The Chat Room

I used to frequent this place off and on but can’t really handle it anymore. It smells soooo smoky and weird and the music is looooud. It’s definately a challenge to get a drink unless you’re a regular. Very crust punk/​hipster Fort Worth. If you’re at that stage in your life where PBR, cigarettes, and yelling over music is your jam then this bar is for you.

Kind of trashy but not in a cockroaches are crawling all over the walls kind of way. More like a someone needs to get these empty bottles of corona up off the tables type of way. But I still dig it.
Also, I think this is a gay bar? I got hit on by 3 transsexual women, which boosted my self esteem.

the only thing that could make it better would be pinball… great place. good bloody mary, great staff, and chill music.

Seems like a good place. Good drink prices. Good crowd. Guy that works here that was there drinking followed my friend into the bathroom to hit on him twice in a row though.

I stopped going in 2013. It use to be a great dive bar full of the same faces, which I loved. Now it’s very hipster, crowded, and played out. It’s not for me anymore, but it would probably interest 21 – 25 year olds that think they’re original. Upsides: it’s a neighborhood bar, usually parking isn’t a concern, and there are a few really awesome people that are regulars there. Downsides: small, crowded, too smokey, slow service, lots of annoying people, and the women’s restroom is almost as bad as The Wreck Room’s was.

Took a star away because it gets suuuuper (often unbearably) smokey inside. But it’s all good because the patio is huge, beers are cheap, and here you’ll meet the weirdest, greatest, most random crowd of people in funky town.

‘Wanna go to the chatroom?’
‘Is the taco guy there?‘
If the answer is yes, I will drag myself in.
I don’t know why, but after a horrible day and a hungry belly, the taco guy makes my day.
Otherwise, Chatroom is what I envision a dive bar to be — dark, dingy, smokey, full of locals (play some Tyga or Jay-​Z and watch their expression), cheap drinks, small. It all works.
The little patio area is nice; picnic tables for all to sit. Great way to meet new people for reals.

This is one of my favorite bars in Fort Worth for sure! This bar feels like home to me. I spent countless nights here from about 2004 – 2010. Now every time I go home to visit Fort Worth I stop in for a drink. My fiancé also loves this place now too.
I love when I walk up and see all the Fort Worth hipster kids sitting outside at the picnics tables and bikes locked up to the fence — such a comforting feeling. If I had one thing to say bad about this place is that yes people are still allowed to smoke inside in Fort Worth — so you will leave smelling like an ashtray.
The bar staff is super friendly and they get to know the regular people in the bar. There is an awesome internet juke box that will rock your world if you let it. If you get to the bar early enough spend some money here and play YOUR tunes — it is an awesome feeling when the buzz hits and your favorite songs are playing on the juke box.
This bar also does actually have some computers. I remember back in the myspace days when I would go in here and all computer would be taken by hipsters on their myspace … lol. I think it is cute the bar still maintains this internet café profile, I mean that is what they are going for.
So if you are looking for a place to relax, listen to some jams, have some good drinks and talk to some good people — this is the place to go in Fort Worth. You will not be disappointed. Unless of course grunge, dive, hipster is not your scene.

If cheap beer and smoking is your thing this could be your spot. I personally will pass. I only find myself here on the rare occasion I join the Night Riders bike ride.

We stopped in on a Friday night just because we could. I had a drink the bartender suggested that involved vodka, cranberry juice and some other stuff. We called it a Naughty Shirley as it was similar to the drink I enjoy as a kid, it was a little sweet but good. Date had a beer. Great jukebox, friendly crowd, clean, which is important when a place is this small. We met some new people. I’m looking forward to visiting again and staying longer.

Good music and tacos, but keep a close eye on what you buy and be sure to ask for an itemized receipt.
The bartender (bald guy with a curly hipster moustache and bowler hat) charged me an extra $ 12 for drinks I did not buy (whiskey and Magic Hat, neither of which I drink) then proceeded to blame me for buying drinks for my friends (who were not drinking either of those drinks and did not receive any drinks not personally added to my tab by me).
I did not notice until I looked at my receipt after tipping $ 7 on $ 35, and after the problem was fixed I tipped $ 5 on $ 23.50. Lo and behold, I check my credit card statement today and see that he took the liberty of adding an extra $ 2 onto his tip, conveniently the same tip that was for the wrongful $ 35 charge. So anyway, it can be a good time but beware of credit card fraud and be sure to keep your receipts from there so you can dispute them with your credit card company.

Stumbled in to this place only meaning to check it out after a friend said stay away. I ended up staying till closing time. Upon walking in I noticed people nodding their heads in greeting. Groups of people singing along with the jukebox. Coors original on tap (a rarity) and an English bulldog making his way around and getting nothing but affection from fellow patrons. Met alot of nice people, the staff was nothin but smiles, and fell in love with the jukebox. I’ll definitely be coming around more often.

I’m glad this place is still standing after all the changes on Magnolia. The original dive bar on this street, for sure. Yes it’s smokey and dirty. There is only one pool table. There are a few computers you can use to drunkenly facebook or whatever you need to do on the interwebs. The patio has a ton of picnic tables and make for a nice hang out on cooler evenings. I do enjoy the chalk board with the specials listed and also the best quote from a drunk patron the night before.

The first time I walked into The Chat Room I was a crying nervous wreck. After a ten month relationship, The Man of My Dreams just walked out on me, leaving me with a broken heart and an $ 800 a month apartment.
A friendly woman playing pool looked at me, grabbed my shoulders and said «I’ll buy you a drink, but don’t get too hooked to this place.» One drink became another that December of 2009 and I’ve been going here ever since. I’m as grateful as I’m mad that I didn’t listen to her. Funny enough, she has since moved.
This divey neighborhood bar is pretty much the last of its kind on Fort Worth’s Near Southside Magnolia Avenue commercial strip; the neighborhood’s quickly gentrifying. But while it’s still here, go in and read the chalkboard listing the drink specials and then read the absurd, probably offensive quote next to it spouted by some drunk and/​or high regular the night before. It’s smoky – Fort Worth still allows smoking in bars – and the inside is left to be desired, but its charm isn’t the aesthetic, its charm is that it’s a freewheeling neighborhood gathering spot where the familiarity is as comforting as the drama among the younger regulars is discomforting. (Hey people, me included.) Regulars know more about music than themselves, think they know their shit, and are happy when you say «Shut the hell up.»
In short, when government doesn’t do enough to bring people together in a neighborhood, you can always rely on a drunk entrepreneur. I give it 4 stars because I gained a lot of weight going here.
Cheers, Chat Room.

Awesome drink specials. Cool Bartenders. Whether late night hysterics or afternoon on the patio, The Chat brings all kinds of folks together under the auspice of loud music and cheap drinks. Lots of good points for the random nature of interpersonal interactions, you never know who you’re gonna meet.

My favorite bar in Fort Worth. Why? Because they have everything I could ever want in a bar:
–reasonably priced drinks
–it’s divey
–great service and friendly bartenders
–pool table
–pinball machine
–giant TV
–vending machine with snacks
–cell phone charging station
–computers with internet connections, so you can keep up with your social networking addictions
–jukebox with a wide array of music choices
–clean bathrooms (this is so very difficult to find at a dive bar)
–board games

My girlfriend is from Ft. Worth, every time I go home with her she takes me to one of the bars she used to frequent. We have been to lots of bars but The Chat Room is by far the best!
I love dive bars, I smoke, I like the 1994 internet vibe this place holds on to in the corner. You can find tons of bars like this in Austin, I think they are very rare in Ft. Worth. I do wish the bar had a better selection of beer, every bar in Ft. Worth seems to have Rahr beers which aren’t really that good. I get that its local and kitschy but its just not good at all. I cant complain too much about that because I am happy drinking PBR and shots of well whiskey.
I felt so at home here, the comfortable fog of smoke. The awesome playlist I was able to select on the juke box. The cheap drinks, the interesting mix of pseudo hipsters and dogs inside the bar. I felt like the Chat room provided me a comfortable rest from most of the cheesy corporate bars in Ft. Worth. I will definitely go back.

If I’m being totally honest, I don’t particularly love The Chat Room, and that’s an assessment inexorably linked to the idea that this place plays a little like the inside of an exhaust pipe, if the inside of the exhaust pipe housed a decent vibe and often times folks you knew and liked. And given the fact that the Fort Worth bar scene seems to be at times divided between those who may have noticed that a number of US cities have gone smoke free (Fort Worth’s not there yet but it’s apparently on the table), and others seem steeped in a time when smoke and bars were more universally simpatico… The Chat Room provides a bit of a conundrum.
Do I harp on the relentless fog, or focus on the cool and oft-​cheery vibe? Both are facts, and I definitely don’t begrudge those who enjoy this spot. But for me, my ticket was punched when the guy who sat next to me at the bar literally blew smoke in my face for thirty minutes. At some point, that’s a politeness argument, I suppose, and I was bummed at the experience, especially knowing some folks who I genuinely dig were fans. That said, they do harbor a patio, and not beyond the realm of possibility that I’d give that a whirl. Seems I even caught a hot dog cart there making it happen. But in its current incarnation, if you’re a non-​smoker, the Chat Room, much like life, means picking your battles. I may be back, but likely infrequently.

Okay, listen. I’m a smoker and I am not ashamed. I smoke when I’m sober, but I’m a dang chimney when you get a beer in my hand. At the Chat Room, it is okay for me to be a dang chimney. If you ain’t into that kinda scene, find another place.
I’m also into dives, and this is pretty divey. It’s relaxed, the beers are cheap, and the barkeeps friendly. When I came here, a gentleman was holding a memorial for his dog and had pasted/​painted/​somehow affixed a picture of the dog to the center of one of the tables and everyone stayed off it out of respect. It’s that kinda place.
Also, they had Apples to Apples. Real chill. I dug.

If you’re just looking for a spot to sit back, talk and have some drinks, this is the spot for you. Located near the medical district of Fort Worth, this bar is located inside of a fairly plain looking building. It really doesn’t look like much on the outside (and we got a kick out of the fact that we walked through a door that had a sign on it that said «Keep Door Closed») but it opened up to a fairly good sized space on the inside.
We randomly stopped by on a Monday night and got to enjoy their drink special for the evening. Mondays are Happy Hour prices, all day so $ 2 wells/​beers were on deck. We had a rum & coke and a pineapple & vodka, both of which were tasty and well spirited. They have a digital jukebox that had a host of music, a pool table, a poker machine and a pinball machine (that was unplugged at the time, to our disappointment).
If you have allergies and/​or can’t stand the smell of smoke, stay away, because this place has a strong smoke smell when you first enter. However, on a warm evening, you can avoid it by chilling on the outdoor patio. The bartender Jason was friendly and kept a clean bar area. He even cleaned all the tables when we asked for napkins to wipe off a wet glass ring on our table.
And they also have free wifi, with computers provided at the bar if you don’t have a wireless friendly device. All in all, we were happy to visit this little neighborhood spot to sit and talk over cheap drinks. I wouldn’t hesitate to stop by there again.