No, I'm not talking about a sports bar, I'm talking about a local neighborhood bar. Sports bars are the bars plastered with TVs in every corner. I don't go to sports bars either, because nobody there wants to talk to anyone, they just want to sit and watch a game and drink their beer.
The best bar around here is the one where you'll come out smelling more like the grease from french fries than cigarette smoke. Great bar food there...completely unhealthy, but tasty. If you go with a small group of people, you can get a table, but aside from the actual bar, they also have a long table at bar height running the length of the room where people on their own can sit with other people...it's like sitting at the bar, except someone could actually sit across from you too, so makes it easier to strike up conversations with other people. Then again, even if you're sitting at a table there, you're not going to be left out of conversation. People regularly shout questions across the room there or strike up conversations with people at adjacent tables. It's nice. Everyone goes there to be friendly and have a good time. No pretenses, no obnoxious drunks (at least I've never seen any there), nobody prowling for hook-ups. It's also a place where there are no class boundaries. It doesn't just cater to students, or the yuppies, or blue collar workers, etc., it has everyone in there...it's a place where the university faculty can be equally comfortable with the custodial staff, or secretaries from local businesses, or the soccer mom, etc. It's nice. Just one TV, sometimes folks watch the game. But it's not like in a sports bar where they're glued to it. It's more something they glance up every so often to catch a score. Okay, the exception being on days when our football team is playing, but the whole town watches football those days, so even the mall is playing the game broadcast over their speakers.