Smitty’s Bar

With relief, I pull up Smitty’s Bar on Unilocal and find it categorized simply as «bar», not «dive bar», a phrase which is all too frequently misappropriated. Smitty’s is indeed just a bar, the old fashioned kind that doesn’t charge $ 12 — $ 14 for a cocktail nor throw in any mandatory tip. That it’s off Sausalito’s main drag, away from the hub of tourism, means that it gets a neighborhood crowd and even if you’re not a neighbor it still feels like a neighborhood bar.
That Smitty’s feels like the type of bar that people wouldn’t think of when someone says «Sausalito bar» is a compliment.
Still, we’re within the ring of concentric circles emanating from the Bay Area’s culinary force field so you know what that means. Smitty’s serves craft beer from Anderson Valley and Pinot Noir from Acacia Vineyards in addition to the usual booze (but not at San Francisco prices). One glass of Acacia Pinot Noir plus two 16-​oz craft beers from Anderson Valley ran a completely reasonable $ 18.
With multiple pool tables, a stand-​up shuffIeboard table, a pinball machine, a whole mess of TVs, and all that booze you could misplace a whole evening in here. In that regard, it’s much like Larkspur’s Silver Peso (an equally good choice). It seemed a curious selection, but as I departed Smitty’s a stretch limo pulled up and a gaggle of pretty young things descended through its doors. So Smitty’s isn’t some undiscovered quantity despite its non-​Bridgeway location.
If it looks like a bar and smells like a bar (it does), it’s a bar. The absence of hipsters and tourists and presence of locals, even if the space isn’t spiffed up like a preening peacock, doesn’t turn it into a dive bar. Unilocal has this listing right. Smitty’s is a great place to go when you’re looking for a few drinks and a little fun.

Simple local bar with pool tables, and other game stations! Come here often to play pool and challenge friends to games. What’s great about this place it’s very close by to home and people know who you are. All the locals come here to drink or relax after hard week! What’s fascinating about this place is that it gets super busy on random days!

Just wanted to thank the bartenders at Smitty’s they were so good last night they really know how to treat their customers. They made my night just taking care of us and making our Christmas Holiday a warm and fuzzy night. Oh I must mention girls they do turn up the heat on a cold winters night. Happy Holidays

I just paid the most I have ever paid for a White Russian 14 dollars. Lots of ice, hardly any alcohol Lots of ice for my money If you want to be completely ripped off come here

It seemed like a nice bar with a plethora of regulars. When I went it was relatively quiet aside from the bar which was full. It definately screamed out as a regulars place with their buy boards on the back wall (X will buy Y, Z number drinks). Sadly no Guinness on tap and even in the middle of the week with a mostly empty space parking was non existent.

Definitely an interesting place that reminded me a lot of the old dive bars I frequented back in my NYC days. It’s right off Bridgeway, which is one of the main drags in Sausalito it seems. A lot of options surprisingly for a bar of this type, but we just went with $ 4 Bud bottles. You can even buy beers for other people (and have some bought for you in return) on their chalkboard behind the bar. This place also sells cigarettes and random chips and snacks, making it truly a Swiss Army Knife of dive bars. The bartender during the day was very tired, and questioned my friend’s enthusiasm for AC/​DC on their digital (so high-​tech) jukebox, but she was mostly busy hanging up Halloween decorations. Her two dogs also appeared later in the day as guest stars, but mostly kept to themselves. The bar has around 4 pool tables, but it seems only 1 or 2 work. They have shuffleboard, which is a huge win, but there’s no numbers written on it, so I don’t see a way to keep score. Fail. I didn’t play darts, and didn’t see where they were located in the bar either. It has a few TV’s too, and we were greeted with a lovely episode of Jerry Springer when we walked in (18, Pregnant, and Single, or something of that sort). The jukebox doesn’t have any credits on it for the bar to play music out of when no one is pumping money into it, so there were often periods of awkward silence. I felt compelled just to play music to avoid the silence. But at $ 1.00 and getting only 2 songs, «Born to Run» and «Atlantic City» by the Boss was all I could muster. At least it filled up about 10 minutes of dead air. Probably not in huge rush to come back (although at 1pm on a questionable Monday Columbus Day holiday weekend, I shouldn’t be surprised it was dead), but definitely a memorable place in this seaside village.

People throw around the term «dive bar» to describe a lot of places that are not dive bars. THIS is a dive bar in all the good ways. There are cheap beers on tap and some very cool local beers on tap, salty dogs hanging out at the bar, pool tables, and a casual attitude. The bartenders are very friendly and welcoming and make you feel like a regular.

I love the feel of this bar. It’s great for a Friday night when you want to chill and play some darts with your friends. Good selection of beer and nice divey atmosphere.

What a great «dive bar». Good bartender (Mike) and local patrons. And I found my new favorite beer Anderson Valley Bourbon Barrel Stout. Great place to watch the Giants.

Why 4 stars? Because it filled the need.
— — —
We were on a family vacation and looking for a bar with a halfway decent beer selection, that had fun things (i.e. pool) to do to entertain ourselves, while we killed time before our dinner reservations. Oh, and we were also hoping to charge our phones are a long day of Bay Area picture taking :)
Smitty’s was perfection.
Friendly bar tenders, plenty of bar games, some decent beers, and a really great group of fellow patrons. We were in a large group of non-​locals, and everyone we talked to was so incredibly friendly. And Smittys didn’t mind letting us re-​charge our gaggle of iPhones.
It may seem like a blip on the radar to some, but to us, it was a really memorable stop on our tour!
BONUS: It was here, that I witnessed my mom take the first sip of alcohol that she’s consumed since I’ve been alive.

We were told by a local that this place is nicknamed «Shitties», but that it is a fun place to go. We tried it on our second night in town and loved it! I guess it is what you could call a dive bar, but it’s a lot better than some of the «dive bars» that I’ve been to. The bartender was super friendly, happy to give suggestions AND small samples of their MANY beers if you are having trouble deciding.
It’s one of the only bars open past like 9PM (at least on a weeknight) in Sausalito, which is a plus. It was only my 2 friends and I besides one other VERY drunk couple in there. They were fun to watch. Very entertaining.
Anyways, I definitely say to give it a try, at least to have a couple of beers.

Monday late afternoon review.
Driving back from a day of fun in San Francisco, my better half suggests we Unilocal bars in Sausalito that won’t get mad if we eat outside food in their establishment — this seemed like the best bet.
The road to Smitty’s, we go past some million dollars houses that make us feel like «no way is this leading to a dive bar!» Decided just to trust Waze (hey, the app lets us know where cops are, it probably knows where bars are, too) and we finally get to the bar and it looked so dark from outside, we were certain it was closed.
About 4 other people in there at 4pm but as soon as we entered, the bartender greeted us like we were old friends.
Strong cheap drinks, empty pool table, and nice people. Will be back.

This is a fun dive bar after straying away from the bougieness of Sausalito.
Rolled 20 deep into this bar. all less than sober. We put some money into the digital jukebox hoping to hear some tunes but they were so quiet I went to ask the bartender about it. and her response «do you know how loud you guys are being?»
«uhhh. well, lady, do you know how many drinks we’re buying?»
I’d be surprised if a bartender was nice in such a divey/​trucker bar. I’d come back!

When you think of Sausalito you think yuppies and tourists. This place has neither. It’s a dive. Has an unbalanced shuffleboard, some mediocre pool tables, cheap chairs, awesome beer selection, and awesome bartenders. This is the kind of place you want to be to chill, drink a few beers and have fun with friends and locals.

Looking for an unpretentious bar in Sausalito? This is it. The no-​name bar also fits the bill, but because of its location gets run in with tourists some times. This place is a little further tucked back, and because it’s right off Locust you get nice access if you’re houseboating it in the nearby marina.
Nice beer selection, ever changing handles. Service when I was here was friendly and amiable. There’s certainly a few locals, and it’s nice to see a bar that takes care of regular patrons. They sell cigarettes at the bar, but of course you gotta smoke outside.

Wicked bar. Good beer on tap. I like that they have pool, and foosball available. They also have darts and shuffleboard. Awesome!

If this is what a «dive» bar looks like in Marin County I’m all over it. We stopped in on a Sunday night to find a decent crowd playing games, drinking, chatting, and having a great time. I was shocked to see that the pool tables were free… as was the shuffleboard in the back! The beer selection was decent and the prices weren’t too crazy (think ~$ 6 drinks) — after all it’s Sausalito. While cheaper drinks would be great, the fact that you’re not spending money on the games more than makes up for it.
NOTE: If you like darts, they have a really nice quality board by the front window.

The bartender will kick your ass…
This is a hole-​in-​the wall dive bar. Go in for a beer and a game, but don’t expect anything more. Female bartender behind the bar on Labor Day was beyond rude; however, isn’t that sort of to be expected at a dive bar?
The place is dirty. It stinks like smoke even years after indoor smoking was banned in California, the men’s restroom is disqusting, they have framed pics of dead patrons on the wall (CR-​EEPY) and about 5 TVs going at once (many with the same game…).
I’m giving Smitty’s an A-​Ok because I get the sense the business knows what it is — A dive bar with no aspirations of being anything else. There is something to be said for that.

I love to come here on a Friday night and hang out with the locals of Sausalito.
This place is awesome! The guys working at the bar are great. I love how there are FOUR pool tables, a dart board, a foosball table, and (another game that i cant remember the name of).
The people have the power of music (there is a music box with lots of music to choose from!)
Overall a great place to meet the locals and have some (not too crazy) fun!

Pretty much a locals dive bar that we happened to find cause we were looking for a place to play darts. They have a 4 pool tables I believe a dart board and a shuffle board.
The dart board is old school and you have to keep track of the score by hand but its free so you can’t beat that. The drinks are priced good and there are plenty of tvs that have sports on.
I’d definitely come back.