The Foxhole Jon's Review

The Fox Hole has the makings of a very good bar. Since it just opened, that means that they are off to a great start. It has three pool tables, and half a dozen TVs. It boasts a multi page menu and a great selection of beer on tap. The wait staff is friendly and responsive, and the karaoke on the night we went was fun. The pool tables are cheap (not free). I actually consider that to be a nice thing, since we got to spend some time on them, which wouldn’t have been the case otherwise. There was no cover, which easily pays for a pitcher of beer and a few games of pool all by itself.
With that said, The Fox Hole has some room to grow. I don’t just mean literally, although it would be very nice to see the place with another room (you know, somewhere to retreat to when karaoke hits a streak of country songs and your ears start to bleed). As Chad mentioned, there was also some not insignificant confusion as to whether the bar had a team.
Now I know that we are in Utah, and we don’t have a pro football team. A bar starting out can’t afford to alienate potential patrons. However, the displaying of nearly half of the banners in the NFL is taking that mindset too far. I noticed at least three sets of divisional rival banners up in the place, you can’t root for both the Seahawks and the Niners, nor can you back both the Chargers and Raiders, or the Bears and Packers. Maybe the owner isn’t a football fan, I don’t know. But some of those rivalries are serious and you do yourself no favors by trying to play both sides.
I would liken it to decorating part of your bar with Utah banners, and another with BYU paraphernalia; it just doesn’t work. So if you want to make it a local sports bar, decorate with a Jazz theme. If you want to make it a football oriented sports bar, pick a few teams and stick with them, create sections and make the “our state doesn’t have a team” concept work for you. But make sure none of the teams hates each other first. The only way to make the crazy collage effect work is to make it about great players and not teams, Feature Joe Montana and Dan Marino posters instead of the Dolphins, Niners, and Chiefs. That’s a successful formula; it shows involvement with the sport because at least during some stage of the process someone with sports acumen was consulted.
The other major lack in the bar was liquor. I don’t know if a full liquor license was available, they are in astonishingly short supply thanks to the fine print in the law that abolished private clubs. I hope it wasn’t a choice on the part of the owner. I am perfectly happy drinking beer all night most nights, but my girlfriend prefers liquor, and that option should be on the table at a sports bar. With a full bar and some more room, this place would be an awesome place to frequent. I’ll give it a 4/5 steins on potential, though if décor improvements and/or a liquor license aren’t forthcoming my rating will drop.