Fishbowls

Bar Bleu is located on S Garner Street, right off the corner of Garner and College across from McLanahan’s Garner Street entrance. On Friday nights you can find a long line along the white painted brick wall on Garner, if you’re too late, because it’s one of the most popular places on Friday nights. Bar Bleu is separated into an upstairs sports bar and lounge, that offers not only great drinks but also good bar food, and a downstairs upscale pub. Upscale because it looks fancy with it’s blue light and is a little more expensive than most State College Bars, however as the night progresses, it doesn’t make much off a difference whether you’re here or at the Phyrst.

Bar Bleu is home to the Fishbowl, one of the two monstrous pitcher size cocktails in State College that you need to try at least once while at Penn State. I recommend the Iced Tea version, unless you like it really sweet. And once you’ve had one, give it some time to sink in, especially with the sugar, they can be quite overwhelming. Be aware that the downstairs bar only has liquor and thus mixed drinks; beer is only sold upstairs (I don’t think I’ve ever had beer when I was downstairs). While the upstairs is a good venue to just hang out, catch up with friends and watch sports the downstairs is designed to appeal to the party-lovers among the students with live music or DJ’s everyday of the week. On Fridays, this is another place to see Lowjack. One important piece of advice, especially when you’re drinking fish bowls, take enough time to go to the bathroom because there’s only one each downstairs and always a line. And no, running upstairs is not faster either, gets too crowded eventually. But, waiting in line, I’ve had some wonderful conversations with delightful people. Once again, you got to take it from there…