Names of businesses are descriptive here, and Non-Stop Snack Bar is a perfect example. It’s a snack bar (emphasis on bar), and it never closes. This place is a little unusual in that the beer served is not prominently displayed. There are only two things a czech bar patron wants to know: when is the bar open and what beer is served. The rest is inconsequential.
This is the closest all-night place to where I live, and I have never been here before. Strašnica is not really your party-all-night kind of neighborhood.
I was just getting ready to write “this is a cash on the barrelhead kind of place.” I paid for my first two beers when they arrived, and I’ve watched other patrons, some obviously regulars, do the same. Third beer (laptop open), she marked a piece of paper and waved off the payment. I think the real reason is that she’s too busy scarfing down Buffalo Wings that she had delivered from somewhere else. Yes, it’s a snack bar, but the emphasis really is on bar. And Herna. There are slot machines all around me, taking the space where my favorite table would be, but they’re in quiet mode, softly purring in an almost soothing manner.
The TV is on. There’s a movie on with Harrison Ford in it. There is a limited pool of good dubbing actors, and the one who is playing whoever the hell Harrison Ford is supposed to be has a distinctive voice – kind of high and nasal. I don’t hear much czech TV, but I hear this guy all the time. Tonight the movie went into commercial break and we were treated to an ad for cold medicine where the guy had the same distinctive voice as the lead actor in the feature. There was another commercial that didn’t include him, but then the next one did.
I have been sensitized to his voice to the point where any time I’m listening to the television I can’t help but say, “There’s that guy again!”
> Strašnica is not really your party-all-night kind of neighborhood.
Directions for all-night emtertainment in that area:
1. Get off from Herna (Hanka), go to the left and after two blocks turn to the right – there is a real non-stop called Sport Bar. Better beer than in Herna, but that is pretty easy. Opposite a Sport Bar is a pub called U Posty – closing time at 11pm (weekends 9pm), but probably best beer in the area. Opens at 10am – great for recovery.
2. Take two tram stops (26) from Herna in direction Zahradni Mesto – there is non-stop pub called Start. Get off the Start, cross the tracks, go around the building – rock/biker club there, closing about 4am.
3. Go one tram stop backwards – very good pub called Cerveny Trpaslik. Great beer! Closing time at midnight. Across the park is a pub called U Hranic – closing at midnight.
4. Get off from Herna and go straight across the tram tracks – at the end of the street is a pub and club called Barca. Closing time unknown.
5. Get off the Sport Bar, go to the right, cross the tram tracks, too the right is night club Carla, one block later is a pub called Struha – usually closing at 10pm, but that is not a rule.
6. Get off Herna, go to the left – after three blocks there is pub called U Slamu (closes 11pm) and on opposite corner bar called Gurman (closes at 1am)
So much for unfriendly location. For getting seriously drunk, You have to take a cab and go to part of the town called Zizkov.
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Cheers,
Man, I had no idea there were this many options. I often walk up to Zizkov but as things get colder it’s better to have options closer to home.