Slim's Downtown Distillery

We came across this place after going to UFC in Raleigh. We walked into a nearby bar and were totally ignored and figured that would continue so we left and found this place. Very small but they had a good selection. The staff was friendly. It was super cool they had a pool table.Apparently we came on a night they were having a band and didn't know it! Super confusing because it was a country band? In a dive bar? But it's fine. We went upstairs to their 1 pool table and started playing with nobody around. After 2 games people started showing up for the band and people were gathering around the table. We played a few more and left because of the hovering. But they don't have space for another table. It has been so long since my husband and his brother were able to get together and play pool so, it was nice. We would go back if we went back to Raleigh.

scab bar, this place is trash now, service industry members will always have each others back.

Very laid back dive bar. They have pool upstairs for a $1 a game. They also have an outdoor patio for smoking and fire pits.

Locals only. No music requests. Shut up and drink. Everybody's having a great time. Mind erasers.

This is my favorite place in downtown Raleigh. Always great live music, good drinks, and pool upstairs. My favorite feature may be that the restroom don't have genders assigned per se, just the word "whatever"written in sharpie. Definitely worth a visit, or not- don't make my favorite bar mainstream! Unless there's live music, then I'll suffer the claustrophobia to support local music.

The phrase dive bar sometimes gets over used to any bar that isn't overly fancy. This is a dive bar in the true sense. The stickers, the writing on the walls in the bathroom, the down and dirty atmosphere (don't necessarily mean dirty in the uncleanly sense). That's what a dive bar is and what this is. Funny story. I checked out as I saw on a review this place had live music. Little did I know it was a band that played a type of music- not sure what it was but the phrase "grindcore" is what I would hazard to guess would describe the kind of eye drum bending music. So if you're going on a music night maybe call ahead and see what type of band is playing.Bottomline this place is nothing special but that's okay. A come as you are, no judgment if you don't look the part of a craft beer prepster is just fine. You need places like these to balance out all the other more high-end places. And heck they even had Simpsons on the TV on a Friday night which made my geeky parts tingle...

When I think of how to best describe Slim's, I keep coming back to the bar equivalent of your favorite old pair of jeans. They might be a little too tight and smell like an ashtray, but they're perfectly worn-in, you love the way you feel in them, and every time you step into them a million nostalgic stories come to mind.Like those old jeans, Slim's has seen a lot in its day. It's one of those places that can rightfully be called a Raleigh landmark. Hidden away in a Wilmington Street storefront, you might never know this place exists, but its stage has seen the likes of Raleigh's most heralded artists as well as the occasional national act (Butch Walker can ALWAYS be found here after his shows in town). Walking in the door greets you with the smell of smoke, the sight of walls covered with rock memorabilia and alcohol swag, and the sounds of eclectic rock tunes from either the jukebox or the tiny backroom stage. The crowd can range from college-age punks to emo kids to middle-age locals to aging hipsters, and I've never been when I haven't been chatted up by most everyone at the bar. The bar service is great, the drink prices are cheap, and even when crowded it's no harder to move around than most other venues in the area. If you're around the bar at last call, you'll want to order a PBR in a can...it's a bit of a tradition among the Slim's crowd. Take a look down the bar and you'll see that familiar red, white, and blue can in front of most every patron, signaling the end of one more great night at this time-tested downtown hangout. Slim's is a delightfully cramped, smoky, unintentionally hip and low-key oasis in the sea of downtown Raleigh. If you're a Raleigh native who's never been, I recommend you make your way there ASAP - and if you're new to the area, now's a great time to get your first dose of a Raleigh tradition.

Someone once asked me: "How many days would it take to eat your weight in hot dogs?" So I did the math, and double checked it, my personal (and conservative) estimate would be 96.25 days. This is based off of 70 hot dogs equals 15 pounds, I weigh 165, and eating 8 hot dogs per day, if anyone needs to triple check me on the math it'd be appreciated.

You will not find hand-blended 'mixologist' cocktails with farm-to-table ingredients, elegant art openings, or the soft strains of delicate chamber music at Slim's. If classy or fashionable is what you want, take your pick from any number of venues downtown. You want old school dive bar goodness with simple drinks at simple prices, varied niche bands from post punk pop to black metal, and an equally interesting assortment of regulars? You got it. Come for the no-nonsense bartenders; stay because you spent as much on drinks as you would at a stylish 'craft' bar but got twice as much for your money and the Uber isn't here yet.

Slims is great if you want a dark place to have a drink. It's mellow. I hear it has music too... just not on a Tues night.