Keenan's Six Twenty Club

Ah Keenan's seedy, dark and towny.  Fantastic bar for spanking your friends on the pool table and rockin to a juke box.  Drinks were strong and good.  Great local bar.

I can't believe that I am the first person to review Keenan's bar.  It's been a W 7th Street bar for a long time.  I remember hanging out in here 10-12 years ago when I was in college, but probably haven't been inside since 2002, much for the same reason that until recently I haven't been to Joe & Stan's in a long time.  Both were rougher bars back then.  

Prior to the Xcel energy center bars like Keenan's, Joe & Stan's and the Grand 7 Saloon were rough bars.  After the X was built the bars closer to downtown, like the Grand 7 cleaned up pretty quick to accommodate the hockey and concert crowds.  It took a little longer for bars further down 7th Street to clean up, but I'm happy to say that Keenan's is a great place to stop in for a drink or two.

It still is a neighborhood place and isn't overrun with college students and yuppies like Shamrock's.  It's still a working man's bar.

They have a good beer selection and great bar food.  In particular you should try the Coney Dog.  Apparently, the Gopher Bar has trademarked the term "The Best Coney in Town", so Keenan's proudly states in its menu that they serve the Second Best Coney in Town.  Keenan's also says that you won't get sworn at if you order a Coney Dog from them, which is a alternative to the Gopher Bar.

However, I might disagree that they are the second best in town.  I have had both Gopher and Keenan's Dogs, and they are remarkably similar, but I would probably give the edge to Keenan.  They both have a toasted bun, which I think makes the dog, and the chili is about the same, but Keenan puts a tiny bit of heat in the sauce.  It is not enough where I would call it a spicy Coney Dog, but it is enough that you will notice the heat.

It's also a family run spot.  The owner works in the kitchen cooking the dogs and burgers and the son is the bartender.  The owner looks a bit like Dante from the movie Clerk's if you see him in the kitchen.  Both were very friendly guys and very proud of the upgrades that they personally put into the bar.  

Drinks were reasonably priced, I think good beers were $4 and cheap beers were $3.  

I like drinking in the W. 7th area now.  A lot of people go to NE MPLS for pub crawls, but I think W. 7th is the best neighborhood in the cities for pub crawls.  I recommend checking out Keenan's, Glockenspiel, Joe & Stan's, Mancini's, Skinner's and the Spot, as a top notch pub crawl.