Albert Ferrell practices his pool game on one of the many tables at Alex's Restaurant and Sports Bar on Wrightsboro Road. During weekends, the tables and dance floor are packed. (Michael Holahan/Staff)
Alex's pulls weekend crowd
Sports bar appeals with late hours
From midnight to 4 a.m. some Fridays and Saturdays, so many people want to get into Alex's that traffic fills parking lots three restaurants down.
"You're Alex?" Ms. Askew said is the comment she most often gets from new customers when they see that she's a woman. She and her mother teamed up to open the restaurant and sports bar last year.
"We've worked in restaurants and bartended for years, so we decided to open our own place and either it would work or we'd starve," Ms. Askew said. "It took about nine months for business to pick up."
Alex's opens at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and on the weekends it usually reaches capacity by midnight. Richmond County sheriff's deputies secure the parking lot while late arrivals wait for someone to exit so they may enter.
Inside, the restaurant and bar are flanked by a room with six pool tables and a jukebox to the left, and a room with a huge dance floor to the right. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, sports are on the big screen, the dance floor is empty, and people eat and drink in a relaxed atmosphere until 2:30 or 3 a.m., depending on the number of customers.
Ms. Askew said many of her customers come from clubs after they close because she stays open until 4 a.m. The kitchen stays open until 4 also, and menu items include buffalo shrimp, wings and the popular Extreme Idaho, a baked potato stuffed with chunks of ribeye in gravy, smothered with Monterey Jack cheese.
All these go well with the bar's signature drink: Alex's 69, a fluorescent green concoction created from Ms. Askew's recipe that is filled with liquors but tastes like Kool-Aid, she said.
All ages are welcome at Alex's for free until Friday and Saturday nights at 10, when there is a $5 cover charge and only those 21 and older can enter. Attire has no bearing on entry.
"There are some people who work second shift and get off at 12 and just want to come and get a drink and wind down before going home. I'm not going to turn them away just because they have on work clothes," Ms. Askew said.
The Place: Alex's Restaurant and Sports Bar, 3160 Wrightsboro Road (map)
Fashion Statement: Come as you are
Drink of Choice: Alex's 69
Music: Hip-hop
Crowd Demo: Majority 22-28 years old
