ABBQ Meat & Drink
Texas-style barbecue with a real kids menu and a large fenced backyard for cornhole and running around. The green space is the difference between eating with children here and carrying barbecue home.
Aardwolf Brewing Company
A taproom inside a former ice plant on Hendricks. The building does a lot of the work here, and a beer list has no way of saying so.
Ajua Mexican Kitchen and Bar
A Mexican kitchen and bar at Jacksonville Beach with its own vegan menu. Enchiladas, quesadillas, jackfruit birria, cauliflower tacos, and a full vegan entree give a mixed table more than one safe fallback.
Birdies
A Five Points bar on Park Street. We have deliberately tagged it with nothing we could not confirm first-hand, so its discovery profile shows how little a machine can currently learn about it, which is the honest starting point.
BellyUp! to Jax’s Best Bars
Bar specials & what’s not on the bar menu
7 spots
Bold City Brewery
Mother-and-son founded, and still the brewery most Jacksonville drinkers name first. The Rosselle Street taproom is the original room, on a Riverside industrial block rather than a retail strip.
Dos Gatos
A cocktail lounge on Forsyth across from the Florida Theatre, open since 2009, which in downtown Jacksonville bar years is a long time. The pre-show and post-show room for anything at the Theatre.
European Street Cafe Riverside
The Riverside room of a Jacksonville family-owned group that has been here for more than 40 years. On Mondays, children age 12 and younger get a free meal and juice box with a regular adult entree and beverage at all three locations.
Jack Rabbits
A 300-capacity club on Hendricks, across from the Balis Community Center, that has been booking original bands for more than twenty-five years. Beer and wine only, and all ages, which is part of why it has lasted.
MOJO No. 4
The Avondale room in the local MOJO family has served barbecue, Southern sides, whiskey, and blues on St. Johns Avenue since 2011. The patio and giant onion rings make it hard to mistake for a quiet takeout stop.
Pete's Bar
Duval County liquor license number one, issued in 1933 the year Prohibition ended, in a building that was Jensen's Market before that. Cash, pool tables, and no interest whatsoever in being discovered.
Shantytown Pub
A longtime Springfield dive with an outdoor area and room for dogs. Go when you want a neighborhood bar that still feels like one.
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What these spots are known for
The same bars spots, sorted by the reasons people actually pick them.
Sports on TV
Where can I watch the game with food and drinks?
Rooftops and Patios
Can we sit outside?
The Whole Family Table
Will they be fine with a four-year-old?
Big Groups
Will they seat twelve of us?
Origin Stories
Who built this and why?
Neighborhood Institutions
What has been here forever?
Live Music
Where can I eat and hear a real band?
Vegan and Plant-Based
Where can I eat with no asterisks?
Community Quotes
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