Address: 1520 West Main St. Richmond, VA 23220
Hours: 11:00am - 2:00am Sunday thru Saturday
Website: www.bajabean.com
Review: I once recall hearing someone say that all of Richmond's best bars were downtown, anything near VCU's Monroe Park Campus was a dive. Whoever said that must have stopped too soon on Main Street because Baja Bean is far from a disappointment.
The main part of the bar and restaurant is located inside a basement. It has cheap pool every night and a handful of arcade games peppered throughout. Their website has a calendar showing their events and specials including, Karaoke, live music, poker night etc. The indoor bar offers a variety of good beers all at reasonable prices and the friendly staff made several interesting drinks for us when we asked. For instance, when we tried to get an apple pie shot the bartender introduced us to apple sauce shooters which were delicious. The entire crowd was a perpetually friendly group whether we were playing poker, pool, corn hole or just watching the game.
Eventually we went outside to enjoy the good weather. If you can make it to Baja Bean while its warm, make it happen. The patio is arguably the best in Richmond with the theme of friendly service and patrons continuing outside. While the drink selection is understandably less at the outside bar, the service still stepped it up by serving us terrific drinks when we simply asked to be surprised.
The bathrooms are spacious but seems to double as some sort of storage space. They're not exactly the prettiest sight. Some of the stalls have had the doors removed in the men's room but its not a major gripe. Still if the bathrooms were in better condition, the entire experience would seem cleaner and the place would arguably get a perfect score. However, saying that the bathroom isn't stellar is a weak complaint at a bar that consistently proves to be a good time.