I'm new to the Tallahassee area (actually I live in GA, but visit my girlfriend here). Being from Kentucky, I've visited a significant amount of dive bars in and around both Louisville and Nashville. These kind of bars are around every corner. I have to admit that I've been spoiled by the places of my past and I've yet to experience anything in Tallahassee that comes close to them...until I went to the Leon Pub. The first night I went there it was around 830 on a Wednesday and the bar had a max of 12 people. Very laid back, Mike behind the bar was attentive and down to earth guy, and the people were a mix of hipster and working professionals. I spent most of my time marveling over the pages of beers to choose from. Luckily they had  Anchor Porter, which I have a hard time finding down here. The people seemed to be laid back and just enjoying a beer after work. I would almost categorize this as a neighborhood bar with frequent regulars, but definitely inviting to strangers as myself. In Nashville, people will often strike up conversations with you and offer to buy you a shot or something...I've never experienced that kind of hospitality in Tallahassee. I'm not complaining, but people definitely keep to themselves around here. I like it.
I ended up going back a few nights later and the service was awesome again. I waited about 5 seconds at the bar before our order was taken. Great (real) bar, mix of people, vintage decor, cool music, and an excellent selection of beer!
This is a goddamn bar. There ain't fruit in the beer and no fucking umbrellas in the damn drinks. You chew the air and breathe the pints. Is that smell intentional? Pool, darts and manly pinball for those who choose to take their life in their hands. Sixty plus taps say that your bud light beverage choice should take a stab at fucking itself in an alley behind Applebees. This is God's juice in your mouth; Fullers/Sierra/Rogue/etc. Don't deny God's juice... take it into your mouth.
Review Source:I'll be the first to admit that I'm now used to Austin's pub, bar, and beer scene. But as a Tallahassee native, I was excited to pay my yearly visit to Leon Pub this holiday. This place is beloved by multiple generations of Tallahasseans and aside from the intense cigarette smoke stank (just part of the atmosphere), I've always had a great time here.
There are lots of taps and a very, very large selection of bottles, all fairly reasonably but not cheaply priced. The place is cluttered with booths, stools, pool tables, beer signs, and mismatched patio furniture, all of which combine to create a comfortable dive-bar atmosphere that almost everybody can enjoy. In the past few years they've added an annex to the main bar room, which is a little quieter and less crowded and has a television and a phone charging station. I love this--you can get away from the jukebox music and the pool tables if you just want to chat and sip.
Unfortunately, the service I received recently was extraordinarily bad. I was here on a Wednesday night, and the bar contained maybe twenty-five customers, less than half of whom were currently ordering. My companion and I waited way too long for service at the bar, watching regulars (apparently?) who arrived after us be served first. When the bartender finally got to us, I asked if they had any Florida breweries on tap. He replied, "I don't know. We're really busy. That's why there's a menu." He continued grumbling until I interrupted him to order a Bell's beer, which he handed to me in a bottle without a glass. My companion asked for a pint glass, and he snapped, "When I get a minute!"
Maybe I'm spoiled, but I'm definitely used to barkeeps who 1) have some passing interest in beer, and 2) don't call less than twelve people waiting to order "really busy." I was disappointed that I couldn't even get a few seconds of recommendations or suggestions. Of course I'm sure that I'll be back when I visit next year, but I'll be hoping for one of the more poised, competent bartenders I've had in the past.
I love the atmosphere of this bar, it's very... bar-y. It's dark, smokey, decorated in a bunch of weird license plates and memorabilia. They have about 100000 beers, from PBR to super nice brews. They have a cute phone charging station in the back of the second room in a phone booth where they have a bunch of different types of phone chargers, just in case you run out of battery life. I've never seen that before, very clever.
Review Source:It has been over 5 years since I lived in Tallahassee and visited the Leon Pub, but from more current comments, I think it is safe to assume that little is changed, other than fresh beer kegs. Â Some of the layers of dust and worn furnishings were ancient when I first visited decades ago. Â No reason to believe they have been disturbed. Â Â The descriptions of the place as hole in the wall, seedy, creepy, dive or dump are adequately descriptive. Â What cannot be fully conveyed is the overall impact of a wonderful selection of drafts enjoyed in an atmosphere of absolute relaxation, with only a suppressed nagging fear that your car has been towed since legal parking is highly limited.
Nice to hear they now accept plastic.  It greatly improves the odds of getting quietly wobble-kneed hunched at the bar, avoiding the back swings of pool players.  But a puzzlement due to a prior review.......how do you "expand the place" without eliminating the laughably tiny toilet or discarding the collection of empty kegs, junk  and full beer cases near the entrance?  You can only shove so many beer cases under the pool table.
This bar is literally a hole in the wall. Â They have probably the largest selection of imported beers I have ever seen, especially in a bar so small.. Â They also have tons of them on tap. Â It used to be kind of annoying that it was a cash bar only, however, they have finally updated to the 21st century and you can use debit/credit here. Â Last time I was there they were also expanding the space. Â Great little local bar, highly recommend stopping in for at least one beverage if you have never been there. If you are a liquor drinker they do not serve it.
Review Source:Sure Fermentation is prettier and less smokey, but Leon Pub is the original! This is pretty much the only eat/drink establishment that I would say is a must visit for a foodie/drinkie visiting Tallahassee. Everything else is a chain or facsimile of something you can experience elsewhere.
Review Source:I love this place, all of the attitude and ephemera that a place like Chili's will spend millions trying to approximate. Â The bartenders are knowledgeable and friendly without being unctuous, and the beer selection is second to none. Â If this place were in NYC there would be a line out the door and Anthony Bourdain would have his mail sent there. Â A true gem.
Review Source:The Leon Pub is probably Tallahassee's best known hole-in-the-wall, yet it never seems too crowded. If you love a huge beer selection and don't mind the smoky interior, then you need to stop by and grab a brew.
I mean, they have Young's Double Chocolate Stout on tap. That's rationale for coming right there.
All of my lady friends were like, "OMG OMG they have Framboise on tap at Leon Pub!" Â So I go there and sit in the smokey small room that they call a bar with all of the coke-ed-up indie rockers that frequent the place. Â I watch as the bartender takes the glass into the back and tries to be sneaky as she pours the bottle of Framboise into the glass and brings it out. Â I guess that the tap is hidden in the back room where they open the bottles and pour it into a glass for you. Â Guys, ladies love Framboise- we cannot help it. Â Buy us one and maybe we will talk to your ugly ass.
I would actually prefer to pay more if they accepted credit cards and I did not reek after leaving. Â Definitely a place to end the night rather than begin.
I definitely don't miss this place.
Drinking in the Leon Pub is not unlike drinking in somebody's garage. Â It's small, beat-up, and there are boxes and crates everywhere. Â It's a little unkempt, definitely dirty, and there's pool and a dartboard. Â
That said, nobody's got a garage with as many types of beer as the Leon Pub--a collection so extensive it makes up for the unfriendly staff, horrendous parking, crappy location, and, well, that whole "Hey, Garth... We're in... a garage" atmosphere.
Overall, the Leon Pub's okay, but if you're looking for a livelier dive bar, check out Poor Paul's.
The Leon Pub is the very definition of a 'hole-in-the-wall' sort of place to grab a beer with your friends. From the outside, it looks like the kind of place you're likely to get shivved in if you're not careful, but once you're inside you get to see pretty quickly how your first impression was wrong.
The inside is small and friendly. Two pool tables only barely fit in it, and even then you'll have to ask the people in the bar to watch out now and then while you take a tricky shot. There is a dart board on one end and an old-school table Pac-Man game on the other. A 80's-era jukebox sitting adjacent to the men's room pumps out classic rock and New Orleans jazz. Unless you get there before 9 pm, a haze of cigarette smoke thick enough to curl up on will obscure your view through the bar. The tables are close and the stools are rickety and there's a half-inch layer of dust on anything higher than six feet off the ground and anyone you meet in there is just as likely as not to be too drunk to tell you their name. However this sounds to you, the real attraction of the Leon Pub, its saving grace even, is it copious and amazing beer menu.
Hands down the most extensive beer menu I've ever seen, anywhere. They've got about 40 beers on tap all over the bar, and about another 200 in the bottle. I counted them one night with a friend - really, there are that many. They sell beer in either pints or liters, and they accept only cash. They don't sell food, so it's a good idea to either eat before you go or bring some nuts along with you. The diverse and eclectic beer menu draws a lot of people in, a lot of interesting people, so go prepared to chat.
I had a conversation there with the only man I've ever met who had actually had his toes cut off in an escalator as a child (I mean, you always hear about that but you never actually MEET anyone it's happened to, right?). All the toes on his right foot - gone. It looked like a duck flipper. My buddy and I were there once when a drunk old guy bought everyone in the bar a round with a bucket full of quarters. I got in a fight there once and got thrown out by the bartender - the same bartender who bought me a round the next time I came in. Sounds weird, but it's just that kind of place.
Majors points for a massive beer selection. They must have over 200 at least (including my favorite Brooklyn Lager on tap). The atmosphere is alright. There aren't enough chairs, too many tiny stools, and the place is typically smoky (a plus or minus depending on your preference). The place is dominated by two pool tables. There's also a dart board, a Galaga machine that works, and a pair of pinball machines that don't. The juke box is packed with classic rock and folk.
Review Source:I get it: a shit ton of beers. Great. Awesome. I need my fucking space, though, and this place is tiny and filled to the brim with dweebs. I think I've deduced at this point that having "pub" in your title implies dweebs.
I'm pretty sure there was Maiden and/or Dio on the jukebox, though. However, that does not earn you any points since that is a basic necessity of running a bar.
Leon Pub is a beer snob's wet dream. I don't even want to estimate how many beers they have on tap, and there are a billion on top of that. I get all indecisive when I look at the list and usually have to ask one of the kick-ass bartenders for advice.
It's dark and a little creepy like all good dive bars should be, there are darts, a decent juke, pool... the only thing that I lament is that I haven't seen the pinball machines working... or was too drunk to notice after two huge draws the size of my head requiring two-handed lifting.
An edit: minus two stars for the owner being a truly unbelievable asshole to my friend. Â Apparently he's notorious for it. Â Not sure I'll ever go here again, even if it is a great bar.
I was first introduced to the Leon Pub years ago by a friend of mine who frequented this haunt on a regular basis. Â Even though I grew up in Tallahassee, I had no idea that this place even existed--it is seriously nothing to look at from the outside and it is most definitely a dive on the inside as well, but what they lack in aesthetics they more than make up for in beer selection. Â My personal favorite is the Lambic Framboise, a raspberry malt beverage from Belgium, but if that isn't your thing, there are hundreds of other brews to choose from. Â The patrons are less Tennessee Street and more Townie, which can be a very good thing if you, like me, grow weary of all the undergrad posers and just want a good place to hang out with friends, drink a few beers, listen to some good classic rock, and have some good conversation. Â I have long since moved away from Tallahassee, but every time I come back to visit family, the Leon Pub is always a must-do before I go back to my current home. Â
Cheers!
Best dive bar in town.
The Leon County Pub is one of those places that you should hit at least once in your stay in tallahassee, even if it really isn't your scene. There are so few things that Tallahasse has that can be considered 'cool', it's best to take advantage. The main attraction there is the massive beer selection. They have hundreds of bottled beers from all over the world and what is even more impressive is the large number of beers that they have on tap.
The jukebox is one of the older kind with the CD's which is sweet since I hate those new electronic ones. The music is a good mix of primarily classic rock with some country and indie splashed in. The decor is pretty cool too. It's what TGIFridays was going for but failed miserably at.
The crowd is a mixture. If you go early you're going to see some locals, professionals, and professors. As the night goes one, more of an indie scene but far from exclusively that crowd.
The room is kind of narrow and two pool tables take up some space so later on it can get really packed in tight in there. Oh and loud. If you are with a group of people it's going to get really crowded for you after around 10:30.
If you're going for the first time, I'd check it out around 8 pm.
Oh and bring cash. They don't take plastic.
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