The Saloon

Seems like the kind of place you just wander into and there’s some good music being played, regardless of when you go. We stumbled in and heard a country/​western trio killing it last night. I’m a sucker for good country/​western, and they were up there doing some really solid Charlie Rich tunes. Then they played Fire on the Strings (again, killing it) after the front man noticed I was wearing a Django shirt, and wanted to do a little guitar geekery.
The bar itself is unimposing, and while I might enjoy drinking in here for the sake of drinking in a good dive bar, it’s the music that will keep me coming back. When I’m out carousing through the city with friends, this is where I plan to stop in from now on.

Authentic. Old. A little musty. Fake Christmas tree in June (probably year round). Great music on a Saturday afternoon, and stories between each song. In a word, great. This place will slow down your afternoon, and it feels like what old SF must have been. Established 1861, and if you’re lucky, you might see the older gentleman with eyeliner, dangly cross earring & a rocker vest.

Música en vivo, cerveza barata, bartender rockero viejo loco, gente bailando en la suya, saloon le hace honor al nombre y no podes dejar de pasar y escuchar blues del bueno. No tiene desperdicio

Live Blues Old School bar! Good times! I was walking around northbeach and heard the blues! I followed my ears and found the little gem! Its not much for frills but the drinks are cheap and strong the music is good and loud! My kind of place!

Definitely old school! Server and band has been there for years and when I say years, it’s decades! Original, inexpensive and simply good hearted people and workers. Everyone is friendly and extremely kind. They only accept cash as well. Had good blues music and the band also talks to you on their breaks. Check it out!

W o w loved this place, me and my ladie made it to this place last nite Sunday for the first time, love the live blues, danced all nite meet some very chill and good pps. Very cool people at the door and bartender with a lot of personality, cheap drinks love the cash only idea, Love everything about this place.

Auntie recommended this place since we love a good dive bar. Definitely worth a stop in!
CASH ONLY
Bands were great. We had an awesome time in this greasy little watering hole.
Even with so much to see in SF, we’ll come back here again.

This is supposedly the oldest bar in San Francisco (1870). I do not know because I didn’t do any research. What I can tell you is it is a hopping place for live blues music! Live music, decent bar area, but small. Totally good place to hang out with friends. I visited this spot on a Friday night. No cover charge, but they do check your ID. Even mine! Mostly 20 – 30 crowd, but there were also a few «old timers» like myself who fit right in. If you love live music and love to dance this is the place to be. On this particular night it was Shad Harris and a group of (older) men playing blues music. THEY WERE AWESOME!!! This venue has live music every night. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because of the bathroom situation. One bathroom for men. One bathroom for women. One stall. The lines can get a bit long but since the Johns are literally right off the dance floor, you can dance your heart away waiting for your turn! Thumbs up if you want a fun night.

Ok once again I decided to come back. Why do you ask? I was super hungry and happened to be walking by. I know I don’t make the best decisions when I’m hungry and when I have to pee. (Or drunk, that’s another story)
Here we are, lamb burger. Actually it’s solid. Shocked… Not usually a fan of English muffin buns but nailed it on this burger. Fries leave something to be desired. Not terrible but I have had much better. These remind me of the freedom fry at some Texas meh road house. I ordered a f’ing lamb burger. I want French fries. Not some steak fry from a backwater Oklahoma reject.
From previous review, we know the sound track and tv are less than pleasant. I also found another thing that bothered me to no end. The wall has some sort of faux vinyl brick work. Still hate the soundtrack… All good songs just not conducive to Lunch, I think there is a pool hall a couple of blocks away go there to listen to this $hit.
Also the bartender needs some beard oil. Looks like a rats nest.

If you love dive bars and stiff drinks, this is the place for you. The bartender looks likes he’s straight off the set for «Tales
From The Crypt». There’s a quarter inch of dust on the windows and this place hasn’t been deep cleaned since the flu epidemic of 1962, but this is the place to be. Great music, good drinks, and lots of laughs to be had — please check out this place. Rumor has it that this is the oldest bar in San Francisco — I tend to believe it, I’m pretty sure if I sneezed the walls would cave in. Seriously, this place is awesome!

Another locals place here, a great spot for local live music and drinks.
If you are looking for quality high end cocktails, you may be better off going elsewhere, if you are looking for cheap mixed drinks and beer and an awesome show and love people watching, this is the place.
You never know what you will find playing, but it will likely be bluesy and awesomeness.
Everytime I have guests in town we hit specs bar and then end up at the saloon and it’s always good times.

My friends and I randomly happened upon The Saloon. I ordered a pisco punch, which was pretty good. The crowd was a bit older than what we expected, but was still a decent spot. Not special enough to seek out again.

I loved this place! So much fun! Life music was grate, drinks are cheap and good for that price, people are very different and fun to watch. It’s very NOT fancy and «free». I will definitely come back. It’s different experience.

kick-​butt live Blues and R&B every day of the week… the bartender Jules was in hysterical fine form, kept us laughing and the drinks Oh So Good. Can’t wait to come come back

This was the most fun I and my date have ever had. We got to the Saloon earlier than show time. We were greeted by Shane the bartender. He was very helpful explaining show times and encouraged us back. When returning Shane greeted us again and remember our drink order from hours earlier. Tony Perez & Second Hand Smoke were the first act. These gentlemen ROCK! The crowd was great and musicians very personal.

The Saloon is a stinky SF gem. It’s older than dirt and in need of a good bleach scrub, but it has everything you need for a group outing: live music, a small dance floor, stiff and cheap-​as-​hell drinks, a quick bartender and an interesting crowd of patrons.
Know that it’s cash only. Dancing is encouraged.

My favorite bar in San Francisco. Great crowd, great bartenders, great music, Great Prices. Just the history of this place is amazing and charming.

Oldest bar in San Francisco… and some of the patrons look like they just came back from the gold rush or the civil war!
You have to go and have one drink there: The Saloon first opened in 1861, and has been in continuous operation ever since.
How cool is that!

This is the oldest bar in town? This is news to me, but I’m not particularly surprised. It certainly smells as though people have been drinking and sweating and vomiting and then cleaning it up halfassedly for decades. That said, I have it on good authority that it’s actually only the second stinkiest bar in the neighborhood.
The service is adequate.
The only barmaid has not been a maid for quite some time, but she was still nice enough despite being deaf, and quite confused by normal drink orders. I was drinking the same thing all night, but I’m pretty sure I was charged three different prices. At first I thought I was bad at math, but then I decided it doesn’t really matter, since all those prices were under $ 5, the drinks were STRONG, and they all included getting some amount of quarters back. Getting actual change back in 2015 is a novelty for me.
The bathroom leaves much to be desired.
On the plus side, it doesn’t smell any worse than the rest of the bar. On the minus side, it’s down a small and creepy flight of stairs, and doesn’t have a lock, even though it’s only meant for one person. Yes, I did awkwardly walk in on another dude peeing.
The live music is live.
Honestly, the bands weren’t half bad, which makes sense because I think they’ve been playing since the 60s. Practice makes OK.

So we’re going to a dive bar? Is it one of those ironic hipster dive bars or is it a legit shithole? Oh, it’s The Saloon? Yup, I’m game.
This joint is exactly what you could want from a dive bar. It smells bad. It’s older than dirt, as are some of the patrons. The drinks are cheap and stiff. There’s live music. The bathroom is gross. Everything is sort of tacky to the touch. You can actually smell the history emanating from the walls, the bar, the floor. Good or bad, it’s authentic.
This is a great place to get your drink on. Once you’ve acclimated to the atmosphere you start to not notice the bad parts, and enjoy the good parts. That’s the way it should be.

I will not over-​elaborate on this place.
If old-​hippie style blues and straight up booze are your jam — bring lots of cash and dig brother…
This place is pretty great.

I didn’t know what to expect as I walked into The Saloon. It’s not much to look at from the outside, and when you walk in, it has a less than pleasant smell. Once you pass the aroma of heavy cleaning products, you’ll find yourself in a dimly lit bar with live music on any given night of the week. On a Tuesday, we were serenaded by a few of the local jam bands that rocked out. Not too shabby… especially since it was free.
For drinks, they have a short selection of beers and make some pretty strong well drinks at a cheap cost. Everything is cash only.
It’s a mixed bag of patrons as there were a few older peeps hanging on the bar while a group of young hipsters sat against the wall talking. Once the clock struck 10pm, the bar started to fill up with more peeps looking to get a few cheap drinks as a nightcap.
I’d come back when wanting a low key evening — but don’t expect anything super fancy, cause this ain’t the place!

The Saloon is a gem. This place goes way back to the 1860’s and is among the oldest bars in SF. That said, I wouldn’t look at this as a place to come because you want to say you’ve been to a historic place — You’ll be let down if you do. This is a place to come because you want a good, non-​pretentious dive-​bar where you can listen to two musical acts every night in an intimate setting (4−8pm, which usually goes until 8:30, and 9:30pm-1:30am).
BTW — You can find their schedule online at:
This isn’t a huge spot. I’ve never seen an ensemble larger than four pieces. The set-​up has the band in the far corner, and the sound quality is solid. They play right towards the door, and all of my visits have been unplanned and based upon hearing some great music as I walk by. The acts have been a good mix of country, jazz, blues with colorful local entertainers. There’s no real seating area in front of the band, but you get a good view from the bar, and the entire far side of the place has stools with a ledge for drinks. I wouldn’t say there is one «type» of patron — the place has a little bit of edge, but I’d say that the vibe is cool and easy going if you’re into good music. It’s a lot of fun. And during the mid-​week, it’s not wall to wall for the early set.
I hesitate to give this place only 4-​stars. But, no draft beer — except PBR, if you don’t mind drinking ironically. Limited bottle selections (they have Lagunitas IPA, so I’m taken care of) for $ 4.50. Don’t ask to see the cocktail list. The bartenders aren’t mixologists. Other than the music, this is definitely a dive-​bar. Probably the diviest in North Beach.
If you like live Jazz and Blues in an intimate setting and you haven’t been you should check this place out. I recommend going on a night when you can stay later than you intend, because the music just gets better and better as the night goes on.
Fun Fact: They say that this place survived the fires after the 1906 Earthquake because this was a whorehouse at the time, and the firefighters wanted to keep it in play.

Honesty the lowest priced drinks we have ever bought and they all contained the most alcohol ever! I just couldn’t get over the bar tenders & the bar, it was like stepping back in time. Everyone fits in :)

Ok. Let me start off by saying the first band… Was really good. The second band… Even better. Really good old school Blues. The first bartender. While kind of standoffish… In a good way… Was good. However… I cannot say the same for the rude and decrepit old hag which took his place. We started the night by having a couple of brews at this fine establishment. All went swimmingly. We tipped the bartender well, we tipped the band well. My partner and I left this fine bluesy establishment in search of something else. When we didn’t find it… We returned to «The Saloon» to find yet another band playing, which was in all honesty. An epic SF blues band… And a different bartender. One which is older than my grandmothers grandmother with an attitude to boot. Good times had by all. We had already purchased a couple of beverages and tipped extremely well to Satans unwanted daughter in-​law before making the fatal mistake of asking which juices they have to accompany the Gin my partner so desired. Imagine this. Bitchy attitude and tuck shop lady arms flailing about the bar. Implying that my partner is retarded because «it’s a normal fucking bar. And we stock the same fucking juice as any other bar». She’s shaking her head. She’s working up a sweat.
When, to my girlfriends dismay, i chose the closest juice within Damian’s reach (I’m assuming that’s her name) I tipped this oxygen thief a quarter, as if I had done her some kind of injustice, she proceeded to call me an asshole and scream out «HEY ASSHOLE» across the bar while ranting and raving and pacing up down the bar shouting at various customers and one guy in particular who was «holding his money too high?» And slamming her hands down on the bar and mumbling something underneath her Wallmarty breath. Don’t get me wrong. I love dive bars. I live for them in fact. But when you treat a customer like shit because they ask you a question. You can legitimately go and suck an entire bag of dicks. All in all. Good drinks, good prices, good tunes… Rude as fuck bar staff.

If you love great music amongst a very diverse crowd this is your place. I came with my elderly parents and we all fit in.
This place has character.
Come with an open mind and an open mind to just have a good time.
Cash only

Not sure if it’s the oldest or third oldest bar in SF, but I’ll just say it’s the oldest. Super old inside, both the patrons and interior. Feels like it’s 100 degrees inside even though it was cool outside. Very very small bar with a few chairs that line up the outside. Even have room for a dance floor. They have a live blues band on Fridays, it seems. The one female bartender gives a lot of sass, but in a good way. Bud bottles seem to be the popular menu item ($ 4 or $ 5 I think, not the best). My friend wanted to live dangerously and went for a double Jack Daniels and Ginger Ale, which was around $ 10. Pretty much ⁹⁰⁄₁₀ for JD and G, so that’s a plus at least. They had another male bartender come up from the basement it seems later on to offer some assistance for pouring drinks, which helps speed things up. Definitely a very interesting place in North Beach I never knew existed before this past weekend. No TV’s to be had anywhere and I highly doubt they would make you anything beyond a Rum and Coke if you wanted a mixed drink. Bring those greenbacks too – plastic most definitely not accepted, like a good dive bar.

I finally made it into the Saloon on a Monday evening, and stayed for a couple hours. I loved every minute (hour) of the ambiance, great drinks and the musicians were top-​notch and true to form for a saloon of this stature. I appreciate live music and I was very moved by the playlist and artists, and I will be back for more.

I ended up at The Saloon on a recent night in San Francisco, with no idea of its history. I just thought it was kind of a grimy dive bar, and I was a little annoyed that there was a $ 5 cover. By the time I left, though, I was kind of in love with the place, and I later discovered that it’s the oldest bar in the city, with its own Wikipedia page. I hope it lives another hundred and fifty years.
I ended up here to meet some friends of my friends. We took an Über into North Beach, an area I’d never spent time in before, and I was pretty skeptical when we got to the entrance. It looked crowded and divey – and not like hip oh-there’s-a-pool-table divey, but grungy, wouldn’t-use-that-bathroom divey. It’s hard to fork over cover with the smell of urine in your nose, but we decided to give it a shot, and thankfully, the urine was on the outside.
Things started looking up immediately. The bar was busy, but it was easy to get a drink. The old man bartender was a pro, and I guess cash only keeps the wheels moving. I ordered a Makers on the rocks and a vodka soda for my friend, and was astonished when he asked for $ 8.75. I guess The Saloon must own the building they’re in, because I can’t imagine those margins paying San Francisco rent these days.
There was a live blues band playing at the deep end of the bar, and an active dance floor writhing with people in front of them. The band was made up of three old men, and they were excellent. The crowd on the dance floor was half 20– and 30-​somethings, half 50 and up, and everyone was having a blast.
After we left The Saloon, a friend of a friend busted out a Sharpie and boasted that he’d used it to mark his and some of his friend’s wrists (the sign that you’ve paid cover) to get in for free. I found myself getting kind of mad, even though I was initially annoyed by the $ 5 charge. It just bothered me that this San Francisco yuppie was so proud of himself for ripping off a dive bar and an old man blues band. It didn’t take long for me to get loyal to this place, and I hope it continues to prosper as San Francisco changes – I guess it’s already held its own through plenty.

Stumbled upon this place after leaving another bar. We saw it packed to split on a Saturday night, so in we go, past the grizzled-​looking doorman and into throngs of old dudes jamming out to live blues. A friendly Jack Sparrow lookalike informed me that this act was one of their most popular performers.
This place isn’t my usual scene, but hey, a good time all-​around. Music was great, the free drink from the half-​deaf bartender was great, the smell of sweat and unwashed beard was even tolerable.
Tip– the bar is cash only!

Walked in, 2:45pm on a Friday, and the bartender had to say to the two people standing by the door as I passed through the portal, «Hey, will you kove away a littlr bit? Everybody’s getting high.»
Come here for an authentic barbary coast, 60’s trippy experience with a good range of beer and hard liquor. (Can’t beat PBR on draft!) Real, authentic music from bands at night with every kind of person, sober and various degrees of not sober, moving, swaying on the floor.
Happy hour is the second best hour… cause late night when the bands are in full effect are indisputably the best with a full thtottle, booze driven bunch feeling it??? That’s a good time.
A real place, for real people, that’s real good. Really.

Great rocking saloon.
I’ve seen some cool shows here.
I love the swinging door and the old school appeal this place has.
I could totally see john wayne coming in here slinging his guns .
I love the smell here its very welcoming, its like a smell of wood, fresh wood.
The drinks are priced pretty good too.

This place is sooo awesome.
Diese Bar ist die wichtigste in ganz San Francisco, wenn man Wert auf guten Blues und Jazz legt. Jeden Abend wird hier live gespielt. Die Preise fuer Bier sind vollkommen in Ordnung. Die Menschen, die man hier trifft, sind verrueckt aber liebenswert. Wenn man diese Art der Musik mag und darueber hinaus auch das feeling einer urigen Kneipe, dann garantiere ich hier einen unvergesslichen Abend.

El bar más antiguo de San Francisco y el único que sobrevivió al gran terremoto de 1906. Autentico saloon donde escuchar el mejor blues en directo todas las noches. Los sabados se exige el pago de una entrada (5 $, 2013) a la hora de los conciertos, no es así el resto de la semana.

Eigentlich war ich ja auf der Suche nach etwas Essbarem, als ich an dieser Bar vorbeikam. Live-​Blues durchströmte meinen Gehörgang und so konnte ich nicht wiederstehen und stolperte hinein. Und so entdeckte ich die älteste Bar San Franciscos Drinnen erwartet dich zunächst ein langgestreckter Tresen, an dem kaltes und billiges Bier verkauft wird. Alles wirkt etwas abgewrackt, die Luft ist dopegeschwängert. Im hinteren Bereich eine kleine Bühne, auf der an diesem Abend zwei Bands aufspielten. Das Programm? Ganz klar: Blues! Das Publikum: Gemischt, eher etwas älter (35+). Man kennt sich, ein Newbie hat aber kein Problem, hier ein paar nette Bekanntschaften zu machen. Einfach Mittanzen oder an der Bar ein kurzweiliges Gespräch anfangen. Alles kein Problem, alles easy. San Francisco wie es Spaß macht!