Barkowski

$ 2 off all drafts for happy hour.
Friendly staff provides great service.
Definitely a divey beer/​wine type of place.
Not much to do other than drink.
Make sure you get your HH orders in before 7! if the clock hits 7, the deal is off!

Obviously, if you’re a Bukowski fan how can you not come here? It’s not a typical Santa Monica bar by any means. The inside is dark with a retro 1970’s vibe, plenty of seating and a bumper pool table. They have a great selection of beer at reasonable prices and even some chips and White Castle burgers for the inebriated that can’t make it to the McDonald’s across the street, lol. Awesome local spot with great bartenders.

Deducting one star because a friend was denied water for not being a «customer». I understand «there’s no such thing as a free lunch», but we brought a party of 30 on a Wednesday night to an otherwise dead bar.
As a paying customer, I found the assumed owner and other bartender to be courteous and helpful. The place offers an appealing craft beer menu. And the Charles Bukowski-​themed décor adds a dash of profundity to your average night out.

This is a great place! Very clean and nice smiles and happy atmosphere. They don’t serve hard liquor but they have a «sujo «version basically 24% 48 proof liquor. Gives you a nice buzz and a more mature crowd.

Awesome place for happy hour. Quiet enough for groups, but gets loud when a little later into the night. Great selection and friendly service. Parking in the back.

What a fun place! Three of us snagged a seat at the bar, which ended up being really lucky — the bartenders are quite busy mixing drinks, so it did take a little while to get our drinks.
They have an awesome selection of beers on tap, as well as mixed drinks made with Han Vodka and Han Soju. They also sell bottles of wine for $ 28 each (ALL THEIR BOTTLES!) plus a BEER FLOAT made with alcoholic root beer, which changed my life.
There is parking in the rear and meters on the streets!

Lured in by the laid-​back vibe and the super nice owner, we had a joint 30^th birthday party at Barkowski and it was the best!
The owners reserved all of the booths for our party and let us bring in a bunch of pizza that we ordered as well as cupcakes. This is the sort of bar with menus from local restaurants on the counter for ordering in which is so cool. The vibe is very neighborhood-​y. All of our friends were happy with the very reasonable (especially for Santa Monica) prices and the fact that we were able to bring in our own stuff really helped us out as the organizers. The bartenders were really nice and even once the place got packed no one had to wait much for a drink at all.
My dad «held the table» at bumper pool all night which also made him very happy.
Huge cheers to Richard for helping us get the party all set up and being really chill. I foresee many nights at Barkowski in my future.

no bullshit bar
expansive beer and wine list, you can buy wine by the bottle too.

Love this place. 5 stars for the cleverness of the name alone. Chill neighborhood dive bar with a literary twist. Bukowski quotes everywhere. Had a delicious $ 8 Moscow Mule in a candlelit booth. The bartender was super friendly. It was quiet without being TOO quiet. Next time, instead of meeting a friend here, I’m going to go alone and work on my novel, Bukowski /​Hemingway-​style.

Love this bar! I’ve been here twice and I still haven’t been let down. The drinks are affordable (especially for Santa Monica), the atmosphere is super chill, and bumper pool is super fun!
The staff here is really nice, especially the owner (didn’t catch his name); he came by when we were trying to look up bumper pool rules online like idiots, and taught us how to play. :)
Barkowski is the perfect dive bar — not boogie at all, which I very much like.

I love Barkowski, and John who co-​owns the bar is a very smart, friendly and cool guy.
I don’t know how busy Barkowski gets but I guess I’ve always been there quite late because I’ve never had trouble finding a quiet spot to be — and, well, that’s just when my friends are available, which kind of adds to the whole ‘underground poet’ feel of the joint.
You’d classify this place as a ‘dive bar’, but in the best possible sense. In a world so jaded and cynical due to the lack of faith we have in our duplicitous politicians, hypocritical religious leaders, and conceited superficial self-​appointed celebrity icons, it is nice to have a den like Barkowski to which we may escape and immerse ourselves in the fantasy of sharing a glass of beer or six with one of America’s (and indeed the world’s) most influential writers (and to the reviewers who say Bukowski wouldn’t have gone here, why so serious? JFK also wouldn’t have spent much time at the airport named after him, and George W. Bush most certainly wouldn’t be found at the Presidential Library and Museum bearing his moniker).
A really cool and unique layout and design (one day I must sit up on that kitschy mezzanine seating and check out the view), perfect dim lighting, music not too loud, along with darts and some strange pool table-​type thing that I asked about once but keep forgetting to try, this is a local that I can always count on to cater to my ‘let’s meet for a late-​night drink and talk philosophy, politics, art, science, metaphysics, poetry, pop culture, ideas, beers, and the most important of all — love for life and all it brings with it.
Barkowski also has loads of local food menus so that you can order and have it delivered there, which is awesome at the end of the night when you really need to re-​line the stomach.
Cheers to Bukowski for inspiring Barkowski for inspiring me.

Stumbled upon this hole in the wall.
Super chill spot. Drink selection was on point and the bartender for that Saturday night was a babe.
Will return for the vibe, ambiance and the babe bartender.
Beastie Babe ;)

Bumper pool!
Yes, as others have written, Charles Bukowski would not have gone here to drink. But if you read his stuff he just stopped going to bars all together. He much preferred drinking on his own in front of his typewriter so let’s stop saying that. They don’t have hard liquor, they don’t have good food or music but somehow it’s fun here

They have bumper pool here, darts, room to move around, and just good times. I love their drinks, service and atmosphere and it’s my friends’ go to when we try to think of a place to meet up after work.
John and his team are the best and the nicest people.
A plus — you can actually hear people talk here AND watch a game if you want!

I can’t believe I never made it to this spot in the past! I’m not sure how new it is… or if it is new at all? Anyway, I parked in the back when I arrived for their Happy Hour. There was plenty of parking during that time.
I rolled in expecting a total dive bar, but was surprised to see how clean and nice it was! This place is pretty f*cking awesome. The bartender was also a very cool, super friendly dude. I tried their Moscow Mule and it was delish. I will definitely be going back to Barkowski!

Great Place.
Looking for kind bartanders and good beers with great mood?
Definitly all here.

Looks like a full bar but it’s not! They only have beer, wine and soju cocktails. I’m ok with soju cocktails at a restaurant but if I’m going to a bar I want the real deal.
I had the michelada and they made it from a pre-​made mix that tasted awful. Like a bad bloody with beer NOT a michelada and not freshly made.
The «pool table» is a weird smaller version of a pool table with random bumpers… not sure what they call this game but it is strange.
Quiet disappointed overall as the reviews were great. If I lived walking distance to this bar I’d come back but it is not worth making a special trip for.

An attempt at a stylish… asylum?
I have no idea what the interior designer, of the Barkowski had in mind. What is up with the combination of PADDED, vinyl walls and HARSH lighting?!? I don’t get it, but whatevs… Anyhoo, the bar pays homage to a literary alcoholic of the 1960’s, so the place is decorated with large pictures of Charles Bukowski and his musings. Other than that, there is a bumper pool table and dart-​board for more entertainment…
The Barkowski was dead –was NOT going up… on a Tuesday (the past 2÷24÷15, yeah my review is a little late). We arrived past happy hour, around 9pm, so maybe that had something to do with it. Happy hour is 5−7pm everyday and drinks cost anywhere from $ 5-​$ 13, which is only a couple bucks cheaper from regular hour prices.
I’d be willing to check it out on another night… because my Pom Lychee Martini (Han vodka, lychee and pomegranate juice) was that good.

This is a great watering hole with a parking lot, bumper pool and a great selection of beers.
I don’t come to the west side often, but when I do, I Barkowski…
Play some bumper pool or darts and enjoy an evening.

I kinda dig the vibe of this place. I came on a weekday Holiday evening, so probably not the best time to gauge the crowd. In fact, we were one of the few people here all night. We did come from 6 – 9:30pm, so not exactly primetime for a bar.
In any case, Happy Hour here rocks. Moscow Mule for $ 5? Yes please! Fairly strong, but delicious. The theme is Russian and Red. The name of the bar is a play a Russian alcohol «connoisseur» named Bukowski. In any case, some plush leather seatbacks, red tall chairs, and a bunch of tall tables makes this place an interesting place to hang out with friends. It wasn’t too loud here (because there weren’t other people).
It kind of feels like a hidden local patrons bar. You’re not going to find too many tourists here!