The Amsterdam Bar
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Music: Live
- Best Nights: Mon, Tue, Sat
- Happy Hour: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Smoking: Yes
- Coat Check: No
22 Reviews for The Amsterdam Bar
I thought this place was going to be THE place I would want to be from now on but...no. They have a beer board: I had a nice nut brown, but there's no interaction with the beer (i.e. the bar is not an active part of the Amsterdam experience). Except for the bartender on crack...or meth...or something. He seems super excited about what you're doing but really, his reactions seems more a product of whatever he's on than a real a real empathetic response.
The place is cool, rather smoky for my taste, but a great outdoor patio in the back. Not sure when I'll go again, but glad I went to for a taste.
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Maybe a little out of the way from my home but i dug the low key atmosphere. aka dark and cozy and (my all time favorite) dive bar-y.
so get a beer and settle back with your friends.
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Amsterdam Bar is great as long as you aren't one of those boring asses who like to pretend that Dallas is LA. It's not. move there and leave me alone (talking to you, uptown) Seriously, the service is great, the bartenders are hilarious and the beer selection is extensive. Great Jukebox, Great Patio with complimentary OFF for those pesky mosquitos and grills if you need to hook up some hamburger action. Bonus: no televisions or other trappings that boring people need to interact at a bar. Just good beer, good music and great conversation.
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This bar is filled to the brim with interesting scotches, beers and other various libations. Favorite beers are the Aventinus from Germany and the Live Oak Hefeweizen that is brewed down in Austin. (but I'm partial to wheat beers, at least in the summertime. There is an offering for every taste.) The bartenders and patrons are generally super friendly and the prices are good. If you're on your best behavior you may even get a buy back.
Live music events occur regularly, there is always local art on display and for sale and one of the best parts, no TVs to deter interesting conversation from taking place.
I am not aware of any food for sale. I'd recommend picking up or eating at the Meridian Room and then coming to Amsterdam afterwards. I have yet to go to any other food places in the "district" but I know there are some others.
Enjoy your time in this pocket of cool far away from the Uptown "scene."
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The Amsterdam is just a hop, skip and jump away from Fair Park and the local hotspots like Meridian Room and Minc. The bar atmosphere is very laid back and creatively decorated with different lights and local artwork. There's a back patio with wooden benches and tables that is the best place to go on Monday for live jazz nights; these guys are super talented!
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This place use to be a lot cooler years ago, as many of the elements have disappeared. Not really worth the drive anymore as it's turn into a typical hole in the wall bar that lacks personality. Only reason to come was my friends who know the bartender who seemed like a nice enough fellow.
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I only had one beer here, but I was pretty disappointed at being charged $5.50 for a pretty common beer. Other overpriced bars manage to keep things at$5 or below. Why can't this place. I did not like this place as much as Fallout Lounge, Meridien Room or Monkey Bar.
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I had no idea Dallas was this cool. Went to Amsterdam Bar Friday night and actually for a moment felt like I WAS in Amsterdam. The crowd all looked like they were in a band or were artists or did some other super cool arty job. No dress code here, wear whatever you want, and the quirkier the better. There was a dude in a gold leather jacket...and a couple of guys sporting fake fur coats! PIMP! People were friendly as was the bartender. Drinks weren't that strong but they rarely are (unless you are at the Loon hehe). One seater bathroom that doesn't "catch" which is a problem if you don't have someone to watch the door for you. Back patio was huge, but it was too cold to go stand out there the night I went. Overall laid back cool vibe...I am definitely going back.
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Went for the jazz monday night and I had a great time! Very cool laid back place..mixed crowd of young and old.
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Is there something wrong with me? Once again I have to give a low score to a usually high scoring establishment. Maybe it's just me (sigh) I just don't know.
If you have ever read a review of mine, it's pretty obvious that I appreciate a good alcoholic beverage at a fun bar. I drank Red Bull at this place (no joke) because I was seriously so friggin bored out of my mind that I thought if I had a beer or other sedating liquid I would actually fall asleep. I wish I was kidding.
Ok, this place has cool decorations... and that's really about it on it's cool factor. Oh yeah, outdoor seating. Um... other than that... yeah, that's about it. The only way this place could get 5 stars from me is if each star represented a yawn or an eye roll.
Live band... blah. Drink selection... alright, but pretty self-righteous for beer slinging. Customer service... I think I might have actually squeezed in a nap while I was waiting on my Red Bull. Patio... pretty lights, but uncomfortable picnic tables and wire chairs.
I think the best way I could describe this place is to call it Pot-Head Chic. You know, the kind of place that could only seem cool if you are a habitual grass-smoker (which pretty much describes the clientele).
Ok, Negative Nancy , leave Amsterdam alone. Seems like alot of other people (weirdos) like it...
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jazz on mondays should be a staple of dallas, if it isnt already. it's a must for anyone with a beating pulse.
great beer on draught here. just about anything worth your sip can be purchased and served by the nicest bartenders in town. great place to go with a small group or play a game of chess.
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this bar would get 5 stars were it not for its terrible bartender service. from the other reviews this seems to be a fluke, but we hung out here on sunday before a show at the starplex (or whatever) and it took nearly 20 minutes for the bartender to get orders in. and it wasn't crowded. at all. i will go back bc i like the patio and the long list of beers on tap (hence the 3 stars), but if it's raining i would probably opt for meridien room instead. no kitchen here and no take out menus, but they do have a grill on the back patio if you are up to the task.
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This is a great place in a great location. I love the ambience. They have a main room and also a patio out back. The beer selection is awsome, the crowd is laid back, hipsters, hippies, and other eccentrics. The service is great. Its a good place to go with friends to hang out or get crazy. I believe they have live music nearly every night of the week. Right next door to Expo Park Cafe, Fallout Lounge and Minc. The owner is really cool.
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Glorious shining example for how a bar should be. No television. No frickin' Golden Tee. Tuesday is half-price pint night, and has become a weekly tradition for my friends. Love the various lamps hanging from the ceiling.
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I saw live jazz here on the back patio, it was pretty nice. The wait staff was very courteous and helpful. The beer selection was excellent. I thoroughly enjoy myself every time i go here. I recommend it to anyone looking for a fun place to go that isnt a giant over-priced piece of crap. The only reason it gets four stars is because it is in fair park, and fair park is scary at night.
Dont think you know homeless until you go to fair park at night.
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Jazz Nights on the patio out back are just lovely. Great selection of beers on tap to please your palate. I bounced back and forth between here and Minc on many a night in Dallas!
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(note: it is no longer a coffehouse, and is now named The Amsterdam Bar - http://www.myspace.com... and http://www.theamsterda...)
The Amsterdam Bar is probably my favorite bar in Expo Park, but I really do like them all (aside from Minc - no thanks) for different reasons. The owners are almost always there working or hanging out, staff is extremely friendly, and they even let me bring my dog (I live just around the corner) to the huge backyard area or the small couch out front. They have different specials for different nights of the week, and if Sheldon is working on Sundays you'll catch "Mustache Night" when we take expo markers and draw mustaches on each other. Serious fun. Many times you'll see some chess games going, and there is also free wifi. No tv so it's a great place to go for drinks with the guy or gal of your choice because they will actually look at you and not a mesmerizing television screen. Never a dress code and never a big ego. What more could you want?
Monday = Jazz Night
Tuesday = $2.50 pints
Wednesday = Happy Hour all Night
Sundays = Quarts of Guinness for $6 and sometime mustache night!
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Great place! Good cold beer on tap... Great Bar Tenders... cool music... Great patio in back...
Great little neighborhood starting up... good unique places near by to eat and Fair Park is just across the street.
This little area is safe lots of loft appartments nearby in spite of what you may have heard about Fair Park.
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Greatness. Came here after dinner at Hattie's on my birthday. The music is fantastic--think: the Decemberists, Neutral Milk Hotel, Mountain Goats. The crowd is relatively friendly and laid-back (though I have a sneaking suspicion they'd be a little less warm if you wore your popped-collar pink polo to the bar). Later in the night, the crowd from Minc spills over sometimes. The space is small though, so it's hard to find a place to cram groups of over 6, but that never stops us.
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Out we jumped in the warm, mad night, hearing a wild tenorman bawling horn across the way, going "EE-YAH! EE-YAH! EE-YAH!" And hands clapping to the beat and folks yelling, "Go, go, go!" Dean was already racing across the street with his thumb in the air, yelling, "Blow, man, blow!" A bunch of colored men in Saturday -night suits were whooping it up in front It was a sawdust saloon with a small bandstand on which the fellows huddled with their hats on, blowing over people's heads, a crazy place, crazy floppy women wandered around sometimes in their bathrobes, bottle clanked in alleys, In back of the joint in a dark corridor beyond the splattered toilets scores of men and women stood against the wall drinking wine-spodiodi and spitting at the stars - wine and whisky. The behatted tenorman was blowing at the peak of a wonderfully satisfactory free idea, a rising and falling riff that went from "EE-yah!" to a crazier "EE-dee-lee-yah!"
Monday night: find some of the best jazz troupes around. Dig this place if you know jazz by its' first name. The Amsterdam Bar gets four of my precious stars and yards of my precious time for three reasons: good craft beers on tap; friendly service; and the sort of jazz that makes everything unfold upon itself. The jazz that jack was talking 'bout. The jazz that knows time and knows you too.
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Were it not for a friend insisting we all meet at this place for his birthday, I never would've discovered this place. It's hidden away right near Fair Park. The place (and the people who frequent it) have character. The bartender, whose name I should've gotten, (he's got tattoos-ok, not so helpful when considering EVERY bartender has tattoos-and dark brown hair) pays attention to detail when pouring your drink. I ordered a snakebite & he redid it because the first one didn't pour to his satisfaction. My friend had a Guinness & he claims it to be the best one poured for him in Dallas. Even had a star in the foam. A waitress from the cafe next door comes in and will take your order & bring you your food. Icing on the cake is the environment because you see some interesting things. There were several wicked hot women there the night we were in, as well as a leather-clad couple and some guys carrying around blow-up dolls. If you're in the mood for something different in the Dallas bar scene, this is your place
Great selection of beer!
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