You will undoubtedly hear references to "Upper" Greenville and "Lower" Greenville Avenue when it comes to local watering holes. Greenville Avenue runs north-south paralleling Central Expressway about five blocks to its east. The dividing line between upper and lower Greenville is Mockingbird Lane, a major east-west surface road that leads into the affluent area known as Highland Park.  Lower Greenville, the portion to the south of Mockingbird, is older and butts up on a residential area known as the "M" streets that was built back in the 1920's.  The highest concentration of bars is right along this stretch of road, making it a great place to bar hop because you can walk from bar to bar.  It is a two lane road though and has very little parking so be careful if your bar hopping involves crossing the street. Lower Greenville extends down to Belmont (Ave?St?Rd?). There the bars end and the road continues on its way into downtown. The Blue Goose is a popular spot. Likewise,  the Dubliner is an excellent Irish pub on lower Greenville continuing the tradition of the Tipperary Inn which started here and outgrew its space, moving nearby to 5815 Live Oak Ave. A trip to Lower Greenville is not complete without taking a trip to the Granada Theatre.  Built in the 1930's this movie house has been reinvented many times. Whether it is a movie house, a dinner theatre or a concert venue, you should set aside time to make it by just so you can say that you have been there.  Snuffer's Restaurant and Bar has some of the best cheese fries this side of the Mississippi. Sometimes lower Greenville itself is divided into "Lower" and "Lowest". There is no negative connotation intended, it simply tells about where a bar is between Mockingbird and Belmont.

Upper Greenville starts north of Mockingbird and theoretically extends all the way up to LBJ/635 in the north. The bars are more spread out along this stretch.  (Turning north onto Greenville from Mockingbird, Greenville is divided for about a block and the side running north is called Matilda. There's probably a story there but just maintain your faith and it will become Greenville again as soon as the split ends.)  The best pocket of bars on Upper Greenville is on Yale and Dryer Street just off of Greenville on the west side near the lower/upper division.  These bars tend to attract the younger SMU (Southern Methodist University) college crowd.  Here Butterfinger's (5645 Yale), the bar used in the movie "Born on the Fourth of July", offers a tremendous variety of draft beers.   The Ginger Man Pub is also highly regarded. The Across the Street Bar may be the best bar with the least ambience - expect crowds and arrive early to get good parking. The Ozona Bar & Grille (4615 Greenville Ave) on the corner of Yale and Greenville is a great little place you shouldn't miss.  It used to be a beer garden named Cardinal Puff's and the bricks in the courtyards are the original bricks that used to pave Greenville Avenue back in the day.

There are isolated bars going further up Greenville Avenue, with a small pocket of sports or specialty bars clustering near Park Lane. The Filling Station (6862 Greenville Ave) has a lot of great specialty drinks as well a menu based on automotive themes. Ben's Half Yard House, a sports bar just past the Filling Station, sells beer in 1/2 yard glasses and can be a wild and crazy place. O'Riley's Neighborhood Bar at the top of Greenville at the intersection of Forest Lane tops off the selection at the northern end of Greenville.  Being so far north, it really is a neighborhood bar and is generally more about kicking back than tying one on though they have their hopping nights too.

Honorable Mention

There are a couple of great places right along Mockingbird at the Greenville intersection that have to be mentioned too even though they are not technically bars. Campesi's Egyptian Restaraunt is a local cultural icon having been around since the fifties.  Also, inside the shopping plaza (tucked in the corner) is the Pocket Sandwich Theatre. There you can eat, drink and take in a melodrama, throwing popcorn at the actors.  Be careful throwing popcorn at the other patrons, though. They can get testy.

Poor David's Pub was a fixture on Lowest Greenville Avenue for decades before moving closer to the Convention Center.