I visited this bar one Saturday night with some friends on a whim. It's in a convenient location in downtown Peru right on the corner of Broadway and East 2nd Street.
Walking in, there was a homemade sign at the door warning that you will be exposed to secondhand smoke, and I could soon see why. I like that smoking was allowed, but Hard Times is in desperate need of a ventilation system. It was so smoky that you didn't really need to light up to get your nicotine fix.
It was extremely crowded. Not a seat was left at the bar, but they had some old tables and chairs that were empty in the back room. They had pool tables near the center of the building, but it seemec too small and crowded to comfortably play in there. Players seemed to have to pause every time someone passed by. There was no table service as far as I could tell.
We went to the bar and stood at a service station. It took a couple minutes to be acknowledged. They didn't have much on draft. I know Blue Moon and a cider were two of the few choices. The other two were domestics. The girl who was bartending offered to leave a tab open. We retrieved the bottles of beer we'd ordered and returned to our table.
A DJ was setting up some equipment, but extremely loud music was already playing. It was hard to hold a conversation, and the array of music was an odd mixture of Bob Marley, classic rock, country, and pop and rap music.
The back room contained a tacky claw machine and some odd and lude yet funny bathroom door signs. We didn't use the restrooms, but I imagine they are small, and judging by the rest of the place, dirty. We finished our beers and exited out the side door.
Hard Times isn't the worst bar I've ever been in, but I'm not itching to go back. I love holes in the wall, but it was just a little too divey for me. I wouldn't say it was friendly or fun, even though I did enjoy the company of my friends. The positive note I can make is that their beer is cheap.
I'm hoping there are better bars in Peru. I wouldn't go out of my way to return to Hard Times, but I might if I were invited again. read more