Spanish Moon

Spanish Moon was the first bar in Baton Rouge that I could actually enjoy myself in.  I usually went either on Thursday nights, for 80's Night, or on Friday or Saturday nights if my friend's band was playing.

The crowd is generally 18 - 25 year old artsy hipster types, but there is actually a decent mix of people most nights.  The atmosphere is pretty cool, especially once you know all the stories of supposed hauntings - it has a bit of a New Orleans feel to it.  

The downsides are:
-First and foremost, it's SO FREAKING SMOKY.  Even when nobody is actually smoking at any given moment, there's so much smoke and nicotine stink in there that you're going to come out reeking, even after just a few minutes.  I guess it's not an issue if you smoke, but as a non-smoker, this is a MAJOR turnoff for me.
-It gets incredibly crowded sometimes.  Like, can't-make-your-way-to-the-bathroom, bar or exit, can-hardly-turn-to-talk-to-a-friend kind of crowded.
-Although some pretty great acts have played here, including a lot of awesome local talent, the acoustics are pretty poor.  Not sure if it's the acoustics of the building itself, or if it's just bad sound equipment.

I've read a lot of reviews saying how nice the bartenders are.  However, I've never been particularly struck by the bartenders here one way or the other - except once, when a bartender threatened (after two or three beers) to stop serving my husband if he didn't start tipping her.  He usually tips at the end of the night when he closes out the debit tab.  She didn't have any way of knowing this, I suppose, but that's still not exactly quality customer service in my opinion.  Out of spite, he did start tipping cash-per-drink...to the other bartender.  That was certainly an exceptional occurrence...but even on the best nights, the barstaff never seemed anything but harried to me.

This review is a warning to those who just read the positives. This place is in a bad part of town. Take one wrong turn and you will be checking your door locks and rolling through stop signs. Also, it was closed at around 6 when I stopped by. It looked abandoned, but that could just be its look. I would certainly give them a call before you stop by.

The Spanish Moon is a pretty great bar. They usually have live music or something going on. Wednesday nights is now karaoke night. It was transplanted here after the closing of the beloved Red Star Bar. So if you are looking for a place for karaoke, this is your place on Wednesday nights. Some nights this place can get really crowded and it might take a while to get your drink, but for the most part you can get a drink pretty easy. While Spanish Moon isn't my favorite bar(I prefer my bars small and empty), it's definitely one of the best in Baton Rouge. I do wish they had a better beer list though.