Sidelines Sports Bar

This bar is alright. Bartenders make strong drinks at a decent price. The bathrooms are absolutely disgusting though. Could clean the place up a bit.

My absolute favorite Arcata bar.
The bartenders don’t drink, but they’re fun and so are the people.

–As my wife said «it’s a great place to get groped».
–The dance floor with no lights was voted by our entire group to be the most creepy thing we’d encountered that night. Complete with non moving weirdos standing all along the outer edge.
–Rude bouncers.
–Smelt like sewage.
–This place is a shit hole
–Do yourself a favor, go to the store and buy a 6 pack of anything you’ll be better off.

The cover charge could have been skipped in this place, the bartenders were super friendly and made small talk while attending to a full crowd, the drinks were cheap and good which is hard to come by in a small town! This was my first time ever in Arcata and the music was good, atmosphere was mostly the college crowd and what seemed to be long time locals.
The last call was said to be at 2:00am but they started pushing ppl out the door at 1:40am and when I say pushing, I literally mean PUSHING! It was rude that they let us order a drink and then the bouncers asked us to get out before we could even finish them! The bouncers stood in an intimidating line, basically asking for people to fight them back which seemed so unprofessional and unnecessary!
The experience was overall good up until the point they just turned off the music and started pushing ppl out the door with no announcement of last call and the unprofessional manner it was done in. If I would go back it would be just to grab a drink and finish my partying somewhere else close by.

if only a health inspector ever checked out this place. Do NOT order a soda– the soda guns sit in a puddle of slime. Smells just as bad as toby and jacks. Bouncers are a bunch of cocky tools judging you on whether you have large breasts or not.

Last night, my girlfriend and I were charged $ 5 each at the door. If anything, WOMEN bring business to your so-​called establishment. There’s no reason why anyone should have to pay to enter a bar, especially in Arcata… this isn’t the Bay or LA.

I didn’t like the cover charge here, but I guess this the closest thing you are going to get when it comes to a club-​like atmosphere. They have good music for dancing, a good bar (drinks pricey though so get drunk before you get here) and those stereotypical females in the bathroom hogging the mirrors screaming at their ex-​boyfriends & crying on their phones. Overall though, I really enjoyed my evening here and would be back.

I love this bar, especially on pint night. And they have great employees. That’s why I have given it a 3. It would be a better score, except for the fact that the owner doesn’t seem to care that we are all in there dying of heat stroke. It’s seriously ridiculous and with as much money as you make on Thursdays, and other cover days and holidays, you can afford some fans. Almost every person I know would stay there longer, and drink more at your bar, if they could breath and not feel like they just did birkrim yoga… But because of that ridiculous heat, we are forced to go elsewhere… I was so hoping that problem would get fixed over the summer, but it hasn’t. Please help everyone that comes, and potentially your own bank, and invest in some fans that help cool everyone down in there so it’s not ridiculously hot.

Many of the other reviews for Sidelines are right. Sidelines is the closest you can get to a sports bar/​night club in Arcata. They have a great electronic jukebox, but the downside is that its $ 1 per song. Certain nights, especially Thursdays, they have DJs playing Top 40’s and popular bumpin’ tunes. Lots of people dance and get down.
I enjoy going to Sidelines during the daytime or early evening because my friends and I are pretty much guaranteed a table to sit at, and the happy hour prices are great. I believe their happy hour is from 3 – 6 on the weekdays. However, Thursday night is their pint night. It’s a super popular night, especially when Humboldt State is in session, so come before 10pm to get in for free and a stool to sit at. Otherwise, it’s $ 2 for a cover charge after 10pm. $ 1 for cheap beer like PBR, Budweiser and the like. It’s $ 2 a pint for the good stuff. It’s a deal you can’t beat if you can stand the sweaty crowds, loud people, and the cover charge.
All in all, I enjoy going in the early evening when I can get a $ 5 pitcher of PBR to share with friends, and when the crowds are very minimal. The bartenders are pretty cool, and even kinder when they recognize you. However, it reminds me a little too much of the bars down south– bright neon lights, TVs surrounding the seating area showing sports games, and loud (sometimes terrible) DJ-​ed music.

I worked here as a bar tender in 1981 – 82 and also the Alibi. Our rugby team also had many a party here too. Nobody was violent as described in earlier posts. We sang along with the jukebox, ate pickled eggs from the bar, and drank way too much beer as was expected from college men from Humboldt State. Plenty of wholesome fun.

When I go I go on Thursday Pint Night. $ 2 for Micro brews, $ 1 for Domestic. It was great until they started charging $ 2 at the door on Thursdays as well as every other day,
The places gets super packed and the doorman is a douche. The bartenders are cool though. The selection of beers are great and the are even cheaper than the breweries themselves on Thurs.
Don’s Pizza & Donuts is 24 hrs and super close which is a plus as well.
Prepare for panhandlers and weed dealers bugging you whe you go outside for a smoke.
Beware of sluts/​skanks because remember this is Humboldt Co.
Mix Drinks are expensive ($ 7-​$ 14) so avoid. This is the college people’s bar so be prepared for immaturity and drama surrounding you.
For the more refined individual, go to Mad River or Redwood Curtain Breweries.

im one of the many weirdos that come here to people watch. many of the bouncers read and count @ a 3^rd grade level. the music sucks, similar to what you imagine an American Idol soundtrack would be. people cant dance because the dance floor is gang raped by wallflowers and people who cant dance.. every week, there is at least one fight involving someone crying (usually a girl being touched) or someone bleeding (a hillbilly posse beating up on drunk idiot).
the two stars are for a decent beer selection and pint night Thursdays, or as its called, «fingering thursdays» because thats what happens on the dance floor.

A sportsbar by day and the closest thing Arcata has to a nightclub by night.
On Friday and Saturday night be prepared to pay a $ 2 cover for entry into a bar full of college students and young adults. They have the only dance floor in town that plays top 40, hiphop, and dub step. Most weekends you can find this place packed with all kinds of different people.
This should be a 3 star bar for the weak drinks, but I gave them 4 stars for security. There are some bars in Humboldt I don’t feel comfortable going to because there are too many bar fights and that kill the party mood and scare the ladies away. Sidelines has amazing security! Many of them play Football at HSU and bring their large size to keeping the peace.

Pint Night Cover Charge? WHAT THE FUCK!!!
Alright, back in the day I am talking about two years ago you could get in for free. What a joke. Seriously fuck this place– I am not going to lie I am probably going to go to it a lot of more times but still fuck. I like the free popcorn. I think that if you have a friend from out of town this is a good place to bring them so that you can talk about how much better the place you are from is.
Like «Hey dude (city’s name) is so much better check out how lame this bar is.»

Here’s the deal: Its 1 of 2 booty shaken bars in Arcata and the only true sports bar during the day. Overcrowded on weekends playing top 40 type music with a 2 $ cover and horrible bathrooms. You may see an occasional fight, just get out of the way and watch the dumb asses pound on each other. Its a college bar. No more no less. Tiny dance floor that gets extremely hot when crowded but if you ain’t sweatin then you ain’t dancing.
Glad this place is around for when I’m in the mood to get stupid.

There’s only about three or four bars in the plaza of Arcata, of which this one had a Thursday night beer special. I visited here with a couple of acquaintances, which turned out to be a mistake.
Pros:
+ $ 2 Pints
+ DJ kept the volume at a respectable level giving the very small dance floor with low ceilings
Cons:
— Massively overcrowded, probably beyond fire limits
— Rude bouncers
— The bathrooms were sticky over the entire floor and were unfit for animals to take a leak in
— Drunk girl number one spills a drink on one of our group
— I danced for 14 straight songs, but with only two girls who were friendly enough to join in, the rest were all dancing in groups of girls, then all of the guys were walking around awkwardly looking for dance partners, none of the girls willing to oblige
— I was getting my grove on the dance floor with one of the few friendly girls I could find, when out of the blue there was this girl who was dancing by herself slipped on a wet spot and went crashing to the floor. I step over to her and ask if she’s okay, helping her up by the hand at the same time. As soon as she’s on her feet again, she shoves me in the chest with no warning and then tries to take a punch at my face! I blocked her fist and told her to get lost, or I’d have her thrown out. As she slunk off the dance floor, I noticed that her eyes looked like saucers, as if she had about six shots too many.
— Another member of our party upon leaving had a guy come up from the street and sucker punch him straight to the face! He quickly sprinted into a waiting car and sped off. We didn’t even recognize the attacker and had no idea what brought it on.
There are good dive bars and bad dive bars. If you wish to congregate with the trashiest girls in Humboldt County and the men that love them, look no further than Sidelines! If you have any level of self-​respect or are concerned for your personal safety, then avoid this dump at all costs. There are good dive bars and bad dive bars. This one can be categorized as the later without hesitation.

DO NOT COME HERE IF YOU APPRECIATE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
— a quiet night out
–not to smell vomit 2 seconds after you walk into the joint
–to dance without being groped
DO COME HERE IF YOU CAN APPRECIATE:
–fun customers
–decent prices on kegs
–a good jukebox
As you can see, sidelines is a mixed bag. one i hope won’t include date rape… just kidding!!!

I’m honestly undecided about this place. We kept coming in and out of here and sometimes I liked it, other times not so much. A lot of weirdos hang here, but we did get to do some dancing on their dance floor one night.
It’s a pretty big bar though with lots of space to move around, dance, play pool, sit down, etc.

Most of these reviews are terrible. It is a SPORTS BAR so yes there will be «meat heads» otherwise known as guys who enjoy watching sports.
When it gets crowded it smells pretty bad inside. Being in Arcata where people don’t understand you should wear deodorant and shower regularly, it is something you cannot really avoid.
The prices are reasonable and they have a decent amount of tvs to watch whichever game you are looking to see. I can’t really comment on how it is at night but if you want somewhere to watch a game in Arcata, it would be the place to go.

Best bar in Humboldt County. All these reviews are very funny because everyone mentions how sidelines is a meat market. The funny thing is Sidelines used to be an actual meat market. No joke. Still best priced beer, speedy bartenders that can make any drink. Sports all day, dancing and music by night. And there are women.