Best of Boston

2010 Best Dive Bar

Silhouette Cocktail Lounge

The recipe for a superlative dive bar is simple: cheap drinks, good music, and a feeling of belonging for every sad sap who saunters in. The Silhouette Lounge delivers all of these ingredients, with a few grubby-but-great enhancements: dartboards, free popcorn, and stools so tattered they look like they’ve endured a natural disaster. If you’re looking for panache, look elsewhere. If you’re looking to drink away the blues and talk to strangers, sidle up to the bar at ‘the Sil.’

200 Brighton Ave., Allston, 617-254-9306,