Yet another blogg. It’s the story of a guy named Vlad, and hopefully a round the world journey
12/16/06
Pink is the prefect place to end the night after going to a few other bars in the mission. it’s open late, there’s fun music, and the drinks are pretty strong. the all pink decor is a little cheesy, but it works her for some reason. i may have ended up spilling more drinks than i actually drank, but it was definitely a good time.
Pink is at 2925 16th Street in San Francisco
12/16/06
cassanova is a fun dive bar in the heart of the mission that gets pretty crowded on weekends. sadly, after fernet shots and a bunch of vodka sodas, the other details about this place are deleted from my memory banks…
Cassanova is at 527 Valencia Street in San Francisco
12/16/06
this is a cool shwanky bar in hayes valley. slick decor yet doesnt feel overly pretentious. the drinks we got were super good. pretty pricey at 8$ a piece, but pretty much everything i tasted was hella delicious. this place’ll be a nice to place to get a drink when i want a change from going to place pigalle all the time.
Sugar Lounge is at 377 Hayes Street in San Francisco
11/25/06
the knockout used to be the Odeon, a smallish bar in the outer mission right near where mission and valencia cross. the odeon used to host all these burning man events and other artsy fringe weird bizarre interesting events. but now it’s gone, and in it’s place is the knockout, a chill hipster-ish dive-ish bar that has that typical mission bar feel. it’s a pretty cool place to kick back and have a drink, but it’s pretty far out there, and definitley not as original or interesting as the bar it replaced…
the Knockout is at 3223 Mission Street in San Francisco
10/27/06
my memory of this place is pretty vague. we had already spent most of the night at the Hemlock. we were wearing our Halloween costumes that night, but even though it was Halloween weekend, pretty much no one else was dressed up. hanging out in a bar while wearing a pink bunny costume was pretty random. i *think* that i remember the bartenders there being pretty nice… but maybe i’m just making that up. hrm, ok, maybe there really is nothing that i remember about this place… but at least the location is good… i’ll have to give it that!
10/21/06 (dayum, i’m really writing this late!)
why did we end up here? i have no clue. there’s so many other bars to choose from. hell, whiskey thieves which is one of my favorites is just down the street. we had actually just been drinking at geary club down the street, and should have just stayed there. oh well. the bartenders here were all asian women who tried flirting w/ the customers to get them to buy drinks. apparently it actually worked on some people. the drinks here were also pretty pricey for a total dive. the one cool thing about our night there was that we got another group of people to sing along with us to the jukebox hella loud. yeah.. i doubt i’d go back.
Hanaro is at 939 Geary Street in San Francisco
10/21/06
walking down the street we just randomly peeked into an open door and.. holy crap, there’s a bar in there. no sign out front at all. we wander in and the place is pretty small but pretty lively. the bartender was super nice and it really seemed like the kind of place that would be perfect for hangin’ out at and getting to know people. drinks were ridiculously cheap… our beers were 3$. they had a fun jukebox and the bartender would sing along to some of the songs. we asked the bartender what the place was called and she said that she guesses it’s called Geary Bar, but really it’s just no-name bar. there’s something really cool about a bar that has no name. if our friends hadn’t dragged us away, i would have wanted to stay longer…
Geary Club is at 768 Geary Street in San Francisco
10/21/06
i had read a bunch of reviews about this place so i kind of knew what to expect… a slick looking space and a bunch of yuppies. when i walked in, i instantly noticed how large the place seemed with its huge vaulted ceilings. i also liked the exposed brick in the wall. but after being there a bit, the place just seemed *too* empty. maybe they needed some couches or something, but i just felt like i was in an empty warehouse or something. too much dead space. also, there weren’t that many people there either, so that made it seem even more dead. the bar itself was fairly small and i just kept having the feeling like some people had set up a makeshift counter in an empty building. ok, ok, obviously the place wasn’t just “thrown together”, but i just wasn’t feelin’ it. the drinks were pretty damn good though. i had a basil gimlet which although a bit of an odd combo, worked pretty well i thought.
Rye is at 688 Geary Street in San Francisco
10/07/06
i was a bit wary about going here after reading a bunch of yelp reviews. it seems a lot of people have had incredibly heinous experiences. but, this place isn’t too far from home, and plus it was on the way to Amber which is where we were heading. ok, i definitely have to agree with people who complained about this place being really slow. when we got to the bar, there were only two people waiting for drinks before us, and yet it took centuries to get served. but, as we watched the bartendender make drinks for the people in front of us, we all realized that the drinks they make here are probably worth the wait. each drink was concocted with a zillion different ingredients, and painstakingly perfect and then tasted to be sure it was just right. these were no ordinary coctails.
i decided to order off the menu and the bartended just askedf wheteher i want a drink that’s sweet, sour, fruity, etc. i said i wanted something a little sweet but not too sweet, with raspberries, and tart. i ended up getting some amazing creation with mashed raspberries, chunks of watermelon, peppercorns, cardemom pods, mint, and other stuff. this drink was seriously insane… and then i tasted it… DAYUM!!! SO GOOD!!! every sip was incredible (except when i would accidenatlly sip up a whole peppercorn through the straw, ouch!). my friend got a drink made with bourbon and peaches that was super good too.
it turns out that we had gotten there just in time, cause a few minutes later, there was a mob at the bar. so in the end, if you want an absolutely amazing drink, check out the orbit room and order something that is not on the menu. you may have to wait a while, but it’ll be damn worth it.
the Orbit Room is at 1900 Market Street in San Francisco
10/07/06
this place is a pretty cool spot to get a drink by the bay. there’s great views of coit tower on one side and the water on the other. it’s a nice chill spot, and better than all the cheezy bars near pier 39/fisherman’s warf. you can get buckets full of beers there, which is a pretty cool idea, though we never got one. the second time we came here, it was totally packed and impossible to get service though….
Pier 23 is at Pier 23 in San Francisco