By far the best coffee shop/pub in Athens! Sit at the bar and get to know your bartenders, and you'll feel that "Cheers" atmosphere in no time. Grab a soy latte in the daytime and pick the perfect spot indoors or outdoors to read or study. Meet your friends at night, and choose from a large beer selection, or ask the bartenders to create an awesome mixed drink or shot with your liquor of choice. You won't be dissatisfied!
Review Source:I am from out of town, and was in Athens for a dance show with my company. We decided to walk around after the show, and ended up at this pub. It was a rainy Thursday night, so there wasn't too much foot traffic, and my large group all found chairs at the spacious bar.
The girl bartender(ess?) was beyond nice - and was extremely helpful when we had thousands of questions. She was able to handle all six of us without help from the other bartenders AND hold a conversation, which may have included showing off "jail house" tattoos and a motivational speech.
They had an ample menu of hot drinks - cocoas, coffees, and teas. My friend and I ordered the Chocolate Chip drink and were both pleasantly surprised to see how nice they were served, and how delicious they were!!! Another one of the girls ordered some alcoholic tea drink with honey, and she LOVED it.
Prices were awesome, location was great, and the service was extremely entertaining(not gonna lie, kind of had a drunk girl crush on the lady bartender).
Oh....and they have Karaoke downstairs....just sayin'
Overall a good experience.
I didnt get a chance to taste the food (so it loses a point), but it seems like it would be a lot of fun during the day, and if I lived in Athens, I would definitely come back!
I can't review any of the alcoholic beverages, as I do not drink alcohol. So this is reviewing it as a coffeeshop and not a pub:
The good: big tables, which are nice for studying alone or with a friend/friends. The crowd contains many grad students. There's an outdoor alley and back seating area, along with front outdoor seating.
The in-between: The staff is hit and miss. I would say that their mochas are not as good as Two Story's or Jittery Joe's, but not too far from Jittery Joe's.
The bad: It can get loud. Inferior goodies selection.
Overall, this is a nice place to hang out.
Okay, this review is written from the perspective of their Bloody Mary bar on game days. Â So, take that in mind when reading this review. Â I have no experience with their coffee nor their breakfast food or what it's like at night. Â So, take that with a grain of salt.
We originally tried to go to what I'll call a hole in the wall bar that would be open at 10am on game day (Flanigan's), but alas they were out of bloody mary mix. Â Arggh!
Okay, the bartendress recommended "Walker's Pub" as having a bloody mary bar. Â Okay...kind of excited...let's check it out.
It is definitely aesthetically pleasing on the inside with lots of hardwood booths, clean bathrooms, and perfectly pleasant smell to the place. Â Good signs so far.
Finally when we're able to get the bartender's attention (and legitimately I understand them being busy on game day), we tell him we'd like 2 bloody mary's. Â He asks us what kind of vodka we'd like and I said the house would be fine. Â I've found that if you have a good mix, you can mask the heinousness of a lesser quality vodka. Â That's just my way. Â So, he grabs a couple of bar glasses, then proceeds to fill them up with ice and then pour a shot of vodka in the 2 glasses and mentions that the bloody mary bar is set up over there. Â So, for $6.25 each, I get to make my own bloody mary. Â Â Seems a bit pricey for Athens, but whatever...I move onto the bar.
Alas, I was very disappointed when I saw what they had to offer. Â They had 1, and let me reiterate 1 type of mix and it was Major Peters. Â Yuck! Â That shit is just bad. Â Zing Zang's is far superior. Â Now, look, I understand that people have different tastes, but that's exactly why you give people options when they have to make their own freaking bloody mary! Â From there it was all down hill. Â They had traditional spices and a few garnishes, but of course no olives. Â When I asked a bartender if they had olives, she proceeded to get me a couple of crap olives from behind the bar. Â You know, the really cheap kinds that they throw in bad martinis.
What a crock! Â Look, maybe this place has delicious breakfast sandwiches and coffee that tastes great or WTF ever...but your bloody mary bar SUCKS!
The only reason your establishment is getting 2 stars is that it's clean and pleasant on the eyes. Â Other then that...what a crap experience.
Unless I have lost my mind, many years ago part of this place was the Blue Bird Cafe, a place where many mornings I used to have coffee on the sidewalk. Â But know it has been expanded into a pub/breakfast coffee house, and I cannot think of a better breakfast place in Athens. Â
Nice large coffee mugs with free refills, incredible, and I cannot stress this enough, incredible breakfast sandwiches, and a unique ambiance/interior. Â It seemed most of the people staying to eat were UGA students, who were also typing away on laptops, while other people kept coming in for a quick cup of coffee to go. Â
I may miss the Blue Bird of my past, but I am happier with the Walker's pub of the present.
FYI there is a Starbucks right next door. Â DO NOT pass up this place for it. Â The coffee is better here, and this is YELP, support the local places.
Walker's is a terrific downtown location for anyone to go to. Get your coffee fix during the day, head there for happy hour in the evening (though, really, it seems to be the day drinkers choix préféré in Athens). The atmosphere is casual and laid back during the day, and can be either calm or fun and lively at night depending on when you're there. There's ample seating all around and there are a lot of booths that make it great for small groups. During the day you're likely to find a lot of people camped out with their laptops, as wi-fi is free. There is open air space out front as well as in back, and on Thursday nights you can head down to the basement for some karaoke.
Something relatively new is their food menu, and I have to say that I think their breakfast burrito is by far the best in Athens. Their regular, long-time staff are great; friendly and welcoming as can be. There are a couple of new folks that haven't seemed to grasp that those attributes are part of Walker's charm (hence the one star knock-off), but hopefully they'll get with it soon enough...
As the face of my alma mater continues to change, it's nice that some things always stay the same, and Walker's is one of those things.
Coffe shop/chill bar/ballin' patio all describe this little bar right off Broad Street in downtown Athens. Â It's not a "see and be seen" kind of place, so don't worry about dressing up to the nines, but it always has an interesting flow of people so you're never without someone to talk to (or about, if you're a people watcher like me). Â The new booths are great for squirreling away into during the day when you need to get some studying done, or for accommodating an ever growing group of revelers as the night wears on.
They don't all know my name here, but I get the feeling this is the closest I'll ever come to a "Cheers."
Hands down my go-to Athens bar. Without fail, every time my friends and I went out we ended the night at Walker's. Somehow this bar transcends the townie vs. fratty battle, probably thanks to its central downtown location and somewhat indeterminate atmosphere. Drink prices are average--definitely not the dirt cheap deals you can find at some places around the corner, but to me it's worth the extra dollar or two for a place to sit down and stay comfortably all night.
They have lots of large booths that are great for groups, a basement devoted mainly to karaoke, a smoker's alley that runs the length of the bar, and a cozy back patio with several more large booths. The back patio's connection via stairs to the sister bar of Blue Sky is a definite bonus, and you can move freely between the two without ditching your drink.
The daytime coffee shop atmosphere is also really cozy, though I always struggled to get much schoolwork done in the dim lighting with all those beer choices calling out to me. The spiked ciders are by far the best winter drinks in town!
I was def. a regular here when I lived in Athens. One of the best bars for outdoor seating. Best place for people watching.
Cheap drinks. Nice bartenders. Not the douchy-est or fratty-est crowd I've come across in Athens. Better for grad students during the day, and undergrads at night.
After having a wonderful dinner in downtown Athens, we walked around checking out what else we wanted to do. But the "bar scene" was just too much for us, esp. since we had a few drinks w/ our dinner already (yeah, we're light-wgts). Fortunately, we found this place that served coffee as well as alcohol. So I ordered the "Peppermint Patty" hot chocolate. It was getting cold, so it was a perfect ending to a night out. however...little did I know this place serves "Irish coffee", so everything on the menu was spiked in someway or another (mine had godiva chocolate and peppermint schnapps:). Â Thankfully, I didn't really taste the alcohol and just innocently enjoyed the hot "brew". What a neat place!
Review Source:This is DEFINITELY a college-kid bar. Definitely. A bit crowded for my tastes, but since my sis likes this place so much, it'll get 4-stars from me. If you're in the 18-24 group, you'd probably like this place too (unless you're like me and get uncomfortable in crowded bars). My sis and I did a "redheaded slut" shot for old times sake, and it was just as I remembered it (with maybe a bit more Jager-y taste). Perfect bar for college kids. I'm glad she's not hanging out in some kind of pretentious "upscale" place or a total nasty dive.
Review Source:Coffee by day, pub by night.
I'm only speaking for the coffee shop. Â It's great they have free wi-fi!! Â And the coffee was pretty good too. Â
But seriously the worst snack selection EVER.
There were a couple of cookies a few croissants and one bran muffin. Â That's IT. Â No other pastries, no sandwiches, no bagels, no soups, salads, nothing.
For some reason nearly every social group I was involved in while at UGA liked to end up at Walker's at some point in an evening downtown. Not sure if it was the laid-back ambiance, the rather spread-out floorplan, or the great location on College Ave., but Walker's seems to attract a good variety of people who want a friendly place to knock back a few drinks. One thing I noticed is that a lot of grad students seem to enjoy coming here as well as more intellectual undergrads. Bartenders I've had seemed decently nice and knowledgeable, usually happy to recommend a drink or two and willing to take care of regulars as well.
They've got a fine selection of beers and recently added more on tap at the upstairs bar. The downstairs bar seems to be most popular on karaoke nights when it gets packed to the brim but is a good alternative if the upstairs area gets busy on most nights. The outside patio area in back is great when the weather's nice and provides a connection to the new incarnation of Blue Sky, which is a neat way to avoid the sidewalks if you want to barhop with a drink.
Being a coffeeshop during the day also makes Walker's a great place to study and I've heard some grad students and professors even have their office hours here. Overall, my favorite bar in Athens and a great coffeeshop to boot.
As a native Athenian, I feel it is my duty to tell everyone not to ever visit Walker's pub. The service at Walker's is some of the RUDEST in the city. In fact, it is some of the rudest I have ever experienced. I'll elaborate below, but for those who prefer a short review, just don't bother with Walker's pub. The people who work at Starbucks on the corner are nicer. Better yet, head around the corner to Espresso Royale Cafe. And there is no shortage of nice bars in the area--283, which is just steps away on Broad street, for example.
********************************
The first instance of bad service occurred a couple years ago when I brought my parents into Walker's (formerly Blue Sky) for a cup of coffee. We were ignored by the bartender and finally walked out empty-handed.
Unfortunately, I forgot about my previous negative experience and returned to Walker's recently. After ordering, my future mother-in-law, my boyfriend and I headed outside to enjoy the sunshine. Upon sitting in Walker's wrought iron chairs, my boyfriend promptly ripped a hole through his pants on a rusty gash in the chair. I went inside to explain to the bartender (who appeared to be the only person working) what had happened. I explained that while the pants only cost $20, they were brand new, and I would appreciate it if he could somehow remedy the situation. He told me he could give us a free drink. If he was willing to give us a $5 drink, why not pony up the extra $15 and keep a customer, I thought to myself. Â I told him I'd think about it. This infuriated my companions and one of them went back into Walker's and told the bartender (who told her he was the owner) to promptly remove the chair before someone else damaged their clothing, or worse hurt themselves. The bartender huffily carried the chair away. We left.
Later, I called Walker's and spoke to the same bartender. I apologized to him (because my companion was pretty upset when she demanded the chair be removed). I gave him another opportunity to correct the problem, to which he snottily retorted, "So you think because your boyfriend sat in a chair and tore his pants, I should give you $20." I explained to him that that was exactly what I expected, given that it was his chair that tore the pants. He quickly snapped that it was not his chair, it was his manager's chair. Then he went on to argue that it wasn't even his manager's chair, that the chair belongs to the city. Whatever. A good owner/operator would have realized that our phone conversation, which was going downhill fast, was actually an opportunity. It was an opportunity to apologize, make the pub look good and keep a customer. He didn't. Instead, he was completely rude and belittling. He told me he would give my phone number to the manager and have him call me. That was December 18. I am still waiting...
When I worked in retail, my manager always quoted this insane figure about how much a customer spent in our store in a year and let everyone working there know that, by alienating customers, we stood to lose in excess of $25,000 per customer over the customer's lifetime. We were selling 2 x 4s, not coffee, but I'm pretty sure the equation still applies. I know that I would have spent at least $20 more dollars (the cost to replace the pants) at Walker's Pub in my lifetime. I probably would have visited the pub with friends who each could have spent almost $20 per VISIT. Now, I will never visit Walker's again. I will tell everyone I know never to visit Walker's. Basically, I will do everything in my power to prevent Walker's from earning business. Any establishment that treats their customers this poorly just doesn't get it.
Walker's will always be "Blue Sky" in the heart of true Athenians, but the full-service coffee shop/cafe/bar has done and exceptional job reinventing itself.
Its a great place to study during the day. There is plenty of seating inside and outside that offer hiding nooks if you need to crackdown or unlimited distractions if you need to feed off the creative vibe flowing through Athens. Well-priced coffee, cafe-style munchies, free wi-fi, and an abundance of electrical outlets make this the perfect place to crank out a term paper.
Around 9 pm the music gets louder and so does the crowd. Walker's serves alcohol throughout business hours, but happy hour and nightly specials (my personal favorite is Monday $1 wine) reel in a respectable crowd. Respectable in number and character, the crowd tends to be the mushy middle of Athens that fall in between fratastic and "too indie to function."
Walker's is probably one of my favorite chill bars in Athens. Â It has all the things anyone could ever want...chips, sandwiches, coffee, and a bar. Â My nights here were usually spent karaoking downstairs or having drinks upstairs listening to live music with friends. Â Overall, a good place to go when you're looking to relax downtown.
Review Source:
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