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So I came here during happy hour on a Thursday, so I can only speak for what goes on here from 7 to 9 on a brisk April evening.
It just felt so damn comfortable here. The Fling is like sliding on an old pair of jeans that are well worn and loved. The dark lighting, purplish walls (mauve?), overstuffed booths and barstools, outdated everything, it just said to me "Alex, you are home."
So I decided to celebrate my belated homecoming by inadvertently getting piss drunk. With $3 drinks poured with a generous hand, you can't afford NOT to get liquored up.
The rest of the patrons were middle-aged, some enjoying an after-work tipple, some passively watching the various sportsgames on the teletubes, and some sweet old couples chatting quietly. We got the jukebox going and proceeded to get our swerve on.
As we were leaving, our mission well accomplished, a band was tuning up. They sounded pretty decent, but I had to get home before my parole officer noticed I wasn't at home.
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This place is a total local dive bar. It can be quite entertaining at times though. I've seen the age range any where from spring chickens to tail from the crypt. I had a buddy that lived down the street and we use to walk over here often. It is hit and miss but I still have a pretty good time as the bartenders are friendly and make strong drinks.
This place is very small and on the weekends, you are packed in like a sardine. People are friendly and when Phil Shane played here, it was a treat for those that like Elvis looking singers. About 7 months ago, I saw Phil Shane perform at La Cave and he still knows how to work a crowd.
Parking is easy as it is in the Stater Bros center. Bring a sober driver though, as the Highway Patrol Station is not too far from this spot.
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It's a dive. Make no mistakes about it. But I dig dives, so I'm a little biased.
I went with some friends on a Friday night. There was a booth open amid a small sea of what appeared to be regulars. We sat down quick and got our drinks even quicker. I had a beer, but my friends were pleased with their well drinks.
There was a band, which was pretty good... and really who doesn't want to belt out Neil Diamond songs at the top of their lungs in a bar where no one's gonna judge ya, not even for a second.
If you're going out just to chill in an unassuming, but comfortable, and not-to-snazzy place, stop by The Fling. If dives, dim lights, or the non-gilded OC crowd isn't your cup of tea, skip it.
Ever seen Swingers? This place is like the public access version of The Dresden Room. For. Real.
This place is awesome. People are really nice and drinks are STIFF. You can get totally plastered with a buddy and your tab will be around $40.00.
I miss Eddie Day though. I did find out that he plays on Saturday nights at The Other Place at 316 S. Euclid in Anaheim.
I took 1 star off because Eddie is no longer at the Fling. If the owners are reading this, please bring him back
The fling at one time was one of the best dive bars in orange county. I actually rented an apartment because it was next door to this place. Unfortunately its not what it once was. No more smoking inside, no more Eddie Day. Although it dose not have its former glory its still an amazing place to grab a cheap drink and some of the best people watching in orange county.
MY FAVORITE DIVE BAR IN ORANGE COUNTY..It is super tiny but has such a charm to it. If you like classic rock and aren't afraid of getting hit on by older men than this is the place for you. They have a live band playing and their drinks are cheap and really strong. I love that they give you peanuts with your drinks as well. There is a "dance floor" but it is really small. Its a great place to pre-party with your friends.
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This is the most epic dive bar I have ever been to in my life. Never will there be a better bar. Avoid this place on Friday and Saturday, there's just no way there would be enough room for folks on a crowded night. Drinks are strong and cheap. The live band on Sunday-Tuesday is brilliant-- one of the singers is a dead ringer for Steve Perry and peppers the playlist with Journey hits. After a couple Tom Collins', I was loaded and howling "Don't Stop Believin'" at the top of my lungs. A better night at a bar has never been had.
Yes, it's now non-smoking. Ok, there's faded old paintings of nude women all over the walls. There's not much room to walk. But this place is perfect. And the best part? The bathrooms are spotless.
I am in love.
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This place SUX! I hated it, I went this past Saturday and quickly understood I did not belong there. It's a total "Oldie but Farty" kind of bar. Do not go here unless you enjoy:
1. Damaged hair
2. Leathery skin
3. Toupees
4. A total asshole of a bartender.
Thanks but no thanks, I'll stick to the bars in LBC.
p.s. *Hipster alert, this bar is brimming with ultra-trash-rock-star appeal.
Phil Shane rocks the party that rocks the body.
Please bring him back to the Fling so you can earn the 5 stars I just gave you.
It's hard to explain.
For all the reasons you'd probably hate this bar, I like The Fling for the same exact reasons. And for that, it's quite possibly the greatest dive bar in Southern California.
I can't wait to come back here.
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I like the Fling. I'd give it four stars if Eddie Day were still on the docket. Where did he go? I wanted to show my lady the Wizard of Rock n' Roll. Also, last I was in I noticed the smell of stale smoke but not fresh smoke, so I guess they've cracked down on that.
Fun wallpaper, bawdy pastel paintings, cover bands, reasonably priced drinks, conveniently located next to a Stater Brothers (ample parking!). There is an interesting mix of patrons. You can watch old timers who know how to dance dance.
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I did it! I achieved my lifelong dream of being the first customer at 6:00am (Well, 6:03). It was everything I had imagined, and more.
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Not everyone's cup of tea, I'll admit...
The Fling has been an integral part of my early adulthood.…
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The mang took me here a couple of times when we were first dating...yeah, shows what he thought of me when he first met me!
Anyway...
The Fling is an absolute dive -- and I used to love me some dive bars back when I was broke and drinkin' it up in the name of rock n roll.
But now, I'm old and boring...
The Fling....
Nestled away in a dark corner of a strip mall in Orange, CA, the Fling exudes everything you can possibly want in this dark cesspool of stale booze, tobacco stained walls and dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs, you ask?
Yes, here you will encounter a species known as the Ancient Barfly. This particular kind of dinosaur is found with a smoke in one hand and a Manhattan in the other and will go by the name of Shirley or Peggy.
She's a wild one and she may not be the biting type, but boy do her dentures have a mind of their own!
You will also encounter a few male dinos that LOVE to dance.
With a quick guzzle of whiskey, a couple Viagra and Neil Diamond on the Juke Box, there is no stopping this feller.
What I like about this place is its charm. You will hardly ever find a bar that carries out the simplicity the Fling does. Cheap booze, quaint folk, old-ass everything and mothball/Marlboro/Bourbon aromatherapy.
I believe this is where Phil Shane also got his start performing Neil Diamond/Elvis covers. But for now, all you'll find is a Jabba the Hutt looking man sitting in the middle of the bar playing covers with a gee-tar and a Casio track player.
Ahhhhh, that's one heck of a bar, Joe.
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Can we say Jurassic Park. Don't get me wrong this is an awesome dive bar but I think we were the only ones in there under 50. Our sever was extremely friendly and the drinks strong and cheap. Not the place to go to find your next relationship (unless your into that May/December thing) but definitly a place to go with a couple friends, people watch and forget your worries. It's kind of comical watching the older generation work the room and they had a live band playing old school country music. It's almost like a time capsule
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this is a cool little dive bar not too far from where I live.
a place you can go and have a drink, sit in the corner and figure things out.
a place where drinks wont cost your an arm and a leg.
this is a place there you find solace after a hards day work.
The name is kinda misleading as you really won't find a "Fling" here. But it is a great hidden gem of a bar.
As others have mentioned they have live music from time to time, a juke box, some tv's to watch sports by the bar. The people are pretty friendly as well.
I feel like going there right now....
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Cool spot, but a total cougar bar. A friend of mine and I went to scope it out not too long ago and I could of sworn we walked into an AARP meeting. Drinks are pretty middle of the road, and the cheesy house band? Well, they're cheesy. I guess they gotta keep their regular clientele happy. Best part of the night was when we went outside for a cigarette and some flat biller on a skate board came up and started talking to us, while he was digging through the ashtray and proceeded to light and smoke a used cigarette. Definitely interesting.
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Oh Fling, I can't wait to spend yet another Christmas night inside you.
Seriously, it has become tradition and with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I've been getting amped on my holiday trip home.
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NOTE: There is live music all the time..
NOTE: If you are a prude and need to be in a flashy bar where one would go out of their way to look cute then this may not be your place... In fact you may think that you have waisted and outfit to come here.. This is just a whatever and no one gives two shits about you sort of a bar.. It's perfect!
I have been only been here one other time prior to last Friday and I like it a lot better now than before... You can't smoke in here any more!!!! YAY.. No more stinky hair the morning after.. Nothing sucks more than having a little bit of a hang over and waking up to smelling your hair smelling of cigarette smoke.. So.. 5 STARS now for the change in here..
So, we came for a b-day get together. Drinks are cheap $4 for my vodka soda water and super strong as well... The live band was rad.. The patrons were interesting... Let's just say it is a diverse crowd in here.. You have your strange looking folk (the kind that just look lost all the time), you have your hard core alcoholics (the kind that look like they get here at opening time which say s 6AM on the sign... Then there are the cougars, the bikers, the bearded dudes that look like ZZ Top, the older dudes that looked like they may of been cholos in their younger days and then there are the hipsters.. All of this crammed in one spot makes for an interesting evening.. Everyone is chill here and it's funny as fuck to people watch... My girlfriend and I had to pretend to be together because one guy would not leave me alone.... Other than that it's fun.... Oh, I forgot o mention that I saw ONE preppy dude rocking a Cal Polly sweater.. Whom was very nice...
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Hands down, the best dive bar I've been to.....
1. I smoked inside....(sorry non's)
2. I drank cheap booze
3. I sat on maroon vinyl upholstery
4. I had good conversations with my elders
5. I had the nicest slow dance ever with Walter, who is 48 years my senior, and I did not feel creeped out at all.
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If you're looking to get drunk cheaply while listening to the wayward tunes of a bedraggled sailor on a MIDI keyboard, gazing at paint-by-number art of naked ladies, the FLING is your place. I've spent many nights here with my friends when I'm back home for the holidays and it is always slightly awful, but fun.
Used to be they let you smoke here. No more, my friends. (thank god, I hated that anyway)
Last time I went they had a deformed-looking dummy set up in a corner booth with his back to the room. It was pretty creepy, and newcomers kept getting spooked by the weird man in the corner.
It seems like every time I used to come here several years ago it was a pick-up bar for seniors, and this 40-something dude in a mustache would always work the old ladies into a frenzy with his Boogie Nights looks. Haven't seen him recently. Probably settled down. Fling turned into a ring...
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What's better than watching 40 and 50-something year olds embarrassing themselves on the dance floor?!
NOTHING!
Cheap drinks. Nice service. Lots of tables. Live music. And only a small amount of creeps! Cool!
I frequent The Fling somewhat often, perhaps once a month - only on the days that Eddie Day: The Wizard of Rock n Roll is playing, mind you. For more on Eddie, read the previous review by Mario F, as he states the situation succinctly and accurately.
The drinks here are very affordable: ~$6, and this is on a Fri/Sat night. So that's a plus. Not to mention they put at least double the amount of alcohol compared to if you were at some swankier bar/club. I get crown & cokes and they pretty much pour almost all Crown and just give a splash of Coke; it's delicious!
The atmosphere used to be a lot better before they started turning on the lights on the chandeliers on over the tables towards the front of the house, but it's still tolerable. It's not as smoky as it used to be back when the previous waitress (with all the tattoos) was working there, as it seems as though they made a concerted effort to curtail such actions in the bar - I'm guessing they took some criticism from some standards/codes people about this.
A good place to go for cheap (strong) drinks and to watch old (and I mean old) people move like you never imagined they could. Get ready to sing along to "Sweet Caroline" and "Sweet Home Alabama"... OR DIE.
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probably one of my favorite dive bars of all time.
i love a good dive bar and this definitely is one. great place to go with a group of friends and start off or end the night. like everyone else says the drinks are good and reasonably priced. sometimes you'll be the youngest one there by 40 or 50 years and im 25! i think that adds to the atmosphere. the bands that play there are always good and entertaining. i have yet to have a bad night at the fling.
As a woman, this is the only type of fling I can handle. If I become emotionally attached, it will still be there. (From 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.) If I spend all night with it, it will still love me in the morning. The drinks here are so cheap, there is no need to worry about any horrific bar charges made drunk. I don't know about you, but that is love. How is this place a Fling? I would never know. My friends try to convince me that it's not, but I just won't listen.
If you're in search of a true dive bar, complete with all the trappings of dive bar such as dim lighting, cowboy hats, senior citizens, jukeboxes, 'Victorian' paintings of nude women and Las Vegas style musical entertainment -- look no further.
About smoking indoors...don't do it. It appears that they've cracked down on that.
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I like dive bars but not this place. Went on a Friday and it was packed. Felt like my friend and I were at a meat market. Average age of patrons was around 45-50 yrs old. Music was too loud. I walked in then walked right out.
Disclaimer: If you like your threads and your lungs, you might not want to go to this place.
Fling brings a smile to my face. It is the quintessential dive bar, complete with old people that have been smoking since they were ten yrs-old, crackheads screaming at the empty seat next to them, and an Elvis impersonator- Eddie Day taking request for free shots. Beautiful women instinctively flock to him like the salmon of Capistrano.
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A timeless classic.
Smoking inside. Middle and older aged types slow dancing, very drunk, at 1 in the a.m.
Red upholstered booths.
Did I mention the cockroaches the size of puppies in the parking lot?
Never your first stop of the night, but often your last.
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This place is legendary.
Ed Chiaverini, a.k.a Eddie Day: The Wizard of Rock n Roll, is probably the biggest reason to waste a Friday or Saturday night at this dive. He played guitar for The Lively Ones; A Southern California instrumental surf rock band that played during the 1960s (see track 15 on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack). Equipped with nothing but a MIDI machine, a guitar, and a few props, Eddie is a one man show that puts it ON and turns it OUT. Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, Alabama, James Hornsby, Billy Joel and much more are all included his stacks of 3.5'' floppy disks. If it's Friday and the dive gods are with you, a no younger than 83yr old man will croon while Eddie takes a break (his name escapes me).
The drinks are fairly priced and they allow people to smoke inside. The mean age of the crowd is somewhere in the area of 50yrs old with a few hipsters in the mix. Definitely worth checking out if you are looking to change up the weekend routine a little bit.
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If someone told me that the patrons of The Fling had been stuck there since the late 60s or early 70s I'd assume that they'd been partying ever since.
The Fling is a hole in the wall dive bar in the corner of a strip mall that I'd expect to see my grandmother at. With that said the place also has character oozing out of every crack in the wall or every plume of smoke that exits the front door.
The bottom line is that you probably can't find a better Elvis impersonator/Cover Artist than Eddie Dey. Just let me tell you, watch your women - he told a friend of mine that she had taken "too many cute pills". You should have seen her swoon.
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Finding a little flava (yes, flava) isn't all that hard in Orange County, you just have to know where to look! Luckily I have the best tour guide ever and he took me to The Fling last night after a fabulous dinner at Zov's.
I think this is going to be my new favorite bar. This place looks like it opened in 1972 (maybe earlier) and it hasn't changed one bit since. The crowd is a total mixed bag of people in their 50's and 60's dancing to the songs they remember to 20-something bar flies looking for some booty.
The big draw at the Fling? Eddie Day. Simply put, Eddie is the man. He sits behind his bar and entertains the hell out of the crowd with his guitar and midi files. We heard everything from Black Velvet (my song!) to a little Dino and lots of Elvis.
Other reasons to love the Fling? They let you smoke. Inside! I got to sit down with my drink and actually smoke. I know - to some of you that's probably not a good thing. But bars are supposed to be smoky. Deal with it. Carrie our cocktail waitress was a goddess. Even before we'd finish a round, our next drink would be waiting for us. Between two of us we probably had around 10 drinks. The Tab? $25!!! And she called me baby girl. I love her.
To sum up the Fling - It's cheesy, It's old school and I love it.
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OK, is there anything more fun than slamming down a pitcher of Bud Light and having an old dude who looks exactly like Kenny Rogers swing you around the dance floor to the smooth sounds of Eddie Day? I think not.
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i went here last saturday not expecting much but i was surprised, in more ways than one.
bad sign #1: it was in a stater bros. strip mall.
bad sign # 2: hipsters seem to love it and i can almost see why. there's a decent live band that plays 70s & 80s rock (which i love), the people in the bar are interesting to look at (they are all middle-aged or older with crazy outfits and i think one guy had a walker), and the drinks are strong and cheap. what can be wrong with this? nothing, as long as you don't mind a bartender who not only randomly disappears into the back for about 5 minutes at a time with no replacement (maybe to take a pee, maybe to do lines?) but repeatedly ignores you, then yells at you for not screaming your order fast enough. to top it all off, the waitress yells at you for being upset when the bartender insults you and tells you that there are other orders more important than yours.
i guess this place must pay their bartenders and waitresses pretty well because they certainly weren't working for tips. i checked the bar every once in a while and no one was leaving them any. this is a place i totally would have gone back to, except for the awful service.
After a traumatizing viewing of Their Will be Blood ("I will drink your milkshake") we decided to head over to the Fling to grab a few cocktails. Walking in after a year or more absence, I noticed a fresh clean smell - they banned smoking. Thank god! I also noticed that the same people, in the same seats, were still there. I ordered my usual from Jill and our group found a nice corner to watch the Wizard of Rock and Roll, Eddie Day. After I heard the dreadful sound of my straw trying to suck up ice cubs, I realized it was time for another drink. I proceeded to the bar and ordered a drink from the male bartender and put it on my tab. Two seconds later I had a flashlight in my face, with the bartender telling me that he couldn't find my tab and that I had to talk to Jill. She (being the sweetest barmaid ever) threw her arm around me and offered to buy me a shot. I ordered my favorite, a shot of Jameson. She laughed and said, "where do you think you are honey, this is the Fling." I went with Crown and we both were happy girls. After an hour or so we were lucky enough to get a seat at the bar, which of course meant a better viewing of Eddy. No sooner did we sit down, that Jill poured half a beer on my husband's thigh. Another shot of Crown came my way as Jill said "he gets wet, you get a shot."
Oh yeah... when you see a little mexican guy, wearing an apron, yelling out "tacos tacos," I highly recommend that you run out the back door. Being drunk and hearing those magical words - could life get any better?
Man I love that bar!
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i have to say that this is one of the best dive bars i have ever been to. it has all the stereotypes that you are looking for... middle aged white folks, the older waitress with the breast tat peeking thru, lounge entertainment from a one man band, tacky but amazing nude lady wall art, and of course cheap drinks.
i had quite a few drinks and enjoyed myself and didn't end up breaking the bank. i would recommend the fling but beware friday and saturday nights are busy.
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This is a very scene dive bar, never really understood why this place was so popular nothing special no real charm just smokey as hell. If your into this type of bar I recommend McClure's Bar & Grill in Tustin, It's just like the fling even down to the decor just with no smoke. But if your into the smoke, I recommend the Iron Mule in Lake Forest.
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my friend and i came here once and each drank 4-5 beers (bud light, class all the way). our bill came, and it was $18.
this place feels like it belongs downtown in vegas. dark lighting, maroon everything. time does not pass inside the fling. the hot ladies and gents of yesteryear can come together and dance to some great tunes. when you get home you'll feel like you smoked a pack of marlboro reds unfiltered. watch out for walkers and canes parked near the door. (seriously)
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what can I say about the fling??? Smoke filled, strong drinks. old ladies gettin drunk and have a damn good time!!!!!! I'll tell you what, every time I walk into this bar I fall in love with it all over again, drinking my drink and listening to Eddie Dey rock it out is my type of night. If you haven't gone to the Fling, then you haven't gone to a dive bar!!!!!!
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Orange, CA
Category: Dive Bars
Orange, CA
Category: Dive Bars
Tustin, CA
Category: Dive Bars
Orange, CA
Category: Dive Bars
Orange, CA
Category: Dive Bars
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