Sycamore Den

I’ve had the pleasure of coming to Sycamore Den once, to see Dani Bell and the Tarantists. Incredible show in a very soothing, cabin-​vibes style space. Really enjoyed the night! Also, Sycamore Den is very active on my Instagram photos and I appreciate the support. Much love!

Love this place for a well put together cocktail! Speakeasy feel, great crew, and it’s always entertaining watching whatever quirky old movie they are showing behind the bar.

I want to like this place so bad! I’m not done with trying. I’ve tried two of the specialty drinks and one tasted like a cigarette and the other was mehhh (but I wouldn’t even order the mehhh one again.) I still plan to return because I love the décor and vibe of the place and I’m determined to find the drink for me.
Oh and…
Mehhhh drink: dusty bottoms
Taste like cigarette: lakeside drink

Best surprise: it was trivia night!
Now, my friend and I were too late to grab a trivia card (or a table… or a booth), we got ourselves a stool by the bar and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Guessing at trivia (badly), dubbing the movies playing behind the bar (badly), drinking fun cocktails and eating yummy popcorn. Great night. Wish we got there early enough for food. Street parking only. It gets extremely difficult to find parking nearby because it’s residential (apartments), so we parked four very long blocks away, towards Monroe.
It’s a relatively small bar, but it’s gorgeous. Friendly staff – yes. Warm atmosphere – yes. I just got a vodka cranberry (which was mixed to my taste – lovely) but my friend had two of their drinks and absolutely loved them. She had a Pitys and Pears, followed by a Chapman’s Fix. It has hints of America, after all.
Lovely. Would go again.

Adams Avenue offers many options for innovative craft brews and designer cocktails. Sycamore Den out shines them all. The place is unassuming, décor understated, service friendly and warm, and cocktails well made and spectacular! Beer selection is also impressive. Try the peanut butter stout for a hearty and flavorful taste.

Went across the street looking for some dark beer and couldn’t find a selection. So hopped over (beer joke ha ha) to this place and decent selection with the stellar 60’s décor.
Being from out of town really appreciated that they had the heater on. Bartender was very knowledgeable about what they had on tap and was kind enough to ours samples despite not selling flights. Overall nice dark pub with oldies music jamming.

This place was on the list of top 15 most beautiful bars in san diego. while that may be true, i didnt see a lot of beautiful people here. it might have been a down night but i dont know if id go here to pick up dates for the evening. coming with friends is a great time though! i love the drinks and i love the seating area. there is a rope and ring game in the back if you get super bored too. haha. some nights they have live music and its pretty good but starts kinda late-​ish.
the mood is trendy, hipster, low-​lighting. cocktails are the best!

This review is mostly for the staff and customers at the Sycamore Den.
Last night was a crazy night for me. I ended up fainting inside the facility, fell backwards off some stairs, and smacked my head on their floor. I don’t remember much after that, but I do remember being lifted up by everyone, and carried to a chair. The manager was immediately on the phone with paramedics, and doing some basic first aid to assess the situation. The quick response and help from everyone involved was uplifting. I’m whole heartily grateful for the professionalism, courtesy, and support from the employees/​staff and customers at the Sycamore Den.
Anyone who was there that night, I apologize! I didn’t die haha!
Thank you, everyone, for your help that night.
I will say that their beers and prices are pretty good!

This place has yet to let me down. Wolf Tickets is by far my most favorite drink, however be warned that it comes in a really small glass and it its pretty pricey. But so worth it. All their other drinks are around that price but comes in a regular size craft cocktail glasses.
It’s a great place to get some craft cocktail. I really love the décor as well. Woodsy cabin feel with guns and a large fireplace that doesn’t need to be turned on.
It’s nice to chill and relax with a great tasting cocktail and free popcorn. Sometimes I venture off to the back of the bar next to the big booth there’s a ring hook game. It’s quite entertaining, the ring is tied to a string and you swing it towards the hook that is attached into the wall and try to hook it. Did it once so it’s quite possible.
Always have a good time here. Great spot to go to for a night cap.

I love love love this place. The décor reminds me of a 1970s man cave. It’s intimate and they have a cool fireplace area. They do trivia on Tuesdays which is always a lot of fun. They serve great cocktails and have a seasonal list that changes. If you don’t want one from the menu, the bartenders are great at making something that you would like. They also have a handful of beers on tap.
Since this place is pretty small, it gets pretty crowded :-/​also, Burnside (a few doors down) will deliver food here since Sycamore Den doesn’t really serve food. They do have free popcorn on occasion. Be careful, the magical seasoning they put on top is spicy!

I love Will at the door and Nick, Michael Santos and Garrett Thor at the bar. That’s all. Goodnight!

Wolf ticket –rye whiskey, peach liqueur, lemon, simple syrup, bitters
Kimchi Jong ummmm– ribeye, kimchi slaw on buns
I arrived at the tail end of a whiskey tasting and mentioned I usually don’t care for whiskey cocktails but the bartender recommended Wolf ticket, a popular selection. Delicious! I could’ve had a pitcher of these, but maybe it’s because I’m a lightweight when it comes to spirits. I don’t really enjoy that bite. The wolf ticket was right up my alley
So I was starving and gorged on these ‘Korean tacos’ late one night– decent belly-​fillers. My friend thought the bun tasted defrosted but I’m not as picky. They were ok– I’ve never tasted one that took me to Valhalla. Let me know if you have. As for the filling, very sweet, no heat, only 1 crunch of ‘kimchi’ in each ‘taco’ and absolutely NO kimchi flavor. So basically the dish was generic tasting BBQ pork on a round Chinese puff pastry with a sliver of Napa cabbage, labeled with a fancy ethnic name, trying to be trendy fusion.
Granted this came from next door — thank goodness. The bar will likely have longer staying power than they do.

Small, long, rectangular shaped bar. There was a bar section and walk down a stairs a few steps will be tables with more seatings. The bartenders are nice and quick, looks like they know what they are doing lol
You can order food as well but I think it goes through the restaurant a couple of bars down and they just bring it over for you.
I tried the Salt and Pepper Po Boy. Had shrimp and variety of veggies in it. If you like something bursting with flavor, give this a try!
There is also a small parking lot in the back of the bar in which you may park, if not then you have to look for street parking.

Looks like a den, as the name says. Really relaxing casual atmosphere.
THEY HAVE PUNCH BOWLS.
My friend said it was pretty strong. It tasted like punch to me. I was pretty gone.

This place is hip. It literally is a den made of sycamore. Bar team is helpful and they make specialty cocktails exactly how they’re supposed to be created. My boyfriend is a big fan of old fashions and his that night was mixed perfectly. My Moscow mule was mixed in a blue tin cup. It was cool to have a new vessel instead of the normal copper mug. Both are cool just nice to mix it up. Cool place on Adams to stop in to while you’re doing your weekend bar crawl in that area of town.

Delicious cocktails and a very cool environment that’s all about the 70s! I am sad to provide a three star rating instead of four, but the value just isn’t there with a 6oz cocktail being $ 9 and a more novelty drink being $ 15 but only being about 9−10oz.
Don’t get it wrong, this place is cool and they are known for their cocktails, hit it during happy hour for the best value.

I’m a fan of this place… a big fan, actually.
What other bar/​lounge anywhere nearby has banjos, violins and shotguns hanging on the wall, a cool fireplace and a oddly addicting game of swinging a ring on a string and trying to get it to attach to a hook on the wall? Nowhere that I’ve been so far. That’s just one of the major things that makes this place really cool.
So aside from the aforementioned, they do have some nice lounge seating, with a fireplace across from the seating and tables, a great bar and great, reasonably priced drinks and beers to go along with it. Service is friendly and quick, even when it was late on a Saturday night.
Our group continuously grew during the course of the night and had amassed probably about 14 people total. The service was able to keep up because we never ended up waiting long to get a drink in hand. I think we were occupying a majority of the space too but everything worked out great. This was definitely my favorite stop during the night.
For a unique, stylish, lounge bar with great drinks and plenty of fun to be had, as far as I’m concerned, this is the place.

It’s hard to think of anything negative about this bar. It’s got the cool 70’s, yet modern, décor, an area for lounging by a fire, an area for sittin’ at a table with friends, an area to dance and an area to chill at the bar and bug the bartenders. They even have live music! They have it all!
I love the little hook game in the back. What a fun way to meet people and make new friends! Speaking of which, I’m beginning to think that jerks don’t like this bar because I haven’t met one here yet!
One of my favorite things about the Den, though, is the bathroom situation. I immediately know I’m in for a long night when the bar we are at has only single-​use bathrooms, so I was bummed when I saw the Den was one of these bars. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is being a girl and waiting in line to use the restroom while another girl is in there primping and touching up her make-​up and hair. It’s enough to make me go crazy, and possibly pee all over the floor! Luckily for me (and all the other girls out there that don’t spend every second in front of a mirror adjusting oneself), the hand washing station and mirrors are outside of the bathroom doors. This makes the bathroom experience much more quick and painless, which you need in order to have a successful night out drinking! AmIright?
The staff here is cool and super helpful, they have good drink specials ($ 3 Pacificos, whaaaaa?!) and the overall vibe is super chill. Why wouldn’t you want to come here?

Tiki of the week!
The bartenders were truly personal, asking for my preference in customizing this cocktail concoction. Given the fact that the board said the ingredients were «rum, rum, rum, and (other things)» I was expecting a strong one but didn’t want to go too crazy. I told them I just wanted a good buzz.
They didn’t tell me until after I drank the whole thing that they had put in 151(!) and Stroh Austrian rum (180 proof). I was shocked. I could tell it was strong but it was so well balanced with the other fruit flavors (and in such a cute cup!) that it was not so hard on the palate.
I didn’t feel much affect from my strongest-drink-I’ve-had-all-year, until after I ordered a second drink. They were having a $ 6 special on Harvey Wallbangers as it was apparently HW Day. This was a light refreshing orange juice and vodka cocktail that had a soft vanilla velvet undertone from the Galliano liqueur. I definitely was enjoying that with the complimentary, fresh popped popcorn that they lace with a fun spiciness.
As a bonus to this joint, there’s a full ring-​toss-​on-​a-​string game that gets you all chummy with strangers. I love a good neighborhood bar that allows you to circulate and meet new friends, and this is a great conversation point. 99 percent of the time people fail at this game, but it is worth checking out for that ONE time when someone gets it, and I happened to see someone do it when everyone’s backs were turned.
They were playing the Wayne’s World and Can’t Hardly Wait movies on the TV’s, and I could barely turn my eyes away.
Although it’s tempting to have three or four people sit in the fireplace, don’t do it! There’s even a sign at the bathroom telling you the don’ts of this place, and this is one of them.
BOTTOM LINE: A truly classy real cocktail lounge among a sea of dive bars in Normal Heights.

A chill place to grab a drink.
I was looking pretty cute that night (least I thought so) and no one hit on me = perfect place to go because people are not on the prowl. In other words, safe haven.
Ordered my poison of choice, Old Fashioned, and it was delicious. Only $ 9!
Lots of stools at the bar, a few tables and a long booth like seating area on the opposite wall of the bar.
This place is fairly small so i can see it getting pretty crowed on a weekend.