Nippers Grill & Tap

One of my favorite regular places to go. The staff are ultra friendly and so are the patrons. The feature a nightly poker tournament except on Fridays and Saturdays which are karaoke nights. The kitchen is full service and has pretty good food. I usually get their chicken wings because they are some of the meatiest in town. Drink and dinner specials are featured every night. One thing to mention, if you don't like smoking then don't go here because it gets very smokey when the place fills up with people. They also have several pool tables some video games and darts. Trivia is featured on Friday night which is a good chance to win some prizes.

Really fun dive bar. The karaoke is always a blast, the drinks are cheap, and the employees are friendly.  You really can't go wrong here for a laid-back night out, especially with a group.  They DO allow smoking though so be prepared.

My crew loves karaoke but won't be going back... sister and I were actually cut off by the DJ in midsong... here's the story:

Husband and I scoped the place out weeks in advance of our group's big weekend visit to Carmel.  Cheap prices on food and drink.  Big servings of food we didn't want to finish.  Nice staff, good DJ.  Good mixed-age crowd not into the karaoke that night.  Even the Mayor of Valparaiso was there with his entourage gearing up for some karaoke.

So, we gave it a try the next week.  Remember:  great drink prices.  Dragged the crew in sober.  Needed drinks to endure a different DJ.  A DJ who thought he was Slim Shady and rapped after every patron's turn, sometimes twice.  He hogged the stage and led his 2 girl groupies with him to wiggle and swoon at his moves.  Tragic.

So Sis and I...  did I mention she's a community theater actress who specializes in musicals?  Sis and I get on stage singing spot-on... with altered lyrics and a dance routine.  Nothing skanky.  Just, well, making fun of the lyrics ol' Slim Wannabe had been singing.  The regulars got the joke and were getting a good laugh.  But Slim didn't like that and actually shut off the music into the third verse.

The crowd was great, one guy chastised the DJ, but damage was done....  

Nothing fancy, just dive bar without the dregs.  There's smoking, but it's not so heavy non-smokers can't endure it for some good drinks.  

My crew loves karaoke, but we still haven't found what we're looking for...