What can we say other than it says a lot when the winner of the best place to play darts and the place with the best bartender in Jessica Cloyd has been closed due to fire for most of 2026. As the Curve Inn owners Ami and Ray Merchant put it, “from the ashes we rise,” and the hugely popular music venue, restaurant and bar is most certainly doing just that right now. From Facebook posts on the Curve Inn’s page, you can follow the rebuild process and see that no official start date is listed, but bands are booked, help is hired and the reopening is most likely very soon.
Jessica has won the best bartender award before and may likely again (yes, Jess, to her many friends and patrons, is really that good) once the beers start flowing and the food gets cooked, all directly served from the newly rebuilt bar and totally redone kitchen.
Those already content dart-throwing folks are sure to appreciate and enjoy the remodeled space more than ever as we welcome back the revitalized Curve Inn to our bar community very soon, and just in time to celebrate the Route 66 centennial as a special spot directly on the Mother Road.
Perhaps we need a new category for “best bar to rise again,” but in the meantime The Curve continues to be the best at a lot of things to our readers.
This article appears in October 29-November 4, 2026.
