The Justice Pub has commuted the sentence of the former Mark’s Jacksonville Downtown club and lounge at 315 E. Bay St. in the historic Hutchinson-Suddath Building. The building is no longer locked up behind closed doors. It is free and freshly painted with a kick ass mural from Shaun Thurston and Cent that pictures do not due justice. You have to see it in person.
If you haven’t guessed yet, The Justice Pub has a legal theme and why not? It is located across from the old courthouse, within a potpourri of attorney and other legal type offices.
The Justice Pub, where you get to be Judge, Jury and drink-ecutioner.
Accordingly, I started my evening with “The Judge” a mead based faux Old Fashioned as The Justice Pub doesn’t serve hard liquor and all honesty, there was plenty of fun being had without any of the trouble that over indulgence of hard liquor often brings. The Judge, garnished with dark cherries and an orange twist, went down smooth and received zero objections from me.
I followed The Judge with an ice cold Stella Artois. The Belgian pilsner was an ideal co counsel to the complimentary boiled peanuts my friendly bartender, Margaret, had served me.
Next up was a “Bloody Geisha” brought to me by my friendly bartender, Whitney. Wait a minute, you say. I thought Margaret was your friendly bartender. She was but it was opening night, there were a lot of friendly bartenders, friendly, knowledgeable, very busy, bartenders.
There was Margaret, Whitney, Tony, Jessica and Judd, as well as others I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting. Jessica and Judd are Co owners, along with Ian.
The Bloody Geisha is a Sake based Bloody Mary, garnished with a lime wedge. I took one sip, judged her guilty and sentenced her to life within my belly, or at least until my next trip to the men’s room. Point of order; the restroom was very much in order; clean, well stocked with soap, towels, toilet paper and hot water. That may come as no surprise to many, but I could tell you horror stories of some local bars and clubs and their “restrooms”.
Back to this story, though.
Never has Jury duty been so much fun. There was excitement in the air and not just it’s Saturday Night excitement. The place was full of happy friendly faces, except for that one guy, you know who I’m talking about, but even he was smiling by the end of the night.
There were former Mark’s patrons as well as Shantytown Pub, Nighthawks and Rain Dogs patrons (Co owner Ian Ranne’s other bars) as well as new faces. They all shared one thing in common, they were having a great time.
Part of that great time was a Taco pop up by Dos Vatos Tacos.
I had two, along with an ice cold Root Beer served by my friendly bartender, Tony.
DJ’s Biggie T (Tony Allegretti), 3 Clops I (Ian Ranne), and Kidd Yzer (Will Watkins) kept the flow going all night.
The Justice Pub has about 50 seats as well as several booths and a couple couches, highboys, and multiple TVs. The game area has pool tables, pinball machines, dart boards and classic video games.
The Drink Menu is sectioned by price;
“cheap beer,” “classic beer,” “classic import/craft beer,” “fancy beer” and “super fancy” beer, ranging from $2 to $9 in bottles and cans. Draft beer prices range from $4 to $8.
The Justice Pub also offers; Mimosas, sparkling wines, homemade sangria, wine and some more unusual items, such as; MD 20/20, Pickled Pigs Feet, Slim Jims and Boone’s Farm.
The specialty and frozen wine based drinks were in high demand opening night. The Sake Mojito is on my list to try my next visit.
If you have an APB out on a safe (JSO headquarters is just down the street) fresh place to hang with a mix of art, hipster and Southern, (you can’t get much more Southern than boiled peanuts) as well as games, music and inventive drinks, The Justice Pub is guilty on all counts.
The Judge
The Bloody Geisha
More pictures will be added to our Photo Gallery and our facebook page later today.