NIGHTLIFE

MAD RIVER BAR & GRILLE

Take a sports bar, pump '80s hits through the sound system, add throngs of young professional types dressed like the mannequins at Express and Abercrombie & Fitch, and what do you get? A successful business venture, evidently: Mad River Baltimore is one of three spin-offs of the original New York City bar and grill of the same name. (There are also Mad Rivers in Philadelphia and, inexplicably, Albany, NY.) We think its New York-style policy of keeping people queued up behind velvet ropes while the door goons decide who's worthy of entry (hot girls) and who's going to have to wait (their hapless male companions) is a little much for Baltimore, but if you stop in during happy hour -- when there are often decent specials to be had -- it can be an okay place to hang.

1110 South Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21230
Tel: 410-727-2333
Website: http://www.madriverbaltimore.com