Rheya R.
Yelp
I haven't had any food here, so I can't say much about that. The bartenders are cool. There is no in-and-out of the bar, but that's okay because there's a smoke alley with good airflow. The bottom floor is more lax compared to the top floor. Bottom floor has tables, usually first come first serve. I like showing up here before 10:30pm to avoid the cover fee, but you can also add yourself to the guest list for the night that you are going to push that time to 11:00pm. 2 bathrooms on each floor. Coat check on second floor, though I have not used it. The is another room/bar in the back of the first floor, which is really chill too. Security/bouncers seem inconsistent with if they're understanding or not.
There's consistent pre-midweek-holiday times here. Such as pre-Thanksgiving or pre-4th of July, so you can party out in the middle of the week before the day off. Music is good if you're into throwbacks. It is consistently the same every visit though, so do not expect anything different if you go multiple times!
As for LGBTQ+ community: It is friendly to be LGBTQ+ here, but I find that this is definitely mostly a straight bar. There will be 1-3 LGBTQ+ people at a time, and most of the time it would be myself and the friends I brought. I do feel safe here as an obviously queer person, so there's that. I also don't know many others places that play music similar to Raven Bar that is also queer-centric, so I'll take what I can get.
There's also apparently a dress code, but I have been able to get in with a decent shirt and Vans. Also there is advertisements of different events throughout the week, and I have been to most of them and I gotta say, they're mostly the same. It would be cool if there were some themed nights, but maybe that's not what the bar is going for. It's consistent every night; I know exactly what I am getting when I go to Raven Bar. It's reassuring at times, disappointing at others. Overall, I usually go to Raven Bar if there is nowhere else to go (like my queer spots are closed) and I'm not expecting to go too crazy.