Monday, January 9, 2012

Draft Picks Bar - Douchiest Bar in Dallas?

Okay, probably not the douchiest, but definitely the loudest.  Last weekend, we visited Draft Picks bar in Dallas prior to attending the Dallas Mavericks game for some pre-game food and beers.  Draft Picks is located near the AA center in the building where Newport's Seafood used to be.  First, we parked in the House of Blues parking lot and walked over, which was a mistake.  Unfortunately, you have to basically make the entire block to get to the entrance of Draft Picks because of a large concrete retaining wall and fence around the building.  We finally walk inside and I immediately hated the place.  It was so loud that I thought my eardrums were going to burst.  The decibel level inside this place was incredible. 

As expected, there were TV screens everywhere playing various sporting events, including one massive  screen that was like a movie theater screen.  Also as expected, the testosterone level in the place was at an all-time high, which definitely made it what I call a "sausage party."  There was also much yelling, screaming and booing/cheering which echoed off the polished concrete floors and bounced around the room like a ricocheting bullet.  The noise was simply deafening to the point where I had to yell at my husband to be heard (though this is not unusual and not limited to high noise level situations).

I will give them points for having a great selection of draft beers, including one of new favorites, Firemen's Ale #4.  The service was prompt and I was treated to an up close and personal view of almost every server's back upper thigh cellulite since all servers were young females wearing daisy dukes.  Again, predictable but not as obnoxious as Twin Peaks or Hooters.  We ordered 10 hot wings and a plate of nachos.  Wings were actually pretty decent and had a nice heat level.  Nachos were unimpressive.  The cheese and pico de gallo on them were good but your only option was to have the nachos with taco meat.  I prefer to have a chicken fajita option and the taco meat was greasy and tasted no better than what I can make at home with the powdered McCormick taco seasoning mix.  Seemed like almost everything on the menu was fried, which they refer to in a really annoying way as "dunked".  Dunked Mushrooms.  Dunked Pickle Chips. Get it?  It's dunked like a basketball but it is also dunked in hot grease.  How clever. 

While it seemed like a cool sports bar to go to on a slow night, I wouldn't return pre-game given the noise level.  The food and drinks are not so above average as to make it worth having my inner ears destroyed.

Go Mavs!