I hate to give this place 1 star, but I have to look at it thru my prism, although I can understand how others might be satisfied with this bar.
Dance Floor = none (the floor by the back bar is 6ft wide, that space is where people must dance when they do dance)
Long Island Iced Tea = $12 (never paid that much in San Francisco, LA, Chicago)
Strength of Iced Tea = normal to good, but not stiff
"City Savvy and less cheesy" = not (relative to shopping at the Gap, yes ... but no, the awkward cheesyness of a lot of gay bars where gay people aren't comfortable being gay just permeated this place. Lame. There were a few folks in the back that were swanky and probably city savvy, but that's about it. I left in less than 10 minutes)
Weird Location = not (if an alley defines a location as weird, then I must be at the Gap. Who writes these reviews on yelp?! And as far as alleys go, this is a nice one, not too seedy at all, it's more like a small street, just like the oter small streets in downtown Philadelphia)
Straight/Gay Dynamic = not refined enough (I'm straight and like gay bars where people have moved past the fact that they are gay (Oh EndUp of old in SF, can you please start up a location in Philly, please!) Maybe Stir isnt in a very very gay part of the city, cuz that gawkward yound gay cruisy energy smacked me i the face when I walked in ... dorky dudes at the bar, looking anxiously like they were consciously trying not to look anxious ... oy vey ... nice people, but that awkward dorkiness sucked. And as a straight guy, I like it when the crowd is more in their skin, that makes it fabulous for all of us :)
Ghosts of the Post = none (I read the review that said Stir used to be one helluva seedy wild place. Well those ghosts have been exorcised ... nada ... nothing ... plain jane)
Music = painful (although no reviewer that I read claimed that the dance music was spun by savvy dj's using vinyl and spinning funky grooves, I did read that people enjoyed dancing there. WARNING: if you ever bought your own vinyl records to spin, your brain would explode at Stir due to the utterly painful and exruciating "Dance Hits Compilation!"-type music they played. If you have never enjoyed dancing with your eyes closed for over an hour in a group of like-minded folks, then I can absolutely save you some time: do not go to this place. It is built for those who dont know the difference. I pray that I can find a good bar in this city, but so far Chicago/SF/LA it is not. Maybe I should travel up to NYC since good grooves are guaranteed. The music in this bar is like 50% of dance mucic in these types of bars: it sucks. But if you dont know the difference, you wouldnt mind at all.)
Infamous: incredulous. (Twilo is infamous. EndUp is infamous. The old Sketch Pad in LA is infamous. 1015 is infamous. As far as tiny little off-street bars go, this is not a bad place. If you wanjt to go enjoy some drinks with your self-contained set of friends you could enjoy yourself. But nothing in here strikes me as worthy of language such as infamous. What could possibly be infamous?!!! Music, decor, patronage, bar, staff ... NOTHING could possibly be mistaken for infamous at this place. Sheesh. Again, not a bad place to have laughs and some expensive drinks with your friends, but that's all it is.)
Decor = wanting (They shopped at Ikea. Reminds me of a new strip mall that has retaurants that are built new and are intended to look authentic. Theme: swanky. Swankier than shopping at the Gap, swankier than almost all bars, since most bars dont go for that. Not swankier than all swanky bars, lower 50th percentile I'd say. You can see what they are going for, but it looks strained. I would take visiting friends there for drinks just like i would take them to a dive bar: a place that is fun because you know that it is tacky.)
Overall: I would go there again to have a happy hour drink with good friends, but I would spend my $12 on a bottle of Trader Joe's wine before I showed up. Cool: not. Swanky: not. Music: unfortunate.
Sorry Stir!
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