The Party's New Face-- More Than Just a Makeover

The renovation of The Party, 7350 Madison Avenue, is almost complete, and owner Steve Waugh has really transformed the ancient former Rax Roast Beef location.  There is a DJ booth, some nice new seating in the great new bar area, and the covered outdoor patio is a thing to behold-- There are two little man-made waterfalls out front and a gas fire pit in the middle as well as propane area heaters stationed at intervals throughout the patio, and I'm told there are even radiant heating panels in its ceiling!  With all the renovation expense I expected prices to rise uncomfortably like they did at Waugh's other joint, Big Daddy's at Meridian and Pleasant Run Parkway, but so far that hasn't happened.  On Monday drafts were $1.50 + tax, the regular price for a well drink is still $3.50, and a glass of Sutter Home wine is $3.95. (They still have half-price bottles of all varieties of their wines on Sundays, too!)  There's a pretty extensive pub grub menu, too.  What's not to like?  Cheers, y'all!

The Party: It's Good to Drink in God's Green Room!

The Party, (see updates below due to substantial renovation and changes) on Madison Avenue just south of Southport Road, is a great old place-- emphasis on "old."  It's an old Rax Roast Beef restaurant, its patrons tend to be kind of old, and the ambiance is old school bar fly, with neon beer signs, nascar picture mirrors, etc.  It's an understatement to say that you don't go to The Party to hook up, unless you're like 70 years old, but if you just want a comfortable place to drink on a budget, this is your place.  It's a true neighborhood bar, and it's kind of like drinking in someone's living room.  Everyone knows everyone else.  They have pitch-ins on holidays and regular patrons' birthdays, and frequently the regulars bring in DVD's or VHS tapes of their favorite movies and everyone watches them on the 1980's model TV behind the bar.  The juke box is one of the best in town:  it has a little bit of everything, with fairly current stuff you wouldn't expect in a place full of old guys.  Joe the owner is known as something of a cheapskate, but he doesn't skimp on the booze in his drinks, and the standard pub grub is good, plentiful, and cheap.  A good stiff drink here is the Big Jack, named after a beloved six-foot, 400-pound regular who recently passed from God's green room to his Big Show: a beer glass filled mostly with vodka, then just a splash of diet tonic water (Jack was watching his weight, y'know), and a lime wedge just for color. !Salud! (That's Spanglish for "Le's drink, y'all!)

UPDATE, 03/21/12:  The Party has been sold and is being renovated, although it remains open.  Rumour is that Steve Waugh, owner of Big Daddy's (which I'll review when I accumulate the cash I'll need to drink there) is the new owner.  He did a bang-up job of renovating the bar that became Big Daddy's, but I fear what that same kind of expenditure will do to The Party's prices.

UPDATE, 06/05/2012:  The renovation is in full swing, with a large outdoor beer garden under construction, a humongous Crown Royal mirror (something like ten feet by 12 feet) behind the new bar, and one of those new computer juke boxes replacing our beloved old one.  As it is, it's awfully noisy in there at times, and most of the lovable old geezers have fled, so it is hard to tell what the crowd and the ambiance will be like when construction is finished.  On the plus side, they haven't raised the prices yet, so it's still one of the cheapest places to drink on the South Side....