John Wayne’s

I love this bar! If you are feeling a little country or hip hop or rock n roll … well this place has it all for you! The DJ is good at reading the crowd, plus there is a huge nice dance floor! If you are looking for a good drink and something a little special be sure to see Sam the bartender — big dude behind the main bar usually. John Wayne’s also has other stuff during the week going on like happy hour and poker nights. You will find a mix of people here and it is definitely the bar to be at in Beaumont!

Decent place to dance and drink. Bartender Sam makes excellent drinks; he’s the big guy, you can’t miss him. The dance floor is roomy, and there are plenty of tables and seating. Definitely better than Crockett St (in my opinion).
Now for the disappointing part: I have to agree with other reviews that the DJ is abysmal. I mean, I could do a better job just turning on Pandora on my phone and letting it play.
Not a fantastic place if you’re looking for variety in music, but all around worthwhile. And ask for Sam!

We visited this place on a Friday night upon hearing through the grapveine that it was ‘poppin.’ While some of the places on Crockett Street weren’t very occupied, this was worse.
As soon as we get there, it’s already close to midnight and I don’t want to delay my fun-​having anymore, so I walk over to the DJ and ask him to play some actual good hip-​hop and not the classic rock he was playing to cater to the crowd which was unfortunately in their 50s and 60s. He then gave me the olé’ «Oh, well I’m not from around here» line. Listen, dude, I got out of Southeast Texas first chance I could and live across the country. I don’t live around here. You my Lake Chuck friend, do. Lake Charles is to Beaumont as Natchitoches is to Nacogdoches. They’re the same damn town on opposite sides of the border.
Gross old men in Nomax fresh off their shift at the plant and rude bartenders who make crappy drinks. At least there was ample seating around the dance floor.

Absolutely not. Never again.
We heard that this was the place to be in Beaumont on Friday night. If the place to be is surrounded by disgusting 30 – 40 year old men straight off a 12 hour shift at the plant and still wearing the pants to prove it, then maybe this is your jam. However, this is not my crowd, and I’m well aware that I am not their crowd, either.
The décor was drab, disorderly and just plain dirty. And I literally mean there was dirt on the floors: there were piles of sand in the corners of the dance floor. The lights were too bright for a bar. If you’re running a hole in the wall drinkery, at LEAST dim the lights significantly so it gives an underground vibe and hides some of the dismal décor.
The DJ was TERRIBLE. I honestly don’t see why he was needed at all. iTunes does a better job of fading from one song to another, and it’s not like he was really doing any remixing. There would be a 2 – 3 second delay of silence in between some songs, or songs would just end. He was playing 1990 and 2000 era hip hop, which was at least nice, because that catered to the more «mature» crowd.
The drink prices were $ 1 higher than at the much classier (by comparison) Crockett Street venues we had just vacated for promises of John Wayne’s being «popping.» And the drinks weren’t good. There were no specials. There were no house cocktails or unique offerings. Most people were drinking beer in bottles — I didn’t see much (if anything) on tap.
While here dancing with my girl friends, a man walked by and slapped mine and my friend’s butt. OH HELL NAW. Disrespect me or my friends, and you got another thing coming. I spun around and smacked him in the neck/​chest area. Honestly I was aiming for the face, slap for a slap, right? I got all up in his face and told him how that was sexual harassment and extremely disrespectful to women. I think my friends thought I was going to get in to a brawl with this guy. It was a «hold me back» moment. He drunkenly apologized and stayed away from us – but that still doesn’t make it OK. Ladies, don’t put up with this behavior. Stand up to these uncivilized pigs.
After a few hours here, we decided to leave near closing time. My friend and I go to close out our bar tabs and the bartenders can’t find either of our cards. The bartender tried to claim my friend had already closed her tab, but when we checked the receipt, the signature was NOT hers and her card was still being held behind the bar. If she signed, why would she have not taken her card at that time? Shady shit. When it came to my card, they FINALLY found it after about 10 minutes of searching. You know, MAYBE it took them so long to find a credit card because they were being kept in a glass cup. Seriously?! Even a rolodex or alphabetized folder would be more advanced than a cup. And they were writing tickets by hand. There was no computer or point of sale system to keep track of orders. In a bar that supposedly just got a revamp, not taking advantage of technology to improve customer experience is completely unacceptable.
The entire place is unacceptable. Raise your standards, Beaumont.
OH, and you have to pay $ 5 just to get in the door! A cover charge at a dive like this?! PUH-​LEEEZE!

Known previously as I Crave It Lounge & The Corner Pocket. The owners have definitely put some $$$$ into John Wayne’s. If you’re in the West End & into Country/​Western Music, then this is the place to be at (beats the drive downtown to Crockett Street). The dance floor has plenty of space to move around & the bartenders are prompt/​attentive.
My only complaint is the DJ (at least on the night a group of friends & I were there). He made literally no attempt at all to mix (is that asking for much?) & at one point the music just all of the sudden cut out. When we asked him what happened, he said that his laptop was installing Automatic Windows Updates (then we heard the Windows Startup Sound over the sound system). A bit unprofessional/​unprepared if you ask me.

If your into country /​western dance bars this place is as good as it gets. Its relatively new and in an easy to find location. I cant say enough good things about the inside of the building. The décor is perfect and it always feels very roomy inside. They have nice seats and pool tables and everything you’d expect in a dive bar but at the same time manage to lock down the dance hall feel.
I cant say enough good things about the cocktails here. The bartenders are top notch. I know lots of people go to these types of bars and just drink Bud Light Long Necks all night. Those folks are missing out. one bartender Sam in particular is a miracle worker when it comes to turning a few simple ingredients into advanced cocktails.
Prices here are also always very fair and sometimes their is a small cover but paying the cover is more than worth it. I feel like the cover cuts down a few cheap skates who would just stand around in the bar and take up precious space anyway.
The back bar is open now so the demand for drinks never gets so bad that you cant get a drink in relatively good time. I hate standing in line and waiting 30 minutes to get a drink and that’s certainly not a problem here.
The smoking patio is like a quick break from the party, there are chairs with ashtrays between them and the music is very subdued. Its great for a quick break,
I don’t give out many five star reviews but John Wayne’s is what it is and does it better than anyone else. I would recommend if your even considering going here to get up and head on over and have Sam make you a drink.

Some of the best bartenders in Beaumont. Awesome management. Steve E. covers most of what the place has They are about to complete a back bar.

This is supposed to be the new Alibi’s. I only visited the original Alibi’s a few times, so I can’t really address that, but on its own merits, John Wayne’s is a great bar. They got the space portioned out right; a good sized dance floor, room to move around the pool tables and still plenty of space for people to mill about or take a break at one of the tables.
Waitresses make the rounds before your drink is gone, and the main bar is augmented with a beer tub by the smoking patio if you prefer to grab your own. The crowd was a mix of what Blake Shelton might call «old farts and jackasses» like myself, all the way to young ‘uns that could have been our grandkids. It made for an interesting music mix.
One of the most important aspects, to me anyway, of any club is the music. The sound system here is absolutely top-​notch. The DJ is very knowledgeable about what his crowd wants to hear and what will keep them on the dance floor. He worked the crowd with everything from Wild Cherry to AC/​DC to Jason Aldean to Moe-​D. I’ll admit that there was a smattering of tunes that I could easily have done without, but the N-​word and the F-​bomb are de rigueur in dance clubs these days. Nice lights on the dance floor, and I hear and upgrade is in the works.
Other things you might want to check out: Karaōke, Crawfish, Convenient piercings and tattoos next door. Dang, this place has it all!