Toronado

September 22, 2008
Talk about a hole in the wall, missed the first time I drove by. Very cool ambiance, this is the way I like it, lots of brewanina all around, graphitti and what not. Bartender was very cool, talked with my buddy the whole time about off-road stuff, very attentive as well, wasn’t empty for long. Great selection of bottles and draft beer, didn’t know where to start. Great happy hour prices too.

September 18, 2008
Tap handles cover the walls, as well as as many beer signs, flags, clippings, lights, etc...as your eyes can happily take in. On one wall sits a door from the Racer 5 race car, and below it are a ton of magnum bottles from all over, some of them signed, by brewers I assume. Not only does this place have great local taps (Russian River, Stone, Green Flash, Bear Republic, Anchor), when I visited it also had fantastic (and fresh) import taps from US and abroad (Maredsous 10, Chimay Cinq Cents, Affligem, three Dogfish Heads, tons of others). We came at happy hour, mid afternoon on a Wednesday in July, and got Damnation and Hunter’s Point porter draughts for six bucks total. The bar tender was friendly and funny, and her dog happily visited our table. The best of San Francisco.

September 15, 2008
I had long wanted to check this place out. You could easily miss this place just walking down Haight Street. Dark with tons of taps handles on the wall and other decor. Music was way too loud (had to yell to place an order) and bartender wasn’t too friendly or helpful. Value was great. $3 Pliny’s, etc. Lots of tap selection and several on cask as well. Bottle selection was decent as well.

September 6, 2008
Great value for San Fran, nearly all the drafts were $3 before 6pm, which suited me just fine. Great selection, not super huge, but defintiely featured a lot of beers I haven’t seen since. A really cool spt to hang out, a little on the dive side, but pretty friendly and with a lot of character. Service could be a little slow, however and somewhat unwelcoming at times, but it wasn’t that bad. Definitely the place to drink in San Fran!

August 31, 2008
Possibly the best beer bar I have been to. Chill people, awesome selection, no bad vibes, doesn’t over extend itself. If I ever start a beer bar, I would model it after this place.

August 16, 2008
Great selection. Friendly staff. Strong history. Decent bathrooms. Great special events. Overall, this is one of the best beer spots in the US. Can be a little crowded, but it’s definitely worth it,

August 11, 2008
Nice assortment of beers, but too damn small when it’s crowded. Bartender was helping me get a couple of good brews.

July 27, 2008
Some place you could definitely just walk by if you didn’t know it was there. Nicely decorated with tap handles, beer posters, bottles, signs, etc. Long bar with lots of taps and pretty sizeable bottle list. Good selection of local brews on tap. The bartender did seem to get a little bit irritated one time, but otherwise he was cool. The music was a tad bit loud. I didn’t have food there, so I can’t say anything on that subject.

July 21, 2008
Hmm, not as great as I thought. Biggest problem is it is WAY UNDERSTAFFED. 1 bar tender for a +40 foot bar on a Saturday night. The place was packed and took about 30 minutes to get a damn drink. Once the bar tender did get around to us, the beer was suprisingly cheap. Definitly a beer crowd there, but also a lot of annoying pousers, who would be called hippsters if this wasn’t on the dive bar side of the spectrum. I was also disapointed by the selection. Nothing really interesting (the days of Westy, HotD and Alesmith here appear to be gone. I had a Firestone Wheatwine, Palo Santo, and some Moonlight beers. Website is about 5 years out of date (both beer and which muni lines get there). Did I mention, parking is probably the biggest bitch to get a space in the entire city! Might go back at a quiter time, but I am not rushing to do so. They need to have at least 2 bar tenders at the bare (like bag of bones bare) minimum during standing room only times!

July 6, 2008 [ Updated September 18, 2008 ]
Great bar. Went on a Tuesday night and it was packed. Bartenders, for all of the mixed reviews, were very helpful. Female bartender suggested a cider for my wife, who does not like beer. Atmosphere was lively, loud, and fun. Tap selection was great as advertised. A bar I would definitely frequent if I lived in SF.