Jo’s 5th Street Pub

Had my first experience at Jo’s last night! I spend a lot of Friday and Saturday nights across the street at The Cottleville Wine Cellar and VB’s in the summer, but had never made my way across the street at Jo’s until last night…
Way too much fun! It’s underneath Manninos, and you probably wouldn’t know that it’s there unless you drove behind Manninos for some odd reason. It’s seriously a hole in the wall, but that’s really the reason why I loved it! After sharing a bottle of wine at the wine cellar I was dragged over to Jo’s with a big group of friends to sing some karaōke!!! I personally didn’t sing this time, but I really did have a great time listening to everyone else druken-​ly sing Piano Man, Sweet Caroline, and all the other greats… And I might have joined in from my seat.
The drinks are super cheap too. $ 2.75 for a bottle of beer. The bartenders were very sweet as well. Over all, this is such a cool dive bar. Really enjoyed myself, and wish I would have made my way over here earlier in the night!
I love seeing what Cottleville has become! I grew up right across the street from here, and went to high school at Francis Howell Central so I really love coming to all these places in this area. Jo’s is truly a gem!

Let me preface this by saying I could not be more excited to make this my 500^th review!
A little while ago, there was a Unilocal Talk thread going on about what makes a bar an actual dive bar. It was fun to read through everyone’s criteria (must be cash-​only, someone has to be sleeping at the bar, etc.) but when it comes to Jo’s, there’s simply no question. Jo’s is 100% dive. And I 110% love it.
First of all, you have to drive to the back of a business to get to it, but it just looks like someone’s house. You may get confused and feel like you’re walking into someone’s basement, and that feeling only gets stronger inside. Dark and dingy? Check. Smoky? Check. Regulars sitting around staring at you like a deer in headlights when you walk in? Oh yeah. And let’s not forget the weird guy in a suit (?) running karaōke from a half-​working machine in the corner. While we’re at it, let’s also not forget the drunk old dude singing awful versions of every song you never want to hear again. But it gets better.
Don’t expect the bartender to make anything fancy. Here, you order beer or a well drink. Do expect them to be cheap, however. Feeling hungry? No problem, they’ll unwrap a frozen pizza for you and throw it in the oven. Studies have been done that have proven Jo’s frozen pizza ranks #1 in all possible options of drunk food.* Once you’re ready for the entertainment portion of the evening, move over to the shuffleboard table and be ready to fight for victory.
Jo’s nights don’t happen for me that often anymore, but when they do, I treasure every minute.
* = according to studies done by Aimee K involving Taco Bell, leftover Thai food, slingers and Pointer’s Pizza.