This place is probably the smallest bar in Winston Salem. Â I'm talking small..... Â They have more room outside than inside so this is not the place to go if rain, sleet, hail or snow is expected. Â LOL
Hopefully this place stays around for a while.... Â Good people to talk to and usually a great crowd on the deck.
Great service from the bartenders and I would totally come back!
Probably one of the divey-est of all dives I have ever been to. I remember walking by this place with my friends so many times before actually going in. It almost looks like a little fun-house at a carnival. "Can we fit in there?" We all wondered the same thing.
It's definitely beyond small- but even on a busy night we were able to get our drinks and find a table on the outside deck just fine. People at the bar are generally friendly and the bartenders are cool. We went once on a trivia night during my stint of unemployment- met a dude who knew the manager. Lit as he was, he tried to get me a part-time job.
I just can't explain in a review the charm and kitsch this place has. For any Stephen King fans, all I can say is, it just shines.
Small, Smaller, Smallest and then there is Silver Moon Saloon! Â I LOVE places with Character and some of those places are very small! Â
Small on the inside, Bigger Patio (compared to the Bar) and a larger Deck on the back! Â I'm usually not attracted to Bars... this one was irresistible! Â Hole-in-the-Wall CHARM! !! !!! Â Some cool art on the interior and a Mural on the Patio wall!
When we visited it was right at opening time - I hope my friend posts his photos (he showed me later) he shot some great ones of the interior! Â Many shots here, (photo's) we did not drink!
I am getting so tired of giving so many glowing reviews! I mean, come on. All these places can't be as good as it gets. Well, for what it's worth, Silver Moon is.
Let me begin with my gripes. It is small. Very small. A previous reviewer noted 10 people is a full bar. That was no exaggeration. And that should probably be counting the bartender among that 10. There is a deck in the back and a table or two out front; however, I must say that this doesn't yield much benefit on a frosty December night. Second, no draught beer (at the moment. Supposedly this will be changing in the near future in favor of some local craft beers.) Usually, this would result in a lower rating; however, the good things so strongly outweigh the bad that I don't mind dealing with this at all.
On to the good. This place attracts the jolliest bunch of a**holes this side of the nut house. (I must apologize for the blatant National Lampoon's reference, but tis the season.) I cannot emphasize enough the importance of an affable bartender, however, when the patrons are more of the same, walking in feels like going home. I love generally friendly people, and that is something Winston-Salem needs more of. Edgar P. definitely got it right: check your pretension at the door. Silver Moon isn't bad on the ole pocketbook here, either. I think I got out for around $20 last time for a cocktail and 4 or 5 beers. I doubt you can do that anywhere else downtown.
There is a parking lot; however, it is shared with Finnegan's Wake, so it fills up reasonably quick. Expect street parking on Trade. Inside, other than smallness, don't judge a book by its cover. If you do, you will jump to the unfair conclusion of either run-down hole in the wall or tragic hipster. Maybe a little of both. Truth be told, if you give it a shot, you may really be surprised. I was. My five stars is for what they are doing, because they do it well. There aren't bar games, food, etc. here. It's just a bartender, a bar, and drinks...and it works. I've had nothing but positive experiences, and I will be back soon!
Silvermoon has without a doubt become my favorite bar in winston. It attracts a very diverse crowd full of all variety of drunkard. There is no pretension in this bar. In winston it seems like every bar is trying to mimic another bar in a bigger city, but silvermoon is its own genre. Silvermoon has character and that's something severely lacking in winston-salem. If you're used to sterile bars where eager young professionals grope each other in a pitiless pursuit of sex, you won't like silvermoon. If you like booze, humor and character silvermoon is your new spot. Â Also it's really cheap!
Review Source:Where to start? The colorful and kitschy atmosphere, the sheer fact that you could squeeze the entire establishment into the back of an 18-wheeler and still have room for more stuff, the great bartenders, the good selection of beers and other drinks, or the crowd that frequents this place?
This being Trade Street, the establishments have a more colorful and slightly less polished feel than their brethren nearby on Fourth Street. Silver Moon Saloon is no exception. If you can find one square yard of wall space not covered by local art, regional band fliers, random artifacts (NC license plates, what appears to be the back of an old pinball machine, etc.), then you're probably in the wrong place. The bartenders are no less interesting, with their own selections of music from the satellite radio system and programming for the 2 TVs above the bar (on one occasion, we had Johnny Cash on the radio, an old Barbra Streisand movie on one TV, and "World's Greatest Police Chases" or some such on the other).
However, you don't come here for the music let alone the TV -- you come here for the people. Whether it's the bartender, someone you're elbow-to-elbow with at the bar, or another patron relaxing on the deck or at one of two tables out front, all have proven to be friendly. At first glance, it'd be easy to write off this place as hipster, but the crowd tends to be more outgoing than that and if you wait long enough, you'll see a variety of people come and go.
The Silver Moon Saloon doesn't serve food (Which reminds me: A hamburger walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave. We don't serve food here.") but they have a full bar and a decent selection of beer. There's no draught beer (that is, nothing on tap), but you should be able to find something from among the 12 to 15 or so canned and bottled beers they offer. The bartenders are knowledgeable and should be able to mix most of the more common drinks.
Parking is available on the street and in the lot adjacent to the bar. Silver Moon Saloon is dog-friendly, actually allowing the well-behaved pooch or two inside (I've always kept mine on the leash, even inside, as have other patrons I've seen with dogs) plus on the deck to the side of the bar. Smoking is outside only, and the place accepts cash, credit/debit cards.
Love this place! Great crowd, great deck, always a good time. Inside is tiny, but the deck adds a whole lot of space. When it's slow the bartenders are awesome to talk to, and the patrons at the bar are easy to strike up conversations with.
Drinks are cheap, bartenders are good, and there's always some drunk guy providing some amusement. Great place to go and hang out.
I loved this place. The bearded bartender knows everyone. It's a nice hole in the wall with cool clientele & a pabst blue ribbon clock. It's a total 180 from it's pretentious cousin Tates on 4th street. The drinks were strong & cheap. You're definitely gonna meet some characters in a laid back atmosphere :)
Review Source:Such a rad little place, oozing with character and filled with charming folks, too. Stopped in after a rock show with a friend, happy to find COLD relief from the humid, North Carolina night. The A/C was blasting, the Christmas lights were twinkling and the decor was as distracting as it was inspiring. I immediately fell in love with everything about the place. The bartender on that night was a really nice guy, the tv's were tuned to a decent music station and my drink did not disappoint.
Being from New England, I presume I stuck out like a sore thumb down there. Instead of being chastised for my Yankee ways, I felt embraced by the small crowd in the place. It was so cozy. Got to talking to a stranger about his plan to move to Asheville and how he used to room with one of the Avett Brothers. How fun.
Frankly, 2 hours in that bar was a vacation from my vacation. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a friendly, funky place to hang that is reasonably priced and full of character.
Fantastic bartenders, fantastic drinks. Â I absolutely adore this place. Â I must have walked by it like three times before I went in but it's such a cool atmosphere, great conversation, and I'm always looking for a new place to go where I can go in by myself and have good conversations with strangers. Â This is, in my opinion, my favorite bar in the world.
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