I'm with you on group size and volume. I'll add another: a lot of bars tend to be annoyingly dark. Volume could either be music or TV. Sports bars are big in th

I'm with you on group size and volume. I'll add another: a lot of bars tend to be annoyingly dark. Volume could either be music or TV. Sports bars are big in the US. When faced with unkowns, I'll tend to gravitate to hotel bars for this reason. Not too busy, not too loud, not too dark, as a general rule. It's also why i tend to prefer going out to eat at off-peak times.