Mars Pub and Arcade

I was all about this place when it first opened, but since they changed the laser tag to an arcade, I'm not so sure about it anymore. I didn't even play laser tag very often, but I feel like the great drink deals and selection has been slowly slipping since they re-opened. Attendance seems to be down recently as well. In any case, I'd recommend going if you haven't been before and checking out their arcade, and then deciding on your own if it's for you or not. It does provide a good alternative to some of the other bars and clubs around it.

All you can drink for $10 after 10pm on Friday nights with a free show. That's a hell of a lot of beer. Too bad I would never make this a destination on a Friday night, laser tag or not.

It's the perfect spot for getting down on a cheap brew while waiting for a show to open, that's what this place is good at. Then again, I applaud them for opting for laser tag instead of the traditional board game standard that seems to come with most bars. I mean, who plays laser tag sober anyways? Saves me the trouble to have beer built in.

The food menu is decent, too. Definitely not what I was expecting. You can expect a long ass line out the door for late night if there is a show going on, though. Unless that was a line waiting for laser tag...

The newspaper clipping on the wall reads that the owners, disenchanted with the job scene after graduating college, decided to open up a bar. A bar with laser tag. While this idea sounds incredible as hell, the cynic in me wonders how much of it had to do with not wanting to "grow up" into a traditional after-college job. Whatever your perception the choices made, Mars Pub and Laser Tag stands proudly on a quiet stretch of University Ave right next to one of the worst venues in existence (The Florida Theater of Gainesville) and two doors down from Country Music Line Dancing Terror at Eight Seconds. Yikes. Not hard to shine on the block when that's the competition.

Mars Pub serves up pretty decent sub sandwiches at reasonable prices that are perfect for staying sated whilst you wait in line for one of the venues. They also have beer. Beer is nice. Couches are also nice. Bathrooms are clean enough and there's the whole Laser Tag thing as well which I did not partake in.

Perhaps if I had lasered my ass off I would drop another star upon this place, but without that it's really just another bar that serves cheap, generic and ultimately pretty boring beer with no liquor. We've all seen it before, know what I mean?