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Alcove Sports Lounge
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Music:
- Live
- Best Nights:
- Fri, Thu, Sat
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- Outdoor Area/ Patio Only
- Coat Check:
- No
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
4 reviews for Alcove Sports Lounge
4 reviews in English
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Review from Katie C.
Calgary, AB
12/20/2009
Ok, there is no doubt about it: the Alcove is a dive. It has a distinct odor, not necessarily bad, just... odorous. And the crowd is an interesting mix of university students, cougars and hard people. I know when I went, it was as a student, half as a joke - you could play pool and sing karaoke, and it was hilarious to see the cougars all over my guy friends. So it covered all the bases of a bar that kind of got taken over. I've had some pretty good times here as a result, but when I've mentioned said stories to some friends since, they give me blank looks. The fun and friendly atmosphere is completely connected to the people you go with - prisses and people who aren't willing to laugh a bit and go with the flow will detest it. It really is a dive, but the locals are nice and don't mind sharing stories and making it a funny night.
Now, the bar is located in motel village, which definitely makes it sketch. Lots of unsavoury characters flow through, whether travelers or drug dealers. I would not have ever visited myself without big guys and a large enough crew to feel unthreatened. But the drinks are cheap, the decor is... distinctive, and this may be one of those bars that gradually gets taken over by ironic hipsters. It has that je-ne-sais-quoi atmosphere that appeals to people with a strong sense of irony.
Maybe in ten years it'll be the go-to place in Calgary. You heard it here first. -
Review from Thomas M.
Calgary, AB
1/25/2012
this place is a dive, avoid at all costs. full of white trash, bums, and crack heads (no kidding). it's located in the parking lot of a hotel which is routinely raided for prostitution and drugs.
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Review from Cornelius V.
Calgary, AB
One of the few fine dive bars left in Calgary. The beer is cold, the wings are hot, the paper plates said wings are served on are crisp, the waitresses are.... uh, yeah.
If you want to get a drink, watch sports, play pool and VLTs all while witnessing the human circus that is the Al Cove, this is the place. If you're afraid of seeing police cars in the vicinity, strangers coming up to you and striking up conversations, chairs with wheels on them, old people sucking cigarettes, and carpet older than you, go to earls or something. Gives me more space to enjoy my $3.25 "pint" of coors. -
Review from Christopher W.
Calgary, AB
11/21/2008
Alright, I really don't know where to start with this place. We found ourselves there one night for reasons we never properly understood, or felt like discussing. It was a strange experience, but one I'm glad to have gone through, I think.
The bar room itself is circular; splashed red and brown with 70s inspired puke. It is by far the strangest bar I've been to in town. We arrived around 7 pm on a Friday night and stayed until 11, long past any reasonable person's initial instincts to get the hell out of there. One example was the fact they wouldn't start a tab with us on a credit card. The other was the manager shooing away drug dealers outside. And the most bizzarre warning sign appeared loud and clear when the karaoke started. But by that time we didn't care and were quite content with our tiny little mugs of beer....
We left on good terms (eventually getting that tab going and even paying it), unlike a lot of creatures who haunt the place on any given night. Al Cove is close to McMahon stadium and I assume they turn good coin during football games, but going there any other time is an adventure. It shares a parking lot with a place in "Motel Village" called the Savory Inn. Which, of course, is ripe for any joke you feel like making after spending an hour or so there. But the girls who work there have already labeled it the "un-Savory Inn" and I'm sure if you got too tired at the bar you could rent a room there -- with "company" included -- for next to nothing....
I suggest stopping by for a drink, though, and saying hello. There are far too many yuppie bars in this city and this place offers a genuine atmosphere. It's not for everybody, but it is entertaining and you will have fun with the right frame of mind. Or maybe it's just me. Yes, maybe you should stay away if you're looking for Vietnamese subs or sushi....but if you want a place to drink, I do recommend Al Cove.
