound-treating the room, but then they've only got two tiny little speakers. If they just got a decent sound-system, this could be a 4-star joint. As it is, it's just a curious little hipster dive that hosts music.
Review Source:I wish I could give this place a good review. Â It was a recommendation since we were to be in the area, but I was disappointed both by the service and the ambiance. Â It reminded me a bit of a Kriegers with a nice tall ceiling, but the bartender was literally screaming at us (and the three remaining patrons) to "go home" after last call. Â We didn't have 5 minutes to enjoy our drinks. Â I want to support businesses in this part of town, but I just can't with this one. Â If you are in south city, I'd suggest just sticking at Silver Ballroom.
Review Source:What a cool place?! It's a bar with a dive-y vibe minus dive-y decorations. The place was wonderfully and imaginatively-painted in bright colors. The music room in the back feels like your friend's garage back in high school days. Drinks were cheap. We didn't get food but ended up staying way longer than anticipated to check out the band and play shuffleboard.
Review Source:Heavy Anchor was the first stop of a recent pub crawl that I attended. Â This was a perfect opening bar for us. Â Beer & liquor selection are excellent. Â The guys that work here are very cool. Â They gave us all buttons and stickers which were all used for debauchery later on our crawl. Â Prices are fair, and they also offer pretzels and pizza.
Plus for them having an ATM that helped with funds for the night.
The first time I was here I was on a pub crawl up Gravois and I have to say it is a pretty interesting place. Â First off, I ordered my go-to, Bacardi and Coke, and they gave it to me in a mason jar. Â Yes. Sold. Â I will come back. Â There wasn't a show when we were there which was nice because I got to kind of wander around. Â The bar side was the only part really open but I did get to see the stage area which looked pretty neat. Â
I can't wait to come back and see a show or just sit down and have a drink maybe and look at all the cool art on the walls.
A charming dive-y bar with much more taste than you would expect from the label "hipster dive".
I must say, the owners of this place have some great ideas and so far they seem to be working out really well. I love the idea of having the bar separate of the venue. If you're at the bar and you like what you hear on the other side of the wall, then you can pay cover and see the band. I also love the film club nights twice a month. The venue side has cinema seating and popcorn with a large projector. Every film club night is a double feature (usually two from the same director) and there is never a charge to watch or eat popcorn. I also love that they have games like chess in the lounge areas and shuffleboard.
It wouldn't be a bar without beer and the beer at the Heavy Anchor is top notch. The owners do a great job of keeping the current seasonals and local craft beers. I should note that draft beer is currently unavailable so it's all bottles and cans. PBR is on happy hour for $1.00 a bottle. They have a great liquor selection as well. Very reasonable prices on both beer and liquor (or boxed wine if you want to take the Tour de Franzia).
The food is good. All bar snacks. All St. Louis originals; Gus's pretzels, Billy Goat Chips, Dogtown Pizzas. Good stuff.
The owners are in almost every day, and have a great taste in music, drinks, and film. They are obviously doing something right because I keep coming back.
"Hipster Dive"? Sure you can call it that, but this place goes far beyond the usual hole in South City. The owners have a one-of-a-kind place here.
Max chill.
Owners are wonderful, and they've created a great bar to enjoy or a drink or sample the local music scene. The bar and venue area are smartly separated, which creates similarly distinct vibes.
I love to enjoy a beer on the bar side, which has multiple seating options depending on your mood -- barside stool for a chat with the regulars; retro hangout with sofas and chairs for casual conversation; hightop table for yelling at friends while playing shuffleboard.
Haven't been to venue side when there has been a performance, but the size is good, and there seems to be enough acts to accommodate a variety of tastes.
Beer selection is commendable and rotates, which is a plus for any and all beer snobs.
My only gripe would be the newness of the place, which causes the atmosphere to seem stiff at times with a lack of patrons that can consciously create the sensation of emptiness. I expect this to change with time, and should by no means act as a deterrent.
If you're ever on South Gravois, be sure to stop by and help spread the word: The Heavy Anchor is a great dive.
Great spot- Good prices, good selection of drinks, nice staff. They have live music in the bar which is in a seperate room, which is really cool b/c it gives you the option of either going to watch the music and paying the cover, or just hanging out in the bar and still being able to talk.
Review Source:The Heavy Anchor is a great divey neighborhood bar located on Gravois, just south of Bevo. Â Filled with local hand painted grafitti style murals, retro lounge furnitrue, ample hi-tops and a HUGE beer selection, they have no shortage of things drink or to look at. Â Take a few steps into the back room and you can either catch live music or watch movies and eat pocorn, depending on the night. Â Rocky Horror Picture Show was on the last time I was in. Â
They have an awesome happy hour ($1 PBR, $2 Buds & wells). Â The crowd is a combination of hipster/neighborhood peeps. Â Everyone seems comfortable intermingling. Â Best of all, the place is immaculate (always a concern at a dive bar), the service is fast and friendly, and they work very hard to accomodate groups. Â I took a BIG group for happy hour and they were awesome. Â Pretzels and Dogtown/Tom's pizza are offered, as well. Â But, if you have a big group, they will let you order delivery food or bring food in. Â So, it is perfect for parties. Â I'll definitely be back!
Went here the other night for a roller derby gathering that basically took over the place. Â This is a cool space, nice owners and some decent drinks and they seemed to keep up pretty well making them all. Â Plus you got $1 off a drink for checking in on Yelp. Â I can't speak to how they are on a regular night but I do like the backroom space and as someone else made the point, it would be nice to come in for free and listen to the music and opt for seeing the band if you wanted to and pay. Â Being wheelchair accessible was nice (my best friend is in one) although the smoking area was not easily accessible, that's okay. Â They made the effort to make it easy to get around to it. Â Definitely worth checking out. Â Out of my way to go to very often but with the movie nights and other stuff, this place does stand out among the others in there area.
Review Source:I happened upon Heavy Anchor one late night when I had no business being out. My stamina was well rewarded when I walked into this great little place on Gravois in South City.
The space itself is a nice combo of bar with another room for live music and movies. And Heavy Anchor does something that I wish other bars would do...you can come into the main bar for free, listen to the live music and if you want to SEE the live performance you can pay the cover at that entrance. I hate when I have to pay to see a band that I don't want to see. Nice.
Drinks prices are reasonable with happy hour specials of $2 wells, $2 buds and $3 bottles. They have a small selection of food including vegan pizza but I was there a little too late to try any munchies. The back patio is great for fresh air or if you smoke there is plenty of space.
I will definitely be back soon for the Wednesday movie nights or a happy hour.
You know that thing, of like, when you walk into a place and you and your Kitten Faced Friend look at each other as soon as you pass through the doors with faces that are like OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS PLACE! and then for every five steps you take, you do it again, and as you sum up the view of the bar and all the different beers you do it again, and as you walk thru the magic door into the OLD SKOOL BACKROOM THEATER, you do it again, and again at the Popcorn Machine, and again as you imagine the cold wintry nights cuddled up here with said Kitten Face watching cray cray movies and drinking whiskey drinks, and you do it again as you walk behind the theater, past the hologram framed painting, and out to the kick ass patio?
That thing happened to me.
That thing of when like every person in the bar was like a version of yourself, a cool version of cool people sitting in old gramma chairs by the windows having cool and thoughtful people conversations about funny shit, drinking varietal beers through and past their auburn beards, through and past their casually hip clothes, through and past some cool music floating through the high ceilings, through and past a memory that for the brief time I landed there, has been anchored in my city heart forever.
When I get to a new city, I really like to find bars that I can fall in love with as soon as possible. I feel like the Heavy Anchor might be that bar.
Now I love the dive-yest of dive bars, but this place is more than that.
The place is super open and even has its own theater area where they show double features on Wednesday nights (FREE POPCORN).
The beer selection is really nice, and reasonably priced. Oh, what's this, Anchor Steam for 3 bucks? Yes please! Â I really am not on the east coast anymore, I need to remember that.
They also have Trivia on Tuesday nights at 9pm, which I'm a sucker for.
Also! Pizza!!!!! Vegan(?) and Vegetarian options as well. We had the Annie Oakley one which had chorizo and corn and something else on it, it was really awesome.
Basically when it comes down to it, I'm going to go here all the time.
Had a pretty great time here the other night. Â The bar is a bit hipster but doesn't feel pretentious. Â The space is great. Â Half the bar opens up using a garage door. Â Hard to explain--you just need to see it. Â LOVE that they serve their drinks in mason jars. Â Don't judge...I love mason jars :-) Â The back half of the bar has movie seats, a stage, and a huge screen. Â And best of all.....drumroll.......cheap drinks!!!
Go check it out. Â I think it's a husband and wife team who opened and run it. Â They were incredibly nice and kept the free popcorn coming. Â Good times.
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