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Arrow Bar - CLOSED
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Street
- Music:
- DJ, Live
- Best Nights:
- Thu
Lulu W. said: "After Alembic, my friends decided to go to a different bar. I'm definitely down to try a new bar since I'm new to the area!! This place had the Vodka of my choice along with the mixers that Alembic did not have. I was tempted to try…" read more »
88 reviews for Arrow Bar
Review Highlights
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"Frisco Disco is always goodtimes." In 6 reviews -
"I almost got in a classic punk rock fight here." In 4 reviews -
"...classics, you get on the dance floor and rock your body." In 11 reviews
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88 reviews in English
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Review from christopher a.
San Francisco, CA
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Review from Paul R.
Brooklyn, NY
10/21/2007
I once had an incredible night dancing with Parker Posey to The Smiths in a cavernous dive in the East Village. Her blonde male companion sat staring at us for 30 minutes while I wisped her around the dance floor to the sounds of "This Charming Man," "Bigmouth Strikes Again," and more. Alas, she left with him.
The scene at Arrow Bar in San Francisco came really close to what I felt that night in New York, and that's why I loved it.
Cavernous - check.
Wild dancing to The Smiths - check.
Girls who looked like Parker Posey - check.
This new place is unbelievably lame compared to the legendary Institution that was Arrow. Think bridge and tunnel spam, cheesy oil paintings and the worst pop music imaginable.
You will be missed.Listed in: The Places I Go Out
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Review from Omid T.
11/3/2006
Indier than thou, that's for sure. I used to hate this place. Not only because of the stink, the skanks, or the craptacular layout, but also because I was always treated like I wasn't cool enough to be there. And if you know me, I'm cool enough to be ANYWHERE.
So I don't know if it's undergone a change, or perhaps I'm now more accepted by the hipster set because I have a really shitty haircut - either way, I get treated better in here now, so it's my defacto stop before a show at the Warfield.
That said, it's still filthy, nasty, and oh-too-hip to be a destination.
And how they have the gall to charge cover sometimes or to book bands is beyond me. My poor friend's band was shoved into the corner for a gig there, just before playing Fillmore-sized venues on a UK tour. Mad disrespect. -
Review from mynameisdavid m.
San Francisco, CA
12/28/2005
[edit] aw...for all the shit ive talked about the arrow over the years, it was actually comforting to know a filthy night of meaningless but reliable debauchery was always just a cab ride away...i'll miss the feckin place! [/edit]
besides the endless fashion-on-display posing here, there's nothing punk about the arrow. nothing. i have noticed that it's like a breeding ground for desperate young coke whores. it's a little depressing actually, so i've only been here four or five times in the last two years. -
Review from R M.
San Francisco, CA
2/15/2007
The Arrow: Always has interesting bartenders
***Shout Out to Hot Gay Josh and Universe(her name is Universe how could she NOT be interesting?) ***
Great place for a drink between 5:00 and 7:00pm. Any later than that and the Hipsters show up and get territorial (which can be fun to watch) and for some reason, every DJ there turns the music up to intolerable levels. The Cave motif makes me want to paper mache' my ceiling with stalagmites (or is it -tites?)
Overall, if you're looking for a nice non-confrontational drink, check out Arrow before 7:00. -
Review from karl l.
San Francisco, CA
2/5/2007
Not sure the usual crowd that goes here but it certainly gave off the Emo/Goth vibe, strangely the Bar tender had a Darth Vader costume on, minus the helmet (actually added a star for that). Pretty good atmos in a dive bar kind of way, good beer, a DJ in the cave in the back, all in all I spent a not unpleasant hour here.
Also worth mentioning there is an awesome Vietnamese restaurant next door, and a great burrito place 2 doors down (toward market). Anyone know what those are called? -
Review from Drue C.
San Francisco, CA
10/23/2006
Perhaps I just went on the wrong night but can sum this place up in one word - yuck!
It seems like a dive, the restrooms are nasty enough to qualify, the bar sticky enough, the draft flat enough, but alas, it isnt a dive so loses all the "dirty nasty dive" points instantly.
I think this bar used to be a dive, and I would have likely enjoyed it as just that, IF the scensters hadn't come in and changed all of that. No self respecting TL dive would charge $5 for a well drink and charge a cover to boot. Just so you can hang out with a bunch of 20 something mods who are stealing that hip look from the 60s because they cant find one of their own.
Shame on Arrow for allowing those kids to drive out the old man sitting on the barstool he has probably populated every day for the past 30 years. Shame, shame, shame.
This place will eventually be a dive once more - its got all of the nasty ,sticky elements just waiting in the lurch. Maybe when it reclaims that title I will go back. For now I am done with this place. -
Review from Thadd L.
San Francisco, CA
12/11/2006
This place is just too nostalgic for me these days. I remember the dot-com boom happened right around the time that I was turning 21 and getting into the bar scene. There was a distinction between being in the mission duking it out with the bar 6 nights a week in hipster heaven around 16th and Valencia.
God, I was kicked out of the Kilowatt 3 times in one week. This is where I got my wheels. Just around the time that I was growing out of that kind of scene (mission hip heaven) the arrow bar showed up...
At the time I talked a fair amount of shit on the place as it was 'new' and trying to be more gritty than all of the places that I came up in... don't try me dudes..... So, I kind of had to hate this place and the drug fueled parties that happened there.. for no good reason.
Then I came back to Arrow a few times this year and it reminds me of exactly what it was like to be in the mission 7 years ago, I think it is because the drinks are strong as shit, cheap and it is so dark that you can't tell if your date is even cute. -
Review from Angela N.
2/5/2006
I have to update my review, and change the number of stars from 3 to 5, because Arrow has become my dive of choice. Every Friday you get '80's music, some indie and a packed crowd - it's bloody awesome. The bartenders are messy, receptive, wildly generous and down to take shots with you. In many drunk instances I have looked up at Arrow's neon three-headed snake and paid worshipful homage.
On the first Monday of the month pop in for Shoegazer night, which is when you can listen to your favourite Loveless tracks and just chill. Crazy mellow compared to Fridays but mellow suits the haunting guitar riffs.
There are two loos but generally everyone goes into the girls' one. I've used the mens' one once and it was cramped and uncute.Listed in: Have a Drink, Have a Glass
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Review from Coco D.
Philadelphia, PA
6/2/2006
I can't believe I just gave the Arrow Bar five stars. Whatever. Frisco Disco is the best place to have a great time with people you hate. Like, if these same people were at the Rickshaw (and they are) I'd be having a horrible time. I don't know what it is. Magic, perhaps.
3.18.07 Edit: RIP Frisco Disco. -
Review from cindy n.
San Francisco, CA
1/5/2007
What?! Only 73 reviews. I know more of you sorry suckers have been here. I've seen you, all of you.
I hate this place but it's just one of those places that keep sucking you back in, like some black hole. It's always somebody's night or something of that sort. But I do have some fond memories of drinking in crack alley with Dave the door guy and watching my friend get his money ganked by the junkies.
p.s. I've had more fun in that alley then I ever had at Arrow.
1 Star for being so dirrrty. -
Review from Mary R.
San Francisco, CA
9/19/2006
First time it was some time in January and I had a blast. It was the Frisco Disco and the beats were making me move my feet. Some cheap choices available for beer and a group of random girls in the bathroom offered me a line of coke.
Second time, meh. Third time, bleh. Fourth time, lame.
Actually I think 2 of the 4 times I've been someone inside had the worst B.O I've ever smelt in my life. I wanted to vomit. It's a tight little dance floor so when it's filled with hipsters it can get pretty ripe in there.
It's really hit or miss I think and it depends a lot on the DJ playing. I've given up on it lately. But I'm sure it can still have it's good moments.Listed in: Shaken' it here!
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Review from Christopher K.
San Francisco, CA
2/6/2007
I've been to the Arrow a few times now. I don't hate it, I don't love it. I usually go there to meet friends who have a fondness for the place. This bar has some good things going for it. The back half of the joint has a modest dance floor, with the surrounding walls fashioned as though you were in a cave. There's a tiny DJ booth to go along with it.
This particular time we went, the bartender was dressed in a cheap Darth Vader suit sans helmet. He was also particularly friendly and hard working. Bonus.
Lastly, for those who are wondering, this place is not a dive bar. Charging a cover at the door instantly disqualifies you from being a dive. Period. End of discussion. There's no coming back from that one. Being in a seedy neighborhood doesn't make up for it. Having nasty bathrooms won't change the grade. Old signs hanging behind the bar? Nope. Sorry.
Don't worry. I'm sure I'll be back again even if it's not a dive. -
Review from John G.
San Francisco, CA
4/7/2007
Q: What's the difference between a hooker and a whore?
A: A hooker is the poor gal who works her trade on the mean streets immediately outside the Arrow, taking cash from desperate men in return for desperate sexual acts, whereas a whore is a typically coked-out middle-class pig (male or female) who sluts their way around the inside of the Arrow and acts like they're so effing cool for being so urban and dissolute.
Needless to say, I can do without whores. Even when I have money to spend, they're not worth a dime. At least hookers are honest about their own existence.
What's really sad is that I like the bar architecture itself: The front area feels like an Art Deco cocktail lounge that went into a coma around 1937 and woke up again in 1975, only to find someone had added a miniature back dance floor with glittery disco stalactites on the ceiling. And the toilet is almost as gnarly as CBGB's legendary pissbox. I could imagine spending some serious time here, curling my nose up to a whisky glass and ignoring the sober world.
Alas, I can't ignore the usual Arrow Bar clientele. They're worse than slumming hipsters...they're slumming losers who would give their trust funds to BE hipsters, but instead they're just pathetic geeks who give their trust funds to their coke dealers and pretend like the DJs are totally skilled and "radd," even if they're merely cueing up one predictable K-Tel Records retro meatball after another.
Three stars for the architecture.
Negative one star for the people.
I hope neighbors from the local SROs decide to camp out here someday and scare the slumming twerps away for good. It's always a shame when spoiled, self-congratulatory brats ruin what could otherwise be a fine place to drink. -
Review from Amanda H.
San Francisco, CA
1/29/2006
Had to set a girl straight here once and I must say I felt quite at home doing it too.
And those bartender's comped my drinks for the rest of the night without any expectation set! Now that was the real twist of the evening...Listed in: Bartender Connoisseur
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Review from Aimee M.
Chicago, IL
2/1/2006
Arrow bar Saturday Night is rocking... discofunktastic..
Any place that lets a diva sit on the bar and flash her panties while pumping to the dropped bass line is A-ok in my book.
From the street, you wouldn't think much about Arrow bar.. I wandered in, on a cold rainy night.. and in a matter of minutes, i was dancing on the floor, keeping time with the beat and making friends with fellow techfunkers..
For a good time, stop by Arrow Bar..Listed in: Shake your Groove thang...…
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Review from Marie S.
San Francisco, CA
12/22/2006
I would totally love this place if:
a) I were 19 and just scored a fake ID.
b) I had a closet full of bad vintage clothing that I wanted desperately to show off.
c) I wanted to hear all the same records I have at home that I've heard for the past 10 years.
d) I wasn't afraid of sticking to the floor permanently.
Cheap drinks are what allow me to give it more than one star.
I've been here at least 5 times, and never have I been impressed.
Thank god there's so rarely to never a DJ I want to hear play records playing here or else I'd have to venture to this cavern of cocaine more often. -
Review from Karen F.
San Francisco, CA
8/17/2006
WHY one of my friends loves this place is beyond my comprehension....everyone here seems like a friggin' zombie. I've been here 2-3 times, and I for some reason, I feel like I'm on the set of Beetlejuice or something.
It's really, really dark, and you've got to deal with all the 6th St. BS, and the last time I was there, the DJ had "technical difficuties" with his turntables. Shit son, get it together already! I do remember sipping on a rather strong Gin and Tonic, so I may go back someday for that.
Oh, and there was a spider in the women's rather coked-out bathroom, and just outside the bar, some homeless people were about to beat the shit out of each other with steel pipes. They also had couch at one point, but took it away...
Eff that.
Update 10/26/2006: the couch is back!! Three stars. -
Review from D S.
San Francisco, CA
12/13/2005
Just got back from my first trip to arrow bar. The place was about 1/3 full of locals - an eclectic mix of tough looking folks and punk rock types. Music was average 80's stuff. Nothing special. Drinks were very affordable & well made, bartenders & the rest of the staff were excellent.
Decor was random to say the least and the paper mache cave thing in the dance floor was pretty funky.
The mens bathroom smelled funny - so i made a run for the girls room and had my friends watch my back.
Overall, a place i would go again if asked - but not somewhere i would take a first date... I just moved into the neighborhood, so i will be sure to update this next time i check it out. -
Review from Dani B.
San Francisco, CA
4/16/2007
Ive never really liked this bar, and yet i somehow always end up there for too long.
The two stars are for the two cute girlie bartenders that work there that are super nice to you no matter what.
The reasons why this place sucks:
1) always a cover..... they should be thankful that i even want to go into that hole in the wall.... shoot they should pay me
2) always a line on the weekends as if its some great club
3) music selection not so great. they always end up mashing really good songs together in to one big un-dance-able mess, and the speakers in there always cut out.
4) and finally one night my friend and i sat there for about 4 hours waiting for the guest dj who we really wanted to see only for her to never show up.
i don't understand why this bar is so "hip"
oh wait yes i do... have to powder your nose?
gross -
Review from dong d.
CA
2/23/2007
Sometimes "cokewhore-infested dive" isn't an insult. Arrow Bar brings this to a science. Every night here is formulaic lolariousness. If only the bathrooms were better for rails.
As a professional art critic I find the decor of this dive tacky yet acceptable. -
Review from Kimmie N.
Berkeley, CA
1/7/2006
The venue is dark and narrow, with a small dance floor in the back, and odd fixtures hanging off the walls. The music is...well loud. The type of place you'd like to come dressed down to, except that most folks here are dressed up in some punk-hister-emo sort of way.
It's not a bad time if you go with friends but trying to find parking by those crack hotels is pretty unappealing. Especially when you're maneuvering past bums pissing against the walls and the numerous shit rags littered on the sidewalk. You're better off going down to Mission instead. At least there, the crackheads look like normal people. -
Review from Matt C.
San Francisco, CA
4/25/2007
The dance floor is one of the smallest in the city, but one of the most packed (usually). A good way to tell if it's going to be a rockin night at Arrow: only go in if they are charging a cover, otherwise its sure to be a slow night.
The drinks are cheap and there are often people with their shirts off. If that's not your scene then I can't help you. It is the Frisco Disco afterall.
05/16/07 UPDATE:
For $160,000 it can be yours.
http://www.loopnet.com...; -
Review from Mike V.
7/22/2005
I only stayed here for a few drinks with my date until a private Party at Mr. Smiths finished up. But the drinks were affordable and the bartenders (and the owner behind the bar) were accommodating and quick.
I highly recommend those of you who, like me, enjoy the scene at ANU(cross the street) and MR. SMITH'S (down the long alley or down market at 7th) should go to Arrow, have a few drinks, and then go to Anu, if they make you wait in line, you'll enjoy the experience a lot more and when inside, your wallet will thank you. -
Review from Teddy d.
San Francisco, CA
3/5/2007
So Bambi was out on the usual Friday night round about and started at Olive.
Jonathan: Ring Ring: Hey Bambi It's Jonathan. I just left the Clift and am having a drink at Rye. Are you at Olive?
Bambi: Hey yes...come over am hanging out with Ms Buss and the gang.
Jonathan: see you in 5...by the way I want to go check out Arrow...
30 minutes go by 2 drinks and a shot later we jump in a Cab and head to Arrow.
Cab pulls up and as soon as we get out...Jeff (the bartender) and the door guy spot us and Jeff tells the Door guy "make sure you ID these bitches and search them"...
Bambi is now cracking up and bends over to be searched... (Where is my photographer when I need him?) then we go inside and the place is kind of empty and the DJ is spinning George Michael Remixed ...we order a drink and now Bambi is jumpy and starts dancing with the bartender... another drink and now am ready to get on top of the bar to strip...
Wow...music changes...now we have Michael Jackson's Thriller ...and in walks in The Salt and Pepper crew...
#1 Shaniqua wearing head to toe Addidas sweats in green and yellow screaming BRAZIL and had her hair braided in a bun in the same color ...yes Yellow and Green synthetic hair. ($2.99 at the hair shop for bunch)
#2 Shanene (baby was about 5'5 and 225lbs) wearing a low cut Tee showing not a cleavage but a cave big enough to hide a 40 ounce Bud and tight white pants (come on now girlfriend...It screams there is an elephant in the room).
and #3 Marqita (the skinny one) dressed in blue jeans and PINK yes I said PINK braids to match her Tee.
Wow Bambi got competition now... so much for getting up on the Bar. And the nerve...in an almost empty bar they all decide to come and sit right next to Bambi and guess what they ordered? A LONG ISLAND...so GHETTO. Mean while Jonathan is confused and is trying to figure out why these Heffas came into Arrow of all places to get their grove on ...and let me tell you they did. They took over the tiny empty dance floor and wouldn't budge. Bambi was done... Bambi got beat on the dance floor by 3 Heffas from Double Rock (the real Hood in SF) on a Friday night in a Punk bar and had to bum rush out of there to a more familiar territory. And with that I rushed Jonathan out the door and said good bye and good night...and headed to OSB.
OK the real deal: drinks are cheap, it is a dive, and yes the Men's restroom is a shit hole...probably the most stinky restroom I have ever walked into in my life... -
Review from Stanley K.
San Francisco, CA
4/29/2006
this bar isn't located in the best side of town, but if you are in need of dancing with some really cool dj's and musicians, this place is the place to be. With indie rock, techno, and some old school classics, you get on the dance floor and rock your body!
Guest Dj's and local upcoming rock stars are always looking for a small venue to boogie. The bartender are cool and make a hell of a drink. -
Review from Cindy P.
San Francisco, CA
11/27/2006
The bathrooms stink and the floors are sticky. The bar gets crowded later on and you can barely move. Cab drivers have been hesitant to drop me off in this neighborhood. Homeless people have pestered me inside the bar.
Yet I still crave this bar like the patrons crave coke...
Saturday night, Frisco Disco is a blast to dance to. The drinks are strong and cheap and how can you go wrong at a place that gets you so loaded, so quickly, that you stop noticing there are too many people not wearing deodorant? I come here with my girl friends for one thing--to dance our asses off.
Don't have hipster style? Just come in black--that's what 90% of the clientele is wearing. -
Review from Jackie I.
San Francisco, CA
2/6/2007
Gross. It smells here. The bathrooms are all kinds of McNasty. This place is gay. And by 'gay', I mean it sucks not homosexual.
Plus, people here seem to have the idea that they're just way too cool for school And that, my friends, makes you automatically lame. -
Review from Mikee L.
San Francisco, CA
7/21/2005
Went here regularly for a bit with a girl friend of mine. The Sundays were off the hook and was a great excuse to get smashed on cheap canned beer. What I found funny was that at other clubs those top 40 R&B club remixes were so played out, but here it fit perfectly! Total hell and high water attitudes. Do I fit in? Hell no, and you probably won't too, but it's fun to watch the crowd.
But damn, I'm starting to feel old in that place! -
Review from Angela C.
Berkeley, CA
8/3/2005
Ahhhhhh...Mission and 6th. I love it. This place is small but they consistently have good people spinning good music.
I'm down. -
Review from Thomas M.
San Francisco, CA
4/4/2008
Arrow bar, when you existed, you were a mess.
Kinda glad you're gone. -
Review from Brian H.
Alexandria, VA
7/28/2006
This place is completely hit or miss.
First of all: non scenesters beware - you will stick out like everyone's business. The bathrooms are the most god awful piece of destructive real estate you will ever see. I think most nights are "Pee on the Floor" night? I'm not positive, but I'll look into it.
The music is usually decent although I don't find it easy to strike up a dance with a random girl here.
Note: Started making out with a hot seemingly 21 year old blond here...until she asked my age: 23. She told me she was 34 and that I was too young...terrible. -
Review from John M.
San Francisco, CA
2/5/2007
The requisite dirty goth hotbox coke bar. Strange cave-like decor in back. Rad, hardscrabble-feeling location.
Sweetest discovery of the night -- aidan finding a super-intense black rubber-wrapped police-style handcuff chained to the parking meter in front. -
Review from Stephanie L.
San Francisco, CA
4/7/2008
I met my boyfriend outside the Arrow Bar so I have to give it 3 stars.
Provided me with enough entertainment on nights where there was nothing else/ better to do.
Arrow Bar-you're better in my memories anyway. -
Review from Julia B.
Fairfield, CA
3/14/2006
It's a fun place to go every once in a while. The bartenders are hot, the entertainment is definitely abundant, and the music is too loud. Just like every club should be! Hipsters shake their booties all over the place here, with a "max capacity" of 45, these 150-200 folks bunched up in there make it hard to squeeze to the (already crowded) restroom!
Jefrodisiac and Richie Panic rock.
The staff is quite nice as long as you are! -
Review from pul f.
San Francisco, CA
7/2/2006
This place is a total dive. The first time I came here, I did not think that much of it, but after we got to the next joint, I wanted to come back. Every dancie dance place I go makes me wish I was at the Arrow Bar. The drinks are ok, the music can suck, but people actually dance, and they are having fun doing it. The place is too filthy to sit down in, so you are kind of forced to either dance or leave.
Oh, and the transients in front of the bar are the most entertaining in the city. Sometime I have more fun in front of the Arrow Bar, than in it. -
Review from Jrno O.
San Francisco, CA
9/5/2006
_Worst (guys) bathroom in san francisco
_But Saturday nights at 1am the place goes off.
_Also 4 people can fit in the girls bathroom toilet stall at one time. -
Review from Jason W.
Oakland, CA
9/17/2007
This is a place you would go to cut a line of coke, snort it off the bar, and then pound 6 shots of dirty ass vodka. Only to turn around and slit your wrist with a rusty knife used to cut rotten limes for flat, very cheap, and nasty skunked Mexican beer.
Listed in: Places I get drunk, Nasty As Hell, Smells Like…
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Review from Jill K.
Rockville, MD
11/3/2006
a must-see on the hipster/indie bar tour of sf.
arrow has crazy, funky decor... almost like a sparkly cave inside. great music, interesting crowd. not a place i frequent but fun every once in a while. its definitely much better later in the evening when the crowd picks up. -
Review from Brian B.
San Francisco, CA
2/6/2007
Hey Jackie, you know what else makes you automatically lame? Using the word "gay" to mean that something sucks. I think I'm gonna start using the word "Jackie" to mean that something sucks.
The bathroom in the Arrow is totally Jackie. The crazy crackheads outside are totally Jackie too. One time I was at the Arrow, I got punched in the face by a guy that I never even said a word to, or even looked at before, that was kinda Jackie, but kinda gay as well (and by gay, I mean awesome). Still, this is a real deal, DIVE. I've had fun dancing there. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could.
