The Casino Bar & Grill

Great relaxed atmosphere, friendly people and great food. What else can you ask for? We got away from the Super Bowl crowd in the bay area and this place had great reviews. We had a blast watching the game and some great burgers and BBQ oysters. Next time we’re staying for dinner because the word of mouth reviews are that good!
Just remember, Cash only… they have an ATM inside

This is a little dive bar that is in a little tiny community of only a few shops. Had a great time with friends. Playing pool, listening to the juke box and having dinner and drinks. Thank you Casino for a great night Sat. PS waitress extremely nice and attentive. Very friendly bartender and Great food. Made all 8 of us welcome. Thank you Casino Bar! We will be back.

This place is a treat. Dive bar with GREAT food. A very rare combination. Definitely worth the drive for a good meal and a few cold pops.

I don’t understand the people who «wonder how to order food» at The Casino. Please read several previous reviews that clearly say:
1) There is a menu written on a blackboard at the end of the bar. It changes nightly.
2) The bar bill is separate from the food bill. Cash only!
3) After ordering you pick a table and your prepared food is brought to you.
4) If you follow steps 1 – 3 you will be treated to some amazing food at very reasonable prices.
With that out of the way, dinner this past Friday evening was excellent. We split an order of smoked pumpkin pierogies, labneh, brussell sprouts, dill and horseradish. After the first bite we both smiled, these were so good.
Followed up with two excellent entrees, buttermilk fried chicken, Napa cabbage, Dijon vinaigrette and beef brisket, beetroot chutney, pickled mustard, radicchio and turnips. Both were yummy.
The waiter here, Perry, is friendly and knowledgeable. He and Chef Malicki make a great team.
Don’t come here looking for ambiance and sophistication. I will be the first to tell you it is a dive bar with attitude. Don’t be turned off by i, instead jump in and enjoy some great meals and excellent value.

We live super close to here and thought it would be a good idea to try it out. We even went a few times thinking we caught them on an «off» day. I can honestly say I am just down right confused. There doesn’t even seem to be any food served here.
We come in and grab a drink where we are treated rather rudely (seemingly because we are unknown tourists maybe? Though we live a few miles down the road.) and looked down upon by everyone else at the bar (who are these people and what do they think they are doing coming into our bar?!). We ask for a menu and are basically laughed at by the bartender. We didn’t understand. So is there no food here? Did we miss it? Was there a joke we didn’t understand.
Ok I guess we will just go. Obviously we are unwanted here. I hope those locals come all the time and drink a lot because I’m not sure how this place stays afloat with treating their customers like that.

I had heard good things about the food at Casino and when you add the descriptor ‘dive bar’, well I had to try it out.
The dive bar part was accurate. A rusty, rowdy roadhouse feel with worn down wood floors, pool tables and the usual cast of locals to make it interesting. The kind of place where college boys drink their beer and throw the bottles. Drinks are on the expensive side especially if you call your brand but the pours were generous.
That brings us to the food. As others have pointed out the service can be spotty. This being our first time at Casino we asked how to order. We had to ask because no one was offering to help. That was the first thing that suggested we may not be in for the best of times.
The process was laid out by a scruffy guy holding on to a stack of tickets to take down orders. The menu was limited and written out on a chalkboard behind the counter. You order food at the counter and drinks at the bar. They are separate businesses. They were doing an Oktoberfest menu of sorts and that’s when I made my second mistake by asking the guy with the tickets about the portion size of the potato pancakes. My wife and I like them when they’re done well and didn’t know if we should each order them of would one order do. Well the little fellow went off on me and suggested that everyone knows not to ask a chef if the food was good. I pointed out that I’d asked about portion not quality and I told him I’d heard the food was good. Well, that seemed to irritate him too but he did try to describe the portions. My wife and I looked at each other but didn’t follow our instincts to run from the building. We tried to order from him but he informed us that he was the chef as he threw down the stack of blank tickets he was holding. The waitress apologized and said she’d get our order in a minute.
We decided to go the German route with an order of the potato pancakes and a beet salad to go with the schnitzel. We were surprised at the pricing. For a dive with surly help they were priced like a San Francisco fine dining place. $ 10 appetizers and salads with $ 20 entrees.
We got our drinks and settled in. In relatively short order the pancakes and salad were delivered. It became clear that we should have followed our misgivings out the door. The pancakes were half burnt and completely greasy. While the beets were good the salad was limp and wilted. The reason the food came quickly was that it was precooked and reheated to serve. Kind of like leftovers. We picked around the edges of the pancakes but left most of them uneaten. I explained why to the waitress when she picked up the plates then went back to the bar to refresh out drinks.
That’s when it got weird. As I was walking back to the table, my wife was walking towards me. She informed me that the ‘chef’ refused to serve us dinner. We’d been banned. I felt like Seinfeld with the Soup Nazi except the Soup Nazi made good food. I tried to ask him his reasoning but he wouldn’t talk to me. That’s when I saw the stacks of soggy pancakes waiting to be reheated for other miscreants.
So to sum up my experience I’d have to say it was like going to dinner at your crazy uncle’s house. He’s an ok home cook that can do some things well but when he wanders into the weeds, look out. In this case, the price of the food doesn’t meet the reality that you’re eating reheated leftovers because the kitchen is too small to cook your food to order. Anyone calling him a chef does a great injustice to the term.

Heard good things about the food but be prepared if the bartender doesn’t know you. She was rude and dismissive. Very friendly to those she knew.
I don’t think my husband and I have ever been treated so aggressively for no apparent reason. Strange and kind of disturbing. No thank you.

I really can’t review this properly because we never even got a chance to order. As someone who dines out a lot, and who had heard good things about the food here, I were eager to try it. My boyfriend and I walked in Sunday night; as far as we could tell, two bartenders and one server where working. Of the three we saw, not one smiled at, greeted us, or even acknowledged our presence. Hardly hospitable. We awkwardly seated ourselves, not sure if that’s what we were supposed to do or not, but after five minutes of standing there, we took the initiative, since apparently no one was going to seat us. The server looked at us and walked by our table about five times, never once saying «Hi, I’ll be right with you» or showing some such awareness or politeness. After sitting there for over ten minutes, we got up and left. As someone who has worked in the food industry in Sonoma county, and just as a customer in general, I can say I’m appalled at the rudeness and nonchalance in which we were treated. First impressions matter, and service, or lack of it, can make or break a place.

Friendly Bartender and excellent drinks. Great spot to stop if your out at the coast

My favorite dive bar ever! The food is amazing. I had salmon nicoise, and was the best ever (and I’ve had fresh salmon in Bodega Bay many times). The chicken tiki masala was delicious too.

So it looks like the really fancy stuff is only available at dinner and we ended up here for lunch. Luckily my cheeseburger was really great. I actually split the burger and a tuna melt with a friend, and while the melt wasn’t bad, the burger is definitely they way to go.

When you walk into The Casino you don’t expect the food to be as amazing as it is. Hands down one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten!

We walked in at about 4 yesterday afternoon after a long Easter Day at Doran Beach. Had a 8yr old, & 2 year old hungry.
I headed to the bar side of the place with two ladies backs turned to me… Noticed me… And ignored me. Until I said excuse me ladies. And finally got their attention. I had asked if they had anything that would possibly eat and they explained that we had missed «lunch» and they were cooking dinner which would be ready at 5. Checked the clock. Now 4:15pm. I nicely asked if they could grill up a simple grilled cheese which was on their lunch menu since we had two little ones.
They rudely said again as if I didn’t hear that dinner would be ready at 5, or there were oysters on the back patio.
What 2 year old is allowed let alone would ever eat an oyster?! Not mine.
«Then you should go across the street to them»
Umm sure okay. Well I’m here. Ive never been here before so I didn’t know there were certain times for food.
The situation doesn’t seem so bad in text. But the rudeness of them is thru the roof.
After I left the bar back to my children to let them know they wouldn’t be able to eat here.
My husband had been on the pool table over hearing the rude lady badmouth me in front of not only the group I arrived with as well as ladies sitting at the bar.
When he told me as I joined him for a game. She continued to stare and me making her rude remarks under her breath to the younger gal working with her.
I have worked in not only customer service but also in a food industry. And now am a professional hair stylist. I will NEVER pay another dime to this place.
It may have been a bad day but I had nothing but respect towards them to only be treated as if I didn’t belong.

It’s never the same menu… So what! Been here 3 times! Once breakfast and all have been bomb bomb foooooood! It’s not what you expect when you are outside or even when you come in… But damn! If you are passing by, please try eating here!

I would love to give this place 5 stars. I may one day. But not today. Last night we had the burrata, then the pork loin and the steelhead. The good news: the burrata was generous, served on a thick slice of fantastic toasted bread and seasoned with a balsamic glaze (would be heresy in Italy) but was really good; the pork tasted wonderful, was probably a heritage breed and was perfectly cooked. It had that slightly smoky b. O. Whiff that I love. The Brussel Sprouts were delicious sautéed, but too few (5 small ones) The bad news: cornstarchy gravy, pasty polenta, large florets of raw cauliflower (?!) and 2 large tasteless pieces of out of season undressed tomatoes (garnish?). The good news: the steelhead was fresh and well seasoned with a dry rub, a little heavy on the thyme, perfectly cooked and generous. The bad news: accompanied by what appeared to be a packaged salad with craisons and store bought croutons. And the ubiquitous tomatoes. You could tell the chef was a bit overwhelmed by a previous take out order in a tiny kitchen. We have 5 restaurants in Italy so I understand the difficulties… I WILL return and try again. Plus I love playing pool!

Dialectics in action… is it a dive? YES. Is the food off the friggin’ chain? YES. Olympia in a can, Galaga and Ms. Pac Man. Quality attentive bar keeps, a clientele practically designed to keep undesirables (foodies and mixologists) OUT, two pleasantly small and crooked pool tables and last but not least A THEATER in the back. Mark and Evelyn have created nothing short of Vallhala… weird and wonderful in equal measure, there just might be hope for humanity yet…

Gourmet food off a focused menu in an unassuming location. The albacore cubes wrapped in bacon are succulent and perfectly grilled. If they served me this at The French Laundry, I would be singing the chef’s praises. The ceviche is well balanced with veggies and reminds me of the first ceviche I ever tasted, fresh out of the ocean when I was vacationing in Panama as a child. The oysters are shucked as you watch and also taste fresh out of the water. The service is friendly and relaxed. You have to sit in the sun, as there is no shade on the patio outside, and inside there are a lot of flies, which are the only things that keep me fro giving this place five stars. The food certainly deserves the highest accolades. I live more than an hour away and the next time I am nearby, I will drive here to taste it all again.

We are here on Sunday night the last day of our vacation and Jody or Jodie or maybe OH! Jody! Since she has a great accent! Anyways the best comfort food I would like to call it, that we had eatin all week except maybe for the dinner she served us the monday before soooo good, my wife had scallops and not just 3 or 4 pretty sure she had like 6 or 7 but they were just awesome! Can’t remember what I had but it was good cause my plate was clean when I left, but we eat here every year that we visit and every night I might add and are never disappointed, especially with Jody’s cooking, can’t wait till next year, bye Jody…
Jason and Alanna
Ps: she hugged us on the way out, don’t uasually get that from the cook… till next year

Great divey bar with full compliment of ice in the urinal which is always a good thing… no really this place is awesome… great bartenderess who was friendly & fun, food was kick ass & they had the old video game where the rocket ship kills the different insects… yay! Loved the pear cider, olys, free tastes of wine, grilled cheese with tomato & friends raved about the fresh caught tuna melt they had… Seafood BBQ on the back patio on the weekends… great place… definite stop when u r in the area

I kind of love this place. It’s a bit of a dive, but with fantastic food!
We came on a night when there were I think two parties… they were slammed and not really staffed for it. The bartender was awesome, blunt, but nice once you talked to him for a minute and took a second to understand that he was doing the best he could bartending solo for a bar full of people.
They are cash only and the food and drinks are separate so you will have to pay twice… but I’m not sure why that is such a big deal to some people.
I will definitely be back if I ever find myself in Bodega again.