One of Syracuse’s best-known corner bars is back: ‘Finally feels like the right time’

Syracuse, N.Y. — It’s tempting to say that Shifty’s Bar & Grill in Eastwood is so clean that you won’t recognize it.

More than five months after closing in mid-Covid-19 pandemic, the 100-year-old corner bar at 1401 Burnet Ave. reopened at 11 a.m. today.

Don’t worry. Despite an intensive clean-up, new tables and chairs and some other large and small improvements, it’s still Shifty’s.

“Once our customers, our regulars, are back in it will look and feel just the same,” said Vicky Richardson, who co-owns Shifty’s with Ron Schultz. “It won’t take long at all.”

Today’s opening wasn’t exactly a doorbuster, but there was a steady stream of customers, mostly regulars, streaming in right at 11 a.m.

“It seems like I haven’t been here since last year,” said one of the many regulars who asked not to be identified because he was supposed to be at work.

Take a look: Shifty’s reopening Facebook video

Shifty’s had stayed open, mostly doing just take-out, for much of 2020. Then, when the state put the city of Syracuse in a restrictive Orange zone last November, prohibiting indoor dining again, Richardson and Schultz decided to close up and wait it out. It was last open, for takeout only, on Dec. 31.

“We’re a place for socializing, playing pool, listening to music, dancing,” Schultz said then. “If we can’t do those things, it’s not Shifty’s.”

He echoed that while he and Richardson put the finishing touches to the cleanup and renovations late last week.

“We were probably hurt more than a lot of places by the restrictions,” he said. “First because it’s a small space and you just couldn’t do social distancing here. And then we lost everything we’re known for — live music, pool, games to watch on TV. There was nothing left to make it Shifty’s.”

Now, those things are back at Shifty’s, or coming back soon. Live music won’t resume until Aug. 1.

The restaurant/bar scene is much different than it was during the winter and spring. Masks and distancing are no longer required for those who have been vaccinated. People are heading back out. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon last week declared “we are no longer in an emergency” and said he’d let most Covid-related executive orders expire this week.

“This finally feels like the right time,” Richardson said.

They may have been closed, but Schultz, Richardson and the crew kept busy in the past five months.

The place has been painted, and areas from the mahogany bar and tin ceilings to every back corner have been thoroughly cleaned. The terrazzo floor, which former owner Dick Schultz (no relation to Ron) once said could survive a Taliban attack, is cleaned but otherwise intact.

The most visible changes are the music stage and the dining/drinking/dancing area in front of it. Gone are the old square wooden high top tables, replaced by new tables and stools with black seats and gleaming silver legs.

The stage has been rebuilt and reoriented a bit to take up less space and there’s now a side door through which bands can load in and out. That means customers no longer have to dodge musicians carrying guitar stands and drum kits through the bar.

The outdoor “patio” along Burnet has also been spruced up. And there’s a new pool table. Behind the scenes, there are new walk-in coolers, a new keg storage space and some kitchen upgrades.

Live music, which has always been one of the hallmarks at Shifty’s will start up Sunday, Aug. 1. That will be a special night, with a tribute to legendary Syracuse bluesman and regular Shifty’s performer Mark Gibson, who died in December.

But the beer is back, still 20 taps featuring both national and local craft brands, like Eastwood and Middle Ages. The food menu is more limited than usual but still built around Shifty’s famed wings, plus pizza and burgers.

The kitchen will try to produce as much as possible, for lunch and dinners, but staffing shortages may cause some cutbacks this summer, Schultz said.

The Shifty’s location has been a bar since the early 20th century. It was Wyscoki’s Old Corner Tavern until 1969, when new owners took over and called it Shifty’s There have been several owners since then — Ron Schultz took over in 2006. Richardson, a former bartender, bought into the place a little later.

“It’s nice to see some of the old faces,” Schultz said today. “Not saying they’re all old, but it’s nice.”

The legends of Shifty’s:

40 years behind a bar: What Pancho Stivers has seen at Shifty’s in Syracuse

Dancing with Marge, Syracuse’s biggest music fan

The stolen name behind Shifty’s Bar and Grill: What’s in a Name?

Don Cazentre write for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.

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