The Saloon

Disappointed. 11 of us came in early on in the night, part of a birthday bar crawl. Place wasn’t busy, but the bartender ignored us. When he finally did acknowledge us, there was no hello, no hows it going guys, just him asking us if we had cash. Taken aback by this weird first statement of greeting, we all hesitated and he ditched us and walked to the other side of the bar again. Not worth it, we left and continued on in the other, friendlier bars on the block.

Bartender here was just awful. Just came in with a big group for a birthday bar hop. Spent a few minutes sitting at the end of an otherwise mostly dead bar before we were attended to. Bartender asked if anyone had cash — my friend answered yes, but hesitated in his answer for a drink. The bartender didn’t wait a beat before he turned on his heel and ignored us. Beyond rude for no reason. We decided to take our money elsewhere. Avoid this place — there are better dive bars in Encinitas.

I don’t even care man I have a great time at the saloon! If you are looking for a classy night out with the love of your life, then no, avoid this place! If you are looking for a quiet place to sip a beer and read a book, don’t go here. If you want to have fun with your girlfriends and get drunk cheap, and tear up the dance floor with a bunch of sweaty people, come here!

After trying to go to Biergarden across the street and finding it way too packed to accommodate my group of 10+ people, we wandered over to the Saloon. When we arrived it was still early (around 8:30) and the bar was mainly empty. It seemed like a perfect spot to end my birthday night as I’m not a fan of loud, crowded bars. We walked straight up to the bar to get drinks and were impressed that the drinks only cost $ 4 to $ 5 each. We sat in a couple of the booths along the back wall and mixed and mingled for a bit. But I noticed as the night went on that more people started to arrive and the music got louder. By the end of the night (we called it quits around 10:30), we were screaming to be heard and my patience was running out.

I don’t normally write reviews about a dive bar but I love this place.
Todd is a phenomenal bartender! I throw random drinks his way and poof it’s awesome.
I love the staff here. Someone stole the Cue ball and the bar manager went above and beyond to make us happy.
This is my hometown bar. I bring everyone here and will continue to bring everyone here!

went in with some girlfriends monday for a mellow night, … we had fun, prices are fair… as we were leaving 3 creepers were standing by our car so we went back in, I was talking outside to the guy at the door and he offered to walk us to the car and make sure we left safe … out of nowhere he just offered Thank you Saloon for keeping us safe!

The only reason I am giving this place 2 stars and not 1 is because the bouncer and security guard were really helpful and sweet. The rest of what I experienced at this bar was not pleasant.
The atmosphere: it’s extremely dark, and filled with creepy older guys trying to pick up younger, inebriated girls. Ew. People don’t go to bars to be harassed by predatory older men. It’s also very crowded, but only because it’s a narrow bar. Not a lot of space to move around or even dance.
The drinks/​bartenders: I scanned the Unilocal reviews for this place and I noticed that a couple of other people had the same issue with this bartender. I was the designated driver for my group of friends, and 100% sober, so I know for a fact that this guy was trying to take advantage of my drunk friend. I’m talking about the older bartender with a shaved head and a thick beard. She ordered 2 shots of tequila, then ordered a 3^rd and asked that he close her tab. He hands her the 3^rd shot with the receipt, and she notices that he charged her $ 21. She calls him over to dispute the overcharge, and he begins to argue with her! He claimed that she had orderd 4 shots but didn’t remember doing so. I was with her the entire time, and I KNOW SHE ONLY HAD 3 SHOTS.
Of course she did not buy his bullsh*t, and they got into a mini screaming match. Then he changes his story!
He says that the first shot was a cheaper brand of tequila and the second 2 shots were more expensive… at no point during the night did ANYONE indicate to this bartender that she wanted a more expensive brand of tequila for her second and third shot. He claimed that was what she asked for. This guy is unbelievable.
So…two different stories were presented to us explaining why he charged $ 21. He gets tired of fighting with us and goes to whine to the other bartender (the younger one) and that one comes over to reiterate the same story to us.
«He says you asked for the first shot to be a Jose Cuervo and the other two shots to be blah blah blah…»
My friend was not having it and explained that the bartender was lying to cover the fact that he tried to take advantage of her. This bartender puts up no fight and agrees to fix the mistake. He brings back the appropriate check — $ 15 — and all is well…
Except the next morning when she checks her bank statement and notices that she was charged the $ 21 anyways IN ADDITION TO THE $ 15.
I don’t think this Unilocal review will get this guy fired from his job, but I hope that anyone going to this bar heeds my warning. Try your best to get a different bartender to serve your drinks.
At the end of the night, my friend and I got separated, and the security guard and bouncer were excellent. The bouncer let me walk in and out of the bar to look for her (because I was kind of freaking out) and the security guard went into the bar with me and flashed his flashlight at every bar patron so I could find her more easily. Such gentlemen, and I’m so impressed with how courteous these two were (granted I was sober, I’m not sure how they treat drunk people).
TLDR: Bartender is a jerk. Bouncer/​Security guard are nice. Go to D-​Street, which is a block away.

This place could be cool if all the guys weren’t complete douchebags. I’m being nice with the two stars but being here a couple of times and them all being crap service, crap overpriced cocktails and the most uncomfortable vibe ever, I probably won’t go back.

Saloon is great if you want a fun dive bar with good dance music! I always have a blast when my friends and I go party here, and it’s always busy on the weekends. I will be back a lot: D !!

Service is not the great, bathroom is filthy, line is an extremely long wait and it gets overly crowded. I do like the music, the locals and love a dive bar. Overall I like the place, just little less stars because the service.

This place is a dive bar, but hell it’s been there for a while. I don’t mind the people who work there everyone’s been cool to me. It’s definitely a place for locals, and also reasonably priced for the area. Last time on Sunday the bartenders has been there forever, he was real cool. I came here with my buddy, and we both enjoyed the atmosphere. I think this place is chill, and will continue to frequent for what it is. I like it better during the day, but have also been at night. I never really had any issues, and am treated well here. I’d recommend it if your looking for a chill place to have a beer on a sunny day, and at night if you want to mingle. I was kinda confused bout all the bad reviews, nothing but good times for me!!! :-) I’d recommend checking it out, it’s definitely has a lot of Encinitas History molded into it.

Good service goes a long way with me. This place doesn’t cut it. The 99% of the male staff are kinda thugs and jerks. I know good customer service. I grew up in Las Vegas. Half my family works in the hospitality industry. I served cocktails all during college. So this isn’t my first rodeo. Newsflash – I’m the customer that tips large if you aren’t an ass. So, major fail bartenders. MAJOR. After (3) drinks, I left. The last guy was just a dick. Fat older dude, charges me a dollar more for the third drink as he had for the first two. I’m not a drunken idiot. That’s just ripping off the customer. I tipped well for both the first two, so that was just classless. Please remember not all your customers are drunken idiots. Some of us might treat you right if you all didn’t look so pissed off to be working there. So sorry, but I served and I have an MBA, I say if you can’t hang, QUIT. Because you suck if you are just a dick all night. My heart bleeds for you since I know how much weed and booz money you make in a shift. You know, I get it – high volume of customers. However, do you really think that a drunken 22 year old skank is going to pay more than a sober polite forty year old? None of you would last a day in Vegas with that attitude.
Tall dude is arrogant and only serves the pretty ladies. Mustache dude looks miserable and would be more handsome if he shaved & smiled. Fat old dude, you are just rude. Enjoy the extra dollar that you tacked on to my last drink. Classy – NOT! Tacky and dishonest. However, its not like you’re the sexy one, so however you have to scam a customer, just go for it, before you have to start working at Chili’s. You’re just damn lucky I was raised right and still left you a tip knowing full well I just got hustled.
FYI – I’m a fan of dive bars. Safe to say that any dive bar I’ve been to from NYC, DC, Miami, Chicago, Baltimore, LA, New Orleans, Key West, SF, hell even Knoxville, TN, has better dive bars than The Saloon in Encinitas. You now has the distinction of being the worst dive bar ever. The appeal of a dive bar is that people tend to be down to earth and easy going. I may even write a few other reviews on travel sites and bar publications, because EVERYONE deserves to enjoy their hard earned money at a place where treating a customer right is valued.
Here’s the irony. I use to work for the attorney that handled legal matters for the bar and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the owner a time or two. He use to say, come see my bar. It’s great. LMAO! Dale, you have a good dive bar, but it’s just a hot mess and absolutely NO fun. Never will be back. Since I don’t want to pay a different price for the same drink or get attitude from the staff, I’ll just go to another dive bar. I’m sure they will appreciate my money.

WORST bar I have EVER been to! People are fucking rude! Wish I would have gone somewhere else! Don’t ever go here

Terrible place!
They make a fake line to make it exclusive… the bouncers are the WORST!!! (GET A LIFE!) They think they are so cool! All the girls get in without the line and it stinks so bad in there! They never clean their bathroom. piss all over the floor!
Just an annoying place… NO customer service what so ever! Avoid this place and never wait in line because they let 4 people in every 15 minutes so they can have room for their friends to just bypass the line.

Worst customer service it have ever experienced in a coastal town. Tried to grab a cold beer on a Friday night there, line was out the door. Waited 20 minutes to get in, got to the front of the line, and the FAT/​BALD white guy with a huge ego complex decided to make us wait another 10 minutes while he indiscriminately let under age females in without even checking their IDs. They didn’t have the needed stamp to enter again.
The fat white bouncer proceeded to belittle the patrons in line, calling them obscene names and referring to them as «sheep».
I asked for the manager. Then a black bouncer tells me that he is the manager, and proceeds to dodge my question of «what is your name?». He also would let females in without waiting in line, taking $ ¹⁰⁄₂₀ bills from guys to skip the line, and more.
This isn’t Las Vegas. This is a dive bar in Encinitas. Stop acting like you’re a part of a big club scene.
I was sober this whole time, and was planning on having a cold beer after a nice hot day. That’s all.