Gwar Bar
I don’t ordinarily offer restaurant reviews on this website, however, I make an exception for Richmond’s “Gwar Bar.” This place is nutso!
You may recognize the name of the band “Gwar” but if not it’s worth a Googling! Gwar is a band that started in the mid 1980’s in Richmond, VA. It was a quasi-artsy joke band originally named “Gwaaarrrgghhlllgh” that was a side project of VCU students who were starting out in the music and movie business. They combined forces and used props and costumes from a movie project and performed a few shows as intergalactic Antarctic barbarians, singing nonsensical songs while sacrificing prop animals on stage. The band developed a following and decided to make this band their main focus. Forty years later the band is still touring internationally, releasing albums and they remain famous native sons and daughters of Richmond.
In 2015, band member Michael Derks teamed up with local restauranteur Travis Croxton to create a restaurant that pays tribute to the splat’tastic metal legends. It’s a bit of a dive bar in Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood, the neighborhood is seedy enough to give you some street-cred vibes but close enough to non-seedy hoods to feel otherwise safe’ish after dark… just like most of the fun neighborhoods in RVA! After visiting and photographing Agecroft Hall in the decidedly posh Windsor Farms neighborhood, it felt right that we should have dinner at the Gwar Bar.
“Dive Bar’ is almost a meaningless distinction these days. When my Gen-X ears hear “Dive Bar” I instantly picture NYC’s famed East Village “Mars Bar,” a dive in the truest sense, but most places I go to these days considered dives leave me feeling that I -won’t- actually catch a flesh-eating disease from the toilet seats (just a mild staph infection)! I prefer this, by the way, as I’m not an adventurous and bulletproof 25-year-old anymore, however I’m starting to think “dive” is just a marketing term at this point, or maybe I’m just an old punk who inexplicably holds fond memories of places and times that most boards of health were visibly absent from… but I digress.
Gwar Bar exhibits the same salty humor that makes up the personality of the band Gwar. One glance at the menu confirms this. The place is on the small side, with a fenced patio where I understand they hold a variety of events, this is a positive for me. I love small places where you can see the entire establishment from your seat. The room is decorated with a massive curation of props from earlier tours of the band, as well as photos and other memorabilia from 40 years of Gwar, and a TV screen playing videos and concert footage. It manages this display of lore without feeling like a tourist attraction. It has a neighborhood joint feel to it, where locals will come grab some dinner after work or as an entree in a night of bar-crawling.
We came in out of the rain (not of blood, just normal rain), were seated at a front window (I love window seats and bar seats, so far I’m winning) and offered menus. We spend a good amount of time looking over every single item on the menu. The menus are great, I had half a mind to steal my menu and frame it on my kitchen wall. I might do that next time, I mean I shouldn’t… but I might. I’ll post some photos to show what I’m talking about. I ordered a “Meat Sandwich” which came in a wax paper-lined plastic basket, and it was just what the doctor ordered. Fantastic sweet and salty and sticky pub fare, probably locally-sourced and super gourmet (as with Cobra Burger, another favorite heavy metal haunt in town) but tastes like my doctor is going to chastise me hard over my next blood tests. I don’t recall what my partner ordered but it also came served in a plastic basket with hand-cut fries, and will likewise do her A1C no justice. Didn’t have any drinks this time, we planned to go to a jazz-banded cocktail bar afterward and drink more than $200’s worth of fancy drinks, so I thought I’d preserve my brain cell allowance for the day and drink here another day.
This is what I do on my birthday, by the way. Local historical and culture field trip, followed up by meat sandwiches and cocktails, heavy metal and jazz. Local places, small places, not a single chain establishment on the menu! Richmond has SO many fantastic bars and restaurants why on this toilet Earth would anyone go to a friggin’ corporate chain and eat airport food?? It was a great birthday, by the way, thanks for asking.
Gwar Bar is located on W Clay Street in Richmond, VA, open 4pm to 2am five days a week. Great place, bring your mom.
