The Nickelodeon

I would never go here except for the karaoke on Thursday nights.  I heard they also have free pool on Wednesday nights.  If you are into Megatouch they have one of those, too.

Never too busy, if you are looking for a scene this isn't it.

Believe me, I've been to dive bars, and the Nickelodeon has to be one of the worst I've been to.  I've always thought of dive bars as places that don't care about appearances, just good people and good, cheap drinks.  Well, the Nickelodeon has neither.  A previous commenter was correct when he said the people were weird.  We went as a group of six (4 ladies/2 dudes) and let me tell you, the clientele that night (all dudes) were making the women in our group uncomfortable.  Like monkeys staring at a banana tree.  The beer was incredibly skunky and not as cheap as you'd think.  We finished a skunky pitcher and moved on to greener pastures.  I might go back if it were just guys and we were guaranteed a fresh keg, otherwise, there's better places to go for the townie experience.

As we approached The Nickelodeon on foot on St. Patrick's Day, we ran into a fellow with a distinct falsetto who said he was going to the Legion, as he had been kicked out of The Nickelodeon.  At this moment, I knew that The Nickelodeon was not just any bar, that only an elite class of drinker could enter.

The Nickelodeon (hereafter "the Nicky D") is one of the few remaining non-ironic dive bars in this area.  The people who drink here are weird, but they aren't TRYING to be weird like those people who bring snakes to Deadwood (an aside, you will get kicked out of Deadwood for bringing a snake, not sure about the Nicky D).  They have 5 beers on tap, all of them suck.  They have food, but not when you want it.  If you are in the middle of Coralville and need a beer, it's pretty much the Nicky D or Applebees.  Having been to both in one night, it's kind of a toss up.