Night Out on the Town

Downtown Iowa City has its share of bars for students to attend. It is no different than many other college campuses where students have a place to hang out after class or on a Saturday night. However there are few that are strictly bars, and not serve food. Joe's Place is one of those places, unless bags of chips or nuts is considered the type of food that constitute as a meal to be served.

Joe's Place is in the shadow of the Old Capitol, down the street from the iconic landmark and it sits amid many of the campus educational buildings. It has been around for many years, and until recently maintained its original "hole in the wall" feel. But in the last few years it has expanded beyond the original walls.

One reason I like Joe's is for the pinball. While in college it had a number of pinball machines and it gave us a great study break. The games didn't change much, but the ones they had were fun and we looked forward to the multi-ball experience - or as we'd call it, pinball orgasm.

Joe's isn't anything fancy. It isn't centered around voluptuous girls attracting patrons to buy beers from them. And the beer menu doesn't include many different micro brews. Joe's is a place where you order a beer and you enjoy the company of friends or those you may meet for the first time.