What I do miss are the casual bars you would get back in the UK. none of this Shirt/shoes BS, just wear whatever you're comfortable in, sit back and enjoy a cold beer with mates. I guess you could refer to them as typical student pubs.
There were a couple of great places where I used to live, one playing plenty of good rock at a sensible volume, the other being a little more upmarket with a range of worldwide brews and a shed load of cocktails, playing triphop and chillout in the background.

Those places were stress free, as going out should be.

This new ID thing is becomming a major pain in the ass though.