This is basically a gay bar..... which is fine by me!
Everything about this place is good, not great, but not by any means bad. It's just kind of there, existing, its personality provided more by the patrons than by the music or the decor.
I love that it exists, though, because it's a place my guy and I can go sit and relax and not feel like we're getting sideways glances.
The Mint is SUCH a typical bar. Slightly indistinct door with bouncer, pool table inside, some tables and chairs, etc. The bartenders are nice, the drinks are neither expensive nor inexpensive. In terms of alcohol levels, I think the drinks are a bit weak, whereas my companion thinks they're overly strong, so they're likely somewhere in between. Sometimes the music is a little too loud and not always to our taste. Also, it can get a bit crowded.
In all, though, I'm not complaining. It's a reliable bar, and I'm sure I'll be returning next time I'm in Bakersfield :).
Favorite bar in Bakersdale. If you're looking for a dive bar to do a little day drinking they have some excellent Mimosas. Daphne serves up a tasty blackberry lemon vodka mimosa or a mad mango mimosa. They also have PBR on tap. What what! Last time I was there I was greeted by a shirtless drunkard relaxing out front drinking a 40. Which is right up my alley! Great music on the jukebox, pool table and great patio area out back. Always a great mix of cool peeps. Not for everyone but definitely a must stop by for me!
Review Source:I don't really understand why this place is so popular. The floors are sticky, it's hot, loud, and smelly. The place is packed with loser downtown people.
If you have a daughter, don't let her go here place - she'd walk out drunk, smelling like cigarettes, pregnant and with sticky feet.
Maybe I'm a hater, who knows.
This was my first time going to a dive bar in Bakersfield and I grew up here (and moved back)!
A lot of it has to do with living in LA for a few years after Cal State and drinking underage during those years and being poisoned by WeHo's offerings. The scene here is definitely Punk/Alternative (it almost felt like The Viper Room in WeHo)
and I'm far from that but it didn't stop me from meeting friendly people and enjoying cheap and strong drinks - a plus.
The place is also gay-friendly - another plus for me.
WHAT I SAW THAT THURSDAY NIGHT:
- There's a pool table, but I felt intimidated 'cause I'm not Punk enough.
- There was a spat going on between a "girl" and a natural-born female (or so it seemed) but was quickly nipped by the bouncer.
- There was a DJ playing Electronic music and I enjoyed the selection.
- A live band played in the outdoor part (behind the bar) and to me, they sucked; I gave them a chance.
- The gothic bartender chick was unfriendly but it's forgivable, my Captain and Coke was perfect!
I'd go back! :-)
This was my first experience with an actual stand alone bar. This place was a little out of the way of the other bars downtown, but not by a lot. Went with a group of friends on a Wednesday night around ten there were about two empty tables and some empty stools. The bar tender checked my friends' ids and joked around with them and when he asked my friend how old she was she said "old enough..." he said "old enough for what?" she said "old enough to party". ha. The bar tender was cool, quick, friendly. Oh and they make the drinks pretty strong. Think my jack and coke was $4, friend's jager bomb was $5, and other friend's white Russian was $5. Was fun will probably go again. OH!!! Before I forget they play cartoons on the tvs here which is funny and britney spears on the speakers ha. And the bathroom was a lil gross but was expected.
Review Source:Went there on a Friday night with a buddy from out of town. Had to call out the skinny, dirty looking female bartender, as she passed us up 2wice and was too busy having shots with friends. As we where waiting at the bar a goth looking chick came up, reached behind the bar and free poured herself a drink, glanced at us and walked off. We made our way to the back patio to get some air. Some dude proceeded to walk around the back fence and hurl chunks, REALLY..? Don't expect much, take your out of town friends to the Padre Hotel, they'll  thank you for it..
Review Source:Ah, the drunken good times I've had at The Mint! Â The drinks are strong and priced well, and the bartenders are usually attentive enough to keep your drinks full.
Just avoid the crazies across the street. 'Curb crawlers' and crackheads hang out in front of the motel across the street.
If you like to gamble they have Keno (Hot Spot), Super Lotto and Mega Millions.
Pretty cool, gay friendly place.
Ah yes...ye ole' Mint bar. There will forever be a soft spot in my heart for this place. It's dark, it's thick, it has an air of "I don't care" mixed with super glam. And the bartenders rock. Especially Rome...the dark goddess...you gorgeous thing! Thank you for being a superstar and handling business.
Long Live the MINT!
This is pretty much my main hangout. I love dive bars! Â I'd give 5 stars if it weren't for the occasional fight and a couple of rude regular customers.
The regulars range widely from one end of the spectrum to the other; it just depends on what time and day you go.
It's a dark, wild type of place that opens at 6:00 am with a more calm, older type of crowd. As the day progresses it gets louder and wilder and by late night (12-2 am) you'll most likely find rockers, punks, emos, and a mix of lots of other types but mostly an alternative type. Â
There's a tattoo shop across the street and a lot of the customers have tats and piercings from there. Â It's a nice place to have a few drinks before you get stabbed by a needle a million times. Â ;)
There's also a porn shop across the street, and mixing that with the strong, cheap drinks... Â it's kinda a pickup bar for horny types.
It's pretty gay friendly most of the time but sometimes you get some jerk that wants to cause trouble. However, that applies to anyone regardless of their age, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Â Sometimes people just like to get drunk and fight. It's gotten better over the years tho.
The owners have been doing upgrades here and there. Modernizing it while keeping the neighborhood bar feel. Examples: the now accept credit cards, the internet jukebox can download music for you and also accepts credit cards.
Sometimes they have live music out on the back patio, sometimes they have DJ's play inside and sometimes they have events like holidays, birthday parties and BBQs.
And... Â Free pool for paying customers! Â What's better than free pool? Â =)
I'm breaking my rule about not reviewing places that I haven't been to since I started yelping.
At about 16 my friends and I started drinking at Mexican bars because they didn't seem to care that we were underage. When I was finally old enough to drink legally in Bakersfield the choices were lame singles bars or dive bars so my long-term relationship with dive bars began.
While I haven't been to The Mint in quite a while this is one of the dive bars I cut my teeth on. I wish I could write about some of the crazy shenanigans I've seen and been involved with here but the best stories aren't for the public.
One story I can tell you about happened during a visit back home in the mid nineties. After some family time I was at The Mint with a friend, it was pretty slow so it must have been a weeknight. I was putting money in the jukebox and some tweaker (hooker?) started yelling out songs she wanted to hear. I turned to her and said, "I don't take orders from barflys". I guess she made a call because some guy showed up and was talking to her and then he came up to us.
At the time I was big but not yet fat, I had long hair and a beard; in other words intimidating. Â The guy said, "hey man, that girl just said you called her a fly". I gave him a steely stare and said, "A fly? That doesn't even make any sense." The whole time my friend just sat there quietly acting a little annoyed and a little bored but fully alert and ready to throw down, the typical Bakersfield tough guy back up thing. He then tells me that her boyfriend (pimp?) is on the way over to straighten things out. I gave him my hardest look possible, wrapped this big wallet chain I used to wear around my fist and said, "does he have a gun? Because if he doesn't I'm not worried." The guy just nodded, backed away from the table, and got that tweaker out of the bar. We got back to our beers and eventually some other people I knew arrived, of course the "boyfriend" was a no-show.
This is a crazy exciting bar with cheap drinks and a wild crowd but it is in downtown Bakersfield so watch your back at all times.
Here's a picture of my original Mint T-Shirt from the mid nineties in case anyone doubts that I know what I'm talking about.
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/Lf1tXtvehxcmLNZGfT8Gfw?select=i3vA3TVljgmLpS363yFgWA">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>
Dive bar and Bakersfield are relatively generally synonymous. Â This is a favorite among friends in the area, but it wasn't really anything outstanding to me.
This is not a place for a date. Â It's too damn loud in there. Â It's dark and dirty.
The drinks are mixed decent and priced well. Â The patrons are your typical punk rock crowd and some metal heads. Â There's a pool table in the back and a few tables with stools in front of it. Â If you go, just sit by the bar- you will hear your friends better that way.
I really to this date still don't know why my friends rave about the Mint so much. Â Sandrini's is MUCH better and way more inviting.
Survey says? Â Pass.
This is a dive bar that I have seen morph over the years. Â I like to think that I was involved in it's early century peak... somehow, as young Bakersfield youth, filled with agnst and the verbage of Henry Miller, a group of young people found themselves in this bar, drinking $2 beers and $3 vodkas, listening to Hank Williams, Jr. and Dead Kennedys. Â The youth began crowding out the old men at some point - but then it turned into something ridiculous. Â A place where people went to find the freaks. Â Some random straight laced characters once asked me and my girlfriend if we wanted to be a part of a foursome and that's when I knew it was over. Â WTF- although we may have hung out with some of the only trannys in Bako at the time, that doesn't mean we were on the commercial market. Â Anyway, I haven't been here in over a year and it was years before that....Bakersfield is a hard town. Â We don't like strangers around these parts...
Review Source:A dive bar in downtown Bakersfield. Going there reminds me of an apocalyptic future, where cities have been vacated and the only people who stuck around were the divers that frequent this place. The prices were remarkable, from what I remember. I think I got 3 Corona's for $10, or something crazy like that. Be careful on  your approach to the bar. When I leaned in to grab a napkin, this OLD-timer sitting there (emphasis on OLD) raised his fist to my face like I was looking for a fight. Whoa there old-timer, put down the dukes, we're cool! That experience alone, was the coolest experience Bakersfield had to offer...and it was at The Mint
Review Source:I had the singularly unique experience of going in to drink at 6:30AM on a Sunday morning. This joint regularly opens at 6AM and I had always been curious about why. I mean I figured there would be a couple over night workers in to have a night cap before going home but on a Sunday? It was quickly filling up with salty old men God bless there hearts. My friend and I being 24 still only probably dragged the average age in the place to 57. I have to say the bartender was very quick to help you and damn friendly at that. I did not expect that that early in the morning in a bar.
At not AM hours the bar is still a fine place with the only working cigarette vending machine in town and quite frankly possibly one of the last few in California. The crowd is eclectic and diverse throughout the day. The drinks are cheap and they have one of them new fangled jukeboxe that enable you to download your hearts desire. All in all a fine yet dingy establishment. An excellent dive bar.
Cheers.
One of my favorite dive bars in Bakersfield. Â The crowd here is such a mish mash of humanity, that you can't help but smile and enjoy it for what it's worth. Â A place where truckers, goths and drag queens each hold court. Â They have one of the better jukeboxes in town, and some of the cheapest, stiffest vodka drinks in town at $2.50.
Review Source:
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