I would like to start off by stating that not all dive bars are bad—sometimes a dive bar is just the thing you need, and some dive bars are homier than your own living rooms.
That being said, they ain't called dive bars for nothin'... and our area is full of classic dive bars, both the good AND bad kind. This list is nothing but my own personal opinion... feel free to list your own.
1. DeLeo's—This isn't just the BAD kind of dive bar, it is the worst kind of bad dive bar. There is nothing to save this from the #1 spot—it just sucks, in all kinds of ways. Possibly worst bar in America.
2. 19th Hole (R.I.P.)—No longer open, but rumored to reopen someday... this was the GOOD kind of dive bar. Friendly staff, decent beer selection, wildly varied crowd comprised of underage kids from Philadelphia U. to the typical drunk local. I miss you.
3. Peck Miller's—At least it's cheap. One of the bad ones, but barely a bad one. Too many drunks, not enough drinkers.
4. The Brickhouse—Perhaps there is a reason they make brick s***houses. A bad one: smokey, skanky, stinky.
5. Murphy's—The new owner is making positive strides and turning this dump into a NEIGHBORHOOD dump—an ideal GOOD dive bar. Good beer selection, lousy food, comfortable seating, enough games, and now a TV outside.
6. Scanlon's Saloon—Another neighborhood dive, great atmosphere, fun, cheap, clean (does that remove it from dive status?)—what a dive bar should be.
7. Pitcher's Pub—Not sure if this is a good or bad dive. The beer selection is the best on this list by a long shot, but the crowd varies—EVERYONE on Main Street sits on a stool here. The food is terrible.
Moe
5:45 pm on Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Add the Fountain Street Pub to the list at the corner of Pechin and Fountain streets.
Melinda
4:58 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Is that what the name of it is; Fountain Street Pub? I always called it the No name bar as there is no sign whatsoever. This is a very scary place. I have never been inside, but just the view from the outside looking in is creepy!
Roxborough Area Man
9:50 am on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Should have considered this one...but I haven't ever been in it so I really couldn't opine on it...but yeah, it looks like a unsavory place.
Sue
10:40 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
you can add The Cresson St. Bar, would not even drink out of a bottle in that place.
Debbie Thomas
7:58 am on Friday, August 17, 2012
I love that sign that says "where the real 'yunkers drink" at Cresson.
R
10:54 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
fountain street pub is a definite, it doesnt even have a sign, thats automatic dive status.
R
10:56 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
also De Leos looks like a perfect place for a stabbing, every night.
David Bolles
10:58 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
I just assumed that people always are getting stabbed at that place and we never hear about it!
Elko Dunstable
8:22 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
Been there often. Never seen a stabbing.
N
11:51 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Umm pop pops
Tony
12:05 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Theres alot more dive bars in the 27/28 then on the list !!! Half on the list dont really even deserve to be called dive bars, pitchers is in yuppy territory, 19th Hole isnt even open(should be open to be on list) and in my opinion Scanlons and Murphys shouldnt be on there !!! Def agree that pop pops, fountain st, cresson inn should be on the list !!! very funny topic thou !!! Thanks !!!
Kevin
12:51 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
How has no one even mentioned Peck Miller's? You need to get all ur vaccinations up to date before even entering that place
Kevin
12:53 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
I stand corrected, i somehow missed it as #3
Rick Malore
12:55 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
I am scared to even drive by DeLeo's in my car!!!
Drosty Cups
1:26 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
I agree Scalon's and Murphy's should not be on the list and should be replaced by Pop Pop's and Fountain Street.
Elizabeth Jones
1:29 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Murphs is a Rox staple and a great place for pizza and wings. Person who wrote this hasn't been around the area since 99. Cresson street inn and pop pops are #1 and #2
Greg Ehly
2:40 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
As part owner of Murphys, I invite whoever wrote this to come in the bar since it seems like you haven't been there in a long time. Our pizza is great, and as a matter of fact tonight is pizza night. $6.50 Large Pizza's all night. We are far from a dive bar!
Greg Ehly
Sherri Lynn
3:41 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
I agree with ya Greg.. Far from a dive bar at Murphys....
Roxborough Area Man
9:55 am on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
I very recently was in Murphy's...The pizza is not good - the food in general is greasy bar food, which sometimes is a good thing. If you read my review it isn't a bad one - but I stand firmly in my judgement that Murphy's is a GOOD dive bar. The beer selection, on occasion, is pretty good, the outdoor seating nice, but walking through clouds of smoke just to get in the door is unpleasant (and that smoke often wafts down to the outdoor tables).
Greg Ehly
10:16 am on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Ok "roxborough Area Man", next time you come to Murphys make sure you ask for me so I know who you are. I sure sell a lot of "not good" pizza, wings, salads, burgers, ect. Nice to see that all of these comments except for yours are positive ones. Being born and raised in Roxborough, its nice to see that other people appreciate all of the hard work we have done to turn this bar around.
Greg Ehly
Roxborough Area Man
10:31 am on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
5. Murphy's—The new owner is making positive strides and turning this dump into a NEIGHBORHOOD dump—an ideal GOOD dive bar. Good beer selection, lousy food, comfortable seating, enough games, and now a TV outside.
That's a pretty good review....I called in "...an ideal GOOD dive bar.".
Now if you really want to have good food visit the Manayunk Tavern on Main Street - they have the BEST bar food in the area. Get anywhere close to that and I'll be there weekly (or more).
If you are looking for someone to tell you everything is great ask your friends. They will blow smoke up your butt all day long...I'd say my review was 85% positive. I apologize if you don't see it that way.
And I'll be back to check the food again soon.
Tess D'Uberville
11:10 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Really Greg? Nice to hear, since the last time I went there, the place was crawling with meth dealers, pot smokers, and Feds watching them all. Hope your bimbo bartenders smartened up a bit too to stop mixing the feds with local patrons. You pizza used to be good; you are a good guy, but your place as "let me please be get busted" written all over it. Sorry, but true.
richard castrovillo
3:37 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
been to all of em,drank at all of em....beer is beer
Tony
4:17 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
I agree Greg Murphys doesn't belong on the list !!! Pizza is awesome thou !!!
Philly Fats
7:20 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
The Cresson Inn is not only a dive bar, its THEE dive bar. They pride themselves on it and even refer to themselves as "The 5-Star Dive Bar"
Roxborough Area Man
9:56 am on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Dive bars have to welcome all comers - The Cresson in is firmly Yunker's only territory. It's a crappy bar, to be sure, but it is about as friendly as a hungover porcupine.
E
9:11 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
As an original Manayunker which means i was born and raised here i'd drink in any of the dive bars listed before paying for a beverage at the way over priced cost that the other bars in myk charge. And i wont have to deal with the in experienced drinkers that make a menance of themselves when exiting the bars!!!!
Dominic the Donkey
10:24 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Peck Millers reminds me of the bar from Star Wars
John Gill
11:10 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Patch needs to update their info. Murphy's should be taken off the list. At least visit it before you condemm it. It has improved 10,000% in the last 2 years.
Roxborough Area Man
9:57 am on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
10,000% eh? Gotta love hyperbole...I said it's a GOOD dive bar. That's OK. Be what you are...it's not a nice bar, hence, a dive.
Donna C
10:05 am on Friday, August 17, 2012
Its not the bars that are dives its the people and when the yuppies came in to take over they ruined it for us locals...peeing and vandalizing our town, go back to your own town and criticize,just cause your not rich doesnt mean its a dive...
Alex Gross
12:00 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
Whoever wrote this probably shouldn't be writing about bars that he knows nothing about. Do you even live here, guy? 2 bars that aren't really dives, 1 bar that's not even open...
Roxborough Area Man
9:59 am on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
I live here, been here 10 years. Been to all the listed bars, most of the suggested one's...
...and the 19th Hole was listed R.I.P.. Loved that little dive...I miss it, call it a memorial if you must, but it was one of the diviest bars in the area.
Roxyunk
12:03 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
Pop Pops at Ridge and Parker is like a blackhole to another dimension
David Grow-Scott
12:17 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
Creson Inn and East End should be on the list. Fountain St, Pop Pop's...my god, there's so many....
wendy
9:05 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
I met my husband at the 19th hole, I loved that crappy bar. Hearing it's going to open as Roxborough Seafood.
fountain man
9:50 pm on Friday, August 17, 2012
To all those who think the fountain st pub should be on that list fine we dont want you wimps in our place anyway
Sherri Lynn
3:42 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
I liked it there.. hung out there last summer!!
Cathy Winterbottom
4:29 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
Can't believe Murphy's is on this list, I like the food and think it is a Great place. There are so many worse places in Roxborough. Nothing about Murphys says dive bar to me.
brew
7:11 pm on Monday, August 20, 2012
Peck's is a neighborhood bar in the same vein as Cheers, for the locals everybody knows your name. Not pretentious. Peck's covers all streams of life - from Yale to jail. It is a dive bar if you are a snob and for me...no snobs necessary. Just be real if you can?
Roxborough Area Man
10:07 am on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
What neighborhood, Kensington?
Peck's is my least-favorite on the list...I'd prefer even Deleo's over Pecks...and the Yale boys you claim go there...well...as an Ivy-League educated jerk myself well...perhaps he was doing anthropology studies, or the de-evolution of man...
NA
6:06 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
i was recently in Murphys ( henry and Rox ave) and I have never felt more unwelcomed and the drinks are WAY OVER PRICED! I ordered three drinks (RBV) and a shot and my total came to 35 dollars! Now i don't know about everyone else, but i go down to Main st often as well and i would expect to pay more for a drink down there then Murphys. The bar tender was very rude as well, I now know why she works at one of the worst drives bar in the area. I will tell my family/friends/co-workers and the rest of the internet DO NOT go to Murphys unless you want to be robbed blind!
Roxborough Area Man
6:44 pm on Tuesday, September 4, 2012
I've had the same problem at Murphy's...it is an expensive bar to drink at. The guy who was "waiting" tables was kind of sketchy as well, and the outside tables and chairs were filthy.
Unum
11:58 am on Friday, September 14, 2012
The only thing that I ever thought was particularly divy about Murphy's is that chick who bartends there. I've been wanting to check out the place again since it looks like they made a bunch of improvements but if she's still working there it's not worth it. And I gather from your post that she is.
NA
12:16 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
Yes, she does still bartend there (murphys) That is exactly why it is on this list.
Tess D'Uberville
11:17 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
I know the chic bartender you are talking about and yes, sadly, she totally ruins the place. I feel sorry for Greg for having her there.