New Brisbane

Back when I was a struggling student in Perth, somebody gave me a VIP card that got me express entry and drink discounts at Mustang Bar in Northbridge - Perth’s equivalent of the valley. Upon moving to Brisbane, I was pleasantly surprised to find a Mustang Bar in Fortitude Valley and so being the scammy schemer that I am, I thought I’d see if I could use my VIP Card in Brisbane. I couldn’t, but when they offered me a $50 bar card instead to welcome me to Brisbane, I decided I’d head on down with 25 of my closest friends.

Mustang Bar Brisbane
633 Ann St
Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006
Tel: (07) 3257-4439
Fax: (07) 3257-4493
Mobile: 0403430463
Email: sam@mustangbar.com.au

Hours: Friday 4.00pm - 5.00am
Saturday 2.00pm - 5.00am
Plus Open for Bookings and Special Events.

For those who haven’t been to Mustang Bar before, it’s created in the style of a North American Sports Bar, with wood panelling, big screen TV’s for all your sports events, pool tables upstairs & down, and the entire right hand side of the club given over to a long bar. It plays generally pop-rock music (the type you’d hear on your average commercial radio station), with your odd classic thrown in, which makes a nice change from the doof-doof dance music that the valley is known for.

Now, if you can judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing to them or for them, then the staff at Mustang Bar deserve a medal. Having only mentioned that I was a cardholder in WA (which I became by simply signing up on their website back in 2003), and having NOT mentioned that I’m a writer for a prominent Brisbane night life site, the team at Mustang literally rolled out the carpet for me. And while I normally leave my judgement until the end, I’ll say right away that Mustang Bar is definitely the place you want to hold your next function.

What I had hoped when I decided to hold a function there was that we would be able to book a roped-off section of the upstairs function room off on a Saturday night, as I was quite keen to check out their retractable roof. Unfortunately, we couldn’t book a Saturday for a few weeks and, due to our smaller numbers, it was recommended we use their downstairs function area on a Friday night.

Mustang Bar is definitely the place you want to hold your next function.

However, I’m quite glad things worked out the way they did. Friday is a bit quieter on the valley and while Mustang was busier than most places would’ve been, with lots of people dancing and drinking, it wasn’t packed. I personally hate any venue where the line for a drink is four people deep, or where I can’t dance without getting bumped every two seconds.

Fortunately, the drink service at Mustang Bar was speedy and reasonably priced and, even after we lost our two hours of drinks discounts and private bartender, everyone in my entourage had ample opportunity to get their drink on. The crowd also picked up around 11 o’clock and by 12 Mustang Bar was going off - despite the fact that nobody seemed to come dressed in school uniform (apparently there was a theme that night!).

Overall, I was extremely impressed by my Mustang Bar experience. The venue was warm and welcoming, the music was good, the drinks were speedy and cheap, and everyone you spoke to was having a great time. What more do you want in a venue? I still wouldn’t call it an every-day place, but I’ll definitely be dropping by Mustang Bar more often when I’m in Fortitude Vallely.

- Ross