114

546 S Coast Hwy 101

Encinitas , CA 92007



(760) 230-1213

Step inside and belly up to one of the greatest dive bars in North County. A very cool crowd, fair priced cocktails, great bar keep and prime location. Welcome to piece of heaven on earth.

I thought I had gone back in time the prices are so cheap here. And the drinks are legit. The only downer is they don't have draft beer.

Pathetic. Looked forward to going into a great dive bar, they are usually some of my fav places. This had the potential to be great. It smelled of three day old throw up (not the bad kind) and my shoes stuck to the floor (also not a bad thing). Place was empty except one other patron who seemed to have been sitting in that chair since 2008. You know the housing crash... I'm going to get to the point. The bartender. WTF, man has a power complex. The guy first made sure we knew this was his place by walking out from behind the bar to card us. This was done with dickish intention, no "hello", no "hey, how's your day"? Just a North Korean, "where's your papers". We obliged. After we settled, we went to the bar to order. We waited. We waited. We waited. All the time we waited, this human stood at the end of the bar with his unconfirmed barback and watched videos on his phone. Showing unconfirmed barback and pointing things out as they happened with gleeful excitement. We waited. We watched them. We waited. Looked. Wait. We realized that he wasn't going to budge. The time came for us to bid this shack adieu. Being in the business I can't understand why a business owner would keep this man on staff." Through the grapevine I heard locals have a similar opinion as I do, he's an ass. Personal opinion for this business, pay for the unemployment, it'll cost you much less in the long run.

Twelve years later this place is still the greatest little beach bar. The vibe is chill and kickback. The stiff drinks and premium liquor options are fabulous and CHEAP. Don't change Saloon, I'll be back soon

Quaint dump that we love to come back to. And the pool table is back... but I'm still so bad at pool, $1.00 lasts me 2 Coronas... Dos mas por favor!

Saloon is a decent dive bar type joint with fairly stiff drinks, interesting clientele and some decent music playing in the background. This place isn't necessarily my first choice of bars but is a nice option to get started on your night out. The bartenders pour some stiff drinks but tend to be a bit dismissive until the tip comes. The location is awesome but the place itself has a fairly dark feel to you, I mean literally everything in this place at night is dark... Kinda makes me wonder about the cleanliness with the lights on lol. Nevertheless, have been here several times to throw back some Hendricks and a beer or two and good times can be had. Pros- Location Stiff drinks Priced right Interesting folks Cons- Bartenders can be dismissive More dive than class Very dark Lots of drunkies late at night

The. Best. Bar. Bring back the entry cubby!! Call me old fashioned but a patron since 1979.

This is a great local bar that's dark (black walls), but clean and clutter free. Some of the booths are a bit worn and the tables old, but the bar tenders, Tab for one, are friendly and approachable. The pool table in the back has a new Jack Daniels felt. There isn't a long wait to play and the pool is free. The pool sticks are in good condition. Every night at 9:00 the jukebox is turned off and the DJ starts to spread the love. Hump days bring you live music. There's plenty of room in the bar to dance and grind.

Best neighborhood bar in America. I'm biased though because I worked the door back in the early 1990's. When my grandpa would come out from the east coast in the 70's he would always stop by for a drink. Also I have always fancied the painting on the wall and my whisky just tastes better inside the saloon.

This is the type of bar that I enjoy. Relaxed, chill, not too crazy with just enough people that it isn't boring. The drinks were great and reasonably priced. They could do with some music earlier in the evening, but luckily they have a jukebox near the front which helped solve that problem. I was teetering between a 3 or 4 star review, but when it came time for us to leave (around 10:30 PM), one of the waitresses ruined the entire experience for me. I was standing near one of the booths waiting for my boyfriend to saygoodbye to others from our party and one of the waitresses purposefully slammed into the back of me with her tray which caused me to fall forward and it definitely did not feel too good. As she went through she said a sarcastic "Excuuuuse me" and rushed by. I don't think physically touching someone is ever okay, but maybe if I was being annoying and drunk I'd understand more. The fact that I was just standing there, completely sober I might add, makes for no excuse at all. Fortunately for this waitress, I have a lot more class than her and walked out without a word other than "I'm Yelping about this."

The most disrespectful place I've been! Low life jerks. They called me and my girlfriends the 'c' word. Commented we were too old to be out. I've never been treated so poorly. Don't patronize this place. I'm still appalled at the mistreatment and abuse!!! They don't deserve a star but yelp won't let me post without one.

I must say, after coming here for my first time a few weeks ago, I was pretty disappointed. I had come here with a few of my friends and my girlfriend. And immediately upon walking up the two bouncers told us we had to wait to go in because of "capacity." While waiting, groups of girls were constantly let in immediately solely because they had no males with them. I could understand such things if I were in vegas or even downtown but doing such things at a small, out dated little bar I felt was unnecessary. Upon finally getting in, the wait just to get a drink was just like the wait to get in. Literally only got served if you are a female. My Experiance here was very poor and honestly this little place probably isn't worth even going too with the other options there are in encinitas.

It's a five star dive bar... If that makes sense. We all need to chill out on trying to rate everything as if it's going for a premier place to visit on holiday. It's not. It smells like cat urine and wet plywood, but it's a great place to meet people you'll regret meeting 1 week later.

I don't like this place anymore. I used to LOVE it and I mean LOVE it, as in every week, all night, get dressed up and excited over gin n tonics and PBRs and came here the other night, and felt so out of place. Maybe I'm not young and naive anymore or so hip on trends, but the bartenders are just douchey. I don't know what to say, they were never nice when I came before and they still aren't now. The place looks nicer though, everything except the front door intimidating you that you will be arrested for a DUI if you drink (which I'm sure half the people do anyway). It's an ok place. There's better. It is cop central though, so watch out. I had a DD and still got followed.

Had half an hour before my meeting was going to start so I found a parking place near the "Cocktails" sign. PLEASANTLY SURPRISED when my margarita came . . . nice combination of "cheap" and DELICIOUS Friendly people . . . I will be back

I have been to this bar on several occasions, including last new years eve and always had a decent time. After our experience there this new years eve, none of us will ever be going back. I showed up early, and asked the two bouncers if any of the booths were reserved, they told me that they don't reserve booths there so I could pick anyone I wanted. I did and within 30 minutes we were kicked out of our booth for a reservation. We were the only people kicked out of a booth and of course the rest were all filled up. A bouncer did his best to get us enough bar stools so we could relocate to the bar. After a while another booth opened up so we moved in and took it over. We were comfortable there for about 3 hours until within a minute after midnight we are getting kicked out of our booth again and our brand new round of full drinks were pulled off the table and discarded of. We were told there was a reservation so we had to move. My fiance tried to have a calm conversation with the guy moving in on our booth so we could try to at least keep our full drinks and the guy told him he was a partner of the bar and shoved him in the chest!!!! The bouncer offered to kick someone out of another booth so we could move to a new one and offered to get us a new round of drinks but at that point there was no hope to saving this experience. I just wanted to close out my tab and leave. Unfortunately the bartender refused to adjust my bill for the full drinks that had been taken away, the poor bouncer even pulled out his wallet and offered to pay for it himself. We weren't going to let him do that so I just wrote a big ZERO on my tab and a nice little note about how I was refusing to pay and would dispute the charge with my credit card company. None of us will EVER go back to this place and unless you want to be treated like a piece of crap by no one less than one of the business partners, I suggest you don't take your chances and just go to one of the other, way better, establishments that surround this one.

We popped in around 6:00 for a quick drink on a Saturday night. We had heard the hype about the oldest bar in town and so decided to take my visiting mother in law for a drink prior to dinner. We sat at the bar. Bartender was not welcoming or friendly. He did take our drink order in a timely fashion. There did happen to be an unfortunate prank - most likely from mischievous teens - they threw a stink bomb through the ally back door. This quickly turned our unfriendly bartender into an angry bartender. We couldn't he out if there quick enough. Wouldn't go back even if you paid me.

Hubby and I have been occasional patrons of this dive bar for several years. We've only patronized on Saturday afternoons, so cannot speak about the night scene. Bartender is always friendly and efficient. One thing we've noticed that we do not like...the alcove entrance that used to add a nice touch. It definitely kept the brightness out. Yesterday, the sun glare off the buildings across the street was so blinding that it caused a miserable ocular experience (and I was only drinking soda). Owner, you brought the pool table back, please consider bringing the old entrance back to keep the brightness down. It's not enjoyable for people like me with sensitive eyes. We've heard others voice their dislike of the new open front door area as well.

Well first and foremost, I am no stranger to this place. I am not proud of this, I just live way to close to here to not come here often. I have cut back a lot lately due to just being burnt out of coming here. Tip 1) If you are coming here on a Thursday, it may seem dead but will be full by midnight. It never fails, go in around 1030, no one really in the bar. Order a drink or 2, look up and out of no where it is packed. Thursday is also a good night to people watch. Tip 2) If you are going on a Friday or Saturday it is best to get there no later than 1030 pm. If you come any later than that you will be waiting in line and some nights the line can be 20 minutes or longer. Tip 3) This bar gets super crowded on weekends and you will get stepped on and bar tenders have no problem taking their time getting to you so when you order a drink make it count. Unless you are a regular and know the bartender these are the guide lines to follow to having fun at the saloon. This bar is long and narrow so enjoy the journey through and take note at the different types of people you see from thee entrance to the bathrooms. Get in where you fit in, grab a fireball shot and enjoy!!