North Beach is where San Francisco bar culture has always lived. From the Beat-era landmarks that put the neighborhood on the map to the low-key dives where regulars have been showing up for decades, these are the bars worth going out of your way for.
North Beach · 255 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
Since 1948, Café Vesuvio has been North Beach's unofficial living room for writers, artists, and anyone with time for one more drink. Across from City Lights Bookstore, two floors of murals, Tiffany lamps, and accumulat…
North Beach · 155 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
A restored 1907 Victorian saloon at the crossroads of North Beach, Chinatown, and the Financial District, with two bars and live jazz Tuesday through Saturday. The cocktail list pays homage to Gold Rush. Era San Francis…
North Beach · 12 William Saroyan Place, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
Hidden down an alley off Columbus Avenue since 1968, Specs' is one of North Beach's last truly eccentric bars. The walls double as a museum of maritime artifacts and neighborhood ephemera, the drink list is chalked onto…
North Beach · 242 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
Open since 1919, Tosca is where North Beach writers, directors, and regulars have always ended up. At the bar, under low light, while Puccini plays from the jukebox. The room is red leather and dark wood, absorbing deca…
North Beach · 1232 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
The oldest bar in San Francisco (wooden, dark, and completely unchanged) with live blues and jazz most nights and cold beer at prices that have not kept pace with the neighborhood. Bring cash; the jukebox covers the qui…
North Beach · 256 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
A North Beach cocktail bar styled as a Barbary Coast apothecary, with staff in leather smocks and cocktails listed as 'remedies' on a menu built around obscure spirits and period techniques. Reservations are standard; t…
North Beach · 548 Green St, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
Six screens, a pool table, and sixty-plus years of Italian family ownership have made Gino and Carlo the unofficial living room of North Beach since 1942. The North Beach Negroni is what regulars order; the $100 million…