The Bistro

Always fun! Friendly customers and staff, great prices. The shows are entertaining. People come to dance on the weekend. Mama (the owner) is the gem of this place, we come here just to see her sometimes! Oh and you should definitely come for Bingo on Thursday nights, it’s fabulous.

Friendly staff. Fast service. Cheap drinks. Sometimes decent music.

How has no one mentioned the cages? They have cages next to the stage. The drag shows are fun, the bar tenders are friendly and the crowd that goes here is not just a bunch of college students.
Beer selection isn’t great, it is a little dirty and they sometimes charge a cover.
It’s a fun hipster dive bar.

The Bistro is a bar whose time has come and gone. Back when Bloomington-​Normal was a «one bar town» it was the only place for gays to go and most of us either skipped it all together or went every once in a great while. With the arrival of Shark Bar on Finance Drive (near Gold’s Gym in Bloomington) most of us have abandoned our old, dirty, funny smelling friend all together.
Bistro may survivie because it has its hardcore loyalists (I’m not one of them) and the bachelorette crowd downtown to rely on. The bar is VERY dark, VERY dirty, and has that frat house basement smell you just can’t quite point out. Most of the time when you approach the door you have to walk through a cloud of smoke just to get to the surly door guy. If you must go, I guess Friday night is the only time to go when DJ Rakestraw is spinning… but it will still be dead. If you go on a Saturday night you’ll be listening to whatever DJ Squeeza decides she wants to play (and most of the time that’s hardcore Euro-techno…and don’t even think of requesting a song unless you want to get screamed at!) I guess that’s the luxury you have when you’re the owner’s girflfriend.
We all love Jan and she had a good thing going when she was the only show in town, but not updating a thing in 20+ years won’t help business. If you’re downtown drinking at any of the other bars (Rosie’s, Elroy’s, The Loft) and you want to have a drink with «family» you can head to the The B (prefereably when you’re nice and drunk) but if you’re making a special trip out… just head to Shark for a nice atmosphere, good videos, and good friends!

I agree with Kristi that this is a fun bar to go to (and saying this as a heterosexual male). IIRC, I think this is the only gay bar in the whole Bloomington-​Normal area. Saddens me that back when I went to Illinois State University, that I never quite made it here a 2^nd time, and since I had a great time when I went with a few gay friends and girls here. It’s also one of your very few options if you’re seeking something other than your typical bar catering to college students in downtown Bloomington, as about 97% of them (literally, lol, outside of this and less than a handful of others) primarily cater to ISU or Illinois Wesleyan students.
Bar is pretty roomy on the inside, and drink specials weren’t bad. Has a small 2^nd-​floor area near the back too, if my memory serves me correctly. Only bad thing for those who like being out late is due to the bar closing law in both Bloomington and Normal, that bars close up at 1am on weekdays, so it isn’t uncommon (as I’ve heard from the gay friends I had here) for some to drive to gay bars in Champaign-​Urbana, and/​or Peoria (not sure about the latter, but I’ll guess for all I know, there could be at least 1 there). Wouldn’t mind coming back here, if for all I know, I chose one day to return to Illinois State University again.

The Bistro is an «alternative» (i.e. glbt) nightclub in downtown Bloomington where everyone is welcome. It has a great, hometown bar feel to it and the drinks are top-​notch. Definitely no watering down here!
There are nightly drink specials, the best being Thursdays when everything, even top shelf drinks, cost only $ 2.50 (or less if they weren’t that much to begin with). Occasionally they have special bands or musicians play, and they have holiday parties and drag shows.
There is a decent dance floor and small stage, an ATM inside, and friendly, fun bartenders. They normally open at 8pm but on Fridays are open at 4:30 for happy hour.
I don’t like going to the sports bars that are filled with college kids whose focus is how someone’s hair looks or if a guy can chug ten beers in one minute. I like to be where people are down-​to-​earth, friendly, and the average age isn’t 21 going on 15.