DrinkDowntown

Tudor Lounge

"This place is a hot mess and always has been", says one reviewer, and she meant it as a compliment. The Theater District's odd-bar-out for sure, the Tudor Lounge is a grungy dive with a salt-of-the-earth clientele, sticky floors, cheap beer, and live blues and rock music performed frequently by local bands. If this sounds intimidating, don't worry: the crowd here is one of the friendliest and most chilled-out in the city, welcoming of new faces in a way that lots of Buffalo bars sadly aren't.

Address: 335 Franklin St.
Getting there: Metro Rail: Fountain Plaza
Website: facebook.com (opens in a new tab)

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Listing from Wikivoyage: Buffalo/Downtown, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.

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DoDowntown
Tudor Lounge
It's best known as a divey blue-collar watering hole, but the Tudor Lounge is also one of the best places in Buffalo to see local blues combos — including the house band, the Jony James Blues Band — strut their stuff. Bluesy alt-rock acts take the stage from time to time, as well. The Tudor Lounge also has karaoke on Friday nights starting at 11PM.
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The Crabman
Okay, so the Crabman has more than its share of scathing one-star reviews on Yelp. That's not its fault. By and large, those come from locals who 1) are unfamiliar with the "Cajun seafood boil in a plastic bag" concept, of which this is Buffalo's first taste, and/or 2) were devotees of Rue Franklin, the much more elegantly-appointed French restaurant that used to be in this space. But it's also got plenty of glowing reviews too, courtesy of folks who don't let petty nitpicks get in the way of enjoying good food. Pick from a list of seafood specialties (besides crab, lobster and shrimp are also popular), choose your seasoning mix, then it's served to you in the bag it was boiled in; a tasty if messy experience. Legit quibbles include price point by relation to portion size as well as some misleading wording in the menu — the "catfish" is actually haddock, for instance.
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341 Franklin St