I heard several guests walk into the grand opening party for Quality Social Thursday night and exclaim: “This is not a dive bar.”

A representation of Quality Social's VIP room.

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Billed as San Diego’s “next generation” dive bar, Quality Social is located downtown at Sixth Avenue and F Street on the site of the former EXY restaurant.

A 9,000 square foot dive bar? Sure, there’s no guest list, no cover and no dress code. But what traditional dive bar has a VIP room, a private champagne parlor in the ladies room and features a glass-encased wine cellar that will host occasional “live art tableaus?”

A typical dive bar patron is asking, “live art ta-whahs?”

A live art tableau is a living entertainment display. Quality Social principal Chris Dexer gives an example: “We might set up a table behind the glass in the wine cellar and have two models in lingerie playing a game of Battleship.”

I’m trying to imagine this on two levels. One: for the sheer level of voyeuristic entertainment. Two: to transpose this idea to other well-established downtown dives like Star Bar or The Waterfront. I can only conjure an image of two homeless people playing Monopoly on the bar and trying to tip with fake $500 bills.

This is not to say there’s anything abhorrent or negative to report about this new night spot (open daily from 4 p.m. - 2 a.m.). Management wants to “walk the line between glamour and grit…and inject streetwise, working-class energy into the downtown scene.”

Upscale dive wings.

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Quality Social’s management team is far from working class. Dexter spent five years opening high-profile properties for the acclaimed Gerber Group. Principal Christopher Guimond is a leading San Diego hospitality entrepreneur, and experienced executive chef Jared Van Camp will oversee a housemade charcuterie bar.

But while their resumes screams high-end, Dexter says the emphasis here is not on providing a top-shelf experience. No food menu item will exceed $15, he says.

“We’ve got bottles of Krug and Boone’s Farm on the same menu,” says Dexter. “We’re poking fun at the clichés of nightlife on both ends of the spectrum…”

Bar food favorites on the menu include a hot dog, a BLT and wings. But…because this is an “upscale dive,” the BLT is a crispy pork belly, confited and served with heirloom tomatoes, arugula and housemade aioli. The wings are tender harissa-spiced duck with a cucumber mint raita.

Indeed. TV’s Cheers bar was a place where everybody knew your name and was inhabited by guys named Woody, Norm and Cliff. Quality Social, on the other hand, may be angling for regulars with names like Skip, Mortimer or Winthrop...