Water Street Tavern

This is a great place in Kent to catch a live band and enjoy a crowd older than the average college student.

I have never tried the food here - or I guess it's actually Cajun Dave's.  It does get crowded but you can create a makeshift dance floor anywhere in the bar!  They really do book some good local bands and it's worth a stop in!!

A middle-of-the-road bar in Kent.  While you'd expect this bar to host college students exclusively, I found quite a few people who were in their 40s and 50s.

While it was one of the larger bars in Kent, this place was packed.  It took me 5-10 minutes to get drinks, which appeared to be the norm.  The bartender was a bitch towards me, probably because she couldn't hear me: the place can get quite loud.  I remember beer prices to be nothing out of the ordinary for Downtown Kent.

Cajun Dave's is the restaurant that is here, although I cannot comment on how their food is.

They also have bands playing frequently.  We were there the night an 80s cover band was there, and I left impressed with that band.  Yes, I realize that some 80s songs are easy to cover, but the songs sung by the male vocalist were superb (they had a vocalist of each gender, and it was clear which one was the stronger of the two).  My friend said they were an in-house band or something like that.

The music on the televisions was blaring incredibly loud when bands weren't performing.  If they quieted the televisions down slightly, this would be a much easier bar to talk to people in.

Overall, not a bad bar.  I've visited much worse bars during my time.

I generally like the atmosphere here, though sometimes they'll blast metal super loud (if you go late at night) killing all chance at having an audible conversation. The roof is really pretty when it's warm out.

I've never had a problem getting a drink here, but their drinks are WEAK. I don't know if it's a good thing or not but I can drink and drink here and never get any sort of buzz going, and I'm tiny and rarely drink. I was able to down a fishbowl by myself and yet I was completely sober. So... nice atmosphere, good service, good tasting drinks, good prices... pathetically weak drinks.