Caspar Inn

The last of the early 20^th century roadhouses with a view of the ocean from the front porch that is worth thousands. Now has a café that serves Tacos, pizzas, sandwiches prepared by a top notch cook. Wednesday and Thursday, dancing and open mic. Friday and Saturday a variety of musical groups from rock to reggae. A hidden gem on the coast midway between Ft. Bragg CA and Mendocino town. Don’t tell too many people or we will have to deal with crowds.

Saw Zeparrella there back in November. Rocked my socks off! Been there a handful of times over the years when visiting sis in Mendo. Great music venue. Up close and loud. People have always been nice to me and great bar keeps. Hope to be back again next year especially if the hotties of Zeparrella return as it seems they’ve been repeat performers.

If you want good music this is the place. I haven’t been there in some time but there are often up and coming acts with a great dance floor but i haven’t been there in ten years.

We had a ton of fun here with DJ Ramos, we danced our booties off! but the whole place smelled like BO so bad. The bartender and the barback were the worst offenders. This place needs some ventilation!
I’ll be going back soon though. It was a great vibe and energy.

Note that the only LOCAL reviewer is not pleased…
This is a Pit, but all we got. The shows of quality are rare anymore. Usually Old Reggae Acts. Once in a while they get lucky, especially around Festivals nearby. — sometimes those bands will do a One-​Off at the Caspar Inn.
As an ex-​scenester/​Bartender in SF SOMA for years, to me this is Rookie Night, every Night.
The Cops DO surround the place on the roads. They are merciless.
The Patrons are on all sorts of substances besides alcohol. The Staff is seemingly unable to cut VERY Drunk People off from more.
The Locals are not very intelligent even when sober, and quite socially Inept.
Attractive, Height-​Weight-​Proportionate Females who take care of themselves and who have actually «seen a hairbrush» in the last decade are rare in these parts. So be prepared to be ogled. Or worse.

From from legendary nightclub to ‘hot little roadhouse’ the Caspar once attracted famous names, good music, and a great local crowd, but no more. Why? To put it simply, the present owner is a psycho with extremely bad taste in music. Across the board, locals hate him. For whatever reason, he does not have the ability to book bands that attract a good crowd.
This «road house» (actually a quarter-​mile off the highway) has degenerated into a sleazy dive. It is dirty and run down, and is patronized by cranksters, dopers, coke-​heads and drunks. Even Patrick Swayze would refuse to save this rat-​hole.
The Caspar is haunted all right. But not by friendly ghosts.
…

I first visited the Caspar Inn about a decade ago, my hubby’s band played there a few times, we always had a blast and were set up in the rooms upstairs for the night. I love the variety of freaks that crawl out of the woodwork, possibly because there isn’t much else to do in the area. My most recent visit was on New Years Eve for Fishbone, with a group of 7 friends, all from out of town. We ran down the night before to purchase our tickets and were excited for the next night. The door girl was pleasantly fake and wrote us up a hand written note for receipt of our tickets (I guess they ran out of paper copies?). She said just show it the next night and there would be no problem.
The next night we show up, ready to have some fun, and get some seriously nasty attitude from the same girl who was at the door the night before. Some confusion with the hand written ticket/​receipt had her panties all in a bunch, it was her idea to begin with. I can only guess that she wasn’t having a good New Year, sucks for her. She was rude to every single person in my group of friends. Not a way to earn returning out of town customers.
We proceeded to have a blast, met some freaky party people, not sure where all the dancing girls in super high heels a hooker dresses came from (this is Mendo we’re talking about, but to each her own) and enjoyed the music. We left at 1:30 A.M. and the band was still playing to a mostly packed house.

This place is a blast.
We saw Steven Bates her on Saturday (even met his wife there too) and it was one of the best live acts i’ve seen at a bar in a long long time.
we were all dancing, drinks-​in-​hand, and having a wonderful time.
I only wish Mendocino was known for having more a nightlife because this place deserves more patrons. It’s really fun and on our next trip to Mendocino, we’ll definitely go back.

A fun, funky bar. Great music 5 – 6 nights a week. A lot of local color. Good local beers. And unexpectedly, great food — this was not bar food, it was really tasty food made fresh with organic local produce. We ate a wild mushroom risotto with grilled prawns and Parmesan cheese, and local chicken with a wonderful sauce reduction, a grilled polenta cake and sauteed Spinach topped with lots of tasty garlic to the side. The next trip to Mendocino, we’ll go back. They don’t take credit cards but prices are reasonable…

Awesome little road house! They’ve got everything you could need: food (locally sourced), drinks, a pool table, dance floor, and accommodations! What’s not to like?!
There’s not much happening in sleepy little Caspar, but this place is the exception. They have great shows and bands that roll through regularly. Open mic nights are always interesting, look for the bike riding troubadour, Doug! Did I mention that the owner, Bob, is awesome? And his chef is top-​notch. If you’re near Caspar, pop over and get in this place.

Check out the calander before you go. Some free nights, some pay to get in. Lots of different types of music so some nights you may love it and some nights aren’t worth going to. Great atmosphere, good food, drinks and fun to go around!

Mendocino: yeahhhh… not a lot going on here. This would be about the best spot to go to in the area if you’re looking to party. When I dropped in there was some obscure rock band playing and it reminded me of when I used to play in a band at empty bars. Hey, ya gotta appreciate the effort of this place right? Great staff, wonderful owner. Good drinks and just a good time overall. I especially like the little corner that looks like Jaba the Hutt’s bed.

Definitely a funky, potentially hip little place.
Great alcohol selections… Organic Vodka. The food looks pretty good too…
The patrons as well as the bartender were full of character. We were there during open mic night. Very interesting.
Still a nice little haunt for a cocktail and a chat, we’ll probably frequent it again on our next visit up.

Be careful driving out of this place…2 reasons: 1) lots of people under the influence of lots of things 2) Cops. I think I averaged seeing one fight per visit. I know getting a cab in this area is merely impossible but make it happen! On a more positive note I have seen some really great shows — KR’S, missed the Mat as Oahu… Good reggae. The sound system is not great, but the energy is. Caspar is a place to party and has it’s fair share of rowdy locals. It’s kinda like going to a high school party…
I would recommend this place.

Mendocino doesn’t have much of a night life. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because what it doesn’t have in variety, it makes up for in the Caspar Inn, a short five minute drive north of Mendo. It’s a funky old place, the bar is spacious, and the bartenders were great. The type of music changes every night, but there seems to be a steady stream of it.

Decent bar, great live music, wonderful and energetic crowd, bea-​ooo-​tiful setting. The ground floor is a lively club with room to dance or sit at a candle-​lit table. Don’t stay overnight if you don’t intend to partake in the music, however. You can hear the party through the floor. The rooms are simple and cozy — these are not luxury digs. The signs in the _​shared_​bathroom urge you to conserve your shower water. Staff is friendly and welcoming. The rates are quite reasonable. The location is coastside and close to Mendocino, breweries and wineries. Why don’t we visit Mendocino more often?