[3] Billboard's Melinda Newman felt that "the album feels less overstuffed than American Heartbreak, but could have still used a trim or two given the relative sameness in the sound of the tracks", although the songs "continue to deliver an emotional wallop thanks to his economical, but cinematic, trenchant lyrics".

[9] Chris Willman of Variety wrote that The Great American Bar Scene "actually feels a lot less stark than last year's self-titled record did" and there is "no mistaking how much the spirit of Springsteen looms over the album, as much as it has over much of Bryan's short, meteoric career to date".

[10] Claire Shaffer of Pitchfork felt that the album "adds to the Zach Bryan formula by taking on a wider lens, weaving his personal struggles and triumphs into the greater legacy of lost souls and camaraderie found in America's watering holes".

[8] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated that the songs on the album "are poetic, plump with purple imagery and plaintive rhymes" and praised the collaborations with Bruce Springsteen and John Mayer.

[4] In the United States, The Great American Bar Scene debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200 with 32,000 album-equivalent units—the low sales was due to the album being released during the end of a tracking week, on July 4, 2024.