To be perfectly honest, the main reason the Scientists Drinking Club wanted to review the Dspot Lounge was because we can’t resist the opportunity to spend an evening making bad sex jokes. (Where is the Dspot located? Does the Dspot even exist, or is it a myth? Dr. Gillespie swears she found it last year ... ) Trying to research the bar online proved tricky until I found the bar’s MySpace page (MySpace: still relevant!), but all we could gather was that they had karaoke on Wednesdays and played ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s music on weekends. Last Thursday, though, was a special occasion: To celebrate the NFL’s first 2009 regular season game, Dspot staff was throwing an indoor tailgate party, complete with barbecue, $1 Lone Stars, $1 kamikazes, $1 Amaretto Sours, and their usual healthy selection. Free food, cheap booze, and as many Dspot puns as we can think up? You had us at “Free.”
My enthusiasm took a hit once I got there, though — from the parking lot, the Dspot looked a little grim and small. However, inside was a different story: The Dspot is actually huge, with a long, well-lit, and inviting bar; dart boards in one corner, pool tables in another; a stage; a dance floor; and enough tables and chairs to host a Scrabble tournament. TVs playing the Steelers-
Titans game dotted the walls, but didn’t overwhelm the decor, which Dr. Gamboa — noting the aluminum siding on the walls — likened to Chipotle.
The barbecue was a little cold (we showed up after the game was already underway), but tasty, especially when paired with ice-cold Lone Stars — all served in impressive frosty mugs worthy of a much more expensive beer. While a few of us tried the kamikazes (which were strong, considering how cheap they were), Dr. Adams conducted her patented ultimate test of a bar: “I order the worst tequila they have, chilled,” she says. The verdict? “It was really not that bad!” Thumbs up.
Onstage, two guys performed acoustic covers ranging from standards (Sublime’s “What I Got”) to surprisingly deep cuts (ex-Stroke Albert Hammond Jr.’s “In Transit”). Dr. Adams mused that they should be soundtracking a round of hacky-sack instead of pro football, but Dr. Skelton appreciated the quieter volume: “The music is totally inoffensive,” she said, “and it’s at a low enough level that we can still talk to each other.”
Meanwhile, the drinks kept on coming, and our bartender was generous with his pours and his service. After we decided it was too cold in our portion of the bar (Dr. Shaver: “It’s like a black hole in here”), Dspot staff had no problem turning off the wall-mounted mega-fans pointed at our table. Our corner warmed up, but we were immediately cooled off again by a steady stream of $1 Lone Stars and shots. As post-game wrap-ups flashed onscreen, we all agreed that this was a bar we needed to revisit, and soon. A cheap, comfortable late-night hangout is not a myth — the Dspot is real. Good luck finding it.
The Scientists is a semi-anonymous drinking club on a mission to test San Antonio’s best/worst/weirdest bars and clubs. We take our mission very, very seriously.
