The King Pin

I use to come to the Kingpin a long time ago (5-8 years ago, I'm getting old and I'm getting bad at remembering times) and remember loving this place.  The Kingpin introduced me to shuffleboard which is still my favorite bar game.  At one time it was one of the only places that had it so maybe my love for the Kingpin was a  lack of options.  

Jeannie and I rolled in here this past Friday night only because Taceaux Loceaux was out front and we had never been.  I'm guessing that this was the reason for the bar being completely full.  The bar is small to begin with so when there are 50 people in there it seems like Bourbon on Mardi Gras day. They only had 1 bartender working while I was trying to get a few beers.  She was friendly and busting her ass then a guy walked in and pretended to help her but he was kind of an ass.  It's a busy bar, make a fuckin' drink or get out of her way.  She seemed to get 8 drinks to his 1.

The crowd was also a lot different then I remember.  Lot's of young Republicans with their pink Polo's tucked into their white shorts while wearing loafers mixed with equally rich bearded trust fund bearded hipsters drinking PBR in a can to give the illusion that they don't care.  Both groups are Tulane/Loyola kids who are equally rich and will soon be bitter enemies in their political beliefs but for now there was no Sharks and Jets dance fighting.  

Anyway the bar was impossible to enjoy so we drank our non PBR beers outside on the curb while enjoying our taco's.  I'll have to come back on a non taco truck night to see if this place was how I once remembered or does this too fall into the category of things "My memories are better than the real thing" category like Spaghetti-O's and Voltron.

After coming back a few times in the afternoons I decided this place was pretty cool. I like it as an after work kinda place as opposed to a Friday/Saturday night hangout, but I'll keep returning.

It's the very definition of a dive, but certainly not the most interesting one you'll visit. Drink prices are kind of average at best, and you'll leave having developed a nicotine dependency. I've never seen so much smoke in such a compact area.

The night crowd has weirdly varied each time I've been: once packed with jaded college-aged hipsters, the next visit flooded with middle-aged couples kicking back after work, etc. My visits were spaced out several months apart, and I haven't really experienced the Elvis overload that other people seem to.

Either way, there's nothing that really stands out about this place enough to make a drive to, even from within Uptown. I suppose if you live around Prytania/Upperline, you've got yourself a neighborhood hangout, but otherwise...eh.