The Heavy Anchor

I’ve been here for trivia and for a comedy show. The trivia was in the main bar, the comedy show was in the back room (actually a huge room with a stage, movie theater-​like seating, and backstage area). The bathrooms are also located in this back room area. If you want to smoke, there is a patio out the back door, or you can always just smoke in front of the building, too.
Great happy hour and nightly specials. On Mondays, the PBR bottles were only $ 1– ice cold and delicious! Can’t remember the other specials, but there is a chalk board above the bar with the weekly/​nightly specials. There is a pool table, some video games, and some board games to keep you occupied, as well.
Street parking on Gravois is metered until 7, but the side street had ample parking if you can’t find anything in front.

its real loud when they got a band playin but its a good bar w/​some good beers. Good patio when its warm too.

Update: because this is my favorite bar now. the bartenders are awesome and easy to talk to. the drinks are one hundred. this place is for reallzy the
. they even have dog town za for that drunk late night snack crave. music, comedy, game show, sega, dj’s…EVERYTHING MAGICAL plus more happens here. you won’t regret it.

Agree with the other reviews – charming hipster dive bar with great beer & drink selection, good stage & sound, plenty loud. Small outdoor patio is a plus. Make sure you bring your beard and skinny jeans.

This place is A+!! Great venue. Great liquor selection. Good band deals! Pizza is delicious too. If you pass through this place is a must !

If you like comedy, the Heavy Anchor is the place!
The Comedy Shipwreck open mic, 1^st and 3^rd Monday’s of each month, have some of St Louis funniest comics!
Also check out their event page for other comedy events.

This place is the definition of «dive bar.» The drinks are strong and, most importantly, CHEAP. The staff is friendly and the atmosphere is laid back. Crowd is mixed and somewhat eclectic. If you’re up for a dive, this place is for you.

I’ve been wanting to try this spot since I came across an RFT article calling it a nautical noir dive bar. So, when picking a spot for a an after-​work happy hour, I was eager to choose this place.
We arrived and parking is street so I paid a meter and inside I went. The décor is festive and plentiful. The place is notably dark. You especially notice this when you walk out hours later and shade your eyes! Drinks were cheap and I like the variety of their offerings (Schlafly summer on tap, yes please!). We didn’t try the food so I plan on updating once I try it. I also see it’s a concert venue and dig the multi-​functional space and would love to come by to catch a show.
When in search of directions and their menu, their website leaves a lot to be desired. Though I learned you can bring your own food so cool.
All in all a cool spot to get a drink and mingle. And I’ll be back!

Funky awesome dead seamen décor, good prices and live bands for $ 5! I love this joint seriously. They even have vegan pizza. yeah, it’s frozen but I don’t care… at least they have SOMETHING and I hear it’s pretty good too.

Seriously one of my favorite places… EVER. I love just chillin on the vintage couch with my mason jar full of 360 vodka watching people play shuffleboard. Writing on the bathroom walls is way more fun in chalk, and the theater/​stage/​gameroom area is awesome. I literally played Mortal Kombat on a Sega projected on to a big screen one night. I got my ass kicked, but still it was fun. I like that the spaces are separate if you just want to hang in the bar or come for a show. Best part is it’s non-​smoking!!! They do have a back patio for the smokers which is quite spacious.

Standard dive bar. Cheap beer, friendly staff, delicious dog town pizza and the nights I’ve gone there was live music.

I think that I’m gonna like it here…
As a musician living in South City, it’s hard to believe that it took me so long to visit The Heavy Anchor. There have been several opportunities for me to go and support fellow musicians, but I hadn’t taken the trip until last Thursday.
We were invited to check out Loser, a new game show that might become a monthly event. Local fast-​talking wordsmith Allison B. was a contestant, and we wanted to show our support for something, frankly, that we didn’t understand until we set eyes on it.
Even after the show began, we still had no idea how this was going to go down. Altogether, the evening was fairly entertaing, despite a few obvious hitches in the presentation. More than anything, I was interested in the stage setup, something that I hope to explore as a perfomer in the near future.
The bar is separated into two rooms: the front bar and the music room. This setup allows for multiple events at a time, which is kind of cool.
The biggest concern with any South City dive is the location, which is smack dab on Gravois. We parked on the street, and I was immediately uncomfortable with the setting. Luckily, we were parked next to the door. Any further away and I might have been worried.
By the end of the night, Allison was not a Loser but victorious! And I was sold on The Heavy Anchor. Another great dive bar in South City. Who’d have thought?!

If you’re going for the music (which I did), then this place isn’t going to offer much. They’ve got an underpowered PA that makes everything sound thin and weak. It’s weird, because they’ve gone to the trouble of sound-​treating the room, but then they’ve only got two tiny little speakers. If they just got a decent sound-​system, this could be a 4-​star joint. As it is, it’s just a curious little hipster dive that hosts music.

I wish I could give this place a good review. It was a recommendation since we were to be in the area, but I was disappointed both by the service and the ambiance. It reminded me a bit of a Kriegers with a nice tall ceiling, but the bartender was literally screaming at us (and the three remaining patrons) to «go home» after last call. We didn’t have 5 minutes to enjoy our drinks. I want to support businesses in this part of town, but I just can’t with this one. If you are in south city, I’d suggest just sticking at Silver Ballroom.

What a cool place?! It’s a bar with a dive-​y vibe minus dive-​y decorations. The place was wonderfully and imaginatively-​painted in bright colors. The music room in the back feels like your friend’s garage back in high school days. Drinks were cheap. We didn’t get food but ended up staying way longer than anticipated to check out the band and play shuffleboard.

Heavy Anchor was the first stop of a recent pub crawl that I attended. This was a perfect opening bar for us. Beer & liquor selection are excellent. The guys that work here are very cool. They gave us all buttons and stickers which were all used for debauchery later on our crawl. Prices are fair, and they also offer pretzels and pizza.
Plus for them having an ATM that helped with funds for the night.

The first time I was here I was on a pub crawl up Gravois and I have to say it is a pretty interesting place. First off, I ordered my go-​to, Bacardi and Coke, and they gave it to me in a mason jar. Yes. Sold. I will come back. There wasn’t a show when we were there which was nice because I got to kind of wander around. The bar side was the only part really open but I did get to see the stage area which looked pretty neat.
I can’t wait to come back and see a show or just sit down and have a drink maybe and look at all the cool art on the walls.

The Heavy Anchor is a great divey neighborhood bar located on Gravois, just south of Bevo. Filled with local hand painted grafitti style murals, retro lounge furnitrue, ample hi-​tops and a HUGE beer selection, they have no shortage of things drink or to look at. Take a few steps into the back room and you can either catch live music or watch movies and eat pocorn, depending on the night. Rocky Horror Picture Show was on the last time I was in.
They have an awesome happy hour ($ 1 PBR, $ 2 Buds & wells). The crowd is a combination of hipster/​neighborhood peeps. Everyone seems comfortable intermingling. Best of all, the place is immaculate (always a concern at a dive bar), the service is fast and friendly, and they work very hard to accomodate groups. I took a BIG group for happy hour and they were awesome. Pretzels and Dogtown/Tom’s pizza are offered, as well. But, if you have a big group, they will let you order delivery food or bring food in. So, it is perfect for parties. I’ll definitely be back!

I happened upon Heavy Anchor one late night when I had no business being out. My stamina was well rewarded when I walked into this great little place on Gravois in South City.
The space itself is a nice combo of bar with another room for live music and movies. And Heavy Anchor does something that I wish other bars would do… you can come into the main bar for free, listen to the live music and if you want to SEE the live performance you can pay the cover at that entrance. I hate when I have to pay to see a band that I don’t want to see. Nice.
Drinks prices are reasonable with happy hour specials of $ 2 wells, $ 2 buds and $ 3 bottles. They have a small selection of food including vegan pizza but I was there a little too late to try any munchies. The back patio is great for fresh air or if you smoke there is plenty of space.
I will definitely be back soon for the Wednesday movie nights or a happy hour.

You know that thing, of like, when you walk into a place and you and your Kitten Faced Friend look at each other as soon as you pass through the doors with faces that are like OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS PLACE! and then for every five steps you take, you do it again, and as you sum up the view of the bar and all the different beers you do it again, and as you walk thru the magic door into the OLD SKOOL BACKROOM THEATER, you do it again, and again at the Popcorn Machine, and again as you imagine the cold wintry nights cuddled up here with said Kitten Face watching cray cray movies and drinking whiskey drinks, and you do it again as you walk behind the theater, past the hologram framed painting, and out to the kick ass patio?
That thing happened to me.
That thing of when like every person in the bar was like a version of yourself, a cool version of cool people sitting in old gramma chairs by the windows having cool and thoughtful people conversations about funny shit, drinking varietal beers through and past their auburn beards, through and past their casually hip clothes, through and past some cool music floating through the high ceilings, through and past a memory that for the brief time I landed there, has been anchored in my city heart forever.