Bar Hopper: Longhead's Bar & Grill

(Credit: Joseph Lord)

Longhead’s inhabits exactly the space where it belongs — on a lonely stretch of Dixie Highway between the two groups of small businesses clustered around the Watterson Expressway and Gene Snyder Freeway. The strip malls and fast-food joints thin in the couple of miles between the interstates, and smack dab in the middle of this is a bar with a high-pitch roof and a quartet of motorcycles parked in the lot.

Why not try it?

Longhead’s belongs where it is, but it is certainly not like most other Dixie Highway bars. Its neighbor bars are dim joints where the conversation is muted, the menu is limited and the tables and chairs are older than you. And so are most of the patrons. It’s also no Electric Cowboy, the nearby nightclub that channels Fourth Street Live. Mostly, Longhead’s is a spacious sports bar with a decent menu, affordable beers and a clientele that ranges from young sports fanatics to oldtimers to post-work relief-seekers to bikers.

The main room is plastered in big flat-screen televisions that are mostly tuned to games and “SportsCenter.” The TVs line the walls above the bar, within eye’s reach of every seat. The bar is long and roomy. There are pool tables in the rear and a spacious deck for smokers. Longhead’s gets high marks for affordability — domestic bottles are in the $2 range. The selection is mostly limited to major brands, but it’s a South End sports bar — what do you expect? I settled for a Miller Lite; not necessarily tasty, but a deal is a deal. The menu is equally affordable, if predictably limited to bar menu fare. But 12 tasty wings for $7.75 and a hefty sampler trio for $8 are bargains.

Longhead’s MySpace page has the standard boast proclaiming it the “hottest spot in town.” That’s a stretch. The bar has DJ dance parties on the weekend, and that’s fun and all. But what Longhead’s does best is provide a comfortable, fun atmosphere appealing to fans of sports, sports bars and affordable drinks and food. It’s neither depressing nor excessively decadent like nearby nightclubs. Casual, active and affordable is the perfect antidote for a lonely stretch of road, anyway.

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