Washington Square Bar & Grill

Finding a bar in North Beach that was not packed the evening of the North Beach Street Fair was no easy task until we found WSBG. With the dim lighting, hubby thought it was closed but we decided to find out for sure. There were people inside so we went in — just so you know, the restaurant is supposed to be closed at 10:30pm BUT the bartender said they normally stay open until whenever… cool.
We started with a beer — hubby with a Guinness ($ 7) and Sam Adams ($ 6) for me. While hubby watched sports highlight on tv, I was really enjoying the piano music. The pianist, James, was great — he so effortlessly played different genre from various decades together. Imagine an awesome DJ mix. He plays at WSBG on Friday and Saturday nights — worth checking out if you are in the neighborhood. He will play requests too.
We were going to leave after the first round because it was after 10:30pm but then the pianist returned and played more on his own — it got us to stay for another round. Hubby had the Sam Adams and I had Amaretto Sour ($ 8). Sadly my drink was weak, a bit too sweet and watered down with too much ice.
I hear they have good fried chicken on Monday night. We will return to try their dinner, some of the items sound pretty good. When I asked the bartender her favorite dish — she said it’s a debate between the Fish & Chips and the Chicken Piccata.

Came in here Saturday night about 10 hoping to catch the kitchen before they closed. We sat at the bar and put in our order, then noticed a stack of dice-​cups behind the bar. Had a rousing game of liar’s dice while eating and putting back a couple beers.
The place was great; relaxed but slightly upscale atmosphere complete with a live piano player until 11. The food and beers were as expected, meaning good but not amazing. The service was friendly and quick.

This review is only for the bar area, with which I was very impressed. The hostess and the bartender were both very friendly, and even though things were a bit crowded inside, the tables on the sidewalk were perfect! I really enjoyed the sound on the old, upright piano… it makes for great ambience. I would definitely come back for a nice bar meal!

I had a great time here. I came with a big group of girl friends and we may have dropped the rating to this place down a star for a table who had to ask the waitress to shush us down. She was polite about it and we did our best to comply. We were possibly slightly buzzed =)
They rewarded our good behavior with some free gimlets. That’s awesome customer service. Seriously.
The food was tasty, the tables had paper for us to draw on (yay!) and the food was tasty. I ordered the pork and a friend ordered steak — mine was better but both were yum. I can’t remember what my side was — but I remember liking it. While some people may think I need to write my reviews when they are still fresh — I think it’s the lasting impression that counts =)

This review is for the bar and the amazing stride piano player on Wednesday nights. He’s a bit of a legend; what a shame that more people don’t check it out on Wednesdays. My mind can’t quite grasp how someone can play piano with both hands doing completely different things.
My husband had fish and chips at the bar: they were stuffed with crab. Very decadent. Very kind and helpful bartender. We had fun.

The salads were AWESOME. All 3 of us were in heaven eating them.
The piano player was very entertaining — was fun to try to figure out which pop song he was intepreting. :)
My companions enjoyed their pasta and ragu, and I went the small plates route and had cauliflower mac & cheese, duck fat fries, and the plate of olives we got to share (which were really really good).
And the price at the end seemed reasonable for the excellent quality of food. I wish this place was not in North Beach, and therefore easier to get to!

Total disappointment for us. .. The place was very cold inside and no other people were in the restaurant .
Service was OK We ordered fillet Mignon and a rib eye steak. The prices were too high for the quality of the steak. We can find better at our local market for sure.
Our salads were edible but no bread was served until we asked and it came out cold…
Count us out on this place !
.

4 stars for the great service and tasty food, especially after the tight a$$es (not my words) who complained about the noise level left. C’mon, its North Beach.
My sole was a bit overcooked but the spinach and brussel sprouts that came as sides were delicious. I also enjoyed the crunchy duck fat fries which I’m sure shortened my life a tad.
It was a great place to catch up with friends and to plan the next year of activities that no one remembered the next day.

Had a fabulous dinner here with the girls on a Sunday evening after Beach Blanket Babylon. A lovely and spacious table was set up for 12 of us and the staff couldn’t be sweeter (even in asking us to shut up cause other patrons were complaining).
The duck fat fries were good (a bit thick, but very crunchy). My filet mignon was also tasty, though a bit medium for my medium rare taste buds. It’s definitely a great place for a group (though I’m not sure how it would be on busier evenings). They brought us a round of vodka gimlet’s on the house which was classy. So …
3.5 stars for food
5 stars for great service
5 stars for nice décor and setting up a big table for us
3 bottles of wine for the 6 people drinking … and we didn’t roll a single one.

The Wash Bag is dead and gone, not reborn. On Wednesday evening, my boyfriend and I popped in for a Happy Hour adult beverage as advertised out front for $ 4; we’d not been back since the renovation.
He ordered his Martini off the well drink menu, so we knew to expect a higher price and I ordered a Manhattan, straight up with the well bourbon (it was the one my parents used to drink.) We each had two drinks.
When the bill arrived, I was puzzled to see a charge of $ 4 for «4/​up»; we quickly sorted that out… the bar charges you an extra $ 1 for straining the ice out of your drink!
Had we been informed, it might (might) have been ok; to have been served and not informed is simply sleazy. We will never return and know that the bar and restaurant known as the Wash Bag to some and the Washington Bar and Grill to others is long gone.

Here is the deal.
As good’ol local Gene Tucker would say «it’s fun when you’re winning.» He was referring to how San Francisco can be a great place to be if you have what it takes. He says he still does at 83.
I have walked by this place a thousand times and I finally went in.
GREAT HAPPY HOUR. 3pm-​7pm. $ 4 dollars for a martini!
Atmosphere:
This place you can tell has been around for awhile. Given it’s history, the establishment has it’s fair share of old timers– as one of the old timers told me. This is a great place to go and grab a mid evening cocktail. The corner seats at the bar are the best– if you sit there you are automatically deemed a local. By the time you order your drink you’ll be chatting it up with the fellow next to you– it’s just that type of place.
Quality:
I didn’t order food and I am not so sure I would but the drinks were strong.
Beware:
The counter tops are made of some type of linoleum material and the glasses stick to the the surface which makes it very easy to tip over. No worries– if that happens, the bartender will pour you another on the house.
Enjoy! And please be sure to say hello to Gene for me. You can’t miss him.

We were just walking by the other night and saw the place is open?
It had been out of business for a while.
I couldn’t believe it.
I felt like the time warp to … back in old days?
So, we walked in for a drink.
I remember and recognized the décor, pictures on the wall.
I haven’t been here many times before, twice, I think, but I really liked the place so it was sad for me to see the place gone.
But here it is. WSBG, right front of us, again. We had to go in even though after dinner.
I had a Guinness on tap and I found meat balls in the appetizer menu.
So, I got order the meat balls!
My GF said, «OMG, we just had a dinner.»
8 small meat balls in nice smoky flavored tomato sauce with 2 sliced bread.
GOOOOOD!!!
The place is, I think, very important for the city.
As the Coit Tower.
I couldn’t stand and very sad to see the place was out of business.
I was very afraid the place might have a chance to become a place like … one of those … like a … another Chines own Quickly or froyo place.
I am very glad the Washington Square Bar and Grill BACK!
It’s a history of SF.
Washington Square Bar and Grill is BACK.

I flat out love everything about this resturant. Its got a classy old-​school SF vibe, a great location and awesome food. The ambiance is top notch and on the weekends they have some great live music.
The burger is awesome. I’ve also had the pork chop and the steak and each one better than the last. I’d highly suggest this to anyone coming through the city (and always do) or a local looking for a good place to have a nice evening out. Even though its in a very touristy area, the strangers tend to stay away, leaving even more for us locals.
Also, the dining room is open until 10 or 11 on the weekends (maybe later), which isn’t super late, but much better than most places in SF.

I went to the Washington Square Bar & Grill last night with my parents and it was a BIG disappointment.
My mom ordered a salad which was probably one of the best things we ate even thought it wasn’t even that good… our main dishes came out about 45 minutes after the salad and we were getting somewhat impatient so my dad asked a couple times where our food was and he was basically just blown off.
My linguine with clams was not very good at all. It tasted like it could have easily just come out of a pre-​prepared package. My mom’s ravioli was also plain and unexciting. My dad’s fish and chips were alright but the french fries were a bit soggy and even the fried fish wasn’t that tasty.
Such a bummer and I’d expected way more! At least they took my dad’s glass of wine and my mom’s salad off the bill because of the long wait for the food… without these, the dinner ended up being pretty cheap but still not worth it!

WashBaG Burger: $ 11. Perfection. «Upgrade» to duck-​fat fries was $ 5 (which was the full price of the side order). Not perfection. I was expecting an «upgrade» to be two, maybe three bucks. Five? No. Good fries? Yep. Five dollar fries? Nope.
Thursday’s lamb special for $ 18 was great, and a good deal.
Soup and salad at $ 6 each were just about perfect.
Great service, good vibe, good food: we’ll be back. And we’ll be bringing friends and family.

Pretty good eats, but pricy!
had the meatloaf; tasty but not very warm/​hot when it got to me
dessert was a winner; cornmeal shortcake with strawberry

So after my lady and I went to the Chocolate Salon, we got a little hungry and wanted some lunch… we saw this place and decided to get it a go.
She had the Chicken club sandwich with fries and mustard aioli.
I had the French Toast with berry compote, orange syrup and crème fraîche. The club sandwich had huge strips of bacon, with a ton of fries and the mustard aioli hit the spot. French toast was delicious, the syrup had orange rinds and the crème fraîche with berry compote made everything taste just right.
Service was top notch, all smiles from the servers and the place was pretty nice, easy going with a guy playing the piano. Good place for weekend lunch.

The Washbag is back! I’m very excited. Can’t believe its been back for 3 weeks and I didn’t hear about it on Unilocal!
So it looks almost exactly the same. Still has the framed jerseys on the wall, had a piano player tickling the ivories. The cocktails were done to perfection.
The bar itself was brand new and granite… hadn’t been fully cured so was sticky… I literally could not even swirl my wine glass… odd.
I desperately wanted to give it 5 stars… it was really a regular haunt back in my North Beach days. Sadly, like others have mentioned the food was a disappointment. The calimari was done in, I suspect, rice flour and just came across as bland. The mussels were a little off too, although the broth was great for dipping bread.
So it’s getting at least a ½ satr for nostalgia and another ½ because the bartender was totally cute and had the sense to stir rather than shake my manhattan (don’t get me started on bartenders who shake drinks with italian vermouth).
Hoping they work out the menu issues a bit, because I’ll be coming back regardless.

Classy place, that’s for sure. But who the hell can afford it?
I was lucky enough to meet a North Beach-​fanatic friend, a guy who worked at the Examiner back in the Hearst days. He’s a true-​to-​form news guy, so he treated me to all sorts of watering-​hole stories involving SF journos from back in the day.
Other than that, yeah, nothing to write home about. Fries (all I could afford) were the big, stocky, hard-​to-​cook Americana variety). Burger was all right, but «all right» doesn’t really cut it for this burger junkie. It bled a little much, and sorry, San Francisco: I don’t dig a burger on baguette.
Drinks were moderately priced, but that’s about it. If I weren’t meeting my buddy, I doubt I’d ever go back.

Ah, the WashBag. How I missed you. Such old school North Beach charm, just the way I like it. Sadly, you are just not the same.
The martinis are as strong and as dirty as ever. The Caesar is delicious and crisp, with fresh unchopped romaine leaves just begging to be devoured. But your peppercorn steak? My dear, you have failed me.
I love my pepper. I love heat. I have a collection of hot sauce in my pantry that most people cry just looking at. I however do NOT like peppercorns. They are just too big, hurt my teeth, hurt my tongue, hurt my belly. Yuck. No thank you.
This delicious filet mignon was literally coated on every last millimeter with peppercorns. Dear god, do not ruin a steak like that! I attempted a bite at first, and had to spit it out. I tried scraping them off, to no avail. My sweetheart spent about ten minutes sawing off each side, removing the peppercorns to the best that he could, but the steak could not be saved. Tear.
The staff was very helpful, kept asking if I wanted something else. By that point, I had absolutely no tastebuds left in my mouth to absorb anything. I politely declined. But shockingly enough, the steak was still on the bill. I had maybe ¹⁄₁₀ of it, and they still charged the man $ 30 some odd dollars for it. He didn’t argue, as he loves North Beach in the nostalgic way you love your very old ailing grandfather – he respects and adores it beyond what other people might see it as, and instead steadfastly defends it as the only entity that will ever truly understand him.
But c’mon. Give the cheerleader a break. The steak was wretched. Reward your locals, realize that he will be literally paying your bills and overtipping your wait staff for years to come, and wake up.