Joker, Terminator, Dr. Doom: Come play with the bad guys at new Lexington gaming pub
There’s a new pub in town that’s all about the bad guys, the ones who cause all the trouble and apparently have all the fun.
“Absolutely,” said Lindsay Elswick, owner of Villainous on the corner of Lexington’s Jefferson and Second streets. The pub’s motto: “Even Hell Has Its Heroes.”
She and her husband Mitch opened the pub and tabletop game space in late July/early August at 191 Jefferson St, in the former Enoteca tapas and wine bar location.
They wanted to create a place where people could come to eat and drink and play games including vintage arcade and board games, including role-playing games that sometimes take hours, without feeling like they had to dine and dash.
Why villains?
“All of our collectibles are villain-themed. And the tables have villains from comic books on them. All of our memorabilia and artwork is based on villains. Some are comic book villains but some are like Nurse Ratched from movies and books as well,” Lindsay Elswick said.
The theme came from Mitch Elswick’s collection of comic book, movie and pop culture memorabilia, which includes full-sized “Dr. Doom” with glowing green eyes and red-eyed menacing “Terminator” as well as a bust of Batman villain, The Joker, and a handmade HAL electronic eye and speaker from “2001: A Space Odyssey” that says ominous things. A full-sized Skeletor from the same Philippines-based artist who made Dr. Doom is coming soon.
Other rooms celebrate movie villains including Freddy Krueger and Annie Wilkes, so there’s something for horror fans too.
What games do people play?
Customers sometimes come in for a drink, see the games available (everything from Operation to Bananagrams) and end up staying and playing, she said.
Others come in just to play with friends on the custom-built gaming tables that have USB ports to load custom maps on built in screens.
You can book a table online ahead of time for $1 an hour, reserve a room with multiple tables or even book the whole space for a private party.
They also have a giant wooden version of Connect Four as well as giant Jenga blocks.
Are kids welcome?
The pub serves food so kids are allowed in as well, she said.
“It’s fun to watch kids who have never played a classic arcade cabinet machine play for the first time,” she said. They have six including Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga and more.
What’s on the menu for food, drink?
The bar, which is tended by their son Mickey, serves local craft beer as well as fun cocktails, such as the Corpse Reviver #2, made with gin, lillet blanc, absinthe and lemon juice. For local flavor, there’s the Kentucky Prepper, made with Jim Beam and a longneck Ale-8.
The menu is better-grade pub food and very affordable, prepared by the Elswicks’ other son, Jack. You can get a pizza, with made-from-scratch dough and marinara for $6. Burgers, chicken strips, wings and brats-in-a-blanket (all from Critchfield Meats) also are reasonably priced and come with fries.
Villainous also delivers food to The Green Lantern around the corner on Third Street.
Can you bring your dog?
The restaurant has two outdoor spaces -- a vine-covered patio and a leafy deck that overlooks the street, if you want to bring dogs and sit outside, she said.
They plan to add tournaments and theme nights for specific games and evenings to set up pick-up games.
“Really I see that happening already. People will be playing games and the people at the table next to them will say, ‘oo, that looks cool,’ and they’ll start talking and join tables together. ... That’s what we want. We want it to be a very convivial place where people can just walk up to another table and start talking to them, which is not something that you would do at a typical restaurant,” she said.
It’s not completely unique; she said there are similar game pubs in Cincinnati and Asheville, N.C., but she credits her husband for thinking one would do well in Lexington.
“He thought, ‘this is a great idea and it’s going to do well.’ And so far he’s been right,” she said.
Villainous
What: Table-top game and role-playing game pub
Where: 191 Jefferson St.
Hours: 4 p.m.-11 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
Gaming table reservations: villainous.club
This story was originally published August 29, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Joker, Terminator, Dr. Doom: Come play with the bad guys at new Lexington gaming pub."
