Mary’s Place

F*!@ the negative reviews. Yeah, it’s not the Ritz Carlton’s lobby bar, but what the hell were you expecting?! Certainly they’re not boasting chocolate martinis and craft cocktails on the street side casements. With any dive, a more mature crowd is expected over any sort of EDM seeking college thrill whores. Mary’s provided exactly what we were looking for… live music, cheap drinks, dirty bathrooms, and of course, the lingering smell of stale cigarettes from years past. It is what it is, and its much appreciated by its patrons (who aren’t all drunk creeps). Certainly worth its weight in Rockford townie gold.

A pretty bad dive bar with really awful middle aged bartender and some really obnoxious drunk people. The bar is filthy and dark and the bathroom a pit. The beer is flat and the place looks Ike a bar that time forgot. Not really a good bar.

This place is old, very very old. I won’t hold that against it, I take solace in the fact that 3 generations of my family have stumbled out of the place and have probably too complained about the terrible bathrooms, but have as well loved the cheap drinks and nights they do not remember after vistiting Mary’s Place. So when you go you have to realize thats smell when you go in, thats not gross its history, remember that.

Ok, don’t take my word for it, I’m just a businessman from out of town for a few months, but this is a great little local pub! Mary herself greeted me with a warm welcome (here for 28 years, she tells me). Lucked into a beer special on a premium IPA, and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick fame will be playing here May 4^th… does it get any better? I submit to you, it does not!

The bar staff was nice enough. The place is a «dive» bar, and they would be the first to tell you that. The drinks were cheap, and they certainly didn’t hold back on the booze. So much so, that there were 10 – 12 completely hammered people hanging around after the band finished their show. I would guess that they were victims of the «heavy pouring» going on that night.

If you want upscale drinks and high class atmosphere, I suggest you go next door. This place is gritty, tenebrous and pleasantly elegiac… and I love it! The first night I went there was to watch a Monday Night football game. They have a newer 60in flat screen and theater sound system was amazing. The bartender was kind enough to everyone to turn down the volume during the commercials so that one could hold a conversation. The beer was cold and the price was right…$ 2.50 for a 12oz domestic, $ 3.50 for the big bottle. I met a few people and engaged in some thought provoking and intelligent conversation. I went there with $ 20 and I crawled home with $ 10.
I had so much fun that I went back the next night for the open stage. I was absolutely blown away by the talent! The participants are people who regularly play with other bands later in the week. They were not just practicing. they were straight up jamming and knocking out the hits. They played everything from Bluegrass to Stevie Ray, to Prince to Eric Church. The acoustics might not be the best, but they have a really good sound system to make up for that. I could here all the instruments and the vocals and the bonus is I didn’t go home deaf. At least not that night anyway.
The bathrooms have recently been remodeled and were very clean. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming and not at all annoying. If you don’t want to be bothered, no one will bother you in this place. Being a female, sometimes that is hard to find. Whether you are homeless or you drive a brand new Mercedes… it seems everyone is welcome here. I moved to Rockford from Central WI, and while I don’t get home as often as I would like to, this place is the next best thing. I will definitely be back!

Another goodie for your dive bar pub crawl. I can just picture this place back in the day when smoking was allowed. A grey cloud of smoke hovering around an eclectic clientele while bad music is playing. I think that cloud of smoke might actually have improved the atmosphere by blurring the ugliness of it. Poor beer selection & skunky Corona only reinforce why I will never return.

I went here because a band from Chicago I liked was playing. They claim to be and probably are the oldest bar in Rockford. It sure looks and smells like it.
This bar is tiny, especially for bands. When we walked in there was a bar area, that cramped the door and then a seating area with a pool table, 5 tables and a rail by the front glass with stools. The stage was in the back corner. The place smelled of mold, stale cigarette smoke and old beer. Considering Illinois has a smoking ban for over a year either they don’t clean too often or they still allow people to smoke in there occasionally. I didn’t see anyone smoking so I’m going to assume they just don’t clean. From the look of the floors and the bathrooms, I’m pretty sure that’s the case.
The bathroom was a one-​holer. (one toilet) When the bar got busy, it was a long wait for the men’s room. My wife said the women’s bathroom was worse and that the lock on the door didn’t work, not because it was broken, but because it looked like someone kicked in the door one time too many. She said it actually looked like someone had kicked in the door, and they repaired it and it happened again. When she told me that, I kept an eye on her every time she went to the bathroom to make sure no one followed.
The prices were decent. $ 2 for a bottle of domestic and $ 3 for a 24 ounce bottle. $ 3 shots.
The staff was friendly enough. It was busy and there was no wait staff for the floor, or if there was I never saw them in the 6 hours I was there. Because the bar was busy, it was sometimes hard to find a place at the bar to order drinks, but when you did get the bartenders attention, they where quick about it.
If I was to go back here, it wouldn’t be to see a band. The place was too small. Too hard to navigate and the acoustics sucked. I might go back if I was just going to kill some time and I was in a dive/​hole-​in-​the-​wall bar mood… which I am known for doing.
Hey, Dive bars need love too!