Dave’s Fox Head Tavern

George’s is right down the street, and it’s everything that Fox Head tries to be.
Go to Fox Head if you like:
–watching bartenders chat with their friends while you wait for a drink
–having no place to sit and only awkward places to stand
–over priced drinks

Great low key place. On the small side, so on weekends it can be hard to find a seat if all the booths are taken, but there is always standing room. The beauty and downfall of this place is the lack of drink choices. I am told it is the IC writer’s bar, and that’s kind of cool too.

Great prices
The atmosphere feels very flannel-​and-​old-​converse
There’s a pool table too :)

Put away your middle finger, you won’t need it here. You can’t really tell if the old bar bottle boxes are old beer memorabilia or just trash that’s been waiting to go out to the bin for the last 40 years and no one’s really given a rat’s ass to do it. Meh… it doesn’t matter; the walls are too ugly to bother with it now. They don’t have 19 IPAs on tap, much to the chagrin of some of the local grad students, but they have locally brewed selections, comfy bar stools, and they’re fresh out of bullshit. If you wanted high-​fives and superficial winks, you’d be elsewhere. You wanted a cold beer, so you’re at the Fox Head. Or a club soda. Because they’ll pour you one if that’s what you really want, and it’s all cool, baby.

This is a cozy bar with a diverse clientele. Bartenders are down to earth and will let you sample beer on tap. Only issue is that they only accept cash so make sure you bring cash!

Simple, no-​nonsense iconic Iowa City bar. Saw a movie star/​writer/​producer there once. Only four beers on tap including a stout, pale ale, and Pabs. Full liquor selection. Excellent bar tender on a Saturday night. Awesome carvings on the booths: not at all seedy. One pool table but not much of a wait. Lots of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop people like to hang out here, including famous grads like John Irving. Low key but kinda loud.

Not a bad place to hang out. The times I’ve been there, the bar tender seems to have a lot of attitude for serving up Lacrosse Lager Light and PBR, but I guess that just adds to the character. Generally more «interesting» people here than you’ll run into at Brothers. If nothing else go for all the old beer signs that litter the joint.

This is generally known as the writer’s bar in Iowa City. As a result, there is the understanding that this bar is particularly pretentious. I want to take care to note that these are just the people in the bar, and honestly, it’s mostly just the writers and some of the grad students. I’ve met some totally levelheaded people at this bar. For me, the Fox Head is probably one of the least pretentious bars that I know (the most pretentious is the Sanctuary).
There are few options at the Fox Head. You can’t get a fancy drink. You can get a beer, whiskey, gin, vodka, or tequila. There are few options of each, all of which are pretty cheap. There are four, maybe five beers on tap. The tables wobble and the men’s bathroom is eight types of wrong. Additionally, you need to watch out for pool players.
All of these things make it one of my favorite places to drink in Iowa City. There are booths everywhere and I can just have a conversation with someone while listening to one of the weirdest, most excellent bar jukeboxes in this city. It’s rarely loud and rarely crowded. Whatever you heard about the Foxhead is probably wrong. You should check it out some time that isn’t Sunday because it’s never open on Sundays.

wow, i’m surprised this place hasn’t been Unilocaled yet! well, i hope i’m not selling out this great local bar (located across from John’s). inside, you won’t get the rowdy kids that just turned 21 (supposedly), at least not until about 11pm, but you’ll get a relaxing bar that has a single bartender, several bar tables, and a jukebox (and it does get awkward at moments when it isn’t on).
no sign on the door, but it is a corner joint. enjoy.