It’s Happy Hour on Lower Polk!

 There are plenty of venues to choose from when venturing out on the town with your friends on and around Polk street, one can tell from the lines out side many joints on Friday and Saturday nights that Polk street is a main staple of the cities night life. Be it bar hopping or settling on one venue for the night, patrons have a great choice of unique watering holes. But who has the best Happy Hour? I like most of you like to wind down with a cheap Brewski and or some tasty bar snacks.

 Starting the evening or afternoon off with some good dining, weather you are out on a romantic dinner or just lining your stomach in preparation for a nights drinking (which BTW is always a good idea) your choices for tasty cuisine is plentiful! I’ll break down the best Lower Polk eats in a later posting, right now I will focus on adjacent watering holes specifically best happy hours for Friday night after work,  all these venues are with in walking distance of each other, quite literally no more that a couple of blocks or right next door.

BEST EATS & DRINK HAPPY HOUR: Hands down this has to be Maye’s Oyster House & Cocktail Lounge. (1233 Polk Street, (415) 885-1233) Why? $1 for select Oysters, that’s why! They also have $3 Vodka infused shots, $3 on select drafts, $6 for a beer and a shot of Jameson and the DJ spins between 9:30 pm – 1:30 am ( cover starts at 10 pm ) so get there early and avoid the cover ! It gets busy here on a Friday nights, lines usually start just after 10pm

 

BEST SPORTS BEER PUB HAPPY HOUR: McTeagues Saloon. (1237 Polk Street, (415) 776-1237) With $2 on select bottled beers, most notably Lone Star and $3 on select Vodka and Tequila shots, this is a great place to wind down after a long day at work. You can watch the game on one of their many flat screens, or just lounge in one of the many concealed booths, I recommend the back booths for a more private relaxing down time. This place also get quite packed on Friday nights, lines start around 11pm but there’s no cover which adds to more savings.

 

BEST RELAX & LAID BACK HAPPY HOUR: Adjacent to Maye’s, The Lush Lounge (1221 Polk Street, (415) 771-2022), has great happy hour, (3pm to 7pm)  across the board best bang for your buck, while still enjoying fabulous surroundings. $3 Bud Light draft beer, $3 glass of wine (Chardonnay,Pinot Grigio, Merlot,Cabernet), $4 glass of Champagne, $4 Shot of Cuervo Silver Tradicional (100% Agave Tequila), $5 Blueberry martini, $5 Blackberry Bubbles, $6 Don Q Mojito, $6 Margarita, $6 Skyy Cucumber Ginger Gimlet (WOOT!)

 

BEST HIPSTER ROCKER WTF HAPPY HOUR: Yes this can only be The Hemlock Tavern.  (1131 Polk Street  San Francisco, CA 94109 (415) 923-0923). You will find it hard to beat Polk street when it comes to diversity, we have the Hemlock to prove it. Happy hour is simple here, knock $1 off any beer or cocktail, snack on $1 bags of Hot peanuts, have a stress re-leaving smoke in their legal smoking room while drinking your libation, sit at their 360 bar, or take in a good rock show in the back room.

We will be checking out the happy hours in R-Bar, Verigo, Payland, Hi-Lo Bar, Edinburgh Castle and a couple of other haunts in the neighborhood in the coming weeks, we will add the worthy ones to the list as we cross them off our list, we will also be doing articles on best eats, before and after a night on Polk street, all of Polk street, we don’t want them Northerners complaining we left them out in the cold.