Rock Bar
3015 E Colfax Ave
Denver, CO 80206 (303) 322-4444
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Music: DJ
- Best Nights: Wed, Thu
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Smoking: Outdoor Area/Patio Only
- Coat Check: No
23 Reviews for Rock Bar
I give Rock Bar 3.5 stars. Last night was my first 80s night and it was freakin dead. But that was okay since I wasn't in a raging mood, anyway.
I have had several good nights there, mostly on Saturdays (Old School hip hop night).
Cheap drinks, great bar tenders, and good music. It is really loud, so don't go hoping to have a deep conversation.
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Here, in no particular order, is a list of things that you can find at Rock Bar:
1. Shots of Mad Dog 20/20, in multiple flavors for the discerning tongue
2. The fast version of Ms. Pac-Man, which I had the high score on as of 1 am this morning
3. Other old school video games such as Donkey Knog, Frogger, Joust and Defender
4. Some of the cheapest drinks you'll enjoy in the Mile High City
5. Sweet old school hip-hop and 80s music
6. A mirrored wall that allows you to check out your sweet dance moves
7. A lounge area for resting your tired dancing feet or pretending you are VIP
8. A giant line any time after 11:30 on the weekends
9. A super sticky floor
10. People from LOTS of walks of life
So, you know, it's a casual place that you can dance to on almost any night while drinking bum wines on the cheap. Works for me.
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One day I think I'd like to leave RockBar and just check into the hotel that houses it, order some pizza and fall asleep on, what I imagine will most likely be, a vibrating bed.
I think that might be one of the perfect endings for a night after RockBar. A night that contains the following:
-Sweaty Dancing
-Sweaty Drinking
-Sweaty Viedo-gaming
-Sweaty Pool
While I might not be painting the best picture of RockBar here, I want to make sure that everyone understands that I've had a great time every time I've been to RockBar. It's great place to indulge in your cheap-beer-drinking, old-school-dancing, primal self. The've opened a back-bar by the dance floor that makes getting a drink as easy as can be. Pretty much everything else is as described by my fellow RockBar compatriots. See you there.
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I'm pretty much on the fence about this place. I've only been on a Saturday, which is old school hip-hop night, and there seem to be the same people there each time. Lots of skinny coked-up hipsters and scantily clad women frequent the place (one pretty girl was wearing a nightie that showed everything...let's leave something to the imagination for the men please). Maybe I'm just getting too old for places like this. A guy I was with who doesn't like clubs said that the dance floor reminded him of a very odd wedding reception.
I can't imagine going without a big group because it's crowded and the people there are sort of annoying and act like you are not there. They do have an arcade though, with old school games like Frogger, Donkey Kong and Joust, for only a quarter a game!
Some other good things about the place: It's big. There is a lounge to the right that looks like you have stepped in to Boogie Nights, as the wallpaper and tables/booths are intact from the late 1970's. So if you want to sit and chill you can. I love when I can sit down at a bar if I so choose. The doorman Robert is really nice, which is pretty unusual for a dance club. The drinks are cheap. I drank Rum and Cokes for $4 each (see my review of DC10 where the well drinks are $7 UGH). It's fun to dance to some of the nostalgic tunes of my adolescent years, although the DJ is just ok. He'll tease you onto the dance floor with an excellent tune and then change to a completely different song with a totally different vibe about half way through.
Some bad things about it: see above about the people. I actually got in an argument with a guy the second time I was there when he said to me "GET OUTTA MY WAY!" as he walked by me while there was ample room for him to walk around me. Now is that any way to treat the ladies? Turns out he works there (I guess not on Saturdays), and someone told me he is always an a-hole to everyone. Maybe that is why he there on his nights off because nobody else wants to hang out with him.
A final good thing is that lots of cabs drive by to pick up all the wasted people pouring out, so if you ever find yourself on east Colfax needing a ride home, just walk toward the Rock Bar and you'll find one.
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Rockbar is one of my favorite places to people watch in Denver. Every time I go here, I see a really interesting mix of people. From the most painfully, super-trendy hipster to borderline preppy.
The drinks are cheap (my favorite kind) and the bartenders are fast and attentive. And even when the dance section of the bar is packed, the bar section is usually not that long of a wait.
The music is awesome every time I go there and the dance floor is usually pretty packed, but there's plenty of space to dance on the sidelines.
The sit down area is just about as awesome as my mind could imagine with mirrors and retro lighting.
This is a great place to go out on a Friday night if you feel like a loud, dancy night out with friends.
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I just don't like Rock Bar.
I am firm in this. I don't like Rock Bar and I am not going to be convinced otherwise.
Yes, the drinks are cheap, but you get cheap booze. For cheap. Seems like nothing too special to me.
But the real reason I don't like Rock Bar is the crowd. The descriptors come flooding to mind: chads, amateurs, hipsters on cheap coke.
The DJ I experienced on a recent Saturday Night couldn't mix his way out of a paper bag, and his terrible sets were interspersed with loud, nonsensical yelling into the mike. Maybe I'm getting old, but I just don't get it.
The whole scene reminds me of The Emperor's Clothes. You can tell me that a bad hotel bar is a cool bar with a bad hotel bar "theme." But don't expect me to believe it.
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The inside of the Rock Bar is decorated like Mike Tyson's bedroom. You can get a shot of MD for $.75 or a can of PBR for $2. I bothered to open a tab and still only managed to spend $10 here.
If you think about it, charging $.75 for a shot of MD is a huge mark-up. It sounded like such a good idea but as soon as a shot of Strawberry-Kiwi MD came into contact my gastrointestinal system, things got weird. Next time I'll remember to specify a flavor, but I already know that Grape and I have had a very difficult past. So maybe I'll just skip the shot altogether.
They have an amazing array of video games, and I managed to get stomped at both Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac Man. They're only a quarter, or 1/3 of a shot of MD. They also have a pool table that is in mostly good condition, except for the 7 ball. There are these rocks sticking out of the wall by the Frogger machine that look like they'd make good drink holders, but don't fall for that. It cost me half a beer.
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Stinky
Sweaty
Dark
Smelly
Your feet stick to the floor.
Outside of the above, the Rock Bar has potential. It could be one of those places where one could go to get a bit wild - in the dancing your bum off sense. However, unfortunately, the attention span of the DJ is that of 2 year old. (A friend mentioned that this particular D.J. wasn't there on a Saturday Night - if that helps to influence anyone) He switches the songs at a pace of about every 30-45 seconds. Can you imagine? It was more frustrating than anything.
Also, the clientele can be a bit .. umm.. interesting. I'm sure some portion of the crowd was high on something other than Mad dog and pbr's.
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Drink your face off, then to the dance floor to boogie your bum off, then back to the face. I know, I know. Rock Bar is sceney. Rock Bar is so (imagine air quotes) "hip" that on a given Saturday night you will have to wait in line to get in. On the flip side, drinks are cheap, the inside is SO retro - in both cheesey and cool ways - and where else along Colfax can you go any night of the week to shake your money-maker with a group that is there only to shake theirs? Take that my friends, take that. Boo-ya.
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Eh. Hit and miss now. Everytime a bar shows up in Westword, the douchebags flock to it and ruin the fun for everyone.
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This place is hit or miss in a big way. It's got an interesting setup, the bar staff are accessible and the drinks are quality. It yaws wildly between scene-dom, freak-dom, and something-with-an-air-of-sodden-desperation-dom. But whatever night you go, you are guaranteed some fine peoplewatching.
I look forward to hitting up their service industry night on monday, one of these weeks. Sounds interesting.
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Where else in Denver can you get wasted off of cheap beer and Jager and get a hotel room by the hour? And dance your ass off to the classic prom hits of your youth? It's like a slice of heaven on the Cold Hard Fax!!!
Forget international summits. Forget aid missions. Forget brokered agreements. Forget buying the world a Coke and teaching it to sing...
...if we REALLY want to achieve World Peace, all we need to do is play cheesy 80s dance music, 24/7. Because nothing brings people together like getting their Molly Ringwald moves on to some A-Ha.
So, to do our part for World Peace, some friends and I hit the Rock Bar last Thursday night for some prime 80s dancing. And believe me, we were not disappointed! This place is a dive in all the right ways. Textured wallpaper (um... maybe made out of straw?), rock paneling, and naugahyde booths line the walls. The little dance floor (too sticky for breakdancing once the night wore on, but if you get there early you might be able to bust a backspin or two) is lined with mirrors in case you need to check out your moves. Don't lie... we all do it. The booze is cheap (Mad Dog 20/20 shots for a buck) and classless (no bottled beers... only cans!). The crowd is diverse and happy to be so. Punksters, hipsters, slutsters, fratsters, no-definition-sters, and even the lone Septagenerian Silver Fox cruising through the crowd with his suitcoat slung over one shoulder like he was modeling for After Hours Tuxedowear... we all mingled together in a mess of Billie Jean and OMD. Proof positive that 80s music DOES indeed bring the world together.
Middle East nations, take note. If you need me to make you a mix tape, I totally will. Totally.
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God, the RockBar is so ghetto. Intentionally dive-y. It truly is hipster hell. Girls doing coke in the bathroom- hell, there's probably glory holes to put your dick in.
I like the dim atmosphere and the booths. The decor is rather charmingly tacky, if that makes sense.
Friendly, funny bartenders. Cheap beer by the can. Like Pabst, Milwaukee's Best, Schlitz, etc. Mad Dog 20/20. Pathetic liquor selection. Dj's spin often. Dance floor. I've witnessed some pretty horrid hippy/raver dancing there in the past.
It's just off the Bluebird district. I've been solicited by hookers in the area.
To sum it up, the RockBar is a sh*thole in a very endearing way.
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I'm a huge fan of dive bars, this is definitely one of the more fun bars I have been to in Denver. It is "intentionally divey," but I think thats what makes it great. I went here last night after consuming a large amount of wine with some friends. The atmosphere is awesome, bartenders are cool, and drinks are cheap. The music was pretty good, a really eclectic mix of music from the DJ that made it really fun.
A Sundown Saloon - Lipgloss Friday at LaRumba mixture. The bathroom was nasty, with not nearly enough impossible-to-interpret graffiti on the walls. A dance-dive. There were some slimy guys looking for some stupid girls to take home and... well, you know. Not classy. I must admit, the bartendress that took care of me was 'easy on the eyes', if you will, and the music was decent. I must also admit that the song that got me on the dancefloor WAS Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Baby I Got Your Money". I like any DJ that can play a lot of songs that will get me doing my interpretation of a hipster-heeltap or pointing my fingers at the rest of the people in the bar like I was a Village People. And if you don't feel you're drunk enough to dance yet and you're still waiting for your friends, you can always check out the sweet skateboarding videos and try to figure out in your head how to ollie for the bazillionth time. How do they DO that? After my friends showed up, it got a lot more fun. Robert, the large bespectacled Aftrican-American doorman who used to work at 'Round Midnight in Boulder (where I enjoyed refining my dancing and pool skillz in college), hugged me for wearing my friend's elf hat. It CAN be that kind of place. Go check it out if you're classy. It deserves more classy people.
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This is a gem on the Fax, well at least in my book. This was our "End-up" after our Golf Pros and Tennis Hos Colfax Pub Crawl. Our pub crawl didn't turn out to be much of a crawl but it sure was a most memborable evening on the Fax. Started the night off at Atomic Cowboy then skipped across the street to Goosetown and then ended up at Rock Bar and untz untz untzed the night away. So much fun!
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i should have known that i wasn't going to be blown away by the rock bar just because it's in scuzzy looking motel. and of course i went on a saturday night, which means it's gonna be crazy packed and filled with weirdos. they have nice bartenders there, but it took about forever and day to get a drink or even just water. i will say that it's nice they have separate rooms to hang in though.
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What the fuck happened to Rock Bar, man???
I remember when this place opened, I thought: Wow, a bar as of yet unblemished by jock bros on Colfax. For a few months, I had good times. I could always count on seeing a friend, or dancing it up.
So then I show up last Satruday only to be confronted by SUPER drunk girls wearing their bras poking out from beneath their too tiny tank tops, and a man wearing a felt patchwork fishing hat and a hawaiin shirt, dancing to Superfreak.
Why?
I will say this: the booze is cheap, the bartenders are pretty cool, and Thursdays are good times. Other than that, its become a real crapshoot.
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Not a bad joint. The inside reminds me of some dingy rumpus room owned by a middle aged metal head with money. And the fact that it is tucked away under the All Inn Motel is hilarious. Some nights are better than others. My preferred night is Thursday where Rockstar Aaron spins his 80's music and plays old Pee Wee's Playhouse episodes or B-52 videos on the big screens. Before he purchased a remote operated fog machine he let me fog up the dance floor with this old machine and paid me 20 bucks that went to my tab. Not bad.
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I get really really weirded out by overly bright bar. Maybe it's because I don't like people seeing my boozing tendencies or maybe it's because I realize that everyone looks better in dim lighting. Either way, I gravitate towards darker bars which is what initially appealed to me about Rock Bar. I also loved the fact that I could grab a table OR find a seat at the bar with minimal effort. That's not to say that it wasn't a little crowded... it's just there were enough seats to go around for everyone.
What really sealed the deal for me with Rock Bar was a situation that occurred after I deposited my money. Right away the DJ started up so naturally I was disappointed that I was not going to hear my songs. But, the bartender refunded my money AND gave me a free shot. Of course, it was Tuaca which acts like a memory eraser for me, but I can say that up until that point I remember having a great time at Rock Bar.
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I wanted to be first to review but I guess I'm second. Rock Bar is awesome. Already voted one of Denver's best by the Westword last week, I had it on my exclusive list a month ago...the highlight of a night at the Rock Bar is remembering your high school glory days with the $1 shots of Mad Dog 20/20. It's so good...once it hits your lips. The staff has always been friendly and very accommodating when about 40 of us showed up for my friend's 30th bday, unannounced. That's all I've got to say. Good times.
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Located on the corner of Colfax and Fillmore and comfortably nestled on the first floor of the ever accommodating All Inn Motel, Rock Bar represents all that is good and evil about drinking. Featuring trendy beer served only in the can (Olympia, Schlitz, Natty Light, Old Style, etc.) and EVERY flavor of Mad Dog 20/20 ever created--Rock Bar is the trendsetter for 'high' class. Local Punk DJs spin everything imaginable for patrons on it's famed dance floor, and on any given night you're bound to run into an amalgamation between Denver's 'East Colfax Celebs' and the Hipster throngs that frequent the fine establishment. Watch out for the Rock Bar Wookie if you step out of line, stay away from the Green Mad Dog, and if a skinny blond girl is working behind the bar--ask her for a Scud if you know what's best.
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