Low-Priced Drinks and Food Inn Short Order

Tequila, vodka and rum aren’t the only spirits at Chester Drawer’s Inn, bartenders say. The place is supposedly haunted by the ghost of an old woman who has scared away at least one after-hours cleaning crew in recent years.

A ghost? In a bar? “It looks like there’s no liquor in the afterlife,” quipped the Inn’s cook and disc jockey, Don (Nib) Niblick.

But apparitions aside, Chester Drawer’s is notable for its bargain-basement-priced drinks and menu offerings. If you can’t remember the last time you had a double cheeseburger and a 16-ounce beer for $2, then you haven’t been here recently.

Just about everything on the menu is $1 on Tuesdays, and low-price specials throughout the week guarantee an affordable evening at the Inn.

“If you know what to buy, you can walk out of here spending $10” for the night, bartender Glen Strasman said. Happy hour runs daily from 4 to 8 p.m., when pitchers of beer drop from $5.19 to $4.19 and shots drop from $2.59 to $1.89. The food is mostly of the standard hamburgers-and-fries variety, although it is quite good.

Many of the Inn’s specials are unabashedly gimmicky, but fun. For instance, the wheel of fortune that hangs above the bar is spun every half-hour on Wednesdays between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. to determine which drinks are cheapest.

The Inn draws mostly a college and young working crowd of people in their early 20s. However, the six televisions tuned to sports channels also draw sports aficionados of all ages, including professional NFL players Brian Bosworth and Jim Everett.

Disc jockeys play music every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday--the Inn’s most popular nights. Although the bar accommodates 240 people, during the summer months there can be a line to get in.

Chester Drawer’s Inn, 179 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa. Open daily, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. (714) 631-4277.