By END
October 23, 2009
I was closing up at work when my girlfriend rang. She and some friends were at Instant Replay and they were a little too tipsy to drive home, would I mind coming and picking them up when I get off of work. Would I mind? Of course not! I think that's awesome that she has enough brain cells not soaked in alcohol to call me. Actually, I thought that was more than awesome... now she owes me one ;) When I lived in Chicago, it was no problem to over drink at your favorite watering hole because you literally walked 2 blocks home, or hopped in one of the thousands of cabs lined on the streets. Here, I will need a designated driver sometimes.
Around an hour later, I pulled up to a crowded parking lot. After fighting an old lady for the last spot (kidding, you know the early bird specials are way over with at this hour), I jumped out of my car and headed in. Walking in the front door, I was greeted with a huge sign saying it was 3 Wise Men night, meaning, Jim Beam, Jose and the lovely Mr. Daniels for $2.50 a shot. Instant Replay, you have my attention.
This place was loud, bright and kinda seemed like a sports bar on steroids. I felt like I was walking into a Chucky Cheese type place, there were kids (aged 21+ kids) running around acting all obnoxious and crazy. They had all sorts of video arcade games, pool and darts. Yes, I was right; it was an adult Chucky Cheese.
I walked over to a table of all waters and two shots of Jack. My friends thought it would be nice to get me a shot while they suck down waters. Now normally, two shots of Jack would be no problem but these were not any ordinary shots, they were like the Big Gulp version of a shot. There was no way I could drink this and then drive home. My partners in crime declared that they weren't ready yet to go home and they wanted to stay a while and hang out. Hmmm, so maybe just one of the Jacks I could enjoy...
They have a decent bottled beer list of Bud products, Miller products, Killian Red, Coors Light, Coronas, Leinie's Red, PBR, Fat Tire, Shock Top, Bass, Hinterland Pale Ale, Land Shark, LaBatts, Sierra Nevada, Woodchuck, Sam Adams, Mike's Hard Lemonade, and more. Oh, and they also had Goose Island Honkers. I haven't seen that beer offered anywhere here. It was huge in Chicago. Like how everywhere here has Leinie products, Chicago had Goose Island or Great Lakes stuff. They had a small tap selection of Guinness, Blue Moon, Fat Tire and New Glarus. I didn't see any wines there, but they did have a full liquor selection.
Around an hour later, after my Jack, my girlfriend called her father to come and pick us up. There was no way I could drive, or rather, SHOULD drive, so Pops came to pick up a car load of drunk, giggly little girls. It felt very high school but so did our adult Chucky Cheese night. All in all, Instant Replay was an unexpected fun night, one that I might have to "Instantly Replay" again. (And yes, I was dying to say that).
