Park City Nightlife

There's no real trick to drinking in Utah, despite rumors you've surely heard about the Utah Liquor laws.

Most places are "private clubs," which is just a clever way of circumventing archaic laws. A "private club" simply means you must pay to get inside. Instead of calling it a cover charge, it's known as a membership fee. This fee varies from place to place. Some are good for a day or several days, and a few allow up to seven people to be covered with one "membership."  Year-long "memberships" are available at most places (for roughly 3-4 times the fee) which is the best option for those in town for a week or more. The minimum Park City price is $4; a place like Harry O's may charge $10 or even $20.

Draft Beer served in restaurants and bars are 3.2%. The full-strength stuff is available only in state liquor stores and private clubs (usually imports in bottles). Liquor stores hours vary, but several are open from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and all are closed Sundays. Bottled beer and wine coolers are sold in grocery stores, but it's just the 3.2% stuff.

You can visit the Park City Chamber's site for more detailed info on the Liquor Laws of Utah.  CLICK HERE

Deer Valley offers the Snow Park Lounge.  Open during the ski season from 2:30 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Draft and bottled beers, fine wines and cocktails available. Enjoy live music Thursday through Monday and holidays, videos and televised sporting events. Serving appetizers after 2:30 p.m.

At Park City Mountain Resort - Legends Bar & Grill is the place.  It's on the ground floor of the Legacy Lodge, just around the corner from the Payday lift.

The chair lift to downtown is a little up from the Village but beverages await at the bottom of the ride in the form of Doolan's Irish Pub. This is at the base of Main Street, a five-block area of downtown Park City that is the heartbeat of its shops, restaurants and bars. Starting at Doolan's and the adjacent Marriott, it's all uphill from there.

Downtown Park City's Main Street has several cool Pub/Clubbing spots. They are all a short walk from one another, making it easy to slip out of the cold and into a cold one.

The main nightlife on Main Street is halfway up – or down, depending on one's starting point – the road. A good place to start is O'Shuck's, not named so because it has peanut shells on the floor but because it serves oysters by the dozen. But it's not a raw bar, but a bar that is raw. No matter how chilly it may be outside, there's no problem getting warmed up here because it's hot, crowded and narrow. It's the young locals' hangout, especially on Tuesdays when schooners of draught are just $3, and that's year-round.

Next door, conveniently, is the No Name Saloon. A fun little bar with live music it's a little nicer decor than O'Shuck's.  Like it's neighbor, it's a casual hang-out-and-meet-the-patrons kind of joint. It's definitely the place for pubbers and not clubbers.

Next door in the other direction is where the celebrities flock to when they are in town, Harry O's. Wildly popular during the '02 Olympics, Harry O's is the hip hang spot, the dynamic dance club. With a huge dance floor with live bands or a DJ and "Harry O's hospitality" it carries on the legacy set by the original in Manhattan Beach, CA.  Look for lines, a finer dress code (nothing official, but club dress is the call) and that hearty "membership fee."

Just up the hill, Cisero's is a hot, sweaty dance club with a carefree crowd. And crowd is the right word – this place gets packed. Just throw down your coat and join the party, because this place rocks. The club is downstairs; upstairs is a fine Italian restaurant, and many people simply walk down the steps to the club after dinner. For pubbers who like to become clubbers, this is the place for you.

For live music, the Spur Bar and Grill serves it up. And this is no sweaty rock 'n roll joint but a nice bar with couches, a fireplace and a small dance floor. Conversations are easy to come by here, making, so we'll coin a new phrase to describe this type of establishment: an "entertainment mingling bar." It's one of Park City's "no smoking" joints, which is becoming more and more popular, but there is a balcony. Just getting there is kind of cool; it's down an alleyway across from Harry O's.

Slightly off the path, on the second floor of the Main Street Shopping Mall, is the Sidecar. It's an upscale martini bar (translation: a date bar) with a balcony overlooking Main Street.  It's also a non smoking bar, and they occasionally have live entertainment as well.  In the mood for real, New York style thin crust greasy pizza?  This is the place for that too.  And look for Park City's own Improv Comedy troupe on Tuesday nights.  This is one of my personal favorites.

There are many more, but this page would be WAY too long if I wrote about all of them - so this should give you a place to start!