Dolphin Tavern

Good place to go and socialize

Second time coming here, and I left a little disappointed. We showed up for 80s new wave, post punk, britpop night but the music was not on theme. For a self-described “dive bar” the drinks were pricier than I remembered. Then to top it all off I was cut off after being there for less than an hour because I stumbled on some uneven concrete outside… after paying nearly $13 per person for a cover. I really had high hopes returning to The Dolphin but now I’m not sure I’ll come back. There are plenty of other bars that are more affordable with a better atmosphere.

I have had some really positive experiences at The Dolphin - mostly over a year ago. But every time I’ve tried to come recently I’ve run into the same thing. I tend to come earlier in the night cause my friends and I are in our 30s. We usually don’t stay past midnight or 1. For this reason I understand we won’t always get to be there for the hits. But the past few times we’ve come we stayed for like 2 hours and they never play anything even remotely related to the theme of the night. We came for some kind of 90s grunge night and we were very excited. For 2 hours, they played nothing but totally unrelated house music. We did not get to hear anything that even sounded like 90s music before we left. Then we came for indie sleaze night and again - we stayed til almost 11 and they played the most boring, repetitive house music for 2 hours. They did not play anything even ADJACENT to the theme. In contrast, we’ve been for abba night and for the first couple hours they’re not playing abba, but they are at least playing some 70s music that is related and makes sense for the theme we came out for. (Though my friends came again and complained that they only played a couple abba songs the whole night - different dj? That wasn’t the case the first time I came) So we always end up leaving by like 11, 11:30 because it never changes. The thing is even though we’re older and we tend to leave a little early, if we were already dancing and having a good time by then we’d probably end up staying later. But the past few times have been so boring and such a disappointment. I hear they are moving goth night to the dolphin next year. They don’t do this at goth night and I’m hoping at the dolphin they don’t ruin goth night by playing boring house music for hours before starting the actual goth music we came for. Anyway I’m leaving 3 stars because I’ve had good experiences here before too. It’s relatively clean. It’s welcoming of all types of people and very LGBTQ+ friendly. The staff are very friendly and the drinks are generous. It’s just been so boring and disappointing the past few times I’ve come.

Alice and her team are amazing! Amazing DJs and dance floor. The cover is worth it given how amazing the vibes are.