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Categories: Sports Bars, Karaoke
Neighborhood: Potrero Hill
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My friends and I stumbled across Jacks this Thursday night and were amazed! It is such a neighborhood dive bar, but when you walk in the Karaoke is blaring, everybody is dancing and singing along and the drinks are so cheap!
It is rare to find a club that actually plays decent music that is fun to dance to and doesn't require booty grinding the stranger next to you. Not only does Jacks have a great selection of Karaoke songs, but the dj is a character all himself. While we were there he was singing backup for singers, playing a saxophone during the melody breaks of songs and even busted out a cowbell to which the entire bar kept yelling, "I need more cowbell!"
So fun!
This place rules so hard, at least on Thursday nights. Came here to play pool since every other place we saw was crowded with hipsters and bro dudes. It was a bit like culture shock stepping into the place, but in the best way possible. It was hot and sweaty with people jam-packed onto the floor. I slowly made my way through the crowd to the bar and ordered a drink. Minus one star for having to wait so damn long with zero acknowledgment from those working, but my drink ended up being strong and not too expensive.
I found my companion amid the ruckus and he was already dancing to the music...see Thursday nights are karaoke nights with a really rad DJ dude who plays his saxophone along with the songs and even throws in back-up vocals. And the karaoke itself? Amazing. I've never seen a more talented, enthusiastic group of performers. It's almost as if they spend all week practicing and gearing up for this event. And with the performers in the crowd on the dance floor, it makes for the ultimate bonding experience.
Anyway, great vibe and energy, and we didn't even end up playing pool but had a fantastic time regardless! I'll be back, Jack's.
After being extremely jollied out with holiday cheer and rounding each corner with a plastered smile on my face, shopping until I wanted to ram a tire up the chick's arse who stole my parking spot, and for weeks greeting family and friends with hugs and presents...I needed to have a drink in a low-key bar where nobody knows my name! (which actually can be any bar! Hehe.)
PERFECT TIMING - A few friends were doing a gig at Jack's Club on Sunday night. I was ready to wash all that Holiday love out of my system with a nice cold beer while drowning my attention in the familiar lyrics of my friends' songs.
This place is definitely a local hangout with its regulars yelling out brash remarks like "Get the fuck out of my chair!" as their way of saying "Hello, glad you can make it."
I saw the regular meth addict fall into the club and converse with demons, then, shuffle back outside to howl at the moon. There were old-timers that got shit-faced drunk before falling out onto the sidewalk.
The bartender was a nice woman who served up our drinks with a friendly smile, but I am confident that you don't want to mess with her.
The bar has a karaoke night on Tuesdays. Welcomes seasoned and amateur musicians to perform on Sunday nights.
OVERALL: A very roomy bar with a pool table in the back. Very Divey. Great atmosphere to be left alone with your $2 beer or to chat up friends and bar regulars. Cool place to discover local musicians.
We have all had that friend who says they are an actress because they were in a psychic hot line commercial or they are a personal trainer because they gave their friend some workout tips at the gym that they read in Fitness Today or they are a head chef.....at Subway. Yeah. Jacks is sort of like that.
Its your average Joe neighborhood bar but it says it is something else. It is a sports bar because it has an RCA TV or two, circa 1982, mounted to the wall. It is artsy and hip because it has open mic night although not one person actually goes up to the mic to be open about anything. It is a music venue but only if they can find someone to play to an audience of 10.
It is what it is but it is not what it says. What it really is is a bar that opens at 6AM and has some regulars that like it just the way it is. This is completely okay, Jack's just needs to stop fronting.
Drinks were relatively cheap and the people were cool, but man,
They wouldn't play my song on the karaoke!!! I was so insulted!!!!
After eating at St Francis today for brunch, a couple friends and I mosied over to Jack's for a drink.
My friend Mikey K said he found this place was reviewed highly for their Po' Boys.
We walked up to the place and before entering, it reeked of rotting shellfish. It was a mild stench, but a stench, nonetheless... (ewwwwwwww)
I figured that beer is beer, so we went in anyway. Mikey K says this place is very New Orleans, but it ain't. Sorry Mikey! New Orleans is my favorite city and I've been more times than i can count. This ain't N'awlins.
The do have a nice hole-in-the-wall feel to it, which I like and had some pinball-like games in the back that caught my eye.
We just had beer, and it was otherwise dead, but it's Superbowl Sunday, so I expect most places are dead. No stars lost for this though. I love a mostly empty bar and today was one of those times.
I can only give this place 2 stars because I'd probably never come back again. They do make all kinds of cajun style food, but the list on the kitchen door of what they didn't have was at least 9 items long (most everything they could possibly make was listed including all sorts of seafood, gumbo, et cetera. I think the only thing NOT 69'd was the Po' Boys.
They do have a karaoke night, so maybe this place is fun at that time of night. But a karaoke lover friend of mine said that someone's been shot here during a karaoke night. So I won't be coming for that. Hell, I can't sing anyway.
2 Stars. 1 for the nice service we got and 2 for a decent list of beers on tap. I think there are at least 9, so BONUS for that unexpected surprise.
Five stars for Thursday nights with DJ Purple for karaoke! This place is hopping. This place is popping!
Cool crowd, excellent song book. OMG. You haven't lived until your song performance is pumped up with the sax stylings or harmonica solos of our incredible KJ!
Mad fun. Very reasonably priced drinks. Easy parking.
I went back on Saturday; this may turn into a Saturday habit, at about 1 PM this time. I was planning on just a beer and a sandwich but had such a good time I ended up staying for a couple hours. I would have stayed longer but I was supposed to meet some people at toronado.
It was a little quieter this time around; there was only one old timer at the bar and just a few other customers while I was there. I met the Saturday regular Tommy who not only does not have a computer but he prides himself on still using a rotary phone. Anita is a good bartender, very personable, I haven't seen her in action when it was busy but for an afternoon bartender you can't ask for more.
This is an interesting bar. I was there on a Saturday afternoon and there were old timers at the bar… Read more »
What is my attraction to a crappy bar? I'm not one of those trendy PBR guys that has to validate my masculinity by hanging out with scrubs and cheap suds. Nonetheless, I'm always on the hunt for a good local's divebar.
My friends live down the street from Jacks and I love when we go over there. Here's a few tidbits about Jacks because that's the way they would want it.
-The bartenders have a heavy pouring hand.
-There is a jukebox with everything from oldschool RnB to low rider classics to indie rock.
-The customers looked pickled.
-No metroclowns.
-They let my buddy's dog in.
-Go on a day when the hipsters do not take it over...the regulars are real and cool as hell.
-You have to be a real malfunction up to get thrown out of Jacks.
What a s#^thole...but that's why I like it ;)
go
I got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell!!!
Karaoke rocked so hard. My ears are still ringing.
Goodness, I forgot what the real Nission is like. Not Casanova, not 500 Club (that place jumped the shark after they put in carpeting), certainly not Delirium or some other crap like that. Nope, the real deal is a place like Jack's Club.
This is a bar's bar. Nothing fancy, not even trying. Stiff drinks, honest pours by sweet ladies who are more like your (Mexican) mom, rather than a hot mama. It's all in the neighborhood here: whether you're a Mission hipster, Mexican dude living nearby, or passing troubadour, there's a shared commonality in a cold beer.
There's a pool room in back. There's a jukebox (with its own stool for leisurely selection). And it's not digital, so you're stuck with the tunes, and that's a good thing.
Order some New Orleans food from Yats', located right on premises, and you might wonder why you ever have to leave.
One bar, with two Irma's! What are the chances of that?
Owner Irma is the nicest sweetest bartendress. I've been coming to Jack's at 6a.m. on sunday mornings for almost a year now and Irma always makes our early morning lonely hearts club a fun, positive experience, and it could easily be a depressing, alcoholocaust of a time. She even makes us breakfast sometimes. She lets us break many laws in the back room (gambling, smoking, jumping the cue ball...) What a gal!
I usually leave here pretty plastered at around 10 in the morning and walk home down 25th Street and sometimes attempt to smoke drugs with my friend Colin, while families are dressed up in their Sunday best and headed out to church. I guess for me, getting stoned with my co-workers and then drinking until the sun in high in the sky after 12 hours of work is kind of like church, too.
Oh, and one time I went to a really awesome Shitstorm show here when the great Katie Salas did a stint as the bartender. It was a really fun show and there were lots of younger punks and friendly moshing and crowd surfing, and it's such a small space, it was just ridiculously awesome. Shitstorm were a great band. Thanks for the memories!
I'd been meaning to check out this place for awhile but never motivated myself to. Then my friend Jack came to town....and my fate was sealed for obvious reasons. This place has the benefit of being awesomely close to my apartment and the people who show up for karaoke Thursday nights are all over the mic like fat kids on cake. There was an additional bonus....three very blond kids who dressed like they just escaped from an Amish cult who were singing 90's top 40 hits like they hadn't been allowed to listen to the radio or dance in the last 10 years. AWESOME.
Minus one star for overly priced, poorly proportioned drinks. Although they had some pretty crappy beer for cheap, I tend to stick to the harder of alcoholic beverages. My long island was 8 dollars, came in the tiniest glass I'd ever seen, and was packed full of ice....two sips and it was done.
The saxophone playing dj will kick out the jams on Thursday nights for your Karaoke needs. Everyone gets in on each other song. It's awesome.
Cheap strong drink served by the sweetest little lady's in town, Irma and Natalie. I got free potatoes and onions there once, I'm not sure why.
Plus this bar is rarely crowded so you can always get in a game of pool and chill out with out being to cramped in.
Tip big cause they'll probably give you a free shot here and there. Love you lady's, Miss you too!!!
Jack's is the shit.
Plain and simple.
I seriously love this bar.
I never go out during the weekday, and if I do go out; i never stay out past 1, but if I do stay out past 1, I never get wasted... Jacks breaks all my rules.
Thursday Night Karaoke is amazing, DJ purple will hook up your jams and accompany you with the sax, back up vocals and a cowbell.
The bartenders (Irma & Natalie) are amazing, not to mention they got blue moon on tap and $2 PBRs!
Tip well suckas!
A nice place to stew in Morriseyan despair. Behind the hatred there lies a murderous desire for love. Some girls are bigger than others.
I have scant recollection of how I ended up here but I can attest that even if you're in a crappy state of mind you'll end up pretty amused/heartened by their karaoke night. Songbook could use some Smiths tunes though...
Jack's tries to something, I just don't know what that something is. It seems to have gone through several iterations, but in the end remains all it cab be-a neighborhood dive bar. -2*'s for serving blue moon without an orange slice.
HOLY HELL! I'm in like with you. Really, where can you go in the city, order to drinks for $7.00? Here, that is where. I like it. Came here for a birthday, weird place have one. But shit, I like this place a lot .
I don't know if I can review a bar I work at....but whatever.
In response to Matthew N.'s review- Don't worry your pretty little head, I just cleaned all the taps yesterday. So go and get your drink on.
I only work a couple days a week but anyone who wants to belt out a song or two should come and visit me and DJ Purple on Thursday nights. We have karaoke and just like what Adam W. says "it's really really fucking fun(ny)." I love it when kids from the neighborhood come and rock out, it makes my night. And if you're lucky, I'll sing a song too.
jack eight
-J8-
Jack eight? yeah. Jack-Eight s00ted is my favorite hand. (specifically Jack 8 of hearts).
some ppl i kno are literally obsessed with Jack-Ten s00ted. personally, i think jack ten is overrated.
Jack's is fiiiiiine. I'm surprised no one has written a review yet. Jack's is the kind of place that might be empty at 10 pm on a Friday night, save a few very drunk locals. And by locals, i mean the people who live upstairs. A little while back, I went to Jack's as one of the few people who had come to see a friend's band play that could kindly be described as inaccessible noise rock. The sparse crowd, which included several children and one woman wearing an enormously oversized tweety bird sweatshirt, seemed initially ambivolent, but really warmed up and eventually even started dancing a bit. Count on drunkeness, possibly some minor scuffling. Don't flash around cigarettes unless you want to start seriously passing them around.
But otherwise a fun place to hang out, the bartenders are really nice and cute.
This place is great. The first time we went there we were getting free beers--every time the bartender poured one, it was super heady and instead of dumping the foam off, she'd just pour another one and give us the first one with no charge. It seems to be just locals in there, which is refreshing for a mission bar.
Someone teach me how to play pinball there. I don't get it, looks like PLINKO to me. Oh and they have the nudie game. In a dark part of the bar. Makes it feel sleezy which is great.
Yo Be There!! This place is real. And if you act up and don't respect, the wonderful patrons who are there on the daily will kindly ask you leave. Karaoke twice a week and live local bands on Saturday, keep this place hoppin' regularly. Last Saturday was a total jam as, psych-freaks, The Coalitioin of the Willing jammed on two songs that made my mind melt.
RIP Taco Tuesday
This place gets 5 stars just for random goodness.
It's a couple blocks from my house, so me and the bf decided to check it out one night because we were bored. Lo and behold, once we got there and got beers (2.75 people! 2.75 bucks for a beer is like magic! AND ITS THEIR REGULAR PRICE!) we sat down to listen to the live band that was playing. I noticed a young man with a curly flop hairdo and glasses singing and playing guitar and... it was my friend Dustin from high school in southern california! He had moved to Portland and was touring SF with his band, at Jack's. Jack's reunited me with a buddy!
The second time we came here, I did not run into any more high school friends from far away, but instead there was an emo-looking kid spinning mexican hip hop. Basically amazing. And the beers were still 2.75.
Both times there were some vato dudes playing pool in the back. They looked like regulars, and they also looked very good at pool. Therefore, I did not attempt.
Pretty fun for a cheap ass dive bar!
DJ Purple does Thursday night karaoke here, and he will play the sax solos in any karaoke song that you choose that has one. I kid you not! I received such saxophone accompaniment when I sang Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." I also reccomend singing Dreams by Fleetwood Mac or Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen if you want to induce saxophonic sing alongs. As a plus they have $2 pabst's in a bottle.
Jack's is basically the same thing as drinking booze out of a paper bag on your stoop. But I dont have a stoop. I always end up in lego land when I go here because it's easier to keep a bottle of whiskey than a bottle of beer in your coat pocket... I mean... what?! Karaoke is funny, and sometimes they have shows even though teeeeeeechnically Jack's is probably the worst place to have a show ever. but that doesnt make it and less AWESOME, DUDE!
I used to come here before when my friend worked here occasionally. Then I found out they've never cleaned their beer taps since they opened. EEW
Inexpensive drinks, pool, blue collar regulars siding up to the bar next to Pop's transplants (aka Mission hipsters), live music on the weekends, and Karaoke on Tuesdays make Jack's the special place it is.
get loaded and party with skypilots at jacks.
UPDATE: that last review was written under vinous duress. the funny thing about this place is the "stage" placement. you have to duck the guitarists' headstocks to get to the bathroom, or pool table. if Comets On Fire ever played here, you'd never make it to the back without getting impaled by a dirty Fender.
i really wanted to like this bar since it's divey, unpretentious, and has a po-boy stand *inside* the bar. when our group went, though, two people ordered guinnesses, which were flat. even the bartender commented that the beers looked not very foamy but she still served them to us. she then couldn't figure out how to ring up our orders on the register. then, later on, another in our group ordered a sam adams and it was totally vile -- something was seriously wrong with that keg. if you only want to drink bottled beers at a bar, then this place may be fine.
$4 Draft Beers!
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