What Other Place?

The Other Place in Clive took over where Boston’s used to be on University Avenue. Hostesses Peighten Johnson, Melanie Wiederien, Kenzie Flesch and Aly Carlisle are among the lovely ladies who comprise a friendly, young staff.

Here’s a fun game to play with your friends while you’re waiting for your food at the bar. Give ’em the old Abbot and Costello routine with a witty text:

“Hey, come share this pizza with me. I’ll buy u a beer! ” 

“OK! Where ru?” 

“The Other Place.” 

“What other place?” 

“The Other Place!”

“Other than what? Where are you!?” 

“LOL!”

That bit alone is a good reason to belly up to the new bar in Clive. The Other Place, fondly dubbed “OP” by loyal UNI Panther fans, originated in Cedar Falls in 1970 as a small, college-town tavern. Then a sister bar opened there by the same owner, a sports bar called Peppers. The quaint pizzeria tavern got married to the sporty Peppers, and the two have spawned babies as far as Kansas City and now Clive.                 

“I know it’s cheesy, but this bar really is a ‘Cheers’ bar,” said administrative manager, Kate Farao, who has been an OP loyal since her days growing up in Cedar Falls. “We literally have a guy who comes in every day and sits at the end of the bar. I told him once that he’s like the ‘Norm’ of our bar, and he said, ‘Are you teasing me? My name really is Norm!’ I even checked his I.D. He’s a good dude.”                

With 11 beers on tap, including microbrews, domestics, rotating seasonals, a few local IPAs and a cabinet stocked with Three Olives Vodka, there’s a little bit of something for everyone.                

“They say you can’t please everyone, but we really do try,” Farao said, which is apparent by the eclectic mix of executives, blue collar family men and career women who make routine stops at The Other Place for a quick lunch or happy hour buzz before heading home for the night.                

“I would say we’re best known for our drop shots,” said Farao, describing the frozen shot dropped in a frozen pint glass, like a bomb. “They’re really good, and we definitely go through a lot of them.”                 

But it’s the homemade food that is one of the biggest crowd pleasers at The OP. Each mozzarella stick is made with cheese that is literally cut from a block and hand-breaded, and the avocados aren’t sliced until the cook gets a quesadilla ticket on his line.                 

“Our pizzas are the centerpiece of our menu, which we sell by the slice to accommodate our lunch crowd.”               

So the next time you’re the one who gets the smart-ass “Meet me at the Other Place” text, you can stay a step ahead of the old gag. It’s the only Other Place in town. CV