<p>Ok I posted this somewhere before but heres a rehash of my guide to Ithaca bars:
First off, I'm not going to bother about any bars downtown or in the commons, these are generally towny bars. Stay away from townies! lol. Thus here are the bars in collegetown in order of distance from campus:</p>
<p>Ruloffs: First bar you see when you come to collegetown. Its got a nice almost Irish pub feel, lots of wood panneling, tables, and booths. Decent beer selection, some afternoon happy hour specials. It gets fairly crowded on good nights. There's music but no dancing really, like I said, more of a pub. They actually have pretty good food there and its a decently classy place to take a girl for dinner as long as its before 9 or so when it goes into bar mode. In terms of carding, they scan, but the bouncers aren't great at spotting fakes that scan or have nothing to scan (jerseys). However, they have been known to confiscate fakes when they do spot it.</p>
<p>Johny O's: On the same block as Ruloffs, across the street. I always joke about how I am not white enough to go to Johny O's. The clientel are very WASPy. Lots of blond chicks with fake tans and preppy guys with popped collar pink shirts. Lots of dancing, they have DJ's there. You'll see alot of people from DG, KKG, Psi U, Sig Pi, etc here. If you're a girl, no problem getting in. If you're a guy, they card pretty strict.</p>
<p>Stellas: On the same street and side as Ruloffs, a little further down is Stellas. Stellas is a classy, chic joint. There is nice dark candle lighting everywhere. The basement has a grotto feel, you'll have to see it to understand. This place has the best and most top shelf liquor. It's also very expensive. This keeps the riff raff out, you'll see more classy artsy people, less drunken yelling dudes. This place has no such thing as well drinks, I was at an open bar here with Tucker Max (the online blogger guy) and the "well" liquor was grey goose, sauza, johny walker, bombay saphire. Carding is mixed, I've heard they are tough, but I have never had a problem getting in. I think the high prices scare alot of people away. Dress nice and look confident. No dancing here, people here are too cool to dance. And you wouldn't wana spill your $20 double of Black Bush whiskey.</p>
<p>The Palms: Perpendicular to the street I just mentioned, this is the seniors hang out. They are by far the strictest carders and will take your ID. Unless you have an insane Cali fake or something, DON'T even try to come here. It is a nice place but I'm not gonna describe it because it may encourage youngins to come and get their IDs taken</p>
<p>Bear lodge: This place is closed down right now, but I hear it's coming back. Basically this was the collegetown sports bar. Very tough carding</p>
<p>Dinos: Same street as Ruloffs and such, but on the next block. This place used to be cool. This year they have new management. All the hot girl bartenders (who couldn't make drinks for sh|t) got replaced with dudes. Sucks. This attracts the cousin of Johny O's WASPs, that is the JAP girls and the North Face Jacket Long Island crew. On Wednesday they have some sort of drink special for girls, something with Hypnotic. On Sunday's they have Trivia night. This place has a dance floor in the back corner. Average drink selection. They vary alot on carding, used to be one of the easiest, but now it's a 50/50. There's one guy who works there, big meat head named Pene. He sucks ass, avoid him.</p>
<p>Dunbars: A block down the hill, parallel to the block above, we have Dunbars. This place, haha. It's a cosy little **** hole. First of all, there is a drink special every day of the week. Thursday is $3 Long Island IceT's, Friday is dollar vodka drinks, Monday and Tuesday is $1 Red Dogs and $1 Bud Selects. Everyday $3 Yeungling 22oz Bombers (my fav). But none of this matters because this place is EMPTY every day of the week...except Wednesday. Wednesday is the infamous Group Therapy. For $6 you get a pitcher of Coors light or something, and a highball glass full of kamikaza shots (or as i like to call it, lemon scented window cleaner and vodka). The idea is you go with a group of 3-4 friends and you take turns buying group therapy. Everyone buys 1 round, and you're all trashed for $6 (plus tip). On Wednesday this place is FULL, difficult to move arround in, everyone who goes out stops by. Also, they have a popcorn machine (the movie theator style) and you can eat all the free popcorn you'd like. They have a jukebox that plays basically classic rock and 80's music (Awsome, I've memorized the tracks by now). When it's not Wednesday, you just have a few alcoholics like me and some guys from AGR, the agriculture frat (think corn fed dumbass farm boys, they have the lowest house GPA on campus, in the low 2's.). This place is the easiest carders. If you can't get into Dunbars, your id REALLY sucks. On wednesday it's packed full of ithaca highschool skanks (mmm). This is why no one goes there any other day of the week, because the 21 year olds have real places to drink. But it's deffinitly the cheapest place to knock a few back and makes for good pregaming for a real bar. The owner, who also works the door, is a nice old man named Pep. I've been going there for 3 years and he asks me to cover the door for him when he has something to do in the back lol.</p>
<p>Chapter House: Another block down the hill. This place is almost not considered Collegetown, just on the border between Cornell and the townies. This is a classic Pub. No dancing. It has alot of grad students and even professors. This place has an AMAZING beer selection. You could probablly have a different beer every week, hell maybe 2 or 3 times a week. You go here to relax and have a few pints with your boys. Getting in can be tough because 18 year old girls and baby faced boys stick out like a sore thumb. This place also has growler service. That means for a few $ you can buy a glass corked container, like a half gallon sized, and pay to get it filled up so you can take it home. Very neato, this is the present you get when you turn 21 and live in collegetown.</p>
<p>I think I've covered all the bars in collegetown. Sorry if I missed anything!</p>
<p><em>EDIT</em>
I forgot about
The Nines: This place is right next to Dinos. It's a bar but what makes it different is they have live music like every night. This is where all the local bands play their gigs. It's hit or miss, sometimes they've got some pretty decent bands, sometimes they suck. They also have semi famous pizza, it's pretty good. There is something like a dance floor in front of the stage, I see people moshing there sometimes. Beware, they have covers often. They can be a little hard on the carding, but they never confiscate. Little trick: They allow under 21 people there for the music. They often stamp the 21 year olds' hand. If you go in with a 21 year old or someone with a good ID, and you press your hand against theirs right away before it dries, you can sometimes get an ink transfer that is good enough for a tall one!</p>