Ruben James: Dive bars do exist in Burlington, VT

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It was getting pretty close to noon on Saturday after we finished taking our tour of the Ben & Jerry's factory, then driving through historic downtown Waterbury. We knew that the Ohio State/Penn State football game was supposed to be on and based on the stats, it had the potential to be a good game.

There was only one problem. In our time exploring Burlington so far, we had yet to find a place that lended itself well to watching sports. Granted, Burlington is decent sized town, so we hadn't even come close to exploring every option.

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As we started making the rainy drive back to Burlington from Waterbury, @mrsbozz was busy on the phone looking at options for us. We had thought about staying right in Waterbury and having lunch, but the options there were pretty slim. I guess I should say, lots of places to eat, but zero sports bars.

Eventually, we made our way back to the downtown area near our hotel and we found a parking spot about a block and a half away from Ruben James. I didn't see it at the time, but on their site they claim they are "the" place to go to watch sports in Downtown Burlington, so I guess we had found our place.

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We found a booth against the back wall and got ready for what we hoped would be a good game. Ruben James would definitely be considered a dive bar. I don't know why, but the name had me thinking it might be a bit fancier. I guess when you name something after a person, it gives off a fancy vibe to me. Think Ruth's Chris, or something like that. No, I don't think Long John Silvers would count!

Anyway, the place had a ton of TV's and thankfully they had the big football game playing on the big screen. Given the proximity to Pennsylvania, I really thought there would be more Penn State fans in the place, but unfortunately, it was filled with Ohio State fans.

Just our luck!

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I can't really point to any one thing that made me feel like Ruben James was a dive bar. It's more of an aesthetic. Like many downtown bars, it has a long narrow footprint. It's pretty formulaic actually, Window seats in the front, bar along one wall, tables or booths along the other. A secluded seating area in the back next to the bathrooms and maybe a stage if they happen to have live music one night.

If you've been in one, you likely know what I am talking about. I think the kicker for me was the popcorn machine with free serve yourself popcorn. That's always a sure sign of a local dive bar. Maybe even a little more upscale now that I think of it. Real dive bars probably wouldn't even have popcorn.

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There was only one guy working in the bar and while it was pretty empty when we arrived, it very quickly started to fill in. He handled it very well and I was impressed with his poise and easy going attitude.

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This was one of the many Oktoberfest beers I had while I was in Vermont. It was absolutely delicious. It was something local if I remember right though I don't remember for sure. I know it wasn't one of the major brands like Sam Adams or Leinenkugel.

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Eventually, there were a fair number of people in the place that seemed interested in the football game, but what we really found interesting was just how many people came in wanting to watch a specific hockey game that was on. They tried to accommodate as many people as they could with the number of TV's they had, but there were some games they just couldn't get.

I guess we forgot how close to Canada we were and just how popular hockey is in that part of the country. I don't mind hockey, but we were there to watch the football game. Unfortunately, the game ended up being a bit of a dud and Ohio State easily won if I remember correctly.

In fact, the big group of Ohio State fans left before we even got to halftime.

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We did not because we had food on the way. I was looking at something else on the menu, when I noticed Ruben James is supposedly pretty famous for their wings. @mrsbozz agreed that I had to get the wings if that was the case.

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I got a couple different flavors. I think one was Korean BBQ and the other was called "kitchen sink". It was basically just a bunch of their 28 flavors mixed together. They weren't the best wings I have ever had, but they weren't the worst either. If the hype can be believed, that doesn't say much for the wing game in Burlington.

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I was hoping for better, but I was full and the beer was good, so I can't really complain. @mrsbozz got the wrap and onion rings that you see in the opening photo.

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I asked her how it was and she replied with "it's a wrap" which is usually what she always says when she gets a wrap and I ask how it is. The fact is, there just isn't a ton that you can do with a wrap to make it unique. Okay, maybe there is, but most places just don't do it. You could walk into any given bar in any given city in the US and probably not be able to distinguish one wrap, club, or ruben from the other.

To be fair, Ruben James wasn't the worst place we ate in Burlington. That honor goes to a restaurant I will probably cover next week. It was a great place to catch a game with some decent food and some cold beer. The bathrooms left a lot to be desired, but luckily I only had to go once.

This was one of the first places we were presented with the "pay via QR code" option. Again, I don't like that. As I said, the guy was the only one working there and he was spread pretty thin. It could have been very easy for someone to yell to him that they paid via QR code as they were walking out the door and him being so busy, wouldn't realize if they did or not until those people were long gone.

Even worse, what if the payment didn't actually go through and I thought I paid but ended up not? I'd feel horrible. Of course it is tied to my Google Pay account, so I got an alert right away that I had paid, but still, you never know. I Just don't like it at all.

We made it back through the rain to our car and then headed to the hotel to spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing before we went out again that night.

Check back to see how that went!

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Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced