Cocktails, wine bars and dives: drinking in San Luis Obispo for grown-ups.
Cocktail bars, wine bars, dive bars and gastropubs: drinking in San Luis Obispo for grown-ups.
Sidecar Cocktail Co. shakes San Luis Obispo's most serious cocktails on Broad Street, backing the list with a comfort-food kitchen four nights a week.
Signature drink: Seasonal craft cocktails
Food: Comfort-food kitchen
Tip: The comfort-food kitchen runs Wednesday to Saturday; ask the bartenders what is in barrel this month.
McCarthy's Irish Pub has poured in San Luis Obispo since 1952, opening at 10:00 daily with Guinness, whiskey and zero pretension on Marsh Street.
Signature drink: Guinness and a whiskey back
Food: None; bring your own snacks
Tip: Happy hour takes a dollar off drinks 17:00-19:00 daily; the room packs shoulder to shoulder on weekend nights.
Frog & Peach Pub has run live music seven nights a week since 1994 on Higuera Street, the reliable free stage of San Luis Obispo's bar crawl.
Signature drink: Rotating craft taps
Food: None; live music nightly
Tip: Most nights there is no cover; the craft tap list outclasses the divey room around it.
Bull's Tavern is San Luis Obispo's historic dive, a long wooden bar on Chorro Street that has outlasted every polished cocktail newcomer around it.
Signature drink: Well drinks and draught beer
Food: None
Tip: Cash keeps the line moving on weekend nights; the jukebox is half the point.
The Library packs the Cal Poly weekend crowd into a two-level room on Higuera Street, the loudest three nights of the week in San Luis Obispo.
Signature drink: Cheap doubles
Food: None
Tip: It only opens Thursday to Saturday; arrive before 22:00 to skip the queue.
Nightcap hides behind the Granada Hotel on Morro Street, a dim speakeasy-styled lounge stirring the most precise late drinks in San Luis Obispo.
Signature drink: Spirit-forward classics
Food: Bites from the Granada Bistro kitchen
Tip: Bistro bites carry over from the hotel kitchen; it seats few, so go early or very late.