It was 1:06pm and I was running late. I was invited to check out the brand new bar Gamz in Downtown LA prior to its September 10 grand opening along with some bloggers and Instagrammers and I was six minutes late. I know with these types of events five minutes is fine, but I was an extra minute over and I wasn’t even close to the bar. At this point, I was trying my best to do a cute power walk that was fast enough to show the slow pedestrians that I needed them to get out of my way, but slow enough so I didn’t break out into “I’m clearly out of shape” sweats. Thankfully, my bob-and-weave maneuvers past the locals came to an end as I walked into the bar. Nine minutes late. Flash of a smile with a sincere apology to the owner, David, and it was water under the bridge.

I took a second to catch my breath by taking a look over the bar. It didn’t have that typical bro-feeling that some bars have with tons of CD covers or magazine cutouts used as wallpaper. Instead, there were decorative lights, nice seats, and of course tons of TV’s. After my heart-rate returned to normal, I sat next to Scott who runs the Los Angeles Instagram page. How he got that handle is beyond me. It seemed like a few other foodies were unable to make it so it was just David, Scott, and I with an occasional appearance by David’s adorable daughter. To start off, David gave us the rundown of the location and what makes it unique in comparison to other bars nearby. David’s goal is to make Gamz Downtown LA’s only true sports bar. To do that, he plans to have all the major sports packages playing the top games in the bar by October so we customers don’t have to stream any games online. Thanks, David! In addition to games on screen, the bar will also have foosball, pool, beer pong, and karaoke. Those are great aspects to have in a bar in such a competitive neighborhood, but now I wanted to hear about the food. My concern was it would be overpriced lamp-heated bar food since the focus would be on sports. David put that thought to rest when he handed me a menu. It had all the regular bar food of beer, burgers, salads, and wings, but the prices were decent. A full-size burger and fries for $10 made me think that it could be good quality at a great price. It was time to find out…

David brought out full sizes of some of the customers favorite dishes. We started with the appetizers. The first to the table was the Shrimp Ceviche ($12). The bright and bold colors of the ceviche immediately caught my eye and peeked my taste buds. The dish had tri-color tortilla chips, while the bowl held the diced shrimp mixed with tomatoes, jalapenos, and cilantro. The shrimp was diced into tiny pieces perfect for the chips and they weren’t drenched in juice. They had a good hint of spiciness around its seasoning so I liked them. Couldn’t devour the whole bowl because more food was on the way!

After the ceviche, I took a few bites of Pork Sliders ($10). The sliders took shreds of pork soaked in a homemade BBQ sauce and topped it off with coleslaw in between two brioche buns. I liked the taste of the sweet BBQ sauce on the tender pork because it made for a good plate. But they were just sliders so I didn’t lend too much of my stomach to them. I figured by now Scott and I had seen the last of appetizers. I was wrong.

The last appetizer that David brought out were the Steak Tostadas ($12 for 3). The plate had three crispy corn tortillas pilled high with steak, salsa, chipotle mayo, shredded cabbage, salsa, and pico de gallo. The tostadas tasted like any other, but that was until the chipotle mayonnaise kicked in. It was smooth and packed so much heat,  but thankfully the cabbage helped calm it down! This again was a dish that I didn’t finish because I wanted to save space for what was to come.

Next up was a signature bar dish: wings! David brought out plates of the Chipotle-Mayonnaise, Parmesan Garlic Butter, and Suicide wings ($7 for 6-piece, $14 for 12-piece, and $22 for 18-piece). I appreciate that these wings were more meat than bones. I’ve been to bars before where the basket of wings might as well have been as basket of bones. I’m not a dog and I don’t want to eat like one. The baked wings are all full of flavor, but my favorite was the parmesan garlic butter basket of wings. I do have to admit that I didn’t even touch the suicide wings. David explained that he created the secret suicide sauce when he was in Miami. He describes them as having “a depth of flavor” thanks to the long list of ingredients that includes bananas, papayas, guavas, and habanero peppers. After hearing that, pushed the wings over to Scott.

The last food to come to the table was the Gamz Burger ($9.50) and the Bison Burger ($10.50). Not the best photo friendly burgers, but they tasted better than they looked. The cool thing about all of the burgers is they come with a choice of salad, coleslaw or potato salad. And of course there’s the option to add fries to it for just $1.50. The Gamz Burger is a ½ pound dry-aged angus beef patty with lettuce, tomatoes,  onions, and sharp cheddar on a brioche bun. I liked this burger because it was simple and straight to the point with its taste.

The Bison Burger on the other hand was a ½ pound of lean American buffalo with Gorgonzola cheese, onion, lettuce and tomatoes. I’m not a big fan of the acidic and bitter taste of blue cheese so there was already a bias towards the burger. However, I did take a bite and the cheese didn’t overwhelm it. I could still get the flavor of the juicy bison, underneath the cheese. Would it be a burger that I order again? No, but the Gamz would be an no-brainer. Both burgers are of a better caliber than what you would find in most bars. If I have to get a burger from a bar, the majority of the time, what comes out looks like it was pulled from underneath a pool table. No thank-you.

The jaw dropper for the entire lunch was the Beer Tower ($35 to $50, varies by beer). It was 100 ounces of beer for you and your friends. I repeat, you and your friends. No solo mission here guys, that’s just crazy.

With the last bite from the last plate, I was stuffed! From the ceviche to the burgers the menu offered a great array of food for anyone who stops by the bar. Even better, Gamz doesn’t feel like your average bar. Sure there are tons of TVs playing games, but it doesn’t feel like a dive. It’s a nice change to the average bar, and a good addition to Downtown LA.

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Address: 500 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone: N/A
Hours: Monday through Friday – 11:00am to 1:30am and Saturday and Sunday 10:00am to 1:30am
Social: Website, Facebook, and Instagram.