Bars & Pubs in Simpsonville

Julie Redman opened Sweet Sippin’ in 2017 and built it around the experience as much as the drinks: wine worth learning about, regular events, and live music, not just a place to grab a glass. The rooftop is where all of that comes together. Up top you’ll find fire pits, a stretch of green space, and strings of lights that carry the night once the sun drops, with live music playing five or six nights a week from a mix of established and up-and-coming acts. The mood stays casual and unhurried. Drinks run from wine to craft beer and cider on tap, and since there’s no kitchen, people order in from nearby restaurants or catch whatever food truck is parked out front. The black cherry cider is the one reviewers name most often, and the bartenders tend to be generous with a steer if you’re not sure what you want. Settle in by the fire as the first set starts, and it’s easy to see why locals call it the go-to rooftop in downtown Simpsonville.

1885 Taproom runs a bar and a full kitchen side by side, so it covers both a drink after work and a sit-down dinner. The beer garden adds outdoor seating for warmer evenings, and the grill keeps the food a real part of the visit rather than an afterthought. It is the kind of easygoing Simpsonville spot a group can settle into for a few rounds and a meal without having to choose between the two.

The ribs are what people keep coming back to at Sherby's, called out over and over in reviews for the flavor and for how much you get at the price. The Sherby burger has its own following, and the wings hold up just as well, with the bourbon wings landing as a repeat favorite. Inside, it reads as a classic neighborhood pub that runs bigger than the plain exterior suggests, with room for a couple of pool tables, dart boards, a long bar, and enough TVs to keep a game on. The walls carry the kind of lived-in clutter that builds up over years: Irish odds and ends, beer steins, sports memorabilia, and photos of the people who drink here. It gets loud once it fills, which most take as a good sign. The food stays honest pub fare, the draft selection is solid, and people describe the prices as fair. It pulls a genuine local crowd, the sort of place where you tend to run into someone you know, and a regular trivia night gives the room a reason to gather. You will find it just off the Fairview exit of I-385, sitting in the Fairview Road shopping stretch with easy parking when you arrive.

Turn 1 Sports Bar is a Simpsonville spot whose name tells you the theme before you're through the door: it leans into racing, a small identity that sets it apart from the usual run of Upstate sports bars. The draw here is the straightforward one, a game on and a drink in hand among an easygoing crowd. It plays more as an evening-and-weekend hangout than a lunch stop, the low-key sort of neighborhood bar you settle into when there's something worth watching and friends to watch it with.

Clock Tower Taproom & Billiards puts two things under one roof in Simpsonville: a taproom built around what is on tap, and billiards tables for anyone who wants a game to go with the beer. The pairing makes it more of a place to settle into than a spot to pass through. It sits on South Main Street, on the Simpsonville side of the Upstate, and keeps things casual and social. Good company for an unhurried night out with friends, a few racks of pool, and working through the tap list.

Set in downtown Simpsonville a few steps off Main Street, Unterhausen spreads across two floors, and the one people come back for is the cellar downstairs. It is a small room with only a handful of tables and the old-world charm reviewers keep mentioning, and it fills up fast once the doors open for the evening. The pull is German. There is a deep list of German beers alongside a wine selection visitors rate just as highly, and a kitchen sending out bratwurst and sauerkraut, German potato salad, soft pretzels, Reuben paninis, and charcuterie boards built for sharing over a pint. One side dish comes up again and again: the pickled red cabbage, which shows up in review after review as something people order on purpose. Part of the draw is the host, too. Guests describe an owner who works the room, stops by tables, and has been known to send over a toast or a birthday song in German. A night here runs long and unhurried, a few small tables underground, a full glass, and food that has visitors calling it the closest taste of Germany they have found in the Upstate.

The Station is a bar and grill on NE Main Street in Simpsonville, a casual Upstate spot that runs a full bar alongside a food menu. It keeps late hours, opening around midday during the week and by late morning on weekends, with the bar open until 2 a.m. every night. That makes it an easy place to land for a bite early on or a drink long after most of Main Street has shut for the night.

Partners Morgan Holzman and Heather Taylor run Bullwinkle's Tavern, and the first surprise is the building itself. It sits in a Five Forks warehouse space off Woodruff Road that gives away almost nothing from the parking lot, then opens up inside into a genuine sports tavern: walls covered in a collection worth wandering past, TVs going for whatever game is on, dart boards and a claw machine, and a patio with outdoor games when the weather cooperates. The kitchen keeps its focus on what it does well, an American menu built around hand-formed personal pizzas, build-your-own pies and calzones, wings, garlic knots, and baked meatballs in marinara. The bar is where the place earns its name, though. There is a craft beer list with rotating taps posted on the wall, and a bourbon selection that catches a lot of first-timers off guard, plus bourbon slushies for anyone after the easygoing version. It plays family-friendly in the daytime and turns into a livelier end-of-night spot later, with live music some evenings. That range makes it an easy call for catching a game with friends, a casual dinner with the kids, or a night out that lands somewhere in between.