Norton’s Vault

CLOSED due to ownership change and remodel, the concept remains the same: pub grub and after work happy hour bar spot. Not sure if the new owners are connected to The Irish Times bar in LA.
Similar to Harrington’s Bar, The Royal Exchange, and Murphy’s Pub — I’ve had lunch with & w/​o coworkers at all those spots, never stayed for drinks. The menu (comfort food + burgers) was decent, but of the ones listed I’d say that Harrington’s is a better choice for lunch, but not by much.

Sad day for me… apparently this bar is closed and re-​opening as «Irish Times» in the 3^rd week of August.
I hope they still have cheap nachos and Lauranne.

Not that great, honestly. Was here watching the Netherlands/​Uruguay World Cup match with the office. Food wasn’t that good (sorry to say, but it was all pretty flavorless — even the dijon mayo, which promised so much more than it achieved) and one of the two waitresses serving us was pretty freaking surly (the other one was great, but there’s no real way to differentiate between the two in a single review).
Not gonna go back, frankly. And I don’t consider that a real loss to my selection of restaurants in the area.

I’ve tried this place a couple of times on the way to focus groups nearby. The burgers are good, if a bit too big, and the onion rings are excellent. Last night I tried the chicken tostada salad (which I’d normally not order, particularly in a semi-​Irish pub) at the recommendation of the waitress, and it was very good.
They have several great beers on tap and a couple of TVs tuned to ESPN. Definitely a good place to stop for a beer and a bite to eat if you’re in the neighborhood.

Norton’s Vault is a bar in the FiDi that looks and feels like, well … almost every other bar in the FiDi.
The drinks you find here are like the same drinks you expect to find at a FiDi bar. The food they serve here is the typical bar grub you expect to find at a FiDi bar. The people who come here look like the people you expect to find at a FiDi bar.
Yet oddly, Norton’s Vault is not a bad place for after work, happy-​hour, beers if you get here early and grab a table. It’s somewhat airy and it doesn’t feel too cramped even when it gets crazy crowded. I guess the elongated layout of the bar and double exits help alleviate the «sardined in a FiDi bar» syndrome.
But other than that, Norton’s Vault is just like every other bar in the FiDi I guess… which isn’t a bad thing if you need a bar in the FiDi.

Every once in a while… you need a place like this. No frills. No uppity service, especially in this area.
Food = typical pub fare. We enjoyed their quesadilla, tacos, buffalo wings and nachos – $ 5/​each – happy hour!
We also had some of their $ 5 drinks… margarita was strong; my sister’s girl scout cookie was omnom but totally her style, and our friend’s manhattan was not the best… but oh well.
Drinks = full bar, but not too much of the high end stuff. They’re more of a pub… you know, beers.
Service = friendly. I’m a fan of redheads too. :)
Prices = reasonable (even if it is not happy hour)

Nothing special, but a solid downtown pub that serves decent drinks and good pub food (I’m a fan of the tri-​tip). I disagree with another review here saying that the prices reflect FiDi salaries; things might be a dollar or two more than what you’d pay for them at a pub in, say, San Mateo, but I think they’re in line with any other such place in a decent neighborhood anywhere in the city.
Actually, there is one thing that makes Norton’s stand out a little: it’s the only FiDi bar I can think of that sort of doubles as a sports bar. Not fully, but it’s still a good place to catch a game after work, or during the workday (if said game is taking place in Europe or Asia).

Yikes! A couple of coworkers and I came here for lunch today and I ordered the Chicken Chipotle Wrap special. Please believe that there was nothing special about it! Unless «special» means «laying in a puddle of grease.»
Every bite I took grease dripped out on to the plate, the counter and tragically on my blouse. The french fries were over cooked and way too crunchy. The whole meal was really just a mess… literally, I left a huge mess from all that fat dripping out of the tortilla. EW

Norton’s… what a great no frills place. This spot never fails when it comes to a solid lunch, or meeting friends for happy hour. They serve great pub food, and the staff are always very friendly. I’m a huge fan of their turkey club and fries… how do they always get their fries so perfectly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside? Always! That’s my standard lunch, turkey club and an iced tea. Yum.
Happy hour is another story… Make sure you try their Carnitas Taquitos on the Happy Hour noshings menu, YUM. An order or two of those along with a couple Newcastles on tap and you have one happy and content gal.

This place is a sophisticated little watering hole. You get the regular mix of FiDi denizens (suits) and just a few tourists for good measure. I think they get lost coming down from Little Italy and just duck in here because the TransAmerican building throws a big scary shadow.
You can get brew on tap (+) and the food aint bad either (+). Pricing reflects FiDi salaries, so be warned. Still though, for a working lunch with colleagues, or just a place to stop in and have a drink with a burger (while soaking up some ambiance), you can’t go wrong here.

The usual group of friends meets up for happy hour at NV practically every Friday. If you are there on Friday between say… 4:30 and 6:30, the odds are that you will find me.
The downside is that it gets crowded on Fridays (and subsequently hot inside) and that drink prices during «happy hour» aren’t that much cheaper than normal. I like the food here (nachos and fries), and I hear from friends that lunch is good as well (although I haven’t tried it personally).
Several TVs (one in each corner basically) also help pass time when friends haven’t arrived =D

Norton’s Vault is an a-​ok spot for a quick Pubby lunch… American style. You’ll find no Fish n Chips or Sheppard’s Pie here, only good greasy American Burgers & sandwiches
Coworkers chose this spot for a welcome back celebration — something laid back & casual
Couple folks got Club Sandwiches & 1 got the Burger… all claimed yummy
I got the Grilled Cheese w/​Garlic Fries. The sandwich came w/​tomato & now I like tomato on my grilled cheese but there was too much — which caused the sandwich to become soggy
It was on Sourdough & creamy-​cheesy good… just less tomato would be excellent
Onto those garlic fries… shoestring potatoes that have been fried from here until Sunday but it made them crunchy & good… the garlic? Whew-​lawdy there were glops & glops of the stuff & while really good & not too, too overpowering, I was still tasting the stuff the next morning… and this is after multiple mints & TWO teeth brushings
Waitstaff was nice & we got our food in good time… would come back when looking for good greasy grub

three girls walk into a bar…
and have the worst experience ever.
they come in to have a beer, but when the bill comes they find that they’ve been charged for 4. inquiring politely about the discrepancy, the bartender agrees that he had indeed made the mistake, but that nothing could be done about it. what you talking bout willis?
that’s service according to this fella. since they had to pay for a phantom beer they never ordered nor received, they didn’t leave a tip – for his bad math and his «service.» after paying, they get up to leave and are about to get into a cab when he decides to come out and barrage them with insults and curses even a sailor would blush at.
so the pottymouthed bartender who can’t add (or subtract apparently) and the establishment that puts up with his customer service gets an overly generous one star. normally, i would go in there with frankie «the arm» or jimmy «two times» and teach this guy a lesson, but this is silicon valley so cyber Unilocal revenge will have to do.

Came here for HH last Thursday, and had a good time. The establishment is not as crowded as some other pubs in the fidi, but it does get busy. We were able to reserve tables big enough to fit about 20 of us. The waitress was great! She kept coming around taking orders on our food and drinks! The food is not bad, but again its just fried foods. Bathroom was clean, and plenty of places to sit here! Stayed here til basically it died down and we were pretty much the only people here. They have HH specials for $ 5 from 4 – 6 which aren’t bad. Overall, not bad!

I came here for lunch with my coworkers and had a great experience. The service was quick, the staff was friendly, and the food was great; that’s pretty much all you can ask for lunch in the FiDi. It also seems a quiet and chill bar to come after work to get a drink and watch a game.
I thought the historical background regarding the name of the place was interesting and funny, adding a bit of special character to the place. You can read about it at their website.

When you are avoiding a creepy financial district party this place provides friendly table service, seats, and tvs. It was pretty empty at 9pm on a weeknight, but I was glad because my companions say it can get pretty douche-​y on a Friday night happy hour. If you’re a dude (and not an artsy fartsy dude like my husband) it might be a great place to come watch a game since they’ve got a lot of tvs. We watched Obama (woot!).
Still it’s not hip or pretentious and it’s one of those bars that if your friends are right, you can make it your own!
Prices were standard-​$ 7.50 for a Gimlet, $ 8 for Tequila shots and Kettle Tonics.

Norton’s has a good beer selection, comfortable seating, a few big flat panel TVs, and much better than average pub food. 4 stars. Now. .. here. .. begins. .. my rant…
Five dollars for a single pint of beer? When did this become the going rate downtown? FIVE DOLLARS??? A standard keg of beer holds almost 60 liters. Accounting for spillage, that’s a good 120 pints or better from each keg. That means that each keg of beer for which the bar paid somewhere between $ 100 and $ 150 is producing gross revenues of at least $ 600. That’s a 500% markup! This is not right, my people, not right at all. I’m sorry to take it out on Norton’s because it’s a good place and every other bar in the Financial District charges as much, but I’m sick of it. This is why I prefer to drink in the Haight. Or at home.
FIVE DOLLARS PER PINT!!! No, my friends, that is not right.

One of the best bars I’ve ever been to. Nice clean cut crowd (saw one of my friends there while waiting for colleagues to show up), comfortable, really helpful staff, and great location.
And let me tell you, they make some some KILLER STRONG drinks. Two Lemon Drops and I was well past buzzed; my head was spinning a bit on the train ride home. The two LD’s were heavy on the ‘drop’ and had just a splash of ‘lemon’ — I could not have had another without assistance getting home, getting cleaned up, and getting in to bed. I’m moving rather slowly today as a result.
We also had nice finger food and it was a great time had by all. I’ll definitely be back.

I didn’t care that although the bar was clearly dead when I first sat down, I was completely ignored while you chatted away with the other bartender.
I didn’t care that the beer glass was tepid as well as the temperature of the beer.
I didn’t care the burger I ordered came well done with practically no juice. At least you burned all the e-​coli off.
I didn’t care after the food was served to me by a different person in the restaurant you didn’t bother to ask me how my overcooked burger tasted. In fact you didn’t talk again till the bill was ready.
I didn’t care that after I finished my beer and my meal I had to wait almost 10 minutes for any acknowledgement as to what I wished to do next.
I didn’t care I stil tipped your sorry ass 20% because I figured anyone with your demeanor certainly needed it.
I didn’t care that bathroom smelled like vomit.
However the thing I couldn’t stand was when I saw the other server/​bartender drinking god damned Starbucks. Who wants to support an overrated /​bloated company like that?

I used to go here every monday and friday after my shift at Gio’s. Toby the best bartender in the city actually helped me get the job, so this place became somewhat of a second home and getaway for me. Havent been in too long. need to go back. need to get hugged by the friendliest employee this side of Market!
I always felt welcome, and the food was pretty killer for a financial district in and out kind of lunch…
i miss jesse. they should re-​hire 6-​ft-​6