Pia's Sports Bar & Grill

Pia's is a local townie dive bar, and in that capacity, it deserves five stars. The ambience is casual and informal, the drinks are usually cheap (provided you like cheap domestic beer), and the food is actually pretty decent.

The beer selection is small, but if you're coming to a dive bar like this, you're probably looking for value rather than obscure craft beers. I would not trust the bartenders to make any mixed drinks that don't end with "and coke," but again, you're not here to witness mixological prowess. If you like drinking straight whiskey, they can certainly handle that.

The food surprised me. If you enjoy the simple pleasure of chicken wings, burgers, onion rings, and the like, then you'll enjoy Pia's food. It's not excessively greasy and the prices are very reasonable, even compared to somewhere like Esquire.

The downside is that the music is sometimes too loud for the particular state of the bar. Recently, I was at Pia's on a Thursday and there were fewer than 15 people in the bar, but the music was playing at a level that would be more appropriate for a Friday night when the place is packed with people. It just seemed unnaturally loud for a bunch of people sitting around talking and drinking as opposed to partying. Whatever. It's not a big deal and is definitely subjective. The only reason I bring it up is to warn you that it's not necessarily a great place to go if you want to have a conversation, at least at night. If you're wanting to sit and talk, Esquire's volume level is much lower.

Overall, Pia's gives you exactly what you want in a dive bar: cheap beer, inexpensive and tasty food, and a refreshing lack of pretense.

If I could rate this place a zero, I would!  Pia's offers a $500 cash prize for the best couples halloween costume.  However, I want to let you know that the winner is based only off of crowd applause.  With that being said, it doesn't matter what you dress up as...you could win the contest if you bring enough people with you that cheer and yell for you.  It's a total sham!  It doesn't matter what your costume looks like or how much money you invested...the bottom line is, it's a popularity contest!!!  

Don't frequent this hole in the wall except for halloween to collect the $500 cash prize.  And when you do, make sure you bring a dozen friends with you.  Your costume doesn't really matter...just make sure you have more friends than the next guy and you'll win.

A great dive bar. Friendly bar staff, great prices (huge frosty beer steins for $2.50 on a Friday night, $7.50 pitchers with frosty glass pints to go with) and greasy pub grub. When we went around eleven or so the kitchen was closed but they said the fryer was still on and would remain so until 2AM.

They have indoor and outdoor space, excellent new video games, and a variety of seating from booths to tables, to high stools. They have a Texas Hold'em poker video game that is a lot of fun. I was skeptical of it at first, but it was really pretty cool, and not a terrible value. The decor is divey of the promotional variety and dark paneled walls to boot. Every other Friday night they have Karaoke which is why we went, but were off a week. I still had tons of fun.

The crowd was working class, but not at all scary or mean. It was a friendly, fun atmosphere and there were no students whatsoever. By this I mean it was awesome.