Mr. Bing’s

Staple dive bar. My go-​to down the block when visiting our place in SF. Stick to getting a beer. Cheap and reliable = perfect match for a frequent neighbor.

Mr. Bing’s is a divey little american bar right off columbus just outside chinatown.
It’s nothing fancy. The bar is well laid out and the staff have been doing this awhile. The regulars are friendly the beer is cold and while this is not a sophisticated place-wouldn’t hold out hope for anything resembling a mangotini-it’s a comfy place to have a conversation and drink some beer and a shot.
Domestic’s will run you almost five dollars-​well, four dollars but I left a dollar tip. Pabst is the bargain special at two bucks.
Cash only but the usual atm (with fees) is on site.

I think the daytime may be a bad time to hit this spot. Smells like salami and had the worst service I got in my time in SF. If someone dragged me here again I’d give it another go but I’m not going to otherwise with Vesuvio around the corner being so awesome.

Dive bar, it’s showing its age and smells of it. Regardless, dive bars can be a little oasis which this place is. My dirty martini tastes wonderful after several hours of wondering the city. Salud!

What a dump! A beautiful, beautiful dump. If you don’t like dives, get the hell out of, Mr Bing’s.
Upon arrival you’ll be welcomed by the bartender, Scooter, and the vicious aroma of barf. It’s very pungent but the root of the smell is not traceable. You’ll continuously check the floor around you and the bottoms of your shoes to see if you’ve unknowingly stepped into the result of someone’s Chinatown food poisoning episode — it’s awesomely disgusting.
Aside from that, they seem to have a pretty decent jukebox, affordable drinks and with enough persuasion, an offer to challenge Scooter to a dice game of 1,4, 24. Gambling at a bar? Yep, not uncommon in this part of town but not necessarily advertised either as you just have to know who to ask.
After reading my buddy/​partner in crime’s, Danny’s review, I think he unknowingly coined Mr Bing’s new slogan. It is as follows: «Mr Bing’s, sticky floors and stiff pours.»
My kind of bar.

I don’t think I’ve ever liked a bar so much that smelled so closely to a port-​o-​potty.
Mr. Bings is what it is. A dive with sticky floors and stiff pours for a fair price. It’s got better than average people watching and some dice games usually make their way around the bar top too.
Look elsewhere if you’re expecting anything fancy, but if you like your beer served with a potential side of dead fly this is definitely your spot.

Love this Bar! Great vibe and awesome prices. The best thing about it is Erin the bartender! You will love it and her!

There are dive bars, and there are AWESOME dive bars. Bings falls in to the second category.
We stumbled in to this place 20+ years ago on a boys football trip and we were impressed with the cash only, great selection, low prices of the cocktails in a town with so many trendy bars. We were drinking Jaeger shots that were easily three gulpers that about broke your neck from the shock. All for about $ 5 a shot.
Well, I just happened to stumble on Bings again this week and how could I not stop in??? I am glad to report that nothing has changed and the dive factor that makes this place cool is still in full effect. The sticker cover condom machine in the bathroom gives this place a sixth star all by itself.
A couple of things to know about Bings. Don’t bring a posse. The place holds maybe 30 people if you sit on each others’ shoulders. It’s small, for locals, and they give zero shits why you are in town or who you know. Potty before you come. The bathrooms here border on third world and you only want to use them in case of emergency. Boys have it easier than girls in this place as we have proper equipment for not touching anything. Last, just have fun. Lose the ego, the uppitiness, the swagger; Bings is all about drinking big shots or beers with a few people on your way through life.

Mr. Bing, Mr. Bing!
Our first stop, when we got to San Francisco on a Friday night. It was our first destination to pregame and then head out to other bars in Chinatown.
Wowa! My first impression of this place is for regular customers to come and hang/​chill with their buddies. Felt like it was not really a place to make friends or be loud.
It was quite… interesting… They have jukebox, dollar for one music.
The restroom have one stall, that I know of, for the women.
My friend started to order our first drink, which was AMF…
The bartender was not cheap with the alcohol. Each sip was pretty lethal. The PLUS side that it was inexpensive! LOVE THAT! Especially how strong that drink was.
Service was EXCELLENT! The bartender, Lyman was super nice and friendly! Even though he booed LA -.-
Lyman, was the only bartender there for couple of hours that I came in. PROPS to him having to deal with so many customers on a Friday night.
Jukebox plays random music as to what the customers would request. When my friends added their music and it started to play. We couldn’t hear the music, so we ask the bartender and he bumped up the music for us! SUPER NICE!
The bartender’s friend Jason was there. He was helpful too! Some of us needed water, and he got it for us! THANKS!
After we down our AMF, my friend bought another round of shots, so that we can start heading out to other bars.
Jason, the bartender friend was outside and we were asking him about other bars around here. He was nice enough to walk us over to the other bars that was popular. But that place called Cosmo was closed, so we ended up back to Mr. Bing!
We stayed here all night. We even got other customers to dance with us. Even though this bar is pretty small and not for dancing crazily.
This place is CASH ONLY! which is understandable, for their inexpensive prices and strong drink. Once the cash runs out that is when you know you need to stop.
AWESOME place! You just got to know how to loosen up and have fun!

Hey, have you ever been kicked out of a bar for saying you wanted to move on to another bar. Yeah, I hadn’t either until I came to Mr. Bing’s. I’m actually shocked by how high their rating is, because it was, hands down, the worst bartender experience I’ve ever had, for a bar that was already pretty gross inside.
I walked in this past Friday night, post-​happy hour to meet some friends that were already there and was immediately turned off by the mildew, locker room stench emanating from the bar. It is also cash only and I didn’t have any cash, so I was waiting for my friends to finish up so we could leave.
The bartender came up to us, immediately with an attitude, and asked to see all of our IDs, even the people that already had drinks in their hands. I explained I wasn’t drinking and she said it doesn’t matter. I understand this is reasonable! This is not what I was upset about, but she literally was looking at us as if we were belligerent teenagers. So, since I felt very uncomfortable in this smelly bar, I, to be fair rather dramatically, said let’s go I don’t like this place to my friends, which caused her to flippantly wave me out the bar. When my friends were taking a long time getting out of the bar, I went to go grab them and she yelled at me to get out the bar. When I said I hadn’t even done anything, she just continued yelling at me to get out. I tried to ask what I had done and she just looked straight ahead refusing to talk to me. I asked what her name was and she refused to talk. Hey if you’re going to be a complete, unreasonable jerk to your customers and drive out a party of 8 people, at least be professional enough to give me a reason and your name. Also, yup, she’d rather lose the business of 8 people then try to be remotely friendly.
When I called the next morning to make a complaint, they hung up on me.
So, yeah, clearly this dive bar doesn’t care about customer service, but avoid the very angry, Asian bartender with the tattoo on her shoulder since I don’t know her name… Better yet, avoid the bar entirely.

This place is awesome!!! Scooter, agii, Lyman!!! Just great people! Love them all!
They’re pretty good as liars dice… Paying tuition to learn is well worth great the crap talking that comes from their mouth!
I come here as often as I can to watch all the crazy that happens here, if your in town this is DEFINITELY the place to check out!

Yow-​zas!!! This is a great place. Its divey. Its dark. Its dank. Its ri-​DIC-​ulously awesome. If you are going out downtown clubbing and you need a pre-​party place, THIS IS IT! Large pours. Stiff drinks. CASH ONLY but you’ll be happy you didn’t bring a credit card because you might just forget it behind with the amount of alcohol you could drink here with only a few swipes. On the weekends it can a fun place to hang with some friends or even mingle with other locals. The bartenders are friendly enough too and will occasionally drink with you.
So come one, come all… to the diviest place on Columbus!

Dive factor? The highest.
Drinks? Lethal.
Vibe? Ultra low key, ultra casual, ultra cool.
Ultra cool.
The band Metallica have been known to hang out here. Several times.
Way, way, WAY before Anthony Bourdain showed up.
Location? Pretty Stellar. It’s on Columbus Avenue, on a corner that merges FiDi, Chinatown, & NB.
Service? Always neighborly.
Gritty, divey, grimy, seedy, & dark.
The perfect setting for a Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler novel scene. Or a Chinese underground piece. And anything film noir.
ESPECIALLY when it was okay to smoke inside.
A friend of mine used to bartend here. He loved it. No pretenses. No hipster. A thoroughly man’s man kind of joint.
The drinks are notoriously strong. Definitely not for pansies. Ladies, EAT FIRST for chrisake! Unless, of course, you’re only doing beer.
A real gem of a joint.
4 stars.

Small dive bar seats 50. Good juke box. Strong drinks reasonably priced.

You’ve stumbled into Mr. Bing’s, possibly a hair drunk with a high probability of sore legs from walking through Chinatown.
If you can manage to teeter onto a bar stool and can audibly order a drink, you’ve just found your spot for the next several hours.
Mr. Bing’s was featured on an Anthony Bourdain episode, which honestly, is what brought us in. The bartender and locals are what made us stay.
There aren’t any special drinks.
There aren’t any things to nosh on.
There aren’t any hotties waiting to get picked up.
It is simply the dive-​ist of bars San Francisco has to offer. Order your favorite spirit and open yourself up to talking to locals. From the local who refuses to move because he got his rent fixed back in 2011 to the flamboyant group that just got in from Castro, everyone was friendly, talkative and willing to buy the tourists a shot.
It’s the only place that the person behind the counter handed me a sharpie and nodded towards the bathroom, softly saying «go», welcoming the signature of a Houstonian.
Comstock Saloon and Mr. Bing’s have a thing going on between them– stay long enough and you will get to laugh along with all the locals while shots and beers are walked back and forth across the street.
To quote Bourdain, «What kind of sick f***in’ freak would not like this place?»

North Beach joint that was a little odd when I came. Everyone was sitting at the bar, not talking to anyone else, and just watching the small TV above the fridge.
Few great things:
— The picture on the wall of the woman walking with her bare ass cheek showing. Snap a photo of this and send it to mom!
— Have the bartender teach you how to play the dice game 1 – 4. I had a great time even though I lost $ 2.

I came here because of seeing Mr. Bing’s on Bourdain’s The Layover. It’s a dive bar. The drinks are cheap. The bartender gave zero fucks that Bourdain was here when I asked. Saying he was here like «three years ago». There’s a painting of a woman playing tennis scratching her butt wearing not panties.

i was giving this bar mr. bings a 5 star because one of the bartender welcome me and she’s hot. hehehe. good jukebox. lots of people celebrating christmas eve.
merry christmas and happy new year to this bar. bings
but after i saw and watching everything?.. because of this manager asshole no respect to people who you work with?..
manager?.. im sorry its christmas and he just ruin it.
fyi: this manager mike is fucking asshole i wont give this bar a 5 star no way … because of this manager asshole no respect to people

This bar deserves to be on everyone’s bucket list because it has such personality. Ambiance is very important to me. The ambiance in this place is so bad that it becomes «good». Neon lights flood the place with light making you think you are in a bad hamburger stand somewhere in a bad part of Bakersfield… only the people behind the counter serving you the drinks appear to be strangers from Chinatown who have as much interest serving drinks to you as they do cleaning up the cages of the live animals they have for sale. I love the steely eye indifference the orders are taken, the robotic and bored movements required to make your drink served with expressionless faces that instantly turn away once the drink is deposited in front of you. The animal has been serviced. Next?
Time stands still in this place. There is absolutely no effort that goes into making Mr. Bings better or worse. It is what it is and it will always be as long there is someone in the family that owns the place to come in and crank the handle on this family cash cow.
The night I was there, we had been at the Comstock across the street for drinks. I loved the place when it was San Francisco Brewery… now The Comstock. I hate it. At Mr. Bings, one of the Comstock waiters that served us came in after his shift to have glass of Mr. Bing house white wine and hit off the Chinese girl who serves. She clearly had no interest in him and it was pathetic to watch him attempt conversation with the people behind the bar who wanted nothing to do with the losers that come in for their fix. It appears that he wanted to be «a regular». «Hey! You know me! I’ve been coming here every night for a month!» — but each time anyone comes into Mr. Bings it’s like a flock of chickens — none of them have names, they all make the same sounds and they all look alike.
Go to Mr. Bings. You will feel like you are doing something illegal — it should be.
Tip: My friends ordered up a Homobile to take them home after Mr. Bings. While waiting for the car he started to get into the wrong car and the driver turned on him with such fury that I was astonished: «Get out of my car you f#!@ you f@!!!$ 5 or I’ll kill you!». (My friend is one of the kindest and most loveable people you’d ever want to meet.) Just double check before getting into a strange car: Is it my homobile or not?

Mr. Bing’s is on the corner of columbus and Pacific. place has been around for decades.
i seldom went there in my youth. reason being bartenders are usually older males while other bars hired young women.
in the olde days, microbrews didn’t exist. usually drank cognac, michelob, or heinken.