If you're gonna focus on the name of this bar, then don't go. As in other people's reviews, there is no wifi and the bar itself is not that impressive. They do have a few nice, HDTVs though. My friends and I did not focus on the name, and on that particular night, it was not very crowded and we were able to sit, drink, and have a pleasant conversation with the bartenders for a while. I don't know about other nights, but it was a good experience and a good bar on that one.
Review Source:If you're already in the campus area, iBar is ok if you're looking to grab a quick drink. Â It's not place I'd really go out of my way for, though.
If you look at iBar's Facebook page, you'll see a bar with 12 chairs. Â What you see it what you get. Â It's at-capacity at a dozen, and uncomfortably close at 15 people.
What it's got going for it:
- The staff was friendly and attentive. Â
- The drink prices were reasonable - about the same as any other bar.
- The drinks were well-made. Â I had a vodka martini, which was pretty good.
- It's got a trendy vibe, so it is a bit classier than the million sports bars around campus.
The drawbacks:
- Again... it literally seats 12 people, so it has all the comfort of a minivan full of liquor.
- The trendiness is interesting when you get there, but it doesn't hold your attention for long. Â It feels like it needs some other gimmick before I could consider it unique. (Might I recommend they get a signature drink served in an exotic way?)
Overall:
It won't knock your socks off, but check it out if you're in the neighborhood.
We had a meetup here last night as a result of some months-long Yelp drama. Â We sort of planned it in jest, but we do take our wining, dining and reviews seriously, so although our reasons were comical, we still had a blast.
I've definitely experienced better, but this isn't a bad little spot. The biggest downside for me is the width of the aisle between the wall and the bar seating. They truly, truly should have situated the bar about a foot farther back than they did. The amount of room behind the bar is huge, bigger than it needs to be, and it's at the expense of the customer's experience. Had it been moved back, they probably could have installed a room-length shelf running down the wall, doubling the capacity for patrons' drinks.
The glowy bar top was a bit of a let down, but what wouldn't be compared to my SMACK video in the UYE thread? The happy hour special is a pretty good deal and the brooklyn stout on tap is DELISH. They had the new Three Olives Dude vodka. I bought a few rounds and my night went in a completely different direction as a result. If you haven't heard of it yet, it's Lemon-Lime flavored vodka, so it basically looks and tastes like Mountain Dew.
The bar doesn't open until 8pm, which is weird, and happy hour ends at 9. Wednesday, however, is all night happy hour. I hope it's a 21 and up bar, because if they want to stick around, they need to carve out that niche. It has a more upscale vibe, and if they play their cards right, providing a haven to grad students could be their key to survival. Â I don't think I'll return very often, if ever, but I didn't hate it.
Their automotive section was lacking. Oh, cute bartender as well.
the event thread (it's pretty funny) - <a href="http://www.yelp.com/events/columbus-uye-i-bar">http://www.yelp.com/even…</a>
the video referred to above - <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DV9AySS3Ff2Y&s=ae0975689cb1ce8ba5d27c5cdecdcc6c4494e79cfe03e448065e45514e0f2bbc" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/w…</a>
According to their facebook page one of the big draws of I Bar is the bar itself. Â They describe it as a "high-tech fiber optic bartop". Â So I thought at the very least it would be a nice conversation piece or something but the only conversation to be had about it went like this:
This is high-tech?
Does it turn any color other than blue?
Couldn't this same effect be achieved with regular lights swirling under a blue counter?
There was absolutely nothing impressive about the bartop. Â So if that's the main reason you want to give this place a try, take a look at the pictures and you've seen it all.
Also, if you call your bar I Bar you're automatically associating it with something technological,  but there was no technology there to be used by the patrons.  No wi-fi, no jukebox, no anything other than three televisions that for  some reason the bar staff had to change channels by hand.  When you call yourself I Bar and you can't even scrounge up a remote, something is wrong.
The space itself could be called intimate, or it could be called closet-sized. Â And when you have a space that small you really need to maximize the area for patrons instead of minimize it. Â Even something as simple as a ledge along the back wall for people to sit drinks would have been handy.
I ordered the scarlet punch martini and it was just okay. Â Not very alcoholic, and not made with the ingredients stated on the menu so neither of those things were working in its favor. Â My friend took a drink and thought it tasted like Kool-Aid and that's a pretty close description though I'd say more like the generic, non-name brand fruit drink that you buy in milk jugs at Kroger.
If I lived on campus, and if they got wi-fi I might go back, but since that isn't going to happen I'm pretty sure that will be my first and last visit to I Bar.
After going to check out i-Bar, "Meh" seems like exactly the right reaction.
If you don't live on campus or near the university, parking can be a challenge (I cheated and bought an ink cartridge for my printer at the nearby Fedex store so I could use their lot), and when you go in, your first reaction is that this is a rather small space.
i-Bar (iBar? i Bar?) could be a neat intimate venue if they had used the space more effectively, but that fiber optic bar (which didn't change colours or do anything unique in the hour and a half I was there - it just turned blue and glowed politely) dominates the floor space, and while I am sure the staff appreciates the fact that they have a lot of room behind the bar to work, it leaves very little space for patrons. I kept wishing the bar was about a foot further back - it would have provided more space for people to move around the bar and/or stand to speak to others there.
Drink prices were generally quite good, and I was impressed by the amount of microbrew / craft brews on tap. They still featured college standbys like Bud Light, Rolling Rock, Dos Equis, and Corona in bottles behind the bar, but the taps featured Rogue, Great Lakes, Left Hand, Goose Island, Brooklyn Brewery, and other higher end selections, though sadly nothing from any of the local Columbus breweries.
Given that focus on higher end beers, I'm puzzled why their liquor selection is so incredibly generic. While they do have a few higher end Tequilas and Vodkas, the back of the bar is dominated by the Great Wall of Stoli and its' Bacardi annex. They've also missed a trick by not offering any of the locally produced spirits like Watershed or OYO - something that would have gone a long way to helping them stand out in my mind.
I'm also confused how the staff intends to promote anything - there was no mention of their happy hour inside the bar (though I did get happy hour pricing on my drinks), and the "signature drink" menu is a stunted, kind of sad little bird dominated by martini variations, but when it goes into "daily specials" or "featured draffts", it simply says to "check them out!" Nothing is posted around the bar, and the bar staff didn't do much to offer suggestions when I came in looking for a drink.
The music ranged from inoffensive to "I'm going to listen to this and write in my livejournal about how nobody in my high school UNDERSTANDS ME", and appeared to be controlled from behind the bar - I did not see any evidence of a jukebox that patrons could interact with.
Finally, and perhaps most damning, for a bar that uses a very "technical" name and promotes their computerized decor feature (which does do a nice job of complimenting the fairly minimalist hammered metal look of the place, I'll admit), they do a horrible job of leveraging technology.
For one, I found the lack of wi-fi rather surprising. Yes, a lot of other campus bars provide it, and I probably could have tried to jack their signal instead, but it seems like a no-brainer given their branding.
Second, the lack of a real web presence. i-Bar's only internet presence at all is a facebook page that does little to tell you about the bar's drink selections except to list their happy hour schedule - and it doesn't even feature a picture of the actual bar? Just one picture of their logo, and another picture of the logo with a "Coming soon" watermark.
How about a web page, guys? What about posting your drink menu or specials? Even if you want to focus on your facebook to try and attract more of the OSU student crowd, what about using it to give people better info on what the bar offers and reasons to come in? Heck, if you google 'i Bar Columbus", the first four results are for the Columbus Bar Association, and the next four are for other bars!
How is it that I can sit (well, OK, actually I stood - there aren't really any bar stools worth mentioning) in your bar for an hour and get more ideas about how to promote your business than you apparently do?
For god's sake, the guy at the Worthington Farmers Market who sells home made beef jerky has a freaking web page. Get on it!
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
