The Silver Bullet

Lubbock, Texas

Field Note

One of the best ways to find a town’s best dive bar is to head to what you think it might be and ask the bartenders if you’ve landed in the right spot. Usually there’s a little bit of self-deprecation, a joke or two and then the list comes out, a rundown of the places to visit and the ones to avoid. During a trip to Lubbock, I did just that, asking at Lone Star Oyster Bar where to head next and at the bottom of the list was The Silver Bullet and the disclaimer “if you’re feeling adventurous.”

In that sense, I was prepared for something far grimier than I found, a local, karaoke-powered bar in a building that might approximate a strip mall but honestly looked a little bit too industrial for the label to stick. A simple black sign with the name of the bar and its chief amenities (Pool. Karaoke. Shuffleboard.) hovers over a pair of blacked-out doors, one of them leading into The Silver Bullet, one of them screaming in bold white type the days that karaoke is offered.

Inside, the space is probably what your brain conjures up when you think about a local bar in a semi-urban area. Tables. Chairs. Dart board. Polished bar. Row of liquor bottles. Despite the warning that it would take some adventurous spirit to endure a night at The Silver Bullet, this reviewer found it to be a completely normal bar experience.

Sure, there weren’t the dive bar fringe benefits like 100 years of history or some kind of aging floor to indicate the authenticity of the space, but not every night needs a beer with a shot of history lesson on the side. The walls are filled with modern neon signs and typical bar signage. Pool tables and shuffleboard ring the seating area underneath black ceiling tiles. A karaoke stage is perched squarely in the front of the room. TVs dot the walls and a short bar rounds out The Silver Bullet’s amenities.

More than a Lubbock dive bar, The Silver Bullet is the kind of bar that gets physically hot on a Friday night, a set of local regulars packed in waiting their karaoke turn and fighting over a pool game. This is a classic neighborhood bar in a particularly industrial-looking strip mall perfect for a normal night out, with the added guarantee of some amateur Bon Jovi entertainment.