The Best Bars & Pubs in Hartford

The bars in Hartford run from Irish pub to sports bar to the kind of supper-club bar where Friday means a fish fry. It is a small town, so the scene is not sprawling, but the mainstays each have their own character, and most do food as well as drinks, which means a night out here usually starts with dinner rather than a separate stop. There is no cocktail-lounge scene to speak of and no craft-brewery taproom in town proper, but what Hartford has is a solid set of honest neighborhood bars where you can settle in. Here is where locals actually go, sorted by what kind of night you are after, from a full Irish-pub dinner to a quick drink in front of a game.

Where do locals drink in Hartford?

The core of the scene is a handful of pubs and bars downtown and just around it: Erin Inn Irish Pub, Down Slope Pub, Noey's Pub and Grill, The Drinking Well, and Lucky Shotz. Between them you can find a Guinness and a fish fry, a casual pub dinner, a low-key drink at the bar, or a game on the TV with a crowd. Most serve food as well as drinks, so none of these is a drinks-only stop, and on a Friday you will find a fish fry somewhere in the mix, as you would anywhere in Wisconsin. It is a small-town bar scene, friendly and unpretentious, where the bartenders tend to know the regulars and a newcomer is easy to spot but made welcome. Nobody here is chasing a cocktail-bar trend; these are neighborhood places built for a beer, a meal, and a bit of company.

The pubs: Down Slope, Noey's, and The Drinking Well

For a proper pub night with dinner, the core trio is Down Slope Pub, Noey's Pub and Grill, and The Drinking Well. Down Slope and Noey's both do casual pub food alongside the drinks, the sort of burgers-and-a-beer places that anchor a night out, with a menu that covers the pub-grub basics and a bar that fills up on the weekend. The Drinking Well is the more low-key of the group, a good pick when you just want a relaxed drink without much fuss or noise. Between the three you can pitch a whole evening: dinner and a few drinks at one, a nightcap at another, all within a short walk downtown. Which you start at comes down to whether you want food, a livelier room, or somewhere quiet to talk.

Casual and sports: Lucky Shotz

When you want to catch a game or just have an easy drink, Lucky Shotz is the casual, sports-friendly option. It is the kind of place that fills up around a Packers game, with the TVs on and a relaxed crowd, and stays easygoing the rest of the time. It is a good default when you are not after a full dinner and just want a bar with a game, a drink, and some company. In a town this size, one solid sports bar covers the need, and this is it. On a fall Sunday, it is where a lot of locals end up.

Supper-club style and the Friday fish fry

Like the rest of Wisconsin, Hartford takes its Friday fish fry seriously. The fish fry is the standard Friday-night meal statewide: battered or beer-battered cod, potato pancakes or fries, coleslaw, and rye bread, usually at a bar or supper club, and often with a bloody mary or an old fashioned alongside. A supper club, if you are from out of state, is a relaxed sit-down bar-and-restaurant, often family-run, built around a leisurely dinner rather than a quick bite, a Midwestern institution worth experiencing at least once. Several of the bars above run a Friday fish fry, and The Reserve at Hartford leans toward the sit-down, supper-club end of the spectrum if that is the evening you want. Ask around on a Friday and you will not be far from one; it is the single most local way to spend a Friday night here.

Getting home

It is a small town, so distances are short, but plan a ride if you have been drinking. For a group heading out together, the local Cruise-A-Palooza Party Bus is one way to keep everyone together and off the road, handy for a birthday or a bigger night. Rideshare coverage can be thin in a town this size compared with a city, so it is worth lining up your ride before the night starts rather than assuming one will appear at closing time. Whatever you choose, sort the ride home first. For food to go with the night, where to eat in Hartford covers the fuller dinner options, and if a night out is part of a bigger visit, see the other things to do in Hartford.