About 15 Chinese men chattering away sat surrounded by dozens of empty Heineken bottles and tumblers of beer. Heineken being swilled aside, I’m guessing this is what an opium den might’ve looked like. Or an illicit card game in Beijing, perhaps.

Getting over our surprise, we wandered over and perched at the bar. The friendly bartender, an obviously Irishmen in his early 60s, poured Eric and I couple of perfect pints of Guinness, as we began to drink in the unusual ambiance at Soccer Tavern. As the patrons wandered over to the cooler to grab frosty mugs or to the make your own sandwich station set up against one of the back walls, Soccer Tavern felt like the most chilled out basement I’ve ever drank beers in. Throw in the the Paddy’s Day corned beef slowly simmering on the stove in the kitchen and this is the kind of bar I wish was across the street from my apartment.

For the same experience but with a more diverse and less well-heeled crowd, check out Hank’s during the day and early evening. That’s when the old-timey boozehounds and barflies do their drinking at Hank’s. I’ve been there a few times and always enjoyed listening to the regular day-shifters at Hank’s shoot the shit. The buyback policy is usually more generous at the time of the day too.

Popped in last night around 10:30 and felt like I had stumbled into a really, really bad frat party. The meathead quotient was off the charts, as buzz cuts and Abercrombie and Fitch gear seemed to be The Leif’s official uniform with Coors or Bud Light cans the official drink. It wouldn’t have surprised me if most of the dudes drinking there last night had come straight from seeing the new Rambo flick. Making things worse was the fact the Golf Channel was on the most of the tv’s, which is always a bad sign. A good dive, or bar for that matter, should, under no circumstances, show the Golf Channel.