Johnny D’s

17 Holland St., Davis Square

617-776-2004

21+ Cover: Around $10

This classy Davis Square joint features a wildly eclectic music lineup, seven days a week – the only real constant is that the bands are excellent. The club’s music bridges nearly every taste, including funk, calypso, rock, folk, bluegrass, jazz, and R&B; so check the schedule at Johnnyds.com before going.

The Hotspot went on a Tuesday night, and wasn’t expecting too much, since Tuesday isn’t exactly Mardi Gras at most clubs in Boston. After getting carded (Puritans!) and paying the $10 cover, we noticed two things: the attractive, brass-railed bar and the attractive, smiling bartender, who furnished us with an equally attractive beer.

Onstage were a bunch of guys who looked like they were having fun: a bluegrass-rock band called Old School Freight Train. The band included a mandolin, fiddle, and banjo in addition to the regular stuff, and they were awesome; it was one of those performances that lasts more than an hour but feels like it’s over in ten minutes. It was grin-inducing and unlike anything we’d heard recently.

Even better, the club is nice to look at. Johnny D’s primary competitor, the Central Square Cantab Lounge, has its merits but it’s definitely a dive; and the cover and drink prices are around the same as the swankier Johnny D’s.

Johnny D’s has the aforementioned nice bar, carpeting, groovy reddish lighting, and a comparatively large stage for the musicians to groove around on. There’s relatively little room to dance (one of the Cantab’s great strengths) but seating is cozy and comfortable, in the form of a bunch of booths and tables oriented toward the stage.

The Hotspot highly recommends Johnny D’s as a date spot; find an upbeat show, and have dinner from the club’s unusually healthy kitchen; for some reason, the ingredients tend to be free-range and organic. Alternatively, go on Sunday between 9 p.m. and midnight for salsa dancing.

Johnny D’s will be staring you in the face when you get out of the Davis Square T-stop; for you poor suckers who never get out of Harvard Square, that’s just two stops away on the outbound Red Line.