Jamesons Pub on 17th Ave Rocks

Jamesons Pub on a Saturday Night

If you’re looking to go out to a Calgary pub and let loose, Jamesons on 17th Ave might be the hotspot for you. One of the great local establishments that has always supported the Calgary live music scene, Jamesons is fully back to normal and once again bringing the best of local entertainment, dj, and live music. As I continue my Calgary reviews this is how the evening stacked up.

This Saturday there was a DJ setting up with her set to start around 10pm. I arrived earlier to meet a large group of people and we had reserved the large seating area at the back of the pub which is normally used for group bookings. This semi-private area is still open to the rest of the club, but is out of the way enough that the majority of patrons in the place are not walking through your social group or large meetup.

Jamesons is located at the Western end of the 17th Ave entertainment zone, there are few other places further West that attract much of a crowd, and many further East as you get into the core of the “red mile” of restaurants, pubs, and trendy shops. This street remains the highest concentration of nightlife in Calgary and attracts the young vibrant crowd who is looking for that fun atmosphere.

During the summer months the front patio is always full and it sits on the sunny side of the street. If you have ever visited 17th Ave you know that it’s a constant parade of cars driving up and down the strip looking to be seen as well as to check out what’s going on. This can be highly entertaining to watch, but has also garnered a lot of complaints about vehicle noise and danger to pedestrians lately. It seems the city of Calgary is looking in to highly cracking down on the traffic in the area.

Saturday night at Jamesons there’s always a drink special and a food special. I believe it was a discount on certain beers and a couple of bucks off nachos, but I honestly wasnt paying attention. The server was fantastic, she managed our large group without a problem and had remarkable retention of everyone’s names for managing about 30 tabs. Bartending was able to keep up with minimal daily, definitely better than every other busy calgary pub i have tried this summer. I would rate the bartending and wait staff among if not the very best bar service in YYC.

The vibe of the place evolved as the night goes on. What starts as a streetside trendy Calgary pub in the afternoon, shifts to a bit of a Calgary sports bar venue late in the day and early evening, becomes an after work watering hole, a trendy restaurant and great social setting until about 10pm, then goes full on dance club with a DJ or live music after that. It’s like 4 clubs in one depending on what time you arrive.

If you want to check this place out, and I think you should, you can just head West down 17th and you can’t miss it. Or you can still the address in your gps if you’re geographically challenged. 1230 17 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2T 0B8

or Call them for your large group reservations at: (403) 984-9445

Check them out Jamesons on FB

Overall I am going to give Jamesons my highest ranking of all the Calgary clubs I have tried this summer (out of maybe 15 so far). Location was good, drinks were good, bartending was fast, server was excellent, menu looked good, prices were better then average and the live entertainment pushes them up above every other venue in YYC. I will be back there frequently.

~ King Calgary