From the affable bartenders to
the charm of the exposed brickwork lining the interior of the building,
the Good Times Cafe and Bar is
one of downtown’s most inviting
watering holes.
Located on the fringe of downtown at 375 E. 7th Ave., Good Times recoils from pretense and caters to a regular crowd of pool players, sports fans and other patrons simply looking to share a drink with a familiar face.
“It’s definitely not stuffy,” assistant manager Collin O’Coyne said. “This is probably one of the most solid neighborhood bars in town.”
Given its location near the Coburg Road overpass, there technically
isn’t much of a neighborhood
for Good Times to draw from, but being a neighborhood bar is more about attracting a repeat crowd than it is about logistics. And at Good Times a familiar crowd returns each week for the bar’s regular specials and events.
“There’s not really a dead night of the week here,” O’Coyne said.
On a recent Wednesday evening a steady flow of men and women sporting their own personal pool cues made their way to the outdoor pool tables to play in the bar’s weekly league. The tables are housed within the bar’s heated outdoor smoking patio, where a thick layer
of cigarette smoke drifts upward
toward the hanging plants adorning the roof. The deck is easily one
of the largest in town, and it also
features several televisions and
ample seating.
Additional pool tables are found indoors, and patrons can shoot pool for free on Sundays from 9 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. and on Mondays from
6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.
Friday and Saturday nights are
the bar’s biggest of the week,
O’Coyne said, but Good Times also attracts a sizable crowd every Tuesday when it hosts local blues musicians such as Skip Jones and Byron Case. A familiar crowd also turns out each Sunday when the bar offers $1 off all food and drinks to service industry personnel.
The bar’s clusters of tables and oversized black leather booths are perfect for large groups wanting to hang out or catch a game. And serious baseball and football fans won’t ever have to miss a game: Good Times carries every last Major League Baseball game from spring through the dog days of summer and into the fall classic. And during football season it opens early to serve breakfast while broadcasting all the National Football League games. The sporting events are spread out among the bar’s 13 televisions, including a flat screen high-definition television at the center of the room.
Good Times also offers a fairly
extensive selection of bar food at a reasonable price. “You’re not
going to get gouged here for food,”
O’Coyne said.
It offers 17 different appetizers, along with soups, salads, burgers, wraps and 15 distinct sandwich selections. On Wednesdays it serves 50-cent tacos beginning at 6 p.m., and on Thursdays it features a prime rib dinner for $9.99 along with $2.50 microbrews from 9 p.m. to midnight.
Good Times also features 36 microbrews on tap and a full selection of mixed drinks. Happy hour is from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and it offers $1.75 domestics, $3.00 microbrews and $2.50 well drinks.
No laptop computers were spotted during a recent visit, but the bar does offer free wireless Internet access.
The Good Times Cafe and Bar is open daily from 11 a.m. until 2:30 a.m.

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