YEE: Blanc de Bars @ Pistolero’s, Stone’s Throw and Royal Oak

Setup: all white pub crawl! 3 bars — Pistolero’s, Stone’s Throw and Royal Oak
The good: signature drink/​drinks at each location, substantial snacks, fairly short walk between venues
The bad: drink at Stone’s Throw was STRONG — like even for regular bourbon drinkers!
Observations: lots of fun attendees both old and new, icebreaker game, fancy elite swag
Overall recommendation: great event! Farrah and team were well organized and had everyone moving along smoothly.

I’m a big fan of any kind of pub crawls. I always have fun, meet awesome people, and end up getting drunker than I’d like. Now, what could make something as fun as a pub crawl better? Make it a Unilocal pub crawl! Free drinks and free food with a whole bunch of your favorite people? And you add a game of black out bingo to make meeting other Unilocalers easier? Then you have an extra awesome event!
Although I kind of hated the idea of starting drinking in the afternoon (except for Sunday Funday) but we started at Pistolero’s Houston where all Unilocalers get to check in with the help of Sarah K. and Anna T. (shout out to you girls!!) You get your wristband with three little tickets for you drinks, a pair of awesome Unilocal sunglasses, and some Unilocal mints. Goodies, even before you start drinking? Already a sign for a great event. You then get your bingo sheet from our lovely Unilocal Houston CM, Farrah A. who also explained the rule of the game.
Now, the check in process is done, what do? Well, food and drinks, of course! At Pistolero’s, we were treated to some egg rolls, which I’m guessing are some Texas egg rolls. DEE-​LEE-​SHOES! On top of that they busted out some steak quesadillas, chips, salsa, and… QUESO DIPS. Oh Em Gee, they had queso dips. And to my surprise, the food was all legit, yo! They were all good. I need to make it a point to come back here to dine because to be honest, prior to this event, I never really had any intention of trying this place out. Now, it’s on the list!
The free drink that you get at Pistolero’s was Wild Berry Rita; a tequila based drink with some berries infused to it. Sweet, but definitely packed a punch. If you’re going out with girls who always whine about not liking their drinks, just get them this drink. For real.
Well, now on to the next stop: Stone’s Throw. Personally, I’d been to Stone’s Throw a few times prior to the crawl and I’d tried a lot of their drinks. I usually would get the Stone’s Throw punch and was kind of hoping that that was going to the offering. Unfortunately, it was not. They gave you Finn MacCoul, which is whiskey based. And although I love whiskey as the next drunk person, I wasn’t really feeling this one. I thought it was a tad too sweet for a whiskey drink. I’m more of a whiskey on the rocks kind of dude without any mixers. The bites that were offered here were also a bit disappointing; pop corn and some nuts. But all good, I still had a great time here.
Last stop of the day was Royal Oak where the whole 2^nd floor was reserved for us Unilocalers. More food came out: Dumplings, fried mac and cheese, and some wings! All nom nom nom food yo! Especially (and I know I shouldn’t be saying this) the dumplings — they were surprisingly good! And although I love mac n’ chesse, the deep fried mac n’ cheese was just okay. As for drinks, you get Cucumber Cooler: Cucumber flavored Gin with some syrup. I personally thought this was the best drink of the day, and I’m not even a gin fan.
And remember that bingo game I mentioned in the beginning? Well, the point of the game is to go talk to other Unilocalers and get them to sign a box on the sheet that apply to them. For example, «First year on the elite squad» or «Has more than 1k reviews» etc. Obviously, I’d been bugging other Unilocalers to sign my boxes. And for anyone who had their boxes fully signed (or BINGO) then they get to get some Unilocal goody of their choice: A mug, a beer glass, passport pocket, and some other stuff. I chose a beer glass, although my first one eventually got swiped by some other person (NOT COOL DUDE!!!) but another awesome Unilocaler, Michelene E (Shout out!!) gave me hers! Also, all elite Unilocalers receive a very cool Unilocal portable charger for your phone. This will come useful during those late late nights out without a charger!
All in all, this was a super fun event with super cool people sponsored by some really cool bars.
Thank you for the following:
— Farrah A. — our community manager who always comes up with super duper cool events and alwas strives to make Houston Unilocal community to be more awesome year after year and for organizing this event, obviously.
— Pistolero’s, Stone’s Throw, and Royal Oak bar to provide drinks, food, and space to host us Unilocalers.
— Sarah K. and Anna T. — for helping out with the events. You girls are awesome!
— Michelene E. — for giving me her beer glass.
— All other elite Unilocalers and their plus ones that I got to meet and didn’t meet for making this event a huge success!
See you on Unilocal!!!

This was my Unilocal Elite event and I was pretty impressed with the organization and the establishments that we visited.
Pistolero’s the 1^st meeting spot was cool. It was a small venue but the bar and booth set up was nice. The waiter was attentive and quick with service. He was also pretty funny. The cocktail that we had was ok to me more alcohol than fruit or flavor. The appetizers were pretty tasty chips and queso.
The 2^nd spot Stone’s Throw was a pretty nice spot. I really liked the design and set up of this lounge. As we walked in I could feel the relaxed vibe. Enrique our bartender was very nice and made some drink suggestions. I enjoyed the cocktail that I had. It was just right. This spot is nice for lounging and even private event it is very personable.
The last spot Royal Oak Bar & Grill– I like this establishment and I have been once before but I haven’t been upstairs. The wings were pretty good. I am not a fan of macaroni balls but they were ok The drink I had was refreshing and made just right. I was impressed when the owner of all the establishments stopped by to speak with us about all 3 and wanted our feedback. It was a little loud so I only caught bits and pieces of what he said. However, I thought that was pretty cool since it’s rare. Over all this event was nice, I met a few others newbies and some regulars. I was also able to complete my bingo card and scored a Unilocal goodie.