Oh, how I wanted to love this place. I should title this review "WTF!!". I went to the CFR for the first time in my life on Saturday night. (I live in Alberta but can't change my city on Yelp to a Canadian city so the current city says Las Vegas) I had heard of other people going to Cook County Saloon, especially during the CFR. Cook County Saloon advertises as the "Original Bar of the CFR". I guess another bar is the "official" bar of the CFR. As if those labels mean a whole lot.
After the rodeo I go to Cook County Saloon. They take a computer picture of you to make sure you're the same person your ID says you are. That is inless you have a rodeo card then you can just walk right in. Makes no sense but that's what happens when you have 20 years olds, who think they are God's gift to security, running the door. I get to the front of the line and the girl says "$15 cover charge". WTF!! I said, "Welcome to Edmonton" and she replied, "Only when the rodeo is on". At first I balked at paying $15 but then I thought, why not, enjoy some good live music and have some fun. There is a mandatory coat check which is $2.00. WTF!! Do they think they are a super club in Las Vegas? What a joke. You're a country bar, get over it already. I walk in and to my amazement there is no live music, in fact there is not even really a place for a band to set up. So for $15 they provided a cheezy DJ to spin the same songs country bars always play, no originality at this place. The dance floor has like a big gazebo in the middle. WTF!! Could either be a gazebo or a space ship model, I'm not sure. But when the dance floor is not that big to start with and then 4 big wood pillars are placed in the middle, 2-Step dancing becomes very difficult. The DJ can also operate a cloud/steam machine that "rains" cloud/steam onto the dance floor. WTF!! Maybe I was in a Las Vegas super club after all. The place got packed. I'm sure because of the rodeo and the $15 cover charge they were jamming as many people in there as they could. Not many real cowboys in this place. How to tell? Guys wearing straw hats in November. WTF?? Come on man, cowboy up and buy a felt hat already. The only way a straw hat should be worn in November is in Australia. If you can only afford one hat and that hat is a straw hat, skip it all together and go with a ball cap because the straw hat you can afford to buy would probably disintegrate under the cloud/steam on the dance floor. The $2.00 mandatory coat check apparently only applies to 95% of the patrons. There were quite a few people wearing coats inside. WTF!! Maybe they had a rodeo card. Ha, ha.
Like many bars, there were girls parading around and around the place like they were on a doctor prescribed exercise program for physical health. WTF!! They were going around and around so often I was getting dizzy watching them. Girls, please leave the parading to any organized parade, with floats, horses, and marching bands, that happens on the streets.
From my experience at this place the name should be "CROOK County Saloon". WTF!! read more