Nothing special in this category either. Many restaurants will serve you complimentary tea or just hot water.
Local people often buy a bottle of baijiu ç½é and bring it to a restaurant for the meal, which is perfectly fine if you so desire. Such folks often end up stumbling drunkenly outside afterwards and emptying themselves liberally on the sidewalk, which also seems to be fine if you so desire. The city shuts down relatively early by Chinese standards, as KTVs might close at around 12:30-1 am and bars at 2 am.
The local beers are SiLing Superdry åéè¶ å¹² ï¼chaogan pijiu) and JiutouYa's own Oboist beer. You can also find Tsingtao all over town, however, be aware that Pingdingshan is some kind of special-alcoholic zone where beer is produced exclusively with a lower alcohol content. Your bottle of Tsingtao will clock in at a shy 3.1% alcohol compared to the normal 4.9% and most other beers are in the same neighborhood. This practice is even marketed with the claim that "Less alcohol = fresher flavor". Your best bet on getting tanked is to just drink BaiJiu or maybe search out the Siling Blue Bottle of beer which is a solid 4.0%.
Establishments:
The following bars are mostly the same setup. An open space with a short bar, then two levels of booths wrapped around the open space. They play chinese pop and most people play dice-game over their beer, fruit, popcorn and cigarettes. The bartenders and servers are all nice and helpful. They sell beer and mixed drinks. Very few people speak english but you won't have a problem finding instant "best friends" at these places:
2046 Beer Club er-ling-si-liu jiu-ba - Laodong Road a block south of jianshe road, second floor - A good place to unwind after work, as it's probably the earliest opening bar 5-6pm along with Pinwei bar. Probably the original expat bar in town. There was once as many as three foreigners in the place at one time! Has a stage where you can sing your favorite chinese pop songs and quite a regular following of customers. The boss is a wild and crazy Hui minority who looks more like a hipster mexican with his beard and baseball cap. Big, cheap ¥10 bottles of Qingdao, Snow beer and occasionally a homebrew on tap.
Pinwei jiu-ba Flavor Bar - Chaoyang rd. alongside the little canal beside the Pingdingshan Hotel on Jianshe road. An amazingly relaxing place open by a coal-mine boss which caters to a rather hidden collection of higher-ups and visiting korean/japanese businessmen. The prices here are just a bit more than usual ¥20 big qingdao but the quiet and the small crowd makes it worth it. Good Mr. Huang and Lovely Ms. Jin basically run the bar every night. KTV rooms available in the basement.
Night Cat Bar å¤ç«é å§- YouYue Road, from the small corner-Mcdonalds on Zhongxing road head east and the bar is upstairs on your right with a big sign. Cool bartender who maybe stays open latest of all the bars 2:30 am. Large bottle of Tsingtao reduced alc. ¥15.
Brother Bar å å¼é å§- Kaiyuan Road running one block east of Zhongxing rd. Upstairs across the street from the larger McDonalds. Nice bartenders and the boss loves a joke or two. Tsingtao ¥15.
Sister Bar å§å¦¹é å§ - Despite the name and the fact that it is right next door to the Brother Bar it is of different ownership. However, you can expect the same prices, offerings and crowd. The boss's girlfriend is often behind the bar and she's a fox. Tsingtao ¥15.
BaoBao Bar å å é å§ - Probably the best fun for a good value. It's bigger, cheaper and more laid back. The crowd here seems more well-off and well dressed. Try Chengdu's XueHua beer for only ¥10 per large bottle.
The next few bars are more like nightclubs with dancefloors, loud high-energy music and your occasional gogo girls in skimpy outfits:
[V] Party Disco On Zhongxing road. Biggest disco in town! Dancefloor, gogo girls, cheap mystery beer and a big, weird flat-footed crowd. You might catch a weird variety show on their stage but usually it is all DJ's and dance music. Nevertheless, the staff is really friendly.
SoHo Club - The Chinese nightclub franchise found in every city with the same open gear-work decor, dancers, singers, chandeliers and high prices. Good looking men and women fill the place up around 10 pm and it empties at about 1 am. The girls behind the bar are sweet and talkative if you can manage the noise levels. One small bottle of Budweiser or Heineken ¥30. You may see a bottle of tsingtao here or there but don't ask for it because they won't sell it to you. Also, a variety of mixed drinks and novelty coctails for prices you might as well not ask about. On north Xiuyu road ä¼è²è·¯ near the intersection with Kuanggong road.
Redu Bar - Upstairs from the SoHo Club. Consider it a cheaper, seedier, wackier version of SoHo. May or may not be the go-to hangout for GLBT bargoers. Have your wits and cell phone ready for mass phone number exchange or learn the phrase "wo meiyou shouji" i don't have a cell phone. Also, be nimble on your feet as drunk goofballs seeking to spill their beer run rampant.
