The Goat

It's a small miracle that this place stayed open as long as it did. I went here with friends sporadically in 2005-06 and while we did have fun, we used to call it the "Goatse Bar". If you're unfamiliar, look it up.

There is a certain trashy appeal to dive bars, but seeing that someone drove their John Deere here? Priceless. And thus began the odyssey that is known as The Goat. A good friend of mine was willing to indulge my nostalgie de la boue while on a trip to Raleigh and took me to the goat. Sure, we were sweaty and in neon, day-glo clothing from running an Electric Run, but nary an eyelash was bat as we entered. This place has a divey, slightly but not overly hipsterish, former frat house, local watering hole vibe going on, and it works quite well. The drinks were cheap and although we didn't partake in the shot game machine, I'm glad to know such a novelty exists and is available to help someone go from 0 to White Girl Wasted in a few minutes. Speaking of White Girl, the drinks here are loaded. You can tell there is no skimp in the pour. For those who wish to stimulate their brain cells as they kill them, there is a selection of games you can place at your table, including an ovesized Jenga, which I must admit, I stared at intently to see which person one table over had the least amount of hand-eye coordination. The appeal continues into the WC, where you get to urinate into a huge, mouth-shaped urinal. Oh fratiness, how art thou? A John Deere, stiff drinks, and dollar bills taped to the walls: reminds me of my Aunt Flossie's wedding.

When a place has the beer pong table out on a busy Saturday night, you know they mean business in keeping their dive bar street cred alive. That said, they had a surprisingly good craft beer tap list (served in plastic cups) and plenty of seating outside.The food truck selling hot dogs outside made a killing that night as well. Great place and look forward to coming back for another visit.

It's a great dive. Good service and cheap drinks. You can't smoke in here anymore so that is a plus. There are specials all week including half price liquor for any liquor on the shelf on Saturdays and Mondays.

Love the Goat!! Fun environment, friendly bartenders, interesting regulars, great drink specials!!! The credit card slips are super hard to read though - microscopic print, where do I tip, where do I sign?! Also the speakers are blown so songs with bass are hard to hear.

Man this place is a hoot! I came here for the first time Sunday 08/07/16 and I'm sure glad I stumbled upon this epic little dive. They do $1 mystery bottles of beers every Sunday. Everyone I had was an amazing craft micro brew! I guess I just got lucky, because I saw other people getting shafted. The bartenders were very busy but attentive and were on a first name basis with me the time I was there. A sorority house or two came in there and took the place over. The bartenders let them create a playlist to play so they could dance. It went from 25 mph to 200 mph within my first hour there. This was the best people watching/entertainment that I've seen for awhile and I had an absolute blast!!

Great drink specials every night but the best have to be Mystery Draft night and Mystery Beer night [bottles/cans].This is a bar that changes based on who's there. You get there early in the afternoon [say 4PM when they open] and it's local/semi-retirees and old country and western play. If you stay until 6-8PM when the after work/happy hour crowd comes in it shifts a bit towards 80s and 90s rock and power ballads. If you stay until late night [or the weekends] it's much more modern music and the blend of rock/pop/metal/hip-hop really depend on the clientele at the time. The bartenders mix up the playlists based on who's in there but also they let customer choose /create playlists too.How loud it gets is really driven by how many people are there, the more people the louder the music!Great prices, great bartenders, interesting clientele, this is one great dive bar!

Here we go, #100!The Goat was the perfect place on a snowy Saturday night to celebrate a 30th birthday (not mine!) We had just eaten at Dos Taquitos and wanted to hit up a bar closer to home. We had driven by The Goat several times and it just looked so...weird. So, we decided to give it a try. I mean, the name alone was intriguing enough. It's right off Western Blvd., attached to Pam's Farmhouse Restaurant (p.s., why have I not eaten here yet?)We stepped inside, and to be honest, I was afraid. But I figured we had a group, so let's give it a shot. It's actually much cleaner-looking than I imagined it to be. Yes, it's a dive bar, but the bartender brought her own Crockpot from home to share some warm food with the patrons on this cold evening, and it had a cozy feel to it.They have typical bar games, urinals that look like big mouths (I just caught a peek when the door was open!), not to mention a spinning wheel if you can't figure out which shot to drink next, including "Bartender's Choice." Two words: "Tequila Mockingbird."One major downside is no jukebox. The bartender on duty obviously plays what he/she wants, which thankfully was good enough that night. Ooh, ooh, and they have a Frozen Jack & Coke machine, which was a fun treat. We'll definitely return to The Goat again.

I went to The Goat several times in college and I'll go ahead and say, I enjoyed it. The parts of it I remember, I enjoyed. They were lax about carding and even more lax about what constituted a "shot" of vodka or tequila, and apparently also pretty lax about calling people taxis when they were blackout wasted, but the bar itself I remembered as being pretty cool. Unfortunately my latest experience didn't live up to those memories. Yes, they have a Whiskey-Slushie machine, which is awesome. Yes, they have the shot wheel, which is cool. The downside is that the crowd is older, dirtier, a little less friendly, a little more smelly. We stayed for a few drinks but ended up leaving earlier than planned after a clearly QUITE wasted "gentleman" would not stop coming by our table and insinuating he would like to pay us to spend some "quality time" with him. The prices are reasonable considering they still overpour like whoa. If you want to hit a true dive bar like The Goat, don't drive all the way out Western, just go to the Ugly Monkey downtown. It's owned by the same people, but it draws a younger, more upscale crowd, has much hotter barstaff, newer pool tables, the same dang shot wheel, and best of all if you find it's just not for you, you can stumble out the back door and go over to the Flying Saucer or any of the other bars within a 2-block radius, WITHOUT having to drive.

Best bar ever!!! We love Trent! Best atmosphere, eclectic crowd, excellent music, great neighborhood bar!