Ok, time for another in the “dart bars of Itaewon” series. This week, Bless U Pub.
Bless U is located about 20 yards up the alley from Dolce Vita. From the Hamilton Hotel, you’d walk towards the Itaewon arch, at the first traffic signal (a pedestrian crosswalk) you turn right, head up the alley and it’s on your left.
I really like this bar and spend more time here than I do anywhere else outside my home bar Dolce Vita. As regular readers know, I played out of here last season with the Blue Bulls. It’s a comfortable place, good and friendly service, frosty beer mugs, and a nice menu of well prepared western and Asian dishes.
The bar sports 3 darts boards, although these two are the only ones really worth a damn (the third board is crowded and poorly lit). That’s Alisteir the Scot warming up in preparation for the hurting he was about to put on us Monday night.
Another view of the boards. I’m included because John Rule, one of my faithful readers here at LTG, insisted I should be in one of the dart bar reviews. I do cut a handsome figure, I must admit. (oops, there goes my credibility!)
The bar area is a tad small, but comfortable. That’s Kevin Glover bellyin’ up.
The bar also hosts a regulation pool table and two teams in the pool league. They have a team chant in the pool league that goes “1-2-3-bless u, achoo!” which seems a little bit out of order when you think about it. Us dart leaguers don’t go in for much of that chanting stuff, becuase as everyone knows, darts is a much more dignified sport. Heh. That’s Jay Waddell of Cake Mix fame doing his pregame warm-up routine.
As I mentioned, Bless U has good food and it is one of the few bars I actually eat at before a league match. Monday I had a hankering for the famous Bless U burger and was not disappointed. Yum!
So, I do enjoy the bar and it is a nice place to play. They host two “A” division teams and a couple of more in the lower divisions. My major complaints are that board one encounters a lot of bar traffic and chalking from behind the oche is a bit of a pain in the ass. Board two is ok when the pool table is closed (as it is on league night), but I don’t like the oche which is not centered on the board properly (at least the oche with the measurements on it is not, they realigned the boards and now a strip of tape serves as the oche). As mentioned, board 3 pretty much sucks, but this season the lower divisions play that board, so no problem (or excuse) in “A” division.
Although Bless U can’t meet the high standards set by Sam Ryan’s and Dolce Vita, it’s a fun and welcoming venue. A solid B grade for Bless U Pub as a darts venue.
