Valerie’s Bar & Grill

I’m on vacation and I read quite a few decent reviews about this place. However, Melissa is EXTREMELY rude and hung up on me while I was trying to place an order. Wouldn’t even consider going there after that first experience.

This is a great little place the owner was there and she is very nice. the steak sandwich is excelent. the server was also very nice. I gotta be honest when i first sat down i over heard two women talking at the bar. remind you i dont like irish mike because of one of the bartenders there named pebbles she is nasty and sleeps with junkies. not that her personal life is my intrest but i dont wana be served food or drinks by someone like that. anyway you can read irish mikes review about that. but so i over heard these women talking about pebbles and that she use to work there and i almost got up and left. till i heard one of the ladys say «pebbles is trash“so then i sat back down figuring well they must have fired her for a
i will give this a chance and i’m glad i did i had a great meal and stayed for a few drinks it was a lot of fun. hat’s off to you Valerie :-)

Great place myt fiancé and I go here they are nice and warm apple pie shots sometimes which are delicious! Also they have many specials throughout the week. Great sandwiches as well

Many specials everyday of the week. Friendly atmosphere. I love this bar.

I wrote my first review then went a couple more times so based this on the average. Ive had wings, skimpy and pre made the night before. Just thrown in the fryer for a second still cold. then i had some fries to share. Not enough for 2 at all. Same with the onion rings. So I tried the sandwiches and they barely had meat, mostly bread. Should not be labeled ok for kids at all as the sign outside states. I would never allow my kids in the door. The cobwebs could be cleaned and the bathroom be in working order. We were cold and instead of turning on the heat were told then drink some shots. Seems like the party is outside with the constant trafic. I am doubtful any bad review would make this place change.

You get what you expect with this place. No free water (you have to buy a bottle of water if that is what you want.) Steak sub was mostly bread. Sort of OK if you want to get a beer and some wings but you can do better elsewhere really.

There are dive bars and there are redneck bars. This isn’t a dive bar. A friend had heard from a patient in his practice that this bar was owned by a lesbian, so although I’ve never been impressed by the ability of people in Dover to accurately distinguish a lesbian from a heterosexual woman, we made the drive. It might be, and more power to gay & lesbian & women & other so-​called ‘minority’ small business owners, especially in this economy. If there were anyway I could lend my support, I would but existing regulars weren’t about to let that happen.
We tried twice. Parking lot filled with American cars doesn’t have to be a bad sign. When there’s more than 1 truck with tires bigger than I am tall, drive on. We went in on a crowded evening with country music playing, there were seats at the bar empty, not covered with jackets or handbags and no food in front of them. That’s an empty seat in my world. We were about to order drinks when older men came over and told us those were their seats. Someone behind the counter threw in a «Yeah, those guys were sittin’ there.» I can’t quite duplicate the dropped word endings and Sussex County rocks-​half-​filling-​the-​mouth enunciation, but you get the pic. We were initially reticent to give up free seats so easily and the men advanced on my 2 male friends as well as on me. They went beyond normal social space and invaded personal space. There wasn’t a verbal threat or aggressive body language other than they were going to continue to stare aggressively and invade our space until we were on the floor. Since the vibe was weird the moment we’d walked in the door, it certainly wasn’t a place we were going to stick it out for. Suppose it’s sexist, and I suppose I was tainted for being in the company of men who obviously worked with their brains rather than their hands, but it was the first time I’ve experienced an adult man invading a woman’s personal space to drive one away. Normally men defer to allowing a woman to sit or lean without being rude, since it is unlikely she will remain if her companions are uncomfortable. Sadly, we aren’t college kids, we’re mid-​30s, so we didn’t come in rowdy or already drunk, we were quiet and self-​contained, simply looking for a place to sit. There was not a place anywhere in that bar for us and it was obvious no one was ever going to make any attempt to find or make one.
The first visit wasn’t so bad, it wasn’t as loud or crowded, although every eye was on us. We figured it was a dead night and headed out, thought it might be friendlier sometime when something was going on. It wasn’t.
Dover SUCKS for nightlife and everybody has to make due the best they can. I’ve done my time in OC’s bearded clam, I’ve cocktailed in country bars, I’ve broken up nasty bloody fights between women and taken away a 12″ chef’s knife from a drunk, but this was building up to 60 on 3 and no one should have to deal with that. If you’re gonna try it, make sure to let a couple days stubble grow, rub some dirt under your nails and build up some rough callouses on your hands. The guys flannel and my riding boots did nothing to get us a place in there and I’ve held my own at the state roads office. You’ll know right away if your credentials pass muster or not. If they don’t I’m sure I’ll see ya down the road sometime.

First, don’t expect ferns, a 3 piece combo with bass, sax and piano, nor dainty amuse-​bouche served with your artisanal, local-​brewed Belgian mango-​passionfruit Lambic. But you knew that when you drove up to this unprepossessing café-​bar that looks like a former 50’s frozen custard stand turned into biker bar. Which, it probably is.
The gals under Valerie’s management fly at light speed out of the kitchen, serving Yuengling lager on tap (yeah!) and the usual Bud offering as well as hot and cold sandwiches, Boardwalk fries, nachos and all the things that your doctor and dietician say «not to.»
There is a pinball machine (featuring Harley Davidson backbox), several other electronic games, one of which has a customized «joke» seat (toilet seat nailed to a wooden captains chair, along with a handy roll and dispenser on the back. Quaint! But don’t get any dumb ideas!) Tables are comfy or you can sit at the bar. No booths.
The steak sandwiches are well-​known in these part and taste good; too good. There is one that is about as long as Jeremy Lin’s arm. Seriously. It’s huge. In case you can’t imagine that, lacquered (I hope) rolls are hanging near the cash register so you can estimate roll length versus appetite strength. The bun has recently exceeded the meat content but their prices have stayed steady so you know what’s happening. We all have to manage somehow. I’m not sorry as the flavor is good and I don’t need so much saturated fat in any case. I do not fault them.
The crowd is what you’d call «eclectic» or «local» and this is not a dainty boîte to take a first date unless you already know he or she is a fan of local, very local bars. For local this is. Personally, I always love such places and our state has some of the better locals-​only spots that are entirely enjoyable and beat a chain restaurant any day of the week.
Valerie’s is clean. It smells ONLY of beer, which I can’t say about some other places I’ve visited. No cigarette smoke as our state has gone no-​indoor-​plumbing, I mean, indoor smoking.

I know this place very well. I guess it would depend on your taste as to whether you should go there. By all standards it’s considered a dive bar. It’s very gloomy inside and offers little room. Usually the bartenders are very pleasant during the day. On nights and weekends I really wouldn’t brings kids there. The more the alcohol flows the dirtier the language gets. About ten years ago the food was awesome. The sign out front advertises the largest cheesesteaks in town. Once upon a time that was true. Nowadays I’d say the bun is larger than average but the old Wendy’s slogan of «Where’s the beef?» comes to mind. They also charge for each topping which I find to be outrageous. The beer prices can’t be beat. It’s definitely a cheap drunk there. It is a bit of a biker bar even though you won’t find more than 3 – 4 bikes in the parking lot at any given time. But the men who go there aren’t much bother to anyone. It’s the women! Go there on a weekend evening and you’re sure to see a cat fight before the night’s end. It’s been ages since I’ve been there but in the day it was a lesbian hangout. Not that I have anything against them. It always seemed that lesbians and alcohol were a bad mix. They were usually the cause of the aforementioned cat fights. Oh, they might have changed by now but as far as I know it’s a cash-​only establishment. I don’t know how they have survived on that but they have. The owner, Valerie, is usually there and I have found her to be quite pleasant most of the time. Although I’ve heard rumors that she watches her patrons from her office on the cameras in the ceiling around the bar. That’s enough to make anyone feel paranoid and uncomfortable. As I said, it’s a matter of taste. But, quite frankly, I’d rather not go to a place where the chances of a fight breaking out are high. The owner has gotten pretty good at keeping the police out of there, though.

This place has beer so cheap they almost give it away. They more than make up for that by overcharging for cheesesteaks. Tomatoes= 50 cents. lettuce=50 cents. Who the hell charges by each topping?

This is, hands down, the best sandwich shop/​bar in Dover, DE. I love this place!
They serve sandwiches. and to assist you with your choice, they have the different sized rolls hanging from the ceiling in all their dust-​covered glory!
The locals hang out here and drink beer before heading out to pick up their kids at the elementary school a few blocks away. I learned this when someone at the bar announced that it was time for him to get his young’un as he downed the last of his pitcher. Classic.
At night, I think it’s a biker bar of sorts. I met one 597 pound biker there. That counts as three. Three bikers in a bar, a biker bar makes. (Super nice guy, but his girlfriend also tried to start a fight with me! She even called me a San Francisco Faggot, among other things! I haven’t had someone pull out the SFF card since 2001, Canton, Ohio!)
There was even a brawl that caused them to turn on the lights and call the cops. Once that was settled, the cop stayed in the parking lot and I had her convinced to drive us home, until my cab showed up. Damn
This place rocks!

Want to hear a windburned middle-​aged man named Fish talk about fishing? Probably not. Want a $ 2 beer (or a $ 3.50 «biggie draft»)? Maybe. Want to compete with Fish for the young bartender’s attention? The reward comes when Fish loses an argument about shark fishing in cold waters to a man wearing a Winston Cup hat and a tight mustache.
Either way, it’s nice to go to a bar where a sign listing «Your Bartenders Tonight» looks like it hasn’t been updated since before Steve Miller was born. And where you’re offered a plate of wings at 4:47 PM by Winston Cup dude because «I ordered these but I don’t want ‘em.»