Tommy’s Lounge

We went on a Sunday. The bartender made the Bloody Mary mix on site, and it was delicious and inexpensive: $ 3! The pool tables were also free on Sunday and although the atmosphere says «hole-​in-​the-​wall» it feels very friendly and inviting. I love this place!

This place was always an intrigue to me because I figured it’d be the dive I was picturing in my head (as most seem to be pretty damn similar). Well, I wasn’t «disappointed» since I really got what I was expecting, but what was a surprise was the level of friendliness, at least from the bartender. Elizabeth is ridiculously sweet. She wanted to make sure I understood that people here can be pretty close knit and even went so far as to introduce me to one of the friendlier regulars.
I don’t know that I’ll come back because I’m not trying to commit myself to any one random dive but if I do come back, it’ll be because Elizabeth is a sweetheart and because their small pitchers of Bud Light are $ 3.00 during happy hour. Did I mention that yet? $ 3.00!!! I believe h.r. Is from 5 to 7, so yeah, enjoy!

So I have been to Tommy’s twice. I have certain requirements for my dive bars and they go in this order…
1. Great jukebox. Not the new ones that cost a damn dollar a song. The old school ones with lots of old school music. Classic rock, Motown, Country, the list goes on. Check.
2. Cheap drinks. I am not paying the same price I would at some designer bar. Check.
3. Interesting «locals». I want to be entertained. They love to chit chat and are super nice there. Check.
4. No dress code. Just show up clothed. That’s good enough. Check.
5. A fast bartender. They don’t even have to be nice. Just want my drink refilled on a timely basis. Check.
So Tommy’s met my requirements. Do not expect food. They have bags of chips. Really though, do you go to a dive bar for any other reason than to get drunk? Food needlessly gets in the way of that.
I will go again. I will need to catch up on the «local» drama. =)

I may have only grabbed a quick drink at this hole in the wall but I was left with a good enough impression that I will go back. The bartender was extremely nice and up for making anything I could think of. When you walk in you’re immediately at the bar with pool tables to the right. There may not have been many patrons but they were colorful enough to make the night interesting.

OK, I’m predisposed to enjoy several drinks and a game of pool at leathery, worn-​out, tired ass dive bars populated by septugenarians that are on their third liver and 5^th wife, with either cranky country or classic rock on the jukebox. if you can add a couple of bikers flying colors & an ironhead or two leaking Pennz Oil I’m good. a nice mix of desert rat lifers, immigrant taxi drivers, rough neck rednecks, and wannabe bukowskis in Hawaiin shirts bellying up to the bar to talk shit, watch motorcycle racing on one TV and the ballgame on another, and living la vida loca. everyone seems welcome here, and almost every single person who limps in gets a shout-​out by name from the bartenders, who have encyclopedic memories, apparently. one of my favorite Tucson bars.