Blackthorn Tavern

Um, where do I start? I miss the previous owner, Bobby, for one!
Basically, I miss the old Blackthorn! Now, it’s nothing but hipsters going there! If I wanted that, I would have gone to 16^th and Valencia! The whole atmosphere has changed, including the outdoor patio (EW)! I’m sorry, but if this venue continues to be the way it is, I will no longer be going there! I miss the DJ and all the great times and music that once was there! TWO HUGE THUMBS DOWN!!! BRING BACK THE OLD BLACKTHORN!!!

Watched some World Cup 2010 games here. Although not as packed as Kezar, it was quite enjoyable without being crowded, except for USA games, when many people showed up.
There is no cover and you can bring your own food. Folks working inside are pleasant. Definitely recommended!

The bad: music (and tv for football) can often be way too loud.
Weekend crowd can be slightly questionable.
The good: Everything else! Decent prices; Best bartenders in the hood; Sunday BBQ; can bring in grub and watch games.
Definitely recommended!

Gone there for some great times with some of my co workers.
Nice little spot with (at least when i went there) great people running the show.

Solid Tuesday night karaōke. Good place to both come with friends, and to meet some new ones.

As the age old adage goes: for a fun night, make it an Irish night.
Blackthorn Tavern does just that with its friendly and casual environment that borders on being a classic dive bar. The four-​leaf clover is the only thing that suggests different.
Diving aside, this tavern is probably the most random tavern I’ve been to in a while. From its wide variety of drinks to its equally wide range of music, Blackthorn Tavern makes itself accessible to people of all interests and backgrounds. The bartender the night I went was extremely friendly and even bought my friends and I a shot after we had already paid and left the bar. Now that’s a first.
You won’t find the most amazing cocktail or liquor here, but at least you know that there’s a place in town with your favorite shot in stock and a solid Guinness on tap.
GET: Guinness

Reading Unilocal reviews before you head to a new place makes all the difference.
*I was expecting a stench. Fortunately, the bar was clean, and the only bad smell was coming from the restrooms.
*I didn’t make it out to the back patio (it was freezing last night), but the people out there looked like they were having a blast.
*They played a random mix of music, varying from 80s to the teeny bop now. Think Journey to Lady Gaga, and back again.
*The dart boards are definitely badly placed, like another Unilocaler said. Good thing all three were free, so we played cricket on the one that’s not over the pool table. The bartender was nice enough to shine a light directly onto our board so we can see. Too bad I lost by a point.
*If you ask nicely, Tommy the bartender can custom make you a shot. Mine tasted like fruity heaven, and smelled like it, too. Something with 5+ ingredients and mango vodka. Yum.
*Live bands on Wednesdays.

Came here around 5:30PM on a Wednesday to hang out before an early dinner. The pub looked clean. It didn’t smell from what I read on the other reviews. Maybe it was because it was the middle of the week and it wasn’t overstenched by the weekend crowd of sweat and spilled beer. The bartender was nice. They have a pool table, which you could play for $ 2/​game it looked like. 3 darts stations, which was free, but poorly situated along the wall. The far left one was fine, but the other two were right behind the pool table in which you would have to stand behind the table to throw the darts. This would cause a problem if you wanted to play darts and there was a pool game going on… hmmm. It wasn’t crowded for us so it was fine. 3 pints of beer for $ 11 and free dart games… Not too shabby.
Note: $ 10 minimum credit card charges.

Came here with some friends to watch our friends Zoo Station, a U2 tribute band, play for their 7^th year anniversary.
I was a little nervous because some of the other reviews on here said that the place smelled. I didnt smell anything odd, and the place was pretty packed to where you could barely squeeze by some groups of people.
I’m sure most people that come here drink beer, it being an Irish pub and all, but the cocktails are good and reasonably priced I suppose, and the bartenders were very nice. Towards the end of the night someone knocked my full drink over and I went back to the bar to order another one. I told him my drink was knocked over and he gave me another one for free which was nice.

When I first found Blackthorn Tavern, it was like walking into England – the music was good and old people (like 60s) and young people (maybe 21 – by a day) alike were wasted and making out. I haven’t been to it yet, but apparently they have karaōke on Tuesdays. A friend of mine, a cool and brilliant doctor, has, on occasion, felt bored on a Tuesday night, walked down the street to Blackthorn on her own, sung a few songs, and left. I think that’s pretty awesome.
I’m not sure how to rank Blackthorn. 5 stars for the music. And then, either 2 stars or 5 stars for the atmosphere depending on how nostalgic I am at the given moment for the years I lived in England. So I guess that evens out somewhere at about 4 stars. I don’t know, I’m no math major.

I like this place. Not only do they have good Irish songs but Irish bartenders as well. The place is great for locals like myself or for big groups. Drinks are normally price and the pour is a little less than par.
There is a nice outdoor back patio for smokers and chillers although they don’t have heat lamps. Nice size pool table and lots of TVs for sport fans. They have a few booths where you can sit in and you might be able to dance if you really wanted to.
I think this is the best bar in the inner sunset.
Almost forgot, they host many trivia night, live music, and karaōke here.

The Blackthorn is a fun little bar that my friends ended up at last night after dinner at San Tung and beginner drinks at Fireside. It is a cozy joint with strong drinks, an outside patio in back and a live band (at least on Sat nights).
It wasn’t packed. The people were friendly and we had a good time.
Nuff said.
See ya there!

This place is cool.
They have a nice little patio in the back.
They have karaōke (at least on Tuesdays) with EXCELLENT selection and background music. The KJ is a nice guy who hooks up the new singers, oocasionally at the expense of folks who’ve been waiting an hour for their second song.
The bartenders are fast and friendly. Good beers on tap that are quite inexpensive.
The first time I walked by this place I saw a guy sock another guy in the jaw. The sock-​ee laughed and they laughed it off. I came back tonight and the spirit was still there.

I give it a 3.5 for our time there last Saturday night. The place was fine and company was even better!
Highlights:
— A bit away from the main 9^th and Irving area so it wasn’t too crowded even on a Saturday night which was nice cause we wanted to catch up with some friends we were meeting there.
— Small patio outside complete with a set of black picnic tables and icicle lights. :-) Perfect quite place to chill and talk with our friends.
— Spacious inside: lots of room – big open area in the middle, tables on the side, long bar on the other side, and space for the band at the end of the room
— Good selection of stoli vodka flavors: I’m a very top shelf vodka girl but I like when I see stoli and van gogh flavors. ;-) Blueberry stoli and soda is yummy!
— Points for having live bands come in and play
Lowlights (my flip side to highlights):
— The band was super duper loud – would be way too loud if we were inside but we were sheltered from it outside on the patio.
— My friend got a bad olive in her dirty martini :-o
Not like a place I’d have to go back to but I wouldn’t shun it if friends wanted to meet up there again. If I return I have to see if they have blackthorn cider – I like that a lot and it is the name of the bar. ;-)

I had a really great time at this bar the other night with some friends. Its a big space with a large darts area in the back which is also used for extra seating… I personally prefer darts. The bar is a wonky shape but allows for tons of sitting/​standing space and allows you to look across to other people sitting at the bar which is nice. There are tons of TV’s so I assume it is a great place to come watch the game of your choice as well.
There is a patio, they have Smithwicks and Guinness on tap, and when we went there was a band playing at the front of the bar who rocked the place out… on a Wednesday… good times. Cute girls, TV’s, beer, darts, and live music… who could ask for anything more?

I love the Blackthorn Tavern for many reasons. It is an unusually large space with plenty to do. This is a great place for a small or large party of any sort. There is a space for a DJ, band, dance floor, pool table, darts, and an outdoor open back patio area with tables and benches for the smokers. They have bands blaring out live music on Sundays!
Great place in the Inner Sunset to grab a drink or stay for the evening.

Thomas is an awesome bartender!
Generous pours… mondays are pub quiz at 8pm.
Cool dark plenty of cubby nook seating for chillin with friends.
They have the best guiness pour, in my opinion.
He makes a clover indentation in the head of the beer.
makes me feel special. Darts and Pool! local take out is cool to bring in. irving has tons of great fooderies…
Oh yeah, STAN the Master of quizzery, is the man!

This place should be called Sybils. Or McSybils. Or O’Sybils.
It is another in a long line of Irish bars that dominate the Sunset area, but it has such a split personality that I can’t really tell what it is.
Yes, there have been times I have entered this establishment to be greeted by a bunch of rowdy young Irish lads ready to throw down over a bowl of Lucky Charms… okay, fine, over a game of darts and a pint of Guinness but whatever!
This is also the bar where my ex boy toy used to meet his overly paranoid dealer for «business transactions» many years back. Paranoia + crowded public drinking establishment = one shady dude who might just share that same split personality.
I have seen this place on a mellow day when the patio out back was full of jovial college kids cutting class and drinking and chain smoking under the sheer enjoyment of realizing for the first time that a. they could do so without detention and b. that this city really does sell fake IDs that actually work.
I have been in here when the hardcore drinkers were out and the Irish lads were no match for them should they get in the way of another stiff drink.
I have seen hippies, trivia night addicts, drunks, busy nights, slow night and everything in between. I have had good nights and bad nights and nights that should never be spoken of again. I have had good service and bad service, strong drinks and weak ones.
What I have never had is a sense of what to expect when I walk in the front door and saunter up to the long bar before finding a seat at one of the tables opposite (you have to be crazy to battle the old timers and Irish for a seat AT the bar).
Sybil might like this but, after many interesting encounters, I will stick to a bar with one personality.

Stop #1 on last night’s Sunset Pub Crawl.
A pretty ordinary pub/​dive in every sense. Lots of Irish accents to be heard, and plenty of wall decorations to remind you its Irish (like the posters of every movie ever set in Ireland). Pool and darts in the back, though what’s with the pool table being in front of the dart board? That just seems like a useless and/​or dangerous setup.
Place was quite packed at 10 on a Saturday, and they had a live band which opened up with Velvet Underground (nice!). Other than that, though, definitely the least interesting bar of the evening. They used to have pub quiz here but not anymore… too bad, could’ve gotten a bonus star for that.

After catching a performance of the BOAs at the Eureka Theater, we drove down to the Sunset to meet up with a bunch of my sweetie’s friends at a local bar.
We found miraculous parking, which was amazing, since my friend Rolf and I usually have to make several trips around the block before procuring a decent spot. And we walked down to the bar, after directions. For the amount of time I’ve spent here and down at the canvas, one would think I had known this place to exist.
Wrong.
It was hidden, with a nondescript sign. And the sad thing, is that I’ve walked past this establishment many times, since a friend lives down the street.
Upon entrance, the waves of «divebar“esque characteristics oozed into my work attire and skin. I had come straight from work and straight to the Eureka theater, so I may have been a little formal for this place, a bunch of locals in jeans and less attitude. Dark, with a bar on the right side and the left stacked with bar tables and stools.
Everyone else was having beers, but I’ve never been one for that bitter yellow stuff.
«A midori,» I shouted over the din to the bartender.
«What?» She shouted back, «Oh, wait, we don’t have that. What else do you want, honey?»
I ended up with an over-​sweet appletini ($ 6), which my sweetie likened to NyQuil. Blech. But after several long draws from the green tinted glass, I was feeling a little flirtatious and then it became time to play pool.
The cool thing about this dive bar, was the pool table, set in the middle of a large open area and directly across from the restrooms, which may prove smart, since beer seemingly runs through faster than water. There is a small backroom, which I avoided, since I felt there were more teeny boppers present than the 30-​something crowd I was with.
We left, happy with the warm conversations with good people and $ 6 shorter in cash, since the bar won’t ring up your tab on plastic unless you have a minimum of $ 10. Good to know.