On The Town

Dark Horse Saloon in Canton

New bar on Boston Street misses the mark in a giant space.

This weekend I got a chance to check out Dark Horse Saloon in Canton, which opened in late June in the old Canton Arts & Entertainment space.

Marc McFaul, owner of The Stalking Horse and Ropewalk Tavern in Federal Hill (who we named one of the most powerful people in nightlife), opened Dark Horse and the adjacent Irish pub Finnegan’s Wake in the massive Boston Street space. I’d been wanting to check it out for a while, as I always see long lines outside the bars on weekend nights.

I got a chance to on Friday night when I attended a friend’s going away party at Dark Horse. The space inside is immense, which is nice for downtown bar go-ers who are used to the narrow layout of rowhouse bars. There was a pool table, areas for dining and mingling, and a huge wooden bar taking up most of the front room.

On the drink menu was Stalking Horse’s signature vodka slushies, with flavors like Red Bull, raven, and hurricane (a popular choice last weekend). They also had about eight beers on tap (including Shock Top, Yuengling, Magic Hat #9, and Bud Light), but nothing too remarkable. They were running a good special that night—after 9 p.m., Bud and Bud Light bottles were $2 and slushies were $2.50.

But, the whole feel of the place was pretty generic. I guess there was a cowboy theme—a huge mural of Clint Eastwood from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly was on the wall and there were signature horse statues throughout—but there was no distinct style besides that. The service was fair, but not friendly. The place was packed with out-of-town Yankees fans.

In short, and not suprisingly, it’s like a Federal Hill bar has been plopped onto Boston Street, not that the crowds (who comes in hordes) seem to mind.