The Bearden Hill Fieldhouse: Another solid sports bar in West Knoxville

The Bearden Hill Fieldhouse offers a near-infinite variety of bottled brews for its patrons.

The Bearden Hill Fieldhouse

As a full-time comedian I have to budget my time wisely. Especially when I want to continue submitting an article each week for your reading enjoyment. On this specific night in mid-January, I chose to knock out two nightlife reviews in one evening, leaving straight from The Corner Beer Pub to head out west to the newly opened Bearden Hill Fieldhouse.

Now as my loyal readers know, I am typically not much for sports bars based on the merit of having sports as their draw alone. Some other element of the establishment is going to have to be top notch or at worst better then average in order to get me interested. Bearden Hill Fieldhouse is located at 6600 Kingston Pike where a health food store used to reside. The owners of the establishment also own The Half Barrel on Cumberland Avenue.

I hate Kingston Pike, I do have to say that much. I have covered a few venues that are located on or near this stretch of road, but I try to avoid it if at all possible. I am just not much for the commercial upchucking that seems to blemish the landscape in this area. Maybe that is my problem with most of West Knoxville. Too much traffic, too much pollution, too many SUVs riding along with only a single person in them. Problem is, much of Knoxville's nightlife, and much of its shopping, reside along this widely traveled pike. I sucked it up and took one of the many awkward exits off Interstate 40 to get to the bar.

Upon arriving, I was immediately impressed by the layout and design. Eight flat-screen TVs lined the wall leading to a curved staircase that led upstairs to a "gaming" area. This is the first thing you see as you walk into the place. The main bar was on the back wall with eight more flat screens and rows of coolers set up so patrons could take a sixer for the road. I spied a few more TVs bringing the grand total to 26. While not the sports kind of guy I was impressed that there were some non-sports options to watch as well. I know this may sound strange, but one thing that stood out about these TVs was that they were actually in HD. I don't know how many "sports" bars I have been in that have huge flat screens going that look like they are tuning in the game on bunny ears. Take the second upgrade to your NFL package folks, sheesh. Otherwise, show nothing but episodes of "Matlock" on those screens because they would make sense blurry.

I took a seat and awaited a server. He quickly arrived and took my beer and appetizer order. He promptly returned with my beer and before I got my second drink from my draft he was back with my Portabella Fingers. They were quite tasty and went well with my beverage.

I kicked back to people watch a little. All age groups and all configurations of patron seemed to be present. The older possible boat owners excitedly pointing at the closest TV screens waving and talking loudly were there. The just out of college and trying to get used to enjoying "Happy Hour" girls were there. Even the lone guy sitting alone typing on his phone like he had no friends was there. Oh wait, that was me ...

The air was clear as smoking either is not allowed in the establishment or they have it confined to an area I did not notice. Either way, I love not smelling like smoke when I leave a place.

I was impressed by Bearden Hill Fieldhouse. A multi-level sports bar with tons of high quality TVs to check out whatever game you wanted (I chose to check out a reality show that happened to be playing in front of me). For those of you in the neighborhood or tired of waiting in line at the always packed Soccer Taco just across the way, give Bearden Hill Fieldhouse a shot. You won't be sorry!

© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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