Keeping Allston Awesome ... The Silhouette is the Best of the Best in Dive Bars ... Cheap ..Fun ..Darts .. Pool.. Buck Hunter .. Golden Tee .. Top of the Line Juke Box that can be played by your phone while you sit & enjoy your drinks ..6 Big Flat T.V. Screens .. Free Popcorn All Night Long & Keno Too.. Â A Great Mix of People .. It is what it is & what it is ..is Great ..
Review Source:This place is good when you want an uneventful, cheap night. You have a variety of people, some characters for regulars, a varied juke box, and a convenient location.
Have drunk friends? They have free popcorn for you. Feel up for some pool or darts? They have that too.
Overall, the Silhouette is really down to earth and a good way to have a night out without too much crazy mixed in.
This is about as dive-y as a dive bar can get, and it is absolutely glorious. You want frills? Go somewhere else. Want a beer that's fancier than Sam Adams? Go somewhere else. Want some pitchers of PBR or Narragansett for under ten bucks? Free, unlimited salty popcorn? An awesome jukebox? A cat train (no. really. I swear it exists)?
No, but really. This place is great, as long as you're not looking for greatness.
Get out of your comfort zone they said. Â Try something different from a cocktail bar they said. Â Okay, fine. Â Mission Accomplished. Â I came to Silhouette Lounge on Thursday night because a few friends wanted to try to coax me out of my Hawthorne/Eastern Standard/Citizen "rut" (as they say) and find a good dive bar. Â Silhouette Lounge seemingly fit the bill, and talk about a great place for cheap beer! Â $3 PBR tall boys, $8.50 pitchers, and free salty popcorn. Â Talk about a great business model - we'll give you as much salty popcorn as you want...oh, and do you want another beer to wash it all down?
This place is a total dive - it's a five star dive bar, but don't think that just because Eastern Standard is a five star place this place is as good. Â It's nowhere close, but as far as dive bars go, this place is tops. Â The bartenders complement the place perfectly - "seasoned" women who are great for pouring beer or opening a tall boy, but don't ask them to make you a drink with more than two ingredients. Â I think the most tedious cocktail I heard asked for was a Jack and Coke. Â The clientele - I had a hard time telling if most of them were homeless or if they were just hipsters. Â I probably didn't understand the difference. Â Oh, and remember that salty popcorn? Â Eat it. Â Yeah, you might be inclined to order more beer, but all that salt will also help you retain water, which is critical considering you could contract syphilis just by walking in to the men's room.
Bottom line, it's a great dive bar. Â There's a really cool jukebox here, and the music seemed to be mostly classic rock. Â I enjoyed it because that's the music I listen to, others in the bar probably picked it since it's retro. Â If you play darts, there's a great dart room in the back too. Â I snagged a booth at 9 PM, and it was the last open one. Â This seems a really popular place, so unless you get here early in the evening you probably won't find a spot to sit. Â The 57 bus stops right out front, which is really convenient. Â The bar is cash only too, so bring it, because I think the ATM in the bar charges a usurious rate. Â I brought $20 and left with change, which is a great change of pace from other Boston area bars.
Finally, a decent dive bar (minus the hipsters, YES!) that I found on this coast. Â Free popcorn, darts, cheap beer, pool table, all there. Â Bartender pouring me a Jameson's straight up was at the end of the bottle so gave me a very generous pour. Â And I got hit on by a drunk college kid asking me if I liked carrying a large handbag. Â No pretentious people here and a choice of PBR on tap or in the can. Â SOLD!
Review Source:I've frequented the Silhouette ever since I moved to Boston for grad school almost seven years ago.  I've only ever really come here for the darts - I played on an MMDL team out of the 'Sil for ten seasons, and when I come here it's for darts and darts only.  If I'm going out to socialize or have drinks I won't even consider coming here anymore, as the  non-dart drinking scene is split between college students and the barflies.  The draft selection is mediocre, overpriced, and the lines aren't cleaned as frequently as they should be.  When I drink here I stick to tall boys of 'Gansett. Â
The bartenders are great once they get to know you, but don't expect to be treated like royalty if it's your first night in the place. Â Have your cash ready and know what you want before they ask you, especially if it's busy. Â If you're ordering a pitcher for four friends, make sure you have their ID's with you if you're the one ordering. Â
The 'Sil is pretty much the only true dart bar left in Boston.  There are other locales that have a few boards up, but no other bar outside of West Roxbury has the number of boards and other amenities.  They have four boards which means that you stand a good chance of getting one if you get there before 7 pm.  They also  have three Dartmaster electronic score machines that take the mental arithmetic out of marking your game. Â
The condition of the boards and the lighting (which is very important if you care about darts) varies over time. Â Sometimes all of the boards are completely trashed and will barely hold a dart. Â Sometimes a crucial spotlight won't be working. Â Sometimes the non-electronic scoreboards will have no grease-pencils, or be so trashed you can't write on them anymore. Â And sometimes, maybe two or three times a year, all the boards are brand new and the all the lighting works and it's a little bit of darts heaven. Â
The bar darts are typically in pretty bad shape, so buy your own set and bring them along if you care at all about playing a decent game. Â
There used to be a steady crew of really good area players who frequented the dart room. Â If you cared enough to ask questions they would show you how to play better, explain the rules, and if you stuck around long enough you could even get on a league team. Â You can see some now very faded pictures of those guys in the trophy cases. Â Every once in awhile one of them will still stop by. Â Now days the typical quality of the darts being played is terrible. Â By terrible I mean: Â A) "baseball darts", where a BU frat boy is throwing bar darts from the barstools to the board, destroying the already shoddy boards one over-loaded throw at a time. Â B) Â "bulls-eyes only" darts (PSA: Â bulls-eyes are one of the biggest single targets on the board) or C) Â "Throw one dart and then spend five minutes talking while drinking and not throwing the rest of your darts darts" - this one is especially annoying if you're waiting for a board to open up but there's a big group of people nursing a pitcher who want to 'save' the board for themselves.
I'm still giving the 'Sil four stars for being the only legit dart bar left within three miles in any direction, and I give them props for maintaining it to the extent that they have, as most locations moved on from steel-tip darts years ago. Â
See you on board one.
If you want an 8$ pitcher of Pabst you should go to the silhouette lounge. If you yearn to wear tight pants and eat free popcorn, go to the silhouette lounge. Â If you only have a credit card on you, get cash first. Â Thankfully you won't need much because drinks are cheap.
If you want to drink in a spotless bar and urinate in a clean bathroom don't go here.
I'm giving this place a 3* because the pluses and minuses wash out. I'll gladly keep coming back thought because the drinks are cheap. Â They always give me a frosty glass with friendly service.
When i peered in to this place i was a little apprehensive...i loved it already. Â I think it had more to do with what i was wearing (dress shoes, designer jeans, dress shirt) compared to what the patrons were (demin jackets with matching denim shorts, 10 year old sports jerseys and ripped sleeveless sweatshirts) An interesting cornucopia of local flavor....like the galley of pirate ship is the best way i can describe it. Then the Sid Vicous meets Blondie meets Anthrax crowd walked in and sat around the wobbliest table in the joint (you'd have to be almost upset to not have your table wobble in a dive right?) and i could just taste the salitness. By midnight the crowd looked like the 70's and 80's had a torrid love affair, got married, and adopted the 90's. The best dive crowd i've ever seen.
Of course it wouldn't also be a dive without the complete grittiness. My table was dirty, the bathroom smelled like piss, had no soap, and was wallpapered in grafitti. I was also foolish enough to actually reference the beer display above the bar when deciding on a bottle. "Oh, that's old...we don't have most of those anymore". The bartender open the kitchen fridge they use to store the imports and has me choose. I paid for my beers (cash only...another dive check off ) and was of course i was asked if i would "like a pickle?"  After figuring i had indeed heard her correctly  i replied "Um, no thanks, maybe next time."
Dive bar connoisseurs, people-watchers, and those who find themselves spending all night in line to get in to the Tavern in the Square alike should venture here!
Hmmm I don't think this is truly a dive bar. Having grown up in a small town in the Midwest, where my parents and extended family members were locals at the neighborhood dive bar and everyone STILL knows my name - really there aren't any other kinds of bars where I'm from - I guess I have pretty high expectations. Â
In any case, I've had a long, emotional week and last night really did want to do a bit of drowning my sorrows in beer, but with a friend by my side and the possibility of drunken, rambling conversations with unpretentious strangers. Â However...there was the strange dichotomy of free booths surrounded by lots of people standing around. So we sat at a booth which unfortunately, I always realize belatedly, closes you off to interaction with new people. That's why I'm giving the place 3 stars, because as just a regular bar it's fine, but once I realized it wasn't what I was looking for, I admittedly didn't explore much further. My ideal "dive bar" wouldn't have booths, thus forcing people to mix; there'd instead be tables with light, cheap chairs that can be picked up and dropped off at random, and plenty of room at the bar. Â
Just like you know a dive bar when you see it, you know a hipster when you see one. Â And it was the latter more than anything that precluded the possibility of this being a dive bar. Maybe it's just because I am incredibly annoyed by hipsters (I know, very judgmental of me), but this place was hipster-central and, for me, dive bar = less than 25% hipster. Just to confuse you further, I was probably the only female there in heels and a (casual, cotton) dress.
The only other thing I'd really wanted last night was a juke box, which they do have, but it was so loud I couldn't hear it. In the end I didn't think it was worth it to push my way through the crowd of flannel, tight jeans, and beards to pay money to NOT hear classic rock in my genuinely nostalgic, non-ironic way.
The whole experience got me thinking about the nature of "dive bars." First, I'm coming to accept the fact that if you don't have your own go-to dive bar, then it probably won't ever feel quite right. Second, dive bars are only labeled as such by outsiders; not that the regulars have any illusions about their status, but it just isn't what they call it. Finally, while there's some truth to the idea that they are friendly, the "dive bars" I grew up in did look sideways at strangers.
A couple of side notes: I really wonder what the place would feel like on a weekday night. Â I don't think I'll trek all the way to Allston to find out, but I noticed several of the positive reviews were coming from people who mentioned they don't frequent the place on the weekends. And, now that I think about it, I really feel like I saw more men than women, which is strange considering what people were saying in their reviews about the doorman turning away single guys.
I ended 2011 here and started 2012 here.
This place I really have to come back to again. It has the feel of a dive but yet it has a good crowd of people. Really wish I could've tried the free popcorn since I was in the mood for a midnight snack at the time. This place is a perfect example of what a dive is.
Silhouette Lounge = Kurt Cobain's hair.
I don't know why, but that's the correlation it makes to me. Grungy goodness.
I like dive bars, but this is a DIVE bar. The women's bathroom says "Keep Allston Sh*tty!* along with all the other graffiti on it. Silhouette Lounge definitely keeps Allston sh*tty, but in a good way- you got me?
Cash only, darts, old school arcade games, and basic beers that all hipsters drink: PBR, Narangansett, Sam Adams... etc. Don't expect to find a seat if it's more than 2 people after 9.
It's also great for people watching connoisseurs. There's a hipster there with messy facial hair and thick black framed glasses, where the frame is wrapped in duct tape. He wears a ripped up jean vest with pins and patches all over it- kind of like a cool and dirty boy scout that has grown up.
Free popcorn. Dirt cheap beers. Cash only. Hipsters up the wazoo.
Woohoo!
I have it on good authority that this is the only bar in town I have ever been ejected from for the offense of wrestling. Clearly it has a particular effect on me.
Popcorn and pitchers! Dangerous! Salt and beer, beer and salt, it's a potentially endless cycle of horrible wonder. Of course the only thing missing is sharp objects, so it was very thoughtful of them to include a range of dartboards. Will my troubles never cease!
I like it in here. It reminds me of when I was a pirate. (A Seaman!).
So, yeah, it is a classy joint.
Going back to school after seven years as a working professional with expensive taste takes a big adjustment. Since moving to Boston, I've had about as much luck finding cheap booze as I've had getting porn stars to talk to me for a research paper. (OMG, I'm seriously not making the porn part up.)
However, one of my friends lives down the street from this place and it's quite a find. It's been a good decade since I could get completely plastered and hung over for less than $20--and this place does just that. Tall boys of Narragansett for $2.50?!
So, as I stood in the corner with my tall boys and skinny jeans (and my friend spent all night convincing me that I am NOT a hipster) and danced to Megadeth, I remembered the good ole days of being a 22-year-old undergrad who could make $20 go a long way. I also found some dude who actually thought I was 22...that was a bonus.
Don't be intimidated by the fat, toothless dude with the stained shirt. He's pretty harmless...and also difficult to understand.
Just don't be the asshole who cheers against the Red Sox in the dart room. I'm very lucky to survive that night. (No, I didn't cheer for the Yankees).
Oh yeah...good popcorn...
Hungover Yelper. Â The Silhouette is a dive, but every now and again you need a good dive bar to bring you back to center. Â $2 Narragansett drafts. Â Good quality pool table and dart boards. Â People watching. Â
Note the following:
It's like 5,000 degrees in there so wear a t-shirt
Cash only! There is a ATM a block down the street
if you are a girl, employ the buddy system. Â The locals can get a little randy.
If you have darts, bring them. Â They only have two sets of house darts. Â
Ok I'm going back to bed.
The Sil is everything that is great about a dive bar, without any of the things that suck about some dive bars. Â It's not sanitized and "ironic" but you're not going to get hairy eyeballs from the regular barflies either. Â
Fast, feisty and friendly service, not unlike that of any great greasy spoon diner. Â The cheapest drinks in Allston, darts, pool, jukebox, popcorn - what more can you ask for? Â Sure, the bathrooms are dirty and full of fruit flies, so what? Â
A dozen years ago, when I hit legal drinking age, there were plenty of establishments where you could enter with $20 (or even less) and leave in no condition to get behind the wheel of a car. Â Now, those bars are rare. Â Even the cheap beers at the Model have topped $3 now. Â But at the Sil, it's business as usual, with cheap PBR pitchers and delicious Nova Schin cans for 2 measly bucks a pop.
Oh the Silhouette Lounge:
I loved this place. It's dirty and cheap, they have pool, darts and are full of hipsters. I've been here on several occasions, normally when I've had too much to drink, usually after 11:30pm. It's always been a great time.
However, the past 2 times I've tried to go to the "wet", they denied my entrance. Maybe I came too early? Maybe my outfit wasn't black, or tight, or scene enough? Maybe I didn't show off enough of my tattoos? Maybe I did something one of my drunken nights that didn't allow me back?
Whatever the reason was - telling me you are over capacity when I can see open bar stools and room to do cartwheels is bullsh*t. And this happened TWICE!
I'll probably update this review with more stars and a good story if I ever try to go again and succeed at getting in. But for now, I'm bitter.
Let me give you the highlights: FREE POPCORN (when you know with all of that salt on it, that it really just makes you thirstier making you drink more making you buy more making you drunk more ha), $7 PBR pitchers, and KENO!
Yup, if you like those things paired with a dive bar feel, this is the spot for you in Allston. It isn't the cleanest of places, it isn't a place to bring mom or dad when they come to visit, but if you like good cheap fun, this is  your stop.
But it is definitely a hipster spot too and they fill up pretty quick! Our group of 4 were some of the last ones to be let in before they hit capacity. But I mean why wouldn't you want to come here? They also have darts and some video games too! But really why spend money on those games when you can play grown up bingo/keno at your table. We won money here, so maybe that makes it a lucky spot too heh We'll see next time we show up here when hopefully we can be stronger and practice more will power against that tasty mctasty free popcorn of theirs :-)
If you're going to be a dirty, pretty mess, do it well. And do it here. Â
You'd be sorely mistaken if you call this place a "lounge." I'm not even sure that it does cocktails aside from MAYBE a Jack and Diet. So most of their name is a lie. Do we trust? Yes. Yes, we trust.
What does Silhouette do well? Cheap-ass beer: $7 pitchers of PBR and Miller High Life, served with crumpled plastic cups to perch precariously on the edge of a table or to grit in your teeth while you annihilate poor woodland creatures with a plastic gun.
Also, free, free popcorn. More free popcorn than you can shake a stick at. Why would you shake a stick at free popcorn? That's just plain bizarre.
The bathrooms look and smell like a sewer, and the door to the ladies' room doesn't close all the way. Ah well. No one can see straight in this place anyway.
The inside is as divey as you could wish. Kind of looks like this fire hall my Pop-Pop used to go to in Macungie, PA ... that name is totally, 100% real ... according to Wiki, it's from the Lenape for  "bear swamp" or "feeding place of the Bears" ... anyway, Silhouette looks like a smokey old VFW, even though you can't smoke in it. There are probably veterans, though, because this place attracts individuals from every walk of life. (I didn't see many hipsters but I also can't tell the difference between hipsters and skinny people who may also work in factories.)
Feeding place of the Bears, indeed. I love Silhouette.
My friend took me here last night, and honestly I liked it. Â They play some pretty cool 60's music sometimes, and they have tvs so Red Sox fans can get their fix. So yay. :D
The drinks were pretty cheap, and I LOVED that. Â This bar was full of locals and people that wanna get away from the tourist traps that Boston seems to have. Â
If you wanna nice drink with friends, go here. As a Tourist, I really liked it because it wasn't cheesy. Â :) So bring your out of town friends here. :)
The first time I walk into a bar I've never been to, especially one that's not necessarily my "scene," I might feel a little uncomfortable for the first few minutes as I acclimate myself to my new surroundings. Â But not at Silhouette. Â You'll feel right at home the moment you walk in the door; the doorman treats you like a regular, the bartender is friendly and attentive, and the waitress is just the sweetest thing in the world.
It's definitely one of those "everybody knows your name" kind of places.
Otherwise, it's very dive-y and very hipster. Â If you dig boys in skinny jeans, this is the place for you. Â Oh, and it's dirt cheap - forgot to mention that part. Â For its genre, I think it's one of the better bars in Boston.
I just wish they had some food (beyond the free popcorn). Â But it's Brighton Ave. in Allson, so it's not like area is short on grub.
I don't think I understand what a dive bar is. Cause I wouldn't necessarily describe Silhouette as a dive. I would def say it's not swank. But it's not disgusting. It's just different.
It mostly reminds me of bars from my hometown. Where you have the weird mix of townies and hipsters. I'm mostly a fan of cheap PBR and the popcorn is always nice. I love the bartenders and how they are not particularly cute or young. But they're pleasant AND surly.
The bathroom is a little nast. But the crowd is chill and the beer is cold. Maybe I should investigate "dives" more. Hmm. Science project!!
I knew I would love it in here - I walk by every single day and can just feel the cheap-'n'-cheerful vibes emanating from the building. Â Finally the hubby and I went in on Saturday night and it did not disappoint. Â A beer and a wine for $6! Â My Sutter Home white wine came in a fun-size bottle and definitely gave me a glass and a half's worth of vino. Â
There's a pool table, darts, free popcorn, lots of places to sit, and regulars of every ilk. Â I was having so much fun just getting a good old fashioned buzz on and bullshitting about the future of democracy in America with my SO. Â
Everything a dive bar should be - the Silhouette is destined to be my local from now on.
The Sil is a crummy post-shift hangout across the street from the factory (I mean, remember when people's dads worked at factories?) that was somehow transplanted into the heart of student ghetto for whatever reason. Â OK, I'm kidding--as we should all try and remember, Allston isn't just about spoiled brat kids living in pseudo-slum conditions so they don't have to worry about property damage when they toss grocery carts across the street and throw bottles off rooftops. Â There actually does exist a ton of actual, working people in the neighborhood, and it's not just BU grads B-Lining into the financial district every morning. Â The Silhouette, like The Penalty Box on Causeway Street, is like when you find bits of wrought-iron fence sticking out of crooked trees in streetcorner gardens.
That said, I admit that it's presumptous to assign that kind of black and white social landmark status to the Sil. Â The place is now run by a 20-something bunch of customers at this point who go there, I like to believe at least, because the other bars in Allston are generally terrible places to spend your time and money.
There are always dusty dudes in there just off a stint fixing air conditioners (maybe perpetually off that stint, who knows). Â Class tourists taking a break from their laptop Facebook accounts and grad school applications. Â TVs in the corners. Â Popcorn machine. Â Bizarre Chinese menu. Â Deep booths and wet, glossy countertops. Â Bathrooms wedged into corners with a tacky urine glaze on the floor tiles. Â Free darts in the back room to get stupid with. Â It's not an amazing place, but its lack of pretension scores points. Â It's generally cheap and easy and a quiet enough place to get a seat and hang out comfortably with people on weeknights. Â Weekends are a bit pushy, but it's the least of evils considering the obvious douche-centrals across the street, the bleak (but still ok) confines of the Model, and the sadly overcrowded and yuppified Deep Ellum (thanks a lot, Yelp!).
This cracks me up. If you heard the name Silhouette Lounge you might (mistakenly) believe it was a cool, modern place. Nuh-uh.
Silhouette is locals and college students throwing back cheap pitchers. Maybe throwing some darts. Maybe playing some pool. While the people can be on the shady side, they are pretty friendly. Or maybe its horny. I don't know. All I know is that one time I came here and my boyfriend was being lame and as soon as I ditched him, I found myself surrounded by a bunch of newfound male companions. Most of whom were happy to share their pitchers of beer. Aww...thanks guys.
What barroom camaraderie.
I never have been able to figure out the enormous appeal of this place. Â I like a good dive bar (or at least I thought I did), but this just isn't doing it for me.
One time there was a fellow in some sort of holiday cardigan that was sitting at the bar. Â As I walked by him, he handed me a plastic cup of PBR and said something relatively incomprehensible about my eyes, or maybe my forehead. Â I had a momentary lapse of reason and thought, "Why not? Â I haven't had one since freshman year of college." Â A PBR, that is, utterly muddled conversations with Allston Admirers are somewhat more common occurences. Â One sip and I immediately felt ashamed about the whole thing; Â I can't drink this stuff, and I don't care how cheap it is, I'm terribly claustrophobic, I bathe twice a day, and I'd rather hold it for a few hours than ever go in that bathroom. Â At least in the South you could smoke in the dive bars, kind of masking the terrible, terrible smell.
I don't play darts or pool, so that's certainly part of the problem. Â I'd say if you don't either, you may as well just keep walking. Â If you're similarly claustrophobic, hike up the street to the Model -- the obnoxious hipster quotient is a bit higher, but you can at least breathe there thanks to a slightly more open layout. Â Perhaps I've only been to the Silhouette at peak hours, but I always feel on the verge of panic because of how difficult it is to get around.
My Allston days truly are over.
If you know anything about me, you know that dives are typically where I choose to get my drink on, for a variety of reasons. Silhouette is the diviest of the dives, and oh, how I love it.
-There is no pretense at this bar. It's a place with lots of wood, bar games (hi, darts and pool?), dim lighting, and cheap beer.
-There's a nice mix of patrons: college kids, locals, whatever demographic I fall into, etc.
-Prompt service.
-Did I mention cheap beer? Yeah, what's up, $2 PBR?
-Sticky seats redolent of past spilled beers.
The only drawback is the fact that it's cash-only, which can be a pain for people like me who don't carry much cash due to forgetting to hit the ATM and must rely on their debit/credit cards all the time. There is an ATM by the entrance, but surely its fees are ass-rape-tastic. So make sure you remember to hit the ATM beforehand; $20 will do you good, unless you have a heavy drinking problem, in which case I'd suggest that you have bigger problems than a cash-only bar.
My friend took me here on a Friday Night. There was quite the mix of people, from hipster-ish kids to old men, hippie-looking dudes and college folk.
- 20oz PBR was $2.
- Before I went to the bathroom a dude at the pool table promised me "it stinks like fresh ass in there" and he was right.
- They have a menu of Chinese food, for no apparent reason. The Rangoons looked good, but I had just eaten.
- They served free popcorn.
We drank our beer, chatted with people smoking outside, and generally just a relaxing and pleasant time. I wish they would open one next door to my building, but who am I kidding? The Silhouette is one of a kind.
UPDATE: Buck Hunter's gone :( Some crappy "bags" game has taken it's place.
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It's not a dive bar--it's a neighborhood drinking establishment. Â I love this place. Â I try to come on off weekends or when school's out as too many college kids think they're being "ironic" by hanging out here.
Otherwise the place just has a nice cozy feel. Â They've got Big Buck Hunter and other equally classy video games, cheap drinks (both soft and otherwise), friendly staff, a nice mix of patrons, and, for those who want it free popcorn. Â They recently started serving food too--haven't tried it, but a friend assures me it's good.
Food or not, this place is a convenient spot for me to chill out, kick back, and catch up with friends without the drama and idiocy that permeates some of the other Allston drinking establishments. Â On a regular night this place is zero pretension--just like drinking comfortably in your living room with a bunch of acquaintances...
I love this bar, undoubtedly my favorite in Boston. Â It's got a good atmosphere, Â no matter what day I go there I'm sure to run into one of my friends or make new friends.
It's got darts and free popcorn and best of all, now it has a surprisingly good menu of chinese food! Â Try the crab rangoons and scallion pancakes.
Going here makes me realize how much I hate Pabst. Well, I hate Pabst from the tap. Back in PA, most bars I went to had Yuengling and those always seemed to be the taps that were never cleaned and gave me the worst "morning afters." And the Pabst here is like that. The next day is rough coming from all angles.
Pool here is okay but you sort of feel like you're in the way of people watching House or whatever goofy hour-long drama is on TV. And the lighting above it feels like the fire of a thousand suns. And outside of the bathrooms, it smells like fresh ass but I guess that's on a case-by-case basis, or rather an ass-by-ass basis.
What's great about this place is their little fenced-in smoking area. You can't turn your head without heeding one of their "Don't open this gate," "No drinks outside," or "Put your cigarettes out in the proper receptacle" laminated signs in jazzy fonts. I feel like one of the signs should say "Trivia Tuesdays" or "Wings--10 cents on Thursday" (why is there no cents symbol on a keyboard?)
Regardless, this place is nice and open with free darts and popcorn. It's like the basement away from your folks you always dreamed of but with less nudie magazines (i.e. none).
This is pretty much the only bar in which I feel at home. Â Of course, it's dirty and devoid of anything even remotely resembling a frill, but as another reviewer mentioned, it's also devoid of attitude. Â You come here to drink, and having had drinks to mingle with the very diverse crowd, throw some darts, eat some popcorn and so on.
As for the beer, well, PBR is the drink of choice, but if you keep your eyes peeled, they'll often have some better brews for ridiculously cheap. Â At one point they had pints of #9 for three bucks - awfully cheap for Boston. Â
At a bunch of other bars I feel like I don't fit in. Â I'm not frat boy enough for the Sunset, not fancy enough for the hipster bars in Central Square, not rich enough for those awful spots on Boylston, and so on. Â Nobody is out of place at the Silhouette. Â And did I mention the cheap beer and free popcorn? Â What more do you want from a bar?
This place, Reel Bar, and Obrien's serve as my bermuda triangle whenever I stumble out on the weekends.
To my knowledge/untrustworthy booze saturated brain, they have the cheapest price on a beer in Allston at 1.75 for a clear plastic cup of pabst (around 6 bucks a pitcher)- no cover.
When you walk in, you'll see the bar off to your left and some tables off to your right, straight back is a pool table and off to the right of that are the bathrooms. They bathrooms bug me out a little because they're just these flimsy wooden doors with tilted ventilation slits and the noise from the bar travels through them and I can never take a piss if i'm high when I feel like someone is looking over my shoulder at my junk.
Either way- the important part about the layout if you've never been there before is that if you goto the far end near the pool table and take a left you enter the entire other half of the place which is composed of a 5 or 6 board dart room with small electronic counting machines on each side to help those of us who cant do math while slammered.
It can be difficult to get a board sometimes, but if you stick around for a half hour or so and scout one out you can usually get lucky and snag one as someone is getting up to return their set for their ID back.
There is also a door off of the dart room that is sometimes open and leads to a small outdoor area with high brick walls where you can smoke ciggarettes if you dont want to go out front.
The crowd is really drunk, and for the most part chill, making it a more friendly bunch. I've smoked ciggarettes and listened to pleny of where are you from life stories with beer sluts out front or practice my spanglish with an off duty hispanic janitor. The crowd varies widely from 20something college douches, hipsters young and old, a fair gamut of white trash and urban youths, some working class older dudes or couples, really about the entire demograph of Allston leaning on the younger side for weekends.
A point of caution on the friendly crowd- I think treating it like a singles bar would be a bad idea, while great for conversation or some harmless drama (and some of them i'm sure can gobble the goo like a champ)- from a male point of view i'd never take a girl home from here to get my dick wet for a night, it just seems like a great way to pick up the clap or lord knows what else.
I've never eaten the food, to be honest i'm usually so wasted when i'm there I can barely recall if they serve food but I think i've seen signs for some chinese food or wings? I never bother because i've been to too many dives, eaten the food, and ended up vomiting 5 dollars into the curb side drain 2 hours later.
The music is ok, nothing amazeingly obscure or your favorite unknown influence of your favorite barely known post-post-post punk electronic noise quartet. But it was the first time I heard a Megadeth song since I was 15.
Staff is gruff and cordial. They'll ask you leave then explicitly tell you around 1a.m.
Advice: leave when they first ask, otherwise you'll end up in last place during the massive haul ass competition and be locked out of the Model, stuck at some place like Kinvara drinking high life with japanese tourists and collar poping blowhards for that final hour.
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