BAR REVIEWS: Normal, IL

One of the most interesting and fun aspects of college life is the bars. Since most students don't turn 21, the minimum legal age allowed to consume alcoholic beverages, until they reach college, they tend to go on a binge to make up for the lost time not being able to socialize in a bar setting. The bars are more evident and important especially to those belonging in a fraternity or sorority. In order to help our fellow fraternity brothers and sorority sisters, DTF will be reviewing different bars every week. For this week, we will be reviewing a couple of the bars in uptown Normal. The bars in uptown Normal include the Pub II, NV Ultra Lounge, Brew-Ha's, and Maggie Miley's Irish Pub.

Out of all of the bars in uptown Normal, the Pub II is arguably the most popular and known to host the best deals. If you are a beer drinker, the Pub II offers $3.50 pitchers on Mondays and $4.00 pitchers on Wednesdays. In these two days, the Pub II is usually packed. If you would like to have a table, it is suggested that you plan to go to the Pub II as early as 7 p.m. Besides the great drink specials, the Pub II has the best atmosphere out of all of the uptown Normal bars. If you are interested in any sports game, this is the place to go. They have several flat screen televisions and a couple of projectors to highlight Chicago sports teams. They also have the best beer garden out of any of the bars in uptown Normal. It is huge and at times, they have bands playing music for their customers' entertainment. However, the main downside to the Pub II is that their beer is usually flat or old. For example, if you order a pitcher of Bud Light, it will taste old, flat, and worst of all, it will taste like Keystone Light. Actually, the Bud Light or Miller Lite they offer that is not in a bottle or can taste like Keystone Light or worse.

If you are looking for a more subtle kind of atmosphere, Maggie Miley's Irish Pub is the way to go. Unlike the Pub II, Maggie Miley's Irish Pub cannot be classified as a sports bar. Instead, it is the bar you would go to if you are either interested in hard liquor or mix drinks. In fact, this bar is probably the best bar you can go to if you are in a date, which is hard to say about most of the bars in uptown Normal. Similar to the Pub II, they have amazing drink specials. One of the best days to go there is during "Whiskey Wednesdays." During Wednesdays, they offer all call-it whiskey for only $3.00 per drink. This means that you purchase any kind of mix whiskey special for only $3.00 per drink. And unlike the Pub II, Maggie Miley's Irish Pub does not offer old or flat beer.

The Pub II and Maggie Miley's Irish Pub are the main highlights in the uptown Normal area. Other bars such as NV Ultra Lounge or Brewe-Ha's are okay. NV Ultra Lounge also offers great drink specials but more than half of their customers are people over the age of 30. If you don't mind hanging out with some old folks then this place isn't too bad. In regards to Brewe-Ha's, they are very similar to the Pub II without the great beer garden and atmosphere. This place is only a substitute if the Pub II is too crowded since this bar hosts the worst music selection of all the bars in uptown Normal. If you like heavy metal, screaming music then this bar is for you. But if you plan on talking to your friends at all then you can forget about it because unless you have a painfully loud voice, the obnoxious music selection will deafen you to death. In regards to bars that anyone needs to avoid at all cost, the list includes Lunker's and Foul Shots. Even though Foul Shots isn't in the uptown Normal area, it is important to educate everybody that this bar is horrible. Foul Shots is the bar you go to if you are not over 21 years old. If you are over 21 years old, then you have better places to go to. Foul Shots is basically two trailer homes glued together. Its beer garden is terrible and it doesn't offer any form of customer service. It will take you about an hour to get a drink. Foul Shots make Lunker's look like it was in the same level as the Pub II or Maggie Miley's Irish Pub. This doesn't mean Lunker's is a great bar though. Lunker's is the least popular place to go to in the uptown Normal area. Similar to NV Ultra Lounge, it has a great amount of customers over the age of 30 in its customer base. They are more known for the fish sandwiches. Its atmosphere doesn't support what most college students look for. Since Lunker's markets a type of fishing background, its setting is decorated with random fishing-related items.