Park Street Pub

Grungy and everything you think a dive bar should be like. There's a juke box, cash only bar, couple TVs, bar trivia on Wednesday nights, free popcorn. And an added bonus of hosting impromptu awkward Andover High School reunions on weekend nights!

Park street is a sports bar type deal in Andover. They have a good selection of Bro beer, nothing out of the ordinary. The prices are really good. I went for lunch at work not too long ago. I got a chicken parm sub and two beers for $15 with tip. I was surprised that is was so cheap. They have a pool table, dart board, and juke box to keep you occupied. Its sort of an older crowd. I think its one of the funner places to go out in Andover. Theres not really any other options unless your going to Lawrence or Haverhill. I noticed that after the middle school gets out all of the kids get together out front of this bar to smoke all the cigarette butts from the ashtray. A little grimey but I thought it was quite hilarious.

The Park Street Pub is one of the best reasons to visit Andover, Massachusetts --and, generally speaking, Andover one of those towns where you otherwise pay too much for stuff other places do better. (For example, for a long time, the best coffeehouse in town was actually a Starbuck's.)

The beer is well-selected, cold, fresh, and reasonably priced ($4 a pint for Sierra Nevada, Blue Moon, Sam Summer). The drinks are incredibly strong and well-mixed, and they have almost everything, as long as you're not after some kind of 1971 Islay single malt.

The setup is very open, making it easy to walk around, with easy-to-move chairs and broad tables. They never have a problem with you moving two tables together to accomodate a large group. It's well-lit without being glaring.

The bartenders are incredibly nice. Lisa is a local legend -- the kind of person who actually enjoys remembering your "usual" -- but the other bartenders are also friendly and competent, and they actually visit the bar themselves when they're not on duty. (Really, what says it better than that?)

You can play darts and pool for very cheap; if you enjoy playing pool, then you'll definitely enjoy losing to locals who seem to have leaped straight out of The Color of Money. You can also play Golden Tee for only $6000 per night.

THE PLACE HAS FREE WIFI, for no other reason than that they are trying to be great in every way. They also serve free hot dogs and offer other random giveaway goodies.

The bartenders bring in their own drinks, including prickly pear margaritas, RUM SWIZZLES, mango coladas, and so forth. They all taste weird and sweet, and they're all mighty strong. Drinking a rum swizzle is the perfect way to say, to all the world, "What the fuck, world?"

There is a jukebox; it's expensive, but it can download any song in the world, which is useful when a) you want to hear an obscure Tori Amos song, or b) when you believe that playing the right party anthem will, ahem, really make it happen.

There is trivia on Wednesday nights; the TJ is relaxed and fun, and plays nostalgic songs during the question breaks.

Occasionally, the sound system is taken over by an obnoxious guy named DJ Ryan, but even he has his good moments (he leads Backstreet Boys sing alongs). Don't, however, trust any claims about him hosting a karaoke night, as nobody but him will be allowed to sing.

The bar tends to close whenever the owner feels like it, so you can't always party til the breaka breaka dawn there. But the owner is sweetly cranky and thoroughly fair -- I saw him kick a bride out *while she was in her wedding dress* in order to close up early.

Come here! Drive all the way out from Boston! See what you've been missing!