Silver Dollar Tavern

The Silver Dollar is the diviest dive bar there ever was. Despite its prime location right next the Capitol you'll feel like you just walked in to a bar you found five miles off the highway in the Indiana countryside. It's tiny, it's dingy, it's poorly-lit, the beer is warm, and sometimes it smells weird.

A dive bar isn't some trendy place where you Instagram your beer with your iPhone and pretend it's the coolest place serving PBR that nobody else has ever heard of. A dive bar, by nature, is what some would call shabby. This isn't the place blasting dance music and bringing in attractive young college students. A small portion of the clientele here may or may not be homeless. The strange little art installation outside of The Silver Dollar has, after all, become the newest homeless haunt ever since they demolished the old Peace Park. It's not The Dollar's fault, but it does seem to impact their business.

The Dollar became a bit of an inside joke among my friends in Madison. We're not the types who enjoy a crazy bar scene, especially the crowds. You tend to find us playing darts and pool in the back. We prefer classic rock to modern rap. And The Silver Dollar was pretty good for all of this. But after a few bad experiences, and for the aforementioned reasons, we had to move on to something better.

Because, after all, it is a dive, in the actual sense of the word.

For a dive bar it's 5 stars.  But being a dive, 3 is the best I can do.

Hits: shuffle board, cheap and quick service.

Misses: cash only

Hints: ivory room (across the street) has an ATM.

Not a lot of frills at this dive bar surprisingly still kicking by the pretension center err overture center.  I'm sorry I'll get off hating that hob-nob dump.  But it really is amazing that a dive bar still exists where it does downtown.

The barkeeps are adequate, the place is cash only, which I actually like! Be 21, be prepared, bring greenbacks instead of buying round after round and closing out each time making the entire process slow down.  It's usually not crowded even on weekend nights so you can play pool or shuffleboard if you want.  

If you just want to chat you can usually find decent room and snagger cheap miller lites or guinesses.  

Nice place to rally the troops up before deciding between square or state.