Located in a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of the Kröpeliner Tor Vorstadt (common abbreviation: KTV), this small pub with the striking animal name is THE place to see (and be seen) in Rostock´s beautiful and vivid student area.
A hybrid mixture of people of different subcultures plus well-priced local beer on tap (2.30€/pint) plus interesting staff equals an effective formula, attracting people of all ages day after day, as well as night after night (of course). Besides the typical range of draught beers and standard drinks, the “Cro”, as it is fondly called by locals, has a great range of high-class but low-priced whiskeys that turn this pub into an absolutely unique place in Rostock and make a whiskey fan´s heart beat faster.
Though broadly popular among Rostock´s in-crowd, there is one fact that has a highly polarizing effect on people and makes it sometimes hard to go there in big groups: the “Cro” is a smoker´s bar! In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and similar to all over Germany, smoking bars are legal as long as they have a separated non-smoking area and don´t serve food. In this pub, the “non-smoking area” is a little corner on the left-hand side that is only recognizable by a sign hanging from the ceiling and the fact that you don´t find ashtrays on the tables, neither many people around them.
On the weekends, when it gets very crowded and smoky, hanging out in the “Cro” sometimes makes you feel like sitting in a steam bath with watering and burning eyes – some would call it unbearable, some would say that´s the way a pub should be.
So my ultimate tip for a pleasant and stress-free stay for those anti-smoker types is this: Go there on the less-stuffed Sunday nights and enjoy your drink with cleaner air and cleaner people. All the others who don´t mind cigarette smoke will enjoy this cozy and extraordinary hot spot anyway at anytime!
