Review
Broz Bar offers good drinks, lacks in weekday atmosphere
February 25, 2016
For the rest of the semester, I will be reviewing the bars in River Falls every other week. I plan to evaluate the environment, the drinks and the service. I’m going to give the bars ratings of 0-5 beers, zero being the worst and five being the best.
Feb. 23, 1995, is the date listed on my ID as the day I was born. Exactly 21 years after that date, this past Monday, I walked into Broz bar with high expectations for how I would experience by 21st birthday. In my head, I pictured myself walking in and for the bouncer to realize it was my birthday and get me pumped up before I entered the bar. I thought the bar would be full of people dancing and drinking and for the bartender to let me drink for free on my day.
The bouncer didn’t even question my ID or tell me happy birthday. He didn’t even remove the headphones from his ears. Why was he wearing headphones? I heard that Broz’s Monday night karaoke brings in quite a few people, but the crowd was very thin when my four friends and I arrived.
The bartender, however, did not disappoint me. He gave me a free shot of apple pie right away when he served me the “stoplight shots” that my friend Kris ordered for me. I struggled to stomach those. Broz has two-for-one drinks six days a week from 10 p.m. until 1 a.m. My friends took advantage of it, but my newly 21-self wanted to try some new things. I decided to try a seven and seven, which is Seagrams 7 whiskey and 7-Up. I think that I thought it would be good since I like whiskey, and it has classy connotations. As with a lot of things about my birthday, the drink didn’t live up to my expectations.
My friend Jack decided to sing Hypnotize by Biggie Smalls and I joined in at the end with the woman’s back-up vocals. I’ve always enjoyed that song, but I never realized how vulgar the words were until I saw them on the karaoke screen.
After a while I got sick of the seven and seven and I wanted an old fashioned, my all-time favorite drink. Old fashioneds are an extremely popular drink in Northeast Wisconsin where I’m from. Disappointingly, not all the bartenders in River Falls know what they are so I was really excited when the Broz bartender said “I sure do.” When he muddled and orange slice and a cherry, I knew it was going to be good and it was delicious!
I give Broz on Monday night two beers out of five. Don’t worry Broz lovers, I will go again on a weekend and reevaluate.
Tori Schneider is an alumna of UW-River Falls.