This is the second in my series of dart bars in Itaewon.

Dolce Vita technically fronts the main drag in Itaewon, but you enter through a stairway in an adjacent alley.  It is on the same side of the street as the Hamilton Hotel.  From the Hamilton, walk up the street towards the Itaewon arch.  The first traffic signal is a pedistrian crosswalk, and the entrance alley is just beyond that.  First set of stairs to your left and up two flights…

The bar was recently renovated and now sports four boards along the back wall.  For the most part, this is an improvement as we have good separation from the pool table.  The boards also have excellent lighting.  It gets a tad crowded during the Friday night tourney as the tables are pretty close to the oche.  We had two teams playing last night (well, four.  I mean we had two teams playing two other teams).  “A” division plays two boards, the other divisions normally use one.  So, with the middle board out of play last night it worked out well. 

We had some instances of patrons coming through the entrance and walking into the line of fire so to speak.  Dangerous for them and frustrating for the shooter.  Jim hung a couple of our championship banners and strategically place a potted plant, which seems to redirect errant traffic appropriately.

Matt Duff, who plays for Sweet Life (a sister team at Dolce) showing off his form.  Note the wood planking which is easy on the darts when you experience a dreaded bounce out.  Dolce also features a raised oche which may reduce foot fouls (although the chief enforcer of that rule (Craig) has now departed for Canada).  I mentioned in a recent post that my mechanics are screwed up.  I blame this new fangled oche.  I was placing my toe against oche similar to what Matt is demonstrating.  But my natural stance is more 3/4’s to the board, not straight on.  So, I *think* this was causing me to throw across my body and jerk the darts right and left.  I’ve gone back to my old stance and I’m starting to see some improvement, although my bulls haven’t come back as yet.  Practice, practice, practice!

The pool table and bar area.  Very comfortable, as I can attest from personal experience.

As most of you know, Dolce Vita is my “home bar” and it is good to be back after a season away.  YJ and Jim are most excellent hosts, and the bar staff is friendly and efficient.  They did a great job with the renovations and I am sure Hemingway would agree that it is indeed “a clean well-lighted place”.

It is a great venue for darts.  My only complaint with the new set-up is the close proximity of the tables.  On league night we shove them back as far as possible and they don’t really impact play.  It is sometimes difficult to find a natural pathway to the toilet when players are milling about, but all in all that is a very minor issue.  I give Dolce Vita a strong A- rating.