Handlebar

Wonderful service, killer happy hour and the best bar owner I’ve ever met… JENNIFER! Comin’ in clutch! Kitchen closes at 10PM. Menu has a really nice line up of burgers (DELICIOUS), chicken sandwiches, salads and tots! If I could, I’d give Handlebar ten stars! Ambiance is old
American, western flare with nice lighting. Perfect place to relax, grab a drink and laugh your ass off. Will be back! (Ps: order a Moscow mule.) super fast service: 3minutes and 20secs.

This place really surprised us. Nice atmosphere and the bartender was very friendly and attentive. The cocktails were reasonable and most impressive was the food. Hamburger was cooked exactly as ordered and was delicious. You must try the seasonal greens. Not over cooked and seasoned to perfection. The tator tots are crazy good, fried in truffle oil. Definitely recommend this place!

Adore this place! It is a locals dream! Plus the amazing Indian grocery store next door will keep me coming back frequently! Mac and cheese is amazing (better than Homerooms!) and the Rick and roll vibe was laid back and not annoying like most new bars around town. Thank you Handlebar for not sucking!

We walked in around 7:00 tonight (Saturday) and the place was pretty empty. That felt a bit odd, given every other place we tried was packed. But we figured we’d give Handlebar a try and wow, are we glad we did! The bartender was great and she did an amazing job with our drinks. The food is what amazed us the most. Our expectations were low, given that Handlebar looks mostly like, well, a bar! Looks are clearly deceiving as the three of us had excellent meals that were tasty and made from very fresh ingredients. Service was great as well. I’m giving only four stars because Handlebar feels a bit cavernous and bare inside. Also, table seating is at hi-​tops with stools .ll not the most comfortable seating.
Extra points though, for the music. I’m not a fan of country music, but it was fun to hear country renditions of some classic pop songs (e.g. Billy Jean by Michael Jackson). Loved it!
highly recommended!

My and my BF came to handlebar on a Friday night around 7p. The place was pretty dark and was pretty empty… i think this place gets busy later in the evenings. The bartenders were pretty nice and had made some good drink suggestions. We ended up ordering two burger and tots… burger was good, with really great beef! Honestly, the food and drinks were good, but this place is wayyy overpriced. The drinks are at least $ 3 more then anywhere else around and after you add the basics to your burger, its a $ 20 cheeseburger.
I dont think I will be back… a little too pricey for what you are actually getting.

I can’t stop thinking about the most delicious corn dog thing I had for brunch: buttermilk pancake batter wrapped around a breakfast sausage on a stick, with a maple dip. Amazing.

Cold Beer! Great burger! Tots are amazing and definitely get the Mac & cheese with jalapeños and bacon!!!

The food is tasty — I particularly liked the house greens w chicken and the burger, though the party was a bit small. The tater tots were awesome.
Played mountain music and bluegrass. I heard some Hayseed Dixie in there (the Bluegrass AC/​DC tribute band)

When I first saw this place last year all I could think about it, «I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars, no handlebars.» However, I kept this lil guy stuck in the back of my head in case of necessary refreshments if needed when stuck in bay area traffic.
Let’s talk about the tots guys. These are no elementary school tots that you get in little aluminum trays here. No. These tots are beyond Napoleon Dynamites wildest dreams. These tots are with truffle oil. Nononono… not truffle butter. TRUFFLE OIL! Guith… these tots are the shit.
The bar is awesome — beautiful wood with a boat ton of liquor. The service… awweeesommeee saauce!
Not a dive, not an upscale, not like a hip… ster… kinda shin dig. You dig?

Excellent burger (cooked medium, not medium-​well, and on a quality bun), but a little pricey with all the add-​ons (e.g., $ 2 for bacon or fried egg). tater tots with truffle oil are still good. this place would be 5 stars if they had draft beers and if the add-​ons didn’t make the burger expensive. friendly staff and nice bar, but I need draft beer with my fancy burger.
Update: Received a message from them saying that they will be providing draft beer in the near future. Also realized that if you whine enough, you get what you want. They get five stars!

Quite good! The family & I stopped in for dinner.
Insanely good lemonade, best mac&cheese I can remember ever having.
Thumbs up on the Steak & Caesar salad. Back flip on the Mushroom pasta!
Hat tip who ever designed their Handlebar mustached logo on their water bottles.
Nice touch putting the bill inside old novels.
Why not 5 stars?/constructive criticism :
Really difficult to sit for a long time with kids on bar stools.
This place should have a full sit down eating area with reservations. The food is that good. It seems like a bar, that happens to have food. It should be a steakhouse that happens to have a bar.
Will definitely be back.

I’ve been stalking Roland’s food for many years now and he NEVER disappoints. I was seriously surprised to find Handlebar on the empty side this past weekend. Everything we ate was 5 stars and I can’t believe more people weren’t there eating this amazing food.
Not only is there no bad seat in the house to watch Warriors games on one of two televisions, the bartender was attentive and the food was on point. I’m probably going to regret hyping this place up because it’s bound to get crowded…
Breakfast Tacos + hash brown were delicious and the ever amazing 510 grassfed Burger was even BETTER than I remembered! The bun seems to have been upgraded and now it is hands down the best burger in the Bay.
I’ll be back soon to try the drink specials and explore even more of the menu.

Spring Break 2015 in CA… Tried this spacious little local bar one night for dinner and it served us well. The striking thing when you enter is the wooden bar itself… floor to ceiling high and 20 or 30 feet long. The bar was a beauty… we heard it was a leftover from the previous operation that was in here… the Temple Bar. Anyway, glad they kept the bar as it is the centerpiece of this large room that has little in the way of furniture. A few four-​person tables along the wall, a few stand up tables hanging off the support posts, and a couch n’ coffee table set in the window… not much else… which makes for a spacious feeling. Big screen TV sets the mood and at game time is a nice addition as you can see it from almost anywhere. Now to the food…
Three in our party of four had hamburgers, all three cheese (cheddar). The hamburgers were ordered medium for two and medium rare for one, and were all done to the point of being just past pink… but still salvageable. The juicy hamburger was mated to a bun that had it’s top toasted to the point of cracklings… too well-​toasted. But then I am a fan of nice soft buns for my hamburgers… so it is definitely personal preference. One hamburger came with the fried egg on top, one with caramelized onions, and the third with both… the fried egg was a nice addition. The fourth in our party had the pork chop… it too was a bit past done but was tasty and well received.
As to libations… Campfire Stout was the beer for the table and it was excellent… nice dark porter… rich, smooth, and jet black. Smells a bit like a s’more and has little head, but goes down very easy. Would be a nice recommendation for dessert too. One of us had the lemonade, which was lip puckering and almost undrinkable… had to have the bartender put in some simple syrup to make it passable.
The bartender was the only one working the front this weekday evening (they had a single cook in back), and as such he was behind the eight-​ball most of the time. The much ballyhooed tater tots arrived when we were almost done, but made for very good food. All-​in-​all a bit on the pricey side, but a passable stop on any tour of Berkeley pubs.

Intriguing place with a similar vibe to Acme bar. The bar structure itself is very impressive, worth a visit to see. There is not a lot of seating for such a big space but I usually end choosing to sit at the bar since there is no table service.
Drinks have been improving over time. When they first opened they only had 5 bottled beers, and no Hendrick’s gin. Things have improved with 10 – 12 bottled beers available and a better variety of liquors. I feel like beer taps would help…
The food is good, but has not been particularly consistent. The size of burgers and bread seem to vary, as do the quantity of tater tot fries (with truffle oil, yum!). The menu is limited but does a good job of being a bar that serves burgers and not much else. Warning: food is pricey though, don’t expect to spend less than $ 30 per person for dinner and a drink.
I’ve never left unhappy, but satisfaction varied between 3 stars and 5 stars depending on the day. Hence, the four star review.

Had probably the best blood mary I’ve ever had in my life here. The service was also really good. Granted, I came for lunch on a random weekday when absolutely no one was around, but still, everything was great.
I got the steak and eggs which was super delicious. Definitely not the healthiest choice, but I enjoyed my experience here.

I’ll make it short and sweet
Lots of good things about the place
— Spacious seating
— Bar atmosphere
— 80 music (at least that’s what they played while we were there
— Flat screen tv, great for game days
Definitely a local vibe. Seemed like most people knew each other when they walked in.
We tried the mac cheese, burger, and steak and eggs. Nothing super WOW about it but it’s definitely made well. Definitely a nice chill spot to hang out with friends.

Passable cocktails, but I could hardly enjoy mine as there was absolutely no heating to speak of. I hate to be blunt, but how can anyone comfortably enjoy a drink here when it was absolutely freezing inside on a cold winter night?
To not be able to finish my cocktail and have to ask for hot water simply to stay somewhat warm was a little absurd.

Came by here on a saturday afternoon, craving a burger. I’d heard that it was connected to the 510Burger truck, which made it a pretty solid option in my book.
It’s on the west side of university, west of san pablo. Walking in, I liked it right away. It looked like a old timey bar, except that it had a giant flatscreen hoisted up on the wall showing the USC-​Stanford game. Great start!
Décor is awesome, bar is super nice — apparently the original bar restored. (I heard something about it being previously the oldest bar in Berkeley) Beer selection is limited — which is why it can’t get 5 stars — they don’t seem to have any beer taps — bottles only.
Food menu has a bunch of things — I only looked at the burger. Nice burger — the meat is ground coarse — so its a different mouthfeel than the 510 Burger. Comes with L, T, Pickles and the bun was toasted (a little too much but not bad). Comes with TATERTOTS! Something about truffle oil, but I didnt really taste it. Overall super satisfying — but expensive at $ 14. $ 17 once I added bacon and other stuff. But I was happy.
But get some taps for god’s sake!

Good food, cool venue
Handlebar is an interesting, yet strange venue. I really like that they offer buckets of beer. No hassle ordering if you are coming here with a group. Grab a bucket and get to work. What is surprising is that their menu features mostly fork & knife main dishes, instead of the expected finger bar food.
While the food is not on the cheap side, everything was enjoyable, the portions are generous, and I left fully satisfied. Both cocktails I tried were very good. The Hot N Dirty with Siracha and fish sauce tasted as expected, yet was more enjoyable than expected. If you are craving a Bloody Mary, a very dirty Martini, or a Hair of the Dog to wake you up, this is a solid choice. I also tried Panty Pilar, which was light and refreshing, with its pineapple and Thai basil working nicely together.
Starting at $ 14, the burger was not cheap, especially if you start adding extra toppings. They have a note on the menu saying that their burgers are cooked on the rare side, which made me excited since I always order mine medium rare. Disappointingly the burger arrived at a medium or medium well done term, so the all the fuzz seemed overdone. It was still pretty tasty and came with a large amount of truffled tater tots to fill you up. The tater tots were nice and crispy, but not being a fun of the overused truffle oil, I would skip it. It makes the whole restaurant smell of truffle oil and didn’t really add too much flavor.
I really enjoyed their pork chop with corn purée. It was a large serving and the pork chop was tender, juicy and flavorful. The purée was a good complement, sweet and umm corn-​ey.
You order both food and drinks at the bar and then everything is brought to your table. I guess you have to pay full tip on the food too? Service and bartenders were friendly.
Being far from Downtown it is a little out of the beaten path, but I look forward to returning sometime.

Alright, a proper bar west of San Pablo! Temple Bar closed within a week of my moving near University Ave. I was happy to see Handlebar open up a couple weeks ago, and visited this week with two other folks.
I think Handlebar is a work-​in-​progress, but what’s there already is great. The bar itself is gorgeous (a gigantic piece of wood that’s worth gawking at), but the front of the restaurant was so bare that the only eye-​catching piece of furniture was one of the staff’s very expensive-​looking bicycle.
We ordered drinks and burgers, both were satisfying. My old fashion was delicious ($ 10), the wine list had great coverage and glasses were around $ 8-​$ 12. The beer list is a little skimpy, and there’s nothing on tap at the moment, just bottles.
My burger was delicious — not too much meat, tasty butter lettuce and cheddar cheese. One of the better burgers I’ve had in Berkeley. The tater tots, though, were everyone’s favorite. Apparently the tater tots are fried twice and then drizzled with truffle oil. Yeah. I was sad when I popped the last one in my mouth.
Service was friendly and quick. Ordering from the bar initially was a little odd given that we were delivered our check to our table. But whatever.
If you couldn’t divine it from the name — this place definitely has a bit of SF-​hipster vibe going on. The aforementioned bike was a fixie (obviously), and the check was delivered to the table inside of a pulp fiction book. Nothing unbearable.
Overall, I had a pretty good experience at Handlebar, I’d definitely recommend checking it out.