Grandma’s Saloon

OK there are some «Irish bars» that have a name, a flag or two on the wall and guineas on tap and think that’s it… but this place has the workin guys on the corner stool And the bartender with accents… the place is old, everything in the sunset seems to be, but it’s got a great dive feel. Only downside is I came in on the way home to catch the playoff game and there is no crowd, kinda wanted it.

This place never seems too crowded. It gives off a relaxed vibe. Mixed crowd. What one would expect from a neighborhood bar.
Clean place. There’s a pool table. A group of us played pool there one time a few years ago. We did feel a bit rushed by the management, but it was NYE, so I suppose it was to be expected.

I used to live about 3 blocks from Grandma’s, went in a few times.
You’ll read a lot of reviews of people complaining about this place checking their IDs. The reason being, Grandma’s is paranoid about underage drinking because the Shannon Arms across the street caters to the frat boy crowd who drift over; remember SFSU is right down the street
Grandma’s is a DIVE bar, and a text book example at that. It can only be appreciated if one enters with the dive bar frame of mind — If you’re looking for the time of your life, you screwed up wandering in to Grandma’s. If you want a cheap place to drink in the Sunset, where appearances mean nothing and you might feel the urge to play some pool, you’re in the right place
Bonus points on the name, where better to get shit-​housed than at «Grandma’s Saloon»

More like Asshole’s Saloon. The beady eyed bitchy bartender overly scrutinized our ID’s, turned around and checked them again, swiped them through a weird machine, and then asked for one of our birthdays.
We were definitely discriminated according to who knows what (both of us are female, one of us is trans, one of us is asian), and it was one of the strangest bar experiences I’ve ever had in my 13 years of clubbing and barring.
As soon as we walked in, their little group of friends stopped talking and all turned and looked at us. He asked us, «is it just you two?» I said «what?» And he said «or are you with a group?» «Why?» I asked. He replied, «because if there’s smokers, I have to ID them.» I said «we just wanna play some pool» and thats when he asked for IDs and did his weird ID ritual (like the other Unilocalers have mentioned). After he was done, I said «we’re gonna leave» and he said «good!»
This is a perfect example of how businesses can go under. I told him «Good luck! Im going to write a review on Unilocal» so here i am!

HORRIBLE!!! If you’re a normal human being under the age of 40 years old, you will get kicked out for either using foul language or being accused of using fake ID when it’s actually legit because you’re 25. Full of alcoholics, weirdos and stupid bartenders.

old timers

If Laney is working, you’re solid. She’ll pour you drink after heavy-​handed drink the whole night, and she’ll keep you entertained while doing it. Otherwise, this place is generally empty, and it’s super divey. One jukebox and one pool table. There’s always room to sit, but most of the time, the taps aren’t kept full. You’ll see a lot of them closed off. Not sure what the owners are doing, but sometimes they show up, and other times, they’re nowhere to be seen. If Laney isn’t working, there are plenty of other places to go.

Walked in tonight to a snobby «how old are you?»
I gave the bartender my ID and she skeptically took and scanned it. She took one look at my boyfriends ID and rejected it because it was a bit scuffed up in the back with age. Nice. I’ve never encountered this problem and his ID has never been rejected. Perhaps a teeny bit of ageism exists in this place. So be sure to buy a brand new Drivers license just for Grandmas saloon.

This is my kind of daytime bar. Dark, small and divey. Cheap drinks and a decent pool table. Prepare to chat up the bartender and the local drunks. Stop by here around 1pm, drink until 2:30pm, walk around and get some cheap decent dim sum then stop by the Chinese owned hair saloon next and go home. By the way, mad props to the older Asian couple that own the hair saloon. The guy charges $ 10 for a haircut and does a perfect fade.

The bartender here accused my group of cursing within 5 seconds of walking in and refused to serve us. This is unbelievable as we are a group of respectable adults. I registered for Unilocal just to complain as I’ve never been treated with such disrespect in my life. The other customers were equally as baffled. DO NOT COME HERE.

Worst bar I’ve ever been to in my life. Avoid this place at all costs unless you like terrible overpriced drinks and loud, aggressive and confrontational assholes.

Went here for drinks a couple Fridays ago and had a really good time. It was not crowded, so there was room to hang around, talk and play pool. It was very chill and I appreciated the lack of chaos at the end of a long week.
The drinks were good, even though the bar did not have too many options — but just enough to have all cravings covered. Person behind the bar checked our IDs and was very friendly; she also suggested I tried a drink I never had before and I was happy with it. The place is very cozy and down to earth, I think no one can feel out of place here. It’s your good old-​fashioned neighborhood dive bar!

Over the hills and through the fog, to Grandma’s Saloon we go. Delightfully unpretentious, this is a joint where you can sit a spell and talk with friends without having to shout over awful music or deal with sweating, aggro jerks all up in your business. This place has Jagermeister on tap and a small selection of unfussy beer, all reasonably priced. The bartenders are sweethearts, even when pretending to be crabby. The only thing I have to complain about is that they changed the jukebox to a new digital one, which makes me miss all of the excellent Grandma’s mix CDs (how can you complain about a jukebox that had Rod Stewart’s «Young Turks» on it? Do you even NEED anything else?).
There is nothing exceedingly amazing about this place, but it is so cozy and modest that is has come to take a place in my heart as my favorite bar in SF.

Grandma’s Saloon is an old time drinking hole in the wall,. décor is average, nothing fancy. no fancy drinks, no happy hour that i could see.
just four drafts: sierra, hef, and ?
pour: gin & tonic (4)
–buzzed after one drink, pretty strong.
–nice pour, nice taste with lime
on draught:
–friendly bartener (owner?) and partrons
–got some lotto tics too.
–typical average bar with good people within.

As a foreign construction worker, I love the attentive service of the gorgeous and dazzling Noreen. On her worst day she serves a heaping pile of passionate beauty with every drink. Her words are poetry, her eyes are a song and her service is amazingly adequate.
If you like dive bars, take the plunge at Grandma’s.

Friendly staff and cheap drinks! Perfect place to hang out while waiting for a table at the Hot Pot place across the street haha.

This is a top of the line dive bar. The bartender is super sweet (Karen) and even though my friends and I looked younger than 25 she didn’t even ID check us. I think she was just happy and surprised to see customers, haha.
The pool table is in AWESOME condition [Really why this review has 5 stars]. The pool sticks are in awesome condition, as is the table.
Glad I live 4 blocks from here — will be back!

Honestly… I really like the pool table with the perfect felt.
Honestly…I really like this bar cause close to where I live and the crowd not bad.
Honestly…if the owner can get a NEW JUKEBOX THAT WOULD BE GREAT !!!
Honestly…Grandma’s owner, Can you hear me ??

This place has become to local go to bar. Usually it’s the same regulars that come in all the time, but occasionally some randoms will show up. Great place to chill at if you are just looking to grab a few drinks and watch the game.
Also, fantastically well kept pool table. Hands down one of the best pool tables I’ve played on in the sunset area.

It doesn’t give me any pleasure to hate on this place, but that’s the only direction I can see this review going.
This place is dullsville. Its the kind of establishment that reminds me that I will never be an alcoholic, because I will never need a beer bad enough to come here.
I’m not going to pick it apart, everyone else has already said it – It’s depressing. Maybe someone out there gets a kick out of the old timey feel of this hole in the wall, but it’s not me.

Here’s a tip — don’t expect to be coddled at Grandma’s. Not unless you go there every goddamn weekend. Then, you’re like family.
The beer is good, the service is great, and the pool is pretty pool-​y. It’s an institution on Taraval and it will remain this way. Newbies, just know that it takes a while to get used to Grandma’s, but when you do, you’re home.

This place is a hoot!!! It’s a definite dive, no b.s. kinda place! I come here once every couple of years if I’m in the area… and last weekend I was, having dinner at the Gold Mirror and having a few rounds at the Shannon Arms.
Grandma’s is never crowded! Ever! Wait, I take that back, it was crowded right before the millenium… I walked past this place enroute to a party and couldnt believe there were actually crowds of people both in and out of the bar!!! Sometimes you look at the folks in here and wonder if they ever get out much… and the answer is, most probably don’t and when they do, they come here!
Here’s what’s great about it:
— As mentioned above, it’s never croweded! If you want to head to a bar for some serious rounds of drinks and just breeze in and get a couple of seats, this is the place
— The drinks are cheap and S T R O N G!!! Nuff said
— They have one pool table and it’s very well maintained and you can usually get in a game upon arrival or after a very short wait!
— Parking is pretty easy and/​or this place is right on the L Taraval Line
— The bartenders are pretty cool! If you’re some drunken idiot or Frat boy type that goes in and makes an ass out of yourself, yeah, you’ll get stared down or 86’d…if you’re cool, they’re cool. So be cool, k?
The not so great:
— It’s sad and empty… how do they stay in business? This is why I come by, literally, once every 18 – 24 months.
— The juke box IS the worst ever!!! It’s always been bad, still is, probably always will… both in content and from an audio quality perspective. Just don’t…
— This is not the place that will «lift your mood»…you know how some bars… you get there, feelin’ kinda crappy but after a few rounds, the music and booze and energy of the room convinces you that you’re hot and bad ass and everything’s gonna be ok? Um. well that won’t happen here… if you come in glum… you will stay glum and leave drunk and glum-​mer! (like Nicolas Cage’s character in «Leaving Las Vegas») only less sexy!