The Fixin' To

The Fixin' To is everyone's dream of a Southern dive bar on its best day. The clientele is lively and artfully disheveled, but not actively racist or mean. The one restroom is covered in scurrilous graffiti, but with no old urine pooling in the corners. And instead of a wall of video poker, there's a gigantic Nintendo Game Boy that breaks the hearts of all comers with its intermittent functionality. Renovations are underway for a music stage to open later this year, but in the meantime there are also the crisp sourdough crusts and fresh, local toppings from Pizza Contadino, now operating out of the Fixin' To's kitchen, and beer-and-a-shot specials with hilarious monikers like My Dixie Wrecked (a shot of Jim Beam with a Dixie Lager for $7). A moodily lit interior with cushy booths and a packed, smoky patio creates an atmosphere ideal for slamming tequila shots at a picnic table and skulking off into the night.

Happy hour: 2-6 pm Monday-Friday. $1 off well drinks and draft beer, drink specials, food specials with drink purchase.

Entertainment: A huge Nintendo Game Boy with a flickering screen and false promises.

8218 N Lombard St., 503-477-4995, thefixinto.com. 3 pm-2 am Monday-Friday, 1 pm-2 am Saturday, 1 pm-1 am Sunday.

Willamette Week

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.