Best of MTL 2017: Nightlife

Readers poll results.

LOIC-11
Loïc, Best Wine Bar #2, Best Upscale Bar/Club #5, Best 5 à 7 #9

Montrealers love their drank, and show loyalty to their favourite bars, bartenders and choice of potent potables in this year’s poll, which shows movement but few new additions. Exceptions include the return of Sparrow to the Best Bar category (#5), the arrival of new Old Montreal spot Bord’elle to Best Upscale Bar/Club (#4) and appearances by McLean’s (#2) and SuWu (#5) in Best 5 à 7 — if you notice the ubiquity of McLean’s, you might not be surprised to learn that they mounted an impressive Best of MTL campaign this year.

Datcha maintains a hold on the top spot in the Best Club category, where Rouge and Newspeak squeak into the Top 5, and while Best LGBT Bar/Club remains unchanged, the Best Club Night Top 5 is now entirely dominated by LGBT nights (though last year’s list was already four out of five). As one voter said, choosing an abstract comment rather than a club night, “We are all living rainbows.”

Nightlife newbs include Art Loft, both in Best Underground Venue and Best Comedy Night, as well as three new categories: Best Wrestler, Best Wrestling Federation/Event and Best Karaoke Bar have joined the pastimes segment of the poll, proving that Montrealers continue to get their kicks in innumerable odd and exhibitionist ways.

Best Bartender
1 Maclean Rouble (The Wiggle Room)
2 Judy Kennedy (McLean’s Pub)
3 Rashta Kruger (John Doe/ComedyWorks)
4 Gern F. (Grumpy’s)
5 Pat Lalonde (Else’s)
6 Ram Krishnan (Grumpy’s)
7 Maya Rice (Brutopia)
8 Vito Ciocca (Le Bremner)
9 Evan Johnston (Blizzarts)
10 Garth Burnham (Grumpy’s)

Best Bar
1 Notre Dame des Quilles
2 Bar de Courcelle
3 Grumpy’s
4 McLeans Pub
5 Sparrow
6 Casa del Popolo
7 The Wiggle Room
8 Bishop & Bagg
9 Snack N Blues
10 Brutopia

Best Upscale Bar/Club
1 Big in Japan
2 The Wiggle Room
3 Sparrow
4 Bord’elle
5 Loïc
6 Atwater Cocktail Club
7 Le Lab
8 The Emerald
9 Le 4e Mur
10 Le Mal Nécessaire

Best Dive Bar
1 Barfly
2 Bifteck
3 Grumpy’s
4 Idée Fixe
5 Brasserie Beaubien
6 Snack N Blues
7 Foufounes Électriques
8 Bar la Remise
9 Bar de Courcelle
10 Les Verres Stérilisés

Best 5 à 7
1 Casa del Popolo
2 McLean’s Pub
3 Buvette chez Simone
4 Furco
5 SuWu
6 Vices & Versa
7 L’Gros Luxe
8 Benelux
9 Loïc
10 Cheval Blanc

Best Wine Bar
1 Pullman
2 Loïc
3 Vin Papillon
4 Buvette chez Simone
5 Rouge Gorge
6 Magdalena
7 Cul-Sec
8 Larry’s

Best Pick-up Spot
1 Wiggle Room
2 Notre Dame des Quilles
3 Rockette
4 Mado
5 Datcha
6 Foufounes Électriques
7 Thursday’s
8 Burgundy Lion
9 Ping Pong Club
10 Le Stud

Best Club
1 Datcha
2 Stereo
3 Sky
4 Rouge
5 Newspeak
6 Unity
7 Tokyo
8 Nesta
9 Muzique
10 École Privée

Best Club Night
1 Mec Plus Ultra
2 Glitter Bomb
3 LIP
4 Mess Around
5 Cousins

Best Underground Venue
1 The Plant
2 Art Loft
3 Drones
4 Psychic City
5 Poisson Noir
6 The B.O.G.
7 Durocher
8 Fattal
9 Bad Lunch
10 Le 4e Mur

Best Live Music Venue
1 Metropolis
2 Théâtre Corona Virgin Mobile
3 Casa del Popolo
4 Bar le Ritz PDB
5 La Sala Rossa
6 Théâtre Fairmount
7 Club Soda
8 Divan Orange
9 Turbo Haüs
10 Katacombes

Best Promoter
1 Blue Skies Turn Black
2 Evenko
3 Greenland
4 Analogue Addiction
5 I Love Neon
6 Rickey D Events
7 Extensive Enterprises
8 Passovah
9 POP Montreal
10 Hello Darlin Productions

Best Strip Club
1 Chez Parée
2 Café Cleopatra
3 Cabaret les Amazones
4 Kamasutra
5 Wanda’s
6 Downtown
7 Club 281
8 Solid Gold
9 Club Super Sexe (RIP)
10 Kingdom

Best LGBT Club/Bar
1 Notre Dame des Quilles
2 Sky Pub/Club
3 Club Unity
4 Cabaret Mado
5 Le Stud
6 Bar le Ritz PDB
7 Bar Renard
8 Play Montreal (RIP)
9 Café Cleopatra
10 Le Cagibi

Best Burlesque Performer
1 Audrey Ivory
2 Lou Lou la Duchesse de Rière
3 Lady Josephine
4 Sugar Vixen
5 Aria Delanoche
6 Lavender May
7 Tristan Ginger
8 Velvet LaTouche
9 Sucre à la Crème
10 Honey Dynamite

Best Drag Queen/King
1 Mado
2 Rainbow Drag
3 Uma Gahd
4 Nat King Pole
5 Connie Lingua
6 Anaconda LaSabrosa
7 Billy L’Amour
8 Tranna Wintour
9 Crystal Slippers
10 Magenta Haze

Best Comedian
1 Sugar Sammy
2 Tranna Wintour
3 Mike Ward
4 Joey Elias
5 John St-Godard
6 Kris Dulgar
7 Mike Carrozza
8 Louis-José Houde
9 Mike Paterson
10 Mariana Mazza

Best Comedy Club
1 Comedy Nest
2 ComedyWorks
3 Le Bordel
4 The Wiggle Room
5 Montreal Improv
6 Théâtre Sainte Catherine
7 Art Loft
8 McLean’s Pub

Best Comedy Night
1 Comedy at the Art Loft (Art Loft)
2 Voix de Ville (the Wiggle Room)
3 Ladies and Gentlemen (Shäika Café)
4 Bishop and Gags (Bishop & Bagg)
5 Open Mic Sundays (McLean’s Pub)
6 Open mic (Le Bordel)
7 Party Dinosaur Comedy Sketch Show (Montreal Improv)
8 Joketown (Théâtre Sainte Catherine)
9 Figure It Out With Mike Carrozza
10 Couscous Comedy Show (various venues)

420
Mount Royal (Best Place to Have Public Sex #1, Best Icon #1) during 4/20 celebration of marijuana (Best Drug #1)

Best Pool Hall
1 Fats
2 Fitzroy
3 Frappé
4 McLean’s Pub
5 Le Skratch
6 Idée Fixe
7 Forum Sports Bar
8 Andrew’s Pub
9 Sharx (RIP)
10 Scoop

Best Bowling Alley
1 Quilles G Plus/Rose Bowl
2 Notre Dame des Quilles
3 Forum Sports Bar
4 Salon de Quilles Darling
5 Laurentian Lanes

Best Wrestler
1 Kevin Owens
2 Twiggy (James McGee)
3 Green Phantom
4 Sami Zayn
5 Princess Ula
6 Derek Arsenault
7 Franky the Mobster
8 Sexxy Eddie

Best Wrestling Federation or Event
1 Battlewar
2 IWS
3 NCW
4 League of Lady Wrestlers
5 EarthBound

Best Karaoke Bar
1 Pang Pang Karaoke Bar
2 Les 3 Minots
3 La P’tite Place
4 Notre Dame des Quilles
5 Club Date
6 Bar la Remise
7 La Normandie
8 McLean’s Pub
9 Astral 2000
10 Taverne Cobra

Best Drug
1 Marijuana
2 MDMA/ecstasy/molly
3 Cocaine
4 Mushrooms
5 Acid/LSD
6 Ketamine
7 Ritalin

Best Drink
1 Beer
2 Gin and tonic
3 Old fashioned
4 Bloody caesar
5 Scotch
6 Red wine
7 Bourbon
8 Whiskey
9 Champagne
10 Dark and stormy

See the rest of the Best of MTL here:

PEOPLE & PLACES
MEDIA
MUSIC
FILM & ARTS
GOODS & SERVICES
FOOD & DRINK

(To see the results from the 2016 poll, click here.)