Katie K.
Yelp
I'm sad writing this review because I honestly used to love this little bar. My partner and I would come here for date nights when I lived in PB in 2022/2023. The drinks were unique, food was solid, it had a great sports bar vibe, the patrons weren't wild and most were in their 30s/40s/50s, and the bartenders were chill and personable. On our most recent visit though (the first time in a little over a year), it was completely different, and not in a good way. Ironically I had recommended this place to a couple clients the day before going, out of excitement for the prior experiences we had, and I had to deliberately rescind my recommendation to them after this experience.
We arrived around dinner time and sat at the bar. The menu had changed considerably which was a bummer. None of the top recommended dishes I remember and would regularly see great reviews for on yelp were still on the menu. The healthy bowl, poke stack, buffalo cauliflower, coconut shrimp, pasta, and a number of signature drinks all seem to be gone. These were the items that actually made me love the place since it appealed to so many palates. Now it's just your run-of-the-mill/find-it-anywhere bar food (burgers, tacos, wings, fries). I could've stayed in PB for that. Probably the only positive change I noticed is the drink options (beer/wine/margs/sober/and draft) seem to have expanded a tad. I wouldn't say it's "better" but there are more of them.
Regarding our experience - we arrived around dinner time. There appeared to be set up occurring for a class reunion out back, but still not too busy yet. We sat at the corner of the bar. Somehow the sports bar didn't have many sports on, but lots of local news, which I thought was a bit odd since it was during the Olympics. The bartender greeted us after a few minutes and gave us menus. We intended on ordering food and drinks, but generally have one drink before putting in food. With the menu changes though, we weren't thrilled about the options. We put in our drinks - I got the Lavender Haze and my partner got the La Jolla Mule. The mule tasted fine but the lavender haze was awful. Seriously, awful. I don't think the drink normally is bad, as I think I remember having and liking a version of it last time we had come. But this time it tasted extremely sour and bitter - like there was no simple syrup - just a ton of lemon juice and gin. My partner tried it too and echoed the same. Neither of us could finish it. I would've asked the bartender for something different, but it felt like he spent the entire time avoiding us. We were sitting at the corner of the bar-top nearest the drink drop off for tables outside so it wasn't like he didn't cross our spot... he would just directly avert eye contact and carry on elsewhere. It was strange. My partners drink was empty for a solid 10-15 minutes before he checked back in.
I'm not sure if this bartender was just having a bad night, or overwhelmed, or what, but there was a lot of loud, disgruntled, and indirect vocalizations (not *to* anyone, just aloud as he's working) about how he was the only bartender at the front and didn't have a working portable cash out/square terminal. While I understand the frustration... it doesn't seem very professional.
In another exchange we observed, a customer asked for a Guinness half and half. The bartender gave her a light beer. She asked him to remake it, reiterating that she requested a half and half. He didn't know what she meant or what a half and half was (another edgy vocalization of "I've been bartending for ten years and I've literally never heard of that in my life") so the customer explained it was half a lighter beer + half Guinness, and quite popular on the east coast. He proceeded to dump half the beer he gave her and top it off with Guinness from the draft. I'm no bar expert, but the amount of head on this preparation didn't look like the half and half's I've seen. He said "I'm assuming the head will just go away like a normal Guinness". She politely accepted what he gave her and he moved on.
After we had waited with one empty drink and one hardly touched drink with no check in for about 10-15 minutes, we eventually decided we would not be eating or spending any more money there. We finally were able to flag down the bartender and check out.
All in all, a place we used to really enjoy and rave about has been removed from our rotation of bars and I can no longer recommend it.