Nickel City — Restaurant in Fort Worth

NIGHT VS DAY REVIEWS. I'm doing four star because if you go during the day it's a five-star experience. Night time on a weekend I would say 3 1/2 star-ish. Allow me to explain...

DAYTIME REVIEW 👩💖🍺🍔🍟🥃🌞 I just moved here and got my haircut and asked where I could get a quick meal. I was directed to Nickel City. I ran across the street and had been told to order at the food truck in the back, by my stylist. Big mistake. I thought the guy was going to rip my face off. I was directed back inside. If I'm honest, I had been tempted to actually leave. But thank God I didn't!

It's a self-serve so I took a seat and ordered the $13.13 lunch special that includes a slider w/cheese (which is actually between a regular burger and a slider), fries, beer and a shot. Darn good Burger! I'm not a beer person but I chose a Tangerine Queen and I'm now obsessed with it. Anytime I go anywhere I look for it and no one ever has it. (I heard Total Wine does.) Even though it's made here locally, it's seasonal and I assume they're selective about who they allow to sell it so that alone would make me go back.

Fun old historical building, lots of locals, wide open seating, great old bar top. Matthew, the bartender is super friendly as well as the gal that was bartending with him. All the older regulars were there chatting and laughing and I struck up a conversation with a wine distributor guy who gave me a lot of information and history about the area, the bars, even Nickel City.

I love the mid-century modern type decor/bathroom and font they use on their menus. All kinds of specialty drinks. Felt like a small town dive bar even though it's in a big city (But with fancy drinks).

Overall, this was an excellent experience. Exactly what I was wanting. And I couldn't wait to share it with my boyfriend since we live right down the street from it. So we returned that following week end and walked there (highly recommended since their drinks have a kick).

NIGHT REVIEW 👩‍❤️‍👨🍺🍹🍸😫😱🌙 Literally night and day. Crowded, takes an eternity to get service. Super young college, crowd. Music and noise so loud you can barely hold a conversation. You end up being forced to sit with strangers because of the table arrangements. We practically ran for the bar when we saw an opening for two chairs. I have mixed feelings about that decision. We ended up having guys leaning over the tops of our heads, ordering their drinks and breathing down my neck. Literally I could feel their breath on my hair. Gone was the relaxed dive bar environment and suddenly it felt like a crowded college big city bar.

Make no mistake. The drinks were phenomenal! The main bartender acted like he was ready to have a panic attack every 30 seconds. Screaming at people for not putting liquor bottles back, being short with customers if they said more than the name of a drink etc. One bartender was running back and forth like a maniac trying to fill orders and the other bartender was cool as a cucumber. That guy was bomb-proof! He's the one that prevented us from feeling like we were having a bad experience.

So once again I ordered from the food truck hoping that this would be the redeeming quality that didn't make me look like I had totally lied to my boyfriend about this place. Yes, the drinks were great.. But the environment was stressful. The food did not let us down! Pizza rolls, some kind of magical buffalo chicken and tater tots, crispy to perfection.

I'll 100% go back. I feel like we've turned into their PR guys because we're telling everyone and their dog about this place. But I absolutely suggest going during the DAYTIME and completely avoided it at night unless you absolutely love screaming your conversations, waiting for drinks, fighting for seating or like to feel like a senior citizen if you're over...

Our second time at NC. And it was worth it. A loud, fast moving, no frills decor, bar and grill. That is not a putdown. Rather a straightforward review of what you will get. Decent sized open space with a few extra large booths, some smalish barstool level tables, and some longer not wide (bigger group) barstool level tables. As well as a neo classic look actual bar. Fairly comfortable bar stools. But the treasures to be found here are not obviously apparent. Those treasure come in the staff. Despite it being basically a "speed bar" (minus the dancefloor). The bartenders, bar backs, and kitchen staff are on point. Quick, kind, courteous,attentive, informative, welcoming, generous...I could go on. From Kyle our bartender, to the gentleman who brought out my Fried Morty sandwich (fried thick bologna with fried swiss, dijon and mayo...YUM!) Our service this time,as well as the last time, were top notch. I was a batender for a number of years, and have seen the good and the bad, on both sides, All good on all sides of Nickel City (Fort Worth). Their liqour selection is fairly extensive and somewhat unusual. There are liquours behind their bar I have never heard of. And not in the "pretty bottle and color that sits there for 5 years". category...Galliano. Great prices on 1 oz shots of whiskey and bourbon, and well as in general for their drinks. My only issues....But these I put into the "personal preference" category. I wish they had a better beer selection, As I am a beer guy. I wish they had a selection to stand up to their liqour selection. You dont need the amount to match the liqour selection, but maybe a better cross section that better reflects the industry. The crinkle cut fries were the best I have had in years...crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the iniside. Problem. The basic fries were under salted/seasoned. And I also got to try the Cajun fries. Same. Underseasoned. Just a bit of heat at the end. My friend took the slider recomendation,and was very happy. Both our bartender and doorman, were very good at letting us know about the weekly night specials: 2 for 1 sliders, 99 cent wings, whiskey Wednesdays, etc, Over all I would say this is the kind of place to come and start you night with some good food, drinks, and staff. Our as we did, end the night the same. This isn't so much a destination, as it is a wonderful beginning, center, or endpoint for the every growing Southside.

Last FYI. Free parking nearby can SUCK. Be prepared to drop $5 weekdays. Or $10 weekends to park in one of the nearby paylots. Thru Parkwhiz or one of the other parking apps.

There is a smaller "sub" bar within the bar called Bar Bagazo, that specializes in tequila/mescal. Have not tried yet.

Weird one just for me. They have a seperate soda water dispenser (Jack Daniels branded?). Best soda water I...

I was at a restaurant in downtown Forth Worth with my friend visiting and since we had other a few Mezcal drinks, the bartender told us about this location and the varity of Mezcal they had there so we thought it would be good to check this place. When you get there, you have the bar at the end where we asked for the different drinks they might have there and what we came for but for that you go a different room where they have all bottles and they even told us they even had samples so once we get there, it looks like a little Cantina with a few seats, we sat down and there was only one guy in charge attending other guests, which is cool, right!? He saw us and acknowledged us but for some reason other people that got there after us where attended next, when asked him if he had seen us we were next, he just said "yes" and when told him about what he did, he just said "I'm here now". I have never been treated like that, if this guy wanted to attend his friends first it's okay, we would have understood that l but the way he just dismissed it and wasn't attentive at all. When we tried to explain that to the other bartender, he just said he would be willing to help us out now.. who would like to stay after that experience!? These type of situations shouldn't be happening in 2022, we all should be treated with respect and we just left and took our business somewhere else but expect attitude if they are having a bad or I guess busy day ... the ones with the sour taste are the people that are there feeling miserable about...