The Paper Heart is certainly not the worst place in Phoenix, but I've never been able to get a good vibe here. Great criticism, right? Let me expand:
By all accounts the Paper Heart SHOULD be really cool - live music, cheap drinks, a cool crowd and some arty crap on the walls, but it has always come across as iffy at best to me. It's a large concrete space, so it seems too big to be comfortable, with chairs scraping loudly across the floor. It has a weird couch setup near the stage that somehow becomes a central focus of the room. It's got a couple of tables with chairs, but they're scattered around the room in strange places.
It's echo-y and loud and I'd have to strain to hear conversation across the table. The performances have always been way less than spectacular and though the beer is cheap, it's just lacking some soul.