The Mayflower Pub

I had the pub salad which was fresh, delicious and the best dressing! Housemade Basil Vinaigrette. Service was top-​notch. Way to go Mayflower!

Ahhh the «Cheers» of San Rafael! OK, maybe everyone doesn’t know my name, but this place always feels like home. Don’t get me wrong, I avoid this place like the plague on karaōke night (boo boo you do NOT sound like Britney Spears, as much as you think you do), but every other time it’s cool. Sadly I don’t live close by any more, but when I’m in town this is the place to go. Great service, cool bartenders, a little dark, and great selection of beers. And the door guy recognizes me every time i come back and is always really nice.
My favorite things to eat here are the pub salad (I would kill for that basil dressing recipe!), and the calamari. Even if you come in alone you totally don’t feel like a creeper: P
One last thing– bring your A game to trivia night! I recommend starting out on Mondays to test the water, and then if you’re really smart try for a Thursday. Get there early and tip your bartender!

Went down to the Mayflower the other night… I really wanted fish and chips, but they were out. I was disappointed and then the server told me there was an ordering snafu and there was an order of fish and chips she was going to have to eat for her shift meal. She offered it to me and I excitedly took it. She reassured me it was fresh (and it was) and was very apologetic about the take out tray it was served it. I was just happy to satisfy my craving! Service was great and she apologized again upon bringing the check. I assured her it was more than fine, better than choosing something else, although I’m sure it all would have been great!
Great place to catch a Giants game and a good bite to eat.

I love this place. Good pub food and friendly staff. Great place to watch a game or participate in Karaōke or Trivia Night. Family friendly during the day and early night and the beer selection is quite large.

Kat and I enjoy the Mayflower. Tonight I am alone. I recommend the Fish and chips with Guinness.

my husband and i were looking for a small english pub. the mayflower fit the bill.
we ordered bangers and mash and shepards pie. the service was slow but we were
not in a rush and rather enjoyed drinking a cider while watching sports and listening to
the brit accents that we caught here and there. there seems to be regulars that come in
and that is usually a good sign. the food was good solid pub food and we plan to go back.
‘felt like we were back in england.
Unilocal reviews that number over 10 paragraphs long (see below) really?

Neat little pub with a nice atmosphere and some good food. A bit pricey for food you could easily make at home. Their Pub Salad is the bomb though! Good selection of drinks too.

Best bar in Marin for hanging with friends. I’ve been a fan since growing up playing in the Mayflower soccer league and going there after games for a few beers. Good selection of beers. Delicious fish (fresh cod) and chips. I just wish they’d bring the dart boards back as I and my friend would hang there more often if they did.

Yeah — the food/​service takes a long time
and yeah — it gets rowdy on karaōke nights!
It’s still a great bar.
I’m surprised at the negative comments about the Mayflower. It’s super busy on the weekends and they have small staff so of course it takes them awhile to cook food and get orders out. But the food is amazing ! it is well worth the wait, in my opinion.
And of course the staff gets rude sometimes — it gets really rowdy in the bar sometimes, and they are slammed with drink/​food orders. that’s just how it goes at busy bars.
I’ve never had a issue with the staff, and if the server is a little rude, just dont leave a good tip.
I like the trivia nights, the cider they have on tap is amazing, and the food is great.
All in all — I like this bar a lot even though it gets pretty crazy on the weekends

Perfect and absolutely real feeling pub with lots of British guys.
If that’s what you’re into.
It’s like a fetishist club for sports enthusiasts from overseas.

Great English pub. Very comfortable, especially on a cloudy day like today. Good selection in tap. Food good but maybe not great. Pricey but hey it’s Marin. great place to watch baseball and soccer. Irish music once a week. Real Brits frequent here. Curry fries! British breakfast. Yum! Friendly. Check it out!

Great actual PUB. Stopped in as I had a day off work and wanted catch the Liverpool match in the quarterfinals of the Carling Cup. Match started at 11:45, doors opened at 11:30am. Channel was already tuned to BeIN Sports in HD when I walked in –sweet! Fox Soccer Plus on another TV in standard definition which looked bad.
Had few smithwicks and a lugunitas with a good garden salad and real bangers and mash — perfect!
Tons of people came in over the next hour or so.
The menu is limited to core English and American pub food and there are no substitutes for items. Nice keeps it simple and straight forward allowing the establishment to focus and not try to be all things to all people.
It’s dark in there and cozy. Great place to watch the games and the bangers and mash was great. Nothing could have been better.
No shuffleboard or things like that. Looks like they have karaōke later in the week too.
Liverpool won so everything was good but even without that this is a place I’ll be revisiting often.

Let me start by saying that there is a lot about this place that I like. It is an acceptable bar. It has nice décor, the food isn’t poison, and they have a really great trivia and karaōke night. That’s why I felt obligated to give them a three star review. The rest of this review is based off off a personal experience that will result in me & my friends not returning to this establishment.
My husband and I have been attending The Mayflower’s karaōke night for two years. We’ve always brought groups with us, because we believe that karaōke is about bonding with your community and celebrating the courage to get up and express yourself amongst loved ones, whether you’re a good singer or not.
Recently, we brought a friend with us to the karaōke night. We showed up at 8pm (an hour before karaōke), figuring we’d get something to eat before we spend our evening rocking out. We sat at a table and ordered our food around 8:15pm. The woman we ordered from was a very pretty young lady, pale skin, dark brown hair and blue eyes with bright red lipstick. We tried to joke around with her about how slow our friend was at ordering, but she made it very clear that she was NOT here to have a good time with us.
Okay, no problem, it’s Friday night, she’s busy, we can respect not being in the mood for fun. Surely that just means she’s going to focus on doing her job, right?
Well, our food didn’t make it to the table until 9:00pm. That’s right, for 45 minutes we sat, waiting for food. Our friend actually almost turned away the food because SHE FORGOT WE ORDERED ANYTHING. That is how long it took for the food to arrive.
So the food gets there at 9, the exact same time the karaōke starts. We’re singing, eating, everything’s going good. The other bartenders and servers are all great, really fun, have sense of humor and make the evening enjoyable.
Now, here’s where we enter the sticky wicket. My friend is a wonderful person. She’s excitable and friendly, and she loves to blow off steam. She’s also probably one of the worst singers ever. But she ROCKS it. When she got on that stage, she was belting — truly, emotionally and passionately — her heart out. The crowd was cheering, nobody seemed miffed, it was a positive and friendly environment.
Now, I’ll admit, while my friend is belting like a screaming cat, there was a little lack of control of the crowd (complete strangers to me — thus not my fault, but I was dealing with it). Two women in their 50’s were rushing the stage for each person’s song and singing (horribly) with them. Whatever, we’re all here for a good time…
So then, the exact same pretty-​but-​unfriendly server who was 45 minutes late with our food comes running up to me and says, «I know you guys think the screaming is funny, but it’s not.»
I explain to her that my friend is not screaming but is, in fact, singing extremely badly. Which is the only level of singing she knows.
Pretty-​But-​Unfriendly Server then says, «Yeah, again, I know you think it’s funny, but it’s not. And if you guys keep screaming I will kick you out.»
Again. There was no screaming. I wasn’t screaming (I’m actually a karaōke nerd who takes my performing very seriously), my friend wasn’t screaming (I really don’t think being a bad singer should be compared to screaming — that’s really fucking mean), my husband wasn’t screaming. Nobody was screaming. I guess the only thing I can think she meant is when we (amongst others) were cheering for other singers. Which absolutely blows my mind, because cheering is meant to make people feel comfortable with being silly. It’s not screaming.
NOW, here’s where I can accept my end of the responsibility. My friend did end up too drunk. After she sang, she tried to get up on a table (my husband immediately picked her up off the table) and we got ready to leave. In an almost comical fashion, Pretty-​But-​Unfriendly Server came SPRINTING from around the bar with a blatantly joyous look as she prepared to kick us out. Completely pointless, as we were already dragging our friend outside and apologizing profusely.
Everyone in the crowd was having a great time, we only heard nice things from the staff (aside from Pretty-​But-​Unfriendly), and (non-​drunk, non-​obnoxious) people were coming outside with us saying they were sad we had to go.
Now, even all of this could be forgiven, but for one thing. As I mentioned before, there were two women in their 50’s who were FUCKED. UP. Screaming, drooling, stumbling drunk. The group they were with were not far behind in that department. They were rushing the stage, interrupting peoples’ songs, and generally being sloppy and obnoxious. They were not kicked out.
So, that’s why we won’t be going back. We were locked onto and bullied by one woman because she decided she didn’t like us, but she didn’t maintain the same expectations of the other patrons. It just seemed like she wanted to swing dick, and the good news is, she got exactly what she wanted. Sadly, we are never going back.

Good beer selection. Food is on point for average pub food. Hard to find chicken pot pie and Sheppard’s pie. Burger was juicy and seasoned well.

You know when you see an ex, and you wonder why you liked them as much as you did way back when? It’s kind of like that with me and the Mayflower. I moved away for a while, and started seeing another pub, and now… the Mayflower just doesn’t live up to my memory of it.
I thought it was so authentic… but my new man, er, pub, has carpeted floors and a low ceiling that keep the sound level reasonable. Mayflower can get quite loud when it is full. I ordered a lager and lime at the Mayflower a few weeks ago and I had to explain to the bartender what I meant, that would never have happened at my new pub.
I thought it was such a great place to hang out… but we got there the other night (Sunday) around 8:15 and were told last call was in 15 minutes. I mean, I know I’m back in Marin… but that is so early! I have great memories of lively evenings here, and it was just dead. My new local always had people there ready to chat every night of the week (it also didn’t have TVs unless it was New Year’s or the World Cup, so that added to the vibe of just hanging out with whoever else happened to show up), and was serving until at least 10:30 on weekdays (and it was also in a more residential area).
That being said, I’m giving it four stars because this is still the best place to watch the World Cup (in Marin). When I was in town last year during the games I watched as many matches as I could here. Just, compared to what my regular pub has been the last few years, the Mayflower was a let down. Compared to what my memories of it were, and my now higher standards for a pub, I would give it a three. Let’s split the difference and call this a 3.5 review.

Overall: Very Good
Food: Above Average
Price: Expected for quality and size
Ambiance: Did not experience since I ordered to go.
We stopped by here to pick up some lunch and food for later in the day on the way down from Seattle. Ordered ahead of time via phone. Food was very good. I highly recommend the Stew. Price was on point for the quality.

Very good pub to watch the European soccer games.
The staff is very competent: fast, nice and very helpful.
The food is basic but very tasty.
I love the ambiance of this place.

Never a bad meal. Always a friendly smile. Irish live music at a British Pub on the first Tuesday of every month. Kick ass drinks. Dude. What more could you want. And they’re crawling distance from home. Ask for Monica, she’s THE BEST! OK. They’re all great! But Monica greeted me today with a much needed smile and a coke. Who doesn’t need that? So I’m at the Mayflower. What’s your crappy lunch look like?

GOOD Pub Food!!! Love coming here for the Shepherds Pie. Ambience is wonderful… jolly ‘ol England.

Biked to San Rafael from the city and settled on this destination to watch the USA Belgium world cup game. What a great choice. This place was LIVELY. This older gentlemen let us scoot inside the booth and use the circular table on top of the beer barrel.
We ordered a pitcher of Pilsner. My buddy had the chicken curry and I had the bangers and mash. It was delicious. It came with mushrooms and onions as well which was a great addition. It was cooked perfectly. Sausages were thick but soft and easy to cut in to.
You can’t beat the atmosphere at this place. We all stood for the national anthem and bellowed it out. It is family friendly because their were fathers who had brought their kids. Unfortunately, some idiots at the bar don’t censor themselves around kids and use profanity like ignorant people.
Anyhow, the US lost but we had a great experience here. Before we came in, I asked the owner how the food was and he said «we haven’t killed anyone yet.» Hilarious. The food was great.