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Categories: Bars, Pool Halls
Neighborhood: MissionMon-Fri. 4:30 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Sat-Sun. 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
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i definitely bookmarked Kilowatt when i was still drunk.
i don't remember my night here but my note says "hot, tarzan, & cherry bomb"
sounds like a good time to me!
I've always had a good time at Kilowatt. You can't really argue with cheap, good beer on tap with friendly and attentive bartenders. The crowd isn't really my scene, but it's still a good place to hang out for a night.
My friend and I had 6 Franziskaners (my favorite!) for $30. Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours. The only annoying thing while sitting at the bar is that everyone seemed to bump into me. Only into me. There was plenty of room to walk by behind me too! I almost had to start throwing elbows.
Free champagne bottle on the day of your birthday.
Love it!
Great beer selection, decent music playing, a real happy hour and close to some delicious places to eat - not too shabby.
My friends came here sometimes but I'm always in no mood to go to the Mission, so one night I came straight here to watch a game (when the Phillies clinched their Division title). I know no one cares but it's a big deal for me :P
Anyways, I had a good time here, people were cool and the bartender & bar back were friendly. Oh, what's next?? Hit the pool tables when I'm here again!
Although I did not like the crowd, particularly the oddly dressed guy smoking in the doorway leading into the bar, the bar had some promise with cheap drinks and sports memorabilia decorating the walls. I did not stay long enough to comment further, but if I'm in the Mission again, I would give this place a second chance.
50 cent pool games. Pinball machines. Dart boards. Comfy chairs and booths.
HH M-F 4-7, Sat and Sun 1-7.
17 beers on tap. Three different types of Hef.
Dog(s) wander around the bar almost every time I've been there.
Cash only, so come prepared.
This bar is okay. Good happy hour prices - $3.25 all beers for the most part. There are a couple pool tables in the back, spacious booths and a long bar. The ambiance is pretty cool, usual stained wood bar but some interesting shwag on the walls.
Again, a good place to add to the bar crawl. No point staying at one bar for more than a couple of hours (unless you're getting your thang on.)
Oh ya, try the RADEBERGER beer. It's the small black tap handle towards the front door end of the bar that has Radeberger in gold cursive. Beer comes in a giant glass stein and is a refreshing golden pilsner.
If you took a dive bar and gave it a bunch of Extenze pills to make it "bigger" then you'd get Kilowatt.
Two or three beers on tap at a regular dive instantly enlarges to about 40 different brew choices here. The usually empty pool table at any other dive somehow has non-stop male on male action on it and I gotta put my name on a board that already has 7 people in front of me just to get to play?
A solid neighborhood bar that's well equipped to handle large and numerous groups. Our group of 5 was comfortable and the refreshing pitcher of Mothership wit was ($14). And No, I'm not ashamed to say that.
Man, I need to stop watching these late night infomercials. 3.5 stars.
The vibe of this bar is pretty different and I must say refreshing. We came here, lookin to score drinks and play some pool. That we did. But it's not that simple, there are things to discuss.
First, the scene.
I saw the first mods I've seen in a long time. Like, the mods in SLC punk: skinny dudes with cute suites and ties. I can dig it. The two that I saw looked swanky, but confused and like they didn't really have any friends there. Bummer.
Next, the pool dudes. Kind of like the dad's of everyone else there, ignoring their annoying drunk kids. They take pool pretty seriously and are fucking good but are light hearted enough not to make you feel stupid.
Next, the brahs! Definitely some brodudes chillin in their striped shirts with the sleeves rolled up. They seem nice enough here.
Not a lot of mission-core hipsters that I remember (I was pretty blitzed), which can be good or bad depending on what you like and/or who you want to hit on and hang out with.
Drinks are pretty standard price, lots of options on the jukebox, and high ceilings (I like this, I'm weird). This is a cool bar. Sorry for judging the patrons so hard, it's all out of love (and having fun people watching and analyzing). Oh, I forgot about the Hawaiin birthday party. WEIRD.
Meh. It's a bar. They only take cash. The bouncer was nice.
That's all I got.
This place will always hold a special place in my heart. I've been drinking here since the 90's and have crazy nostalgia every time I come here. You're alright by me. And they had Dr. Octagon on the juke forever, not sure if they still do...
We walked into Kilowatt after leaving Zeitgeist full of cheeseburgers, nicely buzzed and seeking shelter from the cold wind. We were greeted with plenty of space and the cutest bull terrier I've ever seen. We picked a booth and ordered and ordered and ordered drinks to our heart's content. Meanwhile, my ears were treated to "Steppin' Stone" from Minor Threat and "Holiday in Cambodia." I'm digging this place like whoa.
As I walked to the bathroom I discovered two more of the cutest dogs ever (when I go on vacation, I become obsessed with strangers' dogs and fawn over them because I miss mine). Kate's, Golden Gate Park, Zeitgeist and now this place? This has to be the best day ever!
But wait, it gets better still - I discovered the jukebox was full of gems like old Cure and Maiden. I promptly played "Hallowed" to the delight of the entire bar. An hour or so in, we looked up to find the place was packed. And not only had we still not heard the brunt of our awesome songs, crap had been playing for the last 20 minutes. So we decided to head ...somewhere else where we wouldn't have seats but the music would be better.
But Kilowatt was the perfect segue from Zeitgeist to Elbo Room. And our adventure continued.
It's quite sad but even though I grew up in the Bay Area, my friends and I never kick it SF. Now that I'm older and have realized the graveness of my mistake, I have made an effort to better explore the city of my childhood.
So on a recent trip back to the Bay, my friends and I accompanied my SF savvy sister and went to the Mission District because in her words, "The people there are the real SF." This was one of the bars we hit.
We showed up at 10 pm at the place was EMPTY. The only people sitting at the bar were me, my two friends, and my sister. The place was a dive. But a nicely decorated dive bar. The bartenders were nice though and while the drinks were more expensive than Delirium, the bar we just left, the prices were still reasonable.
In the back, there was a small dance floor. There were about ten people dancing but that small crowd consisted of a gay man wearing a hoody and daisy dukes, three African American people, and a couple of fobby Asian people who couldn't dance.
The saving grace for this place was the music. There was a DJ who was spinning alot of hip hop and rap but from the past three decades so there was alot of variety.
A nice spacey dirty bar with both pool and dart tables. They've got nice beers. The music is not my favorite, but after a couple of pitchers with your friends it'll be fine.
Thanks to my fellow Yelpers who directed me to this bar when I was in need of a place to watch a hockey game. Since I don't live in the area, I was relying solely on the reviews here and Kilowatt's website for general information. However, I'd like to warn people that the bar hours posted on their website differ from the ones that they operate by. We planned to arrive here when their website said they opened, but ended up having to wait an hour and a half at another bar (which we ended up preferring) before Kilowatt actually opened.
Ready to put that minor misunderstanding behind me, we sat at the bar ready to enjoy some beers. I had no complaints about the quality of the beer or their selection, which was average for the Mission, but the bartender/bar patrons were generally rude and unwelcoming. I don't need a big hug and smooch when I walk in, but I also don't appreciate when the bartender acts annoyed when I ask two questions, or when a fellow drunk/hockey fan steals at seat at the bar which is most obviously being used.
As is the nature between girls, I recently showed my BFF a picture of a dude I was interested in. The exchange went a little something like this:
Devon: So here's the guy. What do you think?
BFF: He doesn't look like your type.
Devon: Huh? He's totally my type, I promise!*
Devon's Brain: Oh fuck, she doesn't think he's cute. Do I go with "He's just not really photogenic" or do I play up the "But he's got a great personality!" angle?
BFF: Oh no, I didn't mean it like that. I just mean he doesn't seem like a total metro or a pretentious douche.
Fair enough. It's a bit disconcerting when your future maid-of-honor can whittle down your type so unceremoniously but I can't really argue with her surmises. The girl has a point.
Kilowatt is like that gentleman...upon first glance, not my type at all. I like to dress up a bit to go out, and I like the other attendees to be sporting polos and designer jeans. And Kilowatt seems like every other psuedo-divey Mission bar. It's a little dingy and rough around the edges, and the patrons often look somewhat disheveled. The bar is big, but it's full of cranky pool players who growl at you when you try to go back to the bathroom.
But it works.
It works because they have an excellent beer selection at affordable prices, and the bartenders are awesome at suggesting something new if you're burned out on the same old pint. And despite my criticisms of the crowd, the people are usually friendly and there have definitely been some striped shirt diamonds in the rough.
It's one of the few bars in the Mission I actually ENJOY going to. In a way, because it's so wrong, it's so right.
*It turns out I was correct and he was my type in that after our first date he faded off into oblivion. While you wonder if my abandonment issues are real or staged, I'm gonna head over to Kilowatt, enjoy a pint of Downtown Brown, and hope that my view of the place isn't clouded by an angry pool player shiving me with his cue.
Alcohol. Pool. Pinball. Darts. I spent about an hour here with some friends, so not a lot to go on, but 3 stars thus far. Guinness on tap is a plus for me.
its cheap, just drink here, what do you care.
this place is a dump.
I like this bar, not so much on a friday or saturday, too crowded for me.
Went here on a sunday, it was perfect, not too many people, friendly bartender and drunk friends.
I loved checking out the not so hot pool player with a weird head and fake boobs.
I wish she would be there every sunday.
Anyway, this is a nice spot with two pool tables and airy atmosphere.
See you soon.
Kilowatt is easily one of my favorite bars in the neighborhood (right up there with Zeitgeist), as it's got a damn good draft selection, at prices that can't be beat by most of its competition (3.75 for most pints, all day!). There's a pool table and darts, and the decor/lighting give the place a real genuine rock-n-roll dive type of feeling when you're inside. The first thing I noticed were the four Detroit Red Wings banners hanging down from the celing (I'm a lifelong Sharks fan), but at the same time I thought it was cool to see a bar that appreciates hockey, since, while it's come a long way in recent years, is still not extremely popular in California. The music that gets played here is usually decent to good stuff; you won't hear any of that godawful excrement they play at Beauty Bar. It's easy to find this place, as it's close to lots of public transit, including a BART station. I highly reccomend this place, especially if you happen to be a hockey fan.
Came here last night with G for his friend's Bon Voyage party - Typical dive bar but I think it has its own unique quirks. They had a lot of different beers on tap to choose from but we always stick with Stella. There was a few pool tables and some serious players were on it last night - they were quite into the game and I think we bothered them by bumping into them the whole night but I'm still alive so you know this place isnt' known for their shankings. Cool place overall - I would come here again (Oh and cash only!).
the first time i ever came to the mission i snagged myself a darling 20 something hipster boy at kilowatt. It was crowded, he bumped into me with his messenger bag and apologized, we talked about city planning and non-profits and then made out. A year (and then some) later we're still riding our fixies into the sunset.
TRUE HIPSTER LO-O-O-VE brought to you by Kilowatt.
Dull bulbs. Normally would enjoy such lighting in a dive bar and have in fact in this very same one, as it's a scant three blocks away; watched the Democratic primary here, played pool here often and encountered many an agreeable sort (I especially like the regular who has the antennae). But two burnt-out halfwatts can ruin it for a local sometimes.
Not a great place to pickup - partially to its credit - and the quality of bar tending seems to be wildly bipolar - again, a trait not unshared by its location and general Mission population. Much credit to the lady bartender with dirty blonde hair (at least it is to me in the lighting) and tattoos along her arms as someone I find quite agreeable because I think she laughed pleasantly at a barrage of tongue-in-cheek pickup lines my friend used on her some years ago.
But this past Thursday night was damn near unforgivable as far as my continued patronage is concerned. Playing pool with a dear friend and his lady Samantha when, following a very understandable practice, one of the staff cleared their unattended drinks from the table. They said as much and were properly, albeit begrudgingly, given new ones.
What happened next was beyond silly for people working at a dive bar in the Mission, but I sense Kilowatt is falling off in the way that a business that's been in one place too long, doing the same thing too long, and possibly the owner, but definitely some of the staff are probably pretty tired of it and such an environment, maybe life - and so they lash out.
The staffer who brought the replacement drinks snidely reproached Samantha for leaving drinks unattended. And would you believe it, she gave him a haughty reply implying her innocence and his negligence.
He retaliated! "Your drink was warm, what do you expect?" "It was half full and I'd just set it down, are you kidding me?" Despite verbal indications of optimism (I thought the glass half-empty), Samantha did not foresee shared ground with said disgruntled staffer.
And then my friend took his girl's point of view up with one of the lady bartenders - who then proceeded to come over verbally joust, yell even, with her inebriated, upset, and now thoroughly crossed clientele, insulting and lecturing from her faux grunge pedestal.
What shite. Bring some joy and personality back into that place please, learn how to mollify mildly upset and drunk customers who are far from rabble-rousers even if they're not entirely in the right, instead of setting them off. Or provide a listless turnstile for fickle drinkers who'll happily slop down a few in a soulless dump because they know they'll never return.
To the best of my guesstimation, San Diego and San Francisco share sister communities. For instance:
San Francisco's Marina=San Diego's Pacific Beach. Nice surroundings, but tons of douche bags that hang/live there.
San Francisco's Lower Haight=San Diego's Ocean Beach. Ton's of hippies, though the Haight has much more history with the Grateful Dead and all....
San Francisco's Mission=San Diego's North Park. Hipsters galore and very few places that accept credit cards.
Even though I'm a bit frightened every time I step foot into any bar in the Mission, it's as close to my vibe as I'll ever find in the Bay Area. I'm a sucker for a dark, slightly dirty dive bar... and there's plenty of 'em between Potrero and The Castro.
A telling sign that you're in a legit dive bar is the bathroom. If there's no toilet paper in the stall, you know you're in good hands. Just sayin'. You shouldn't be shittin' in a Mission dive anyway....
The one thing I always forget about is the lack of credit card swipers in this area of town. Personally, I think it's more progressive to have credit cards, as opposed to cash... but the community of bars in the Mission doesn't care what I think at all. If you don't have greenbacks, you're not getting a drink. It's just the way it is. And even though I never have money with me, I'm OK with it. In fact, there's a sign above the bar here that says:
"YOU'RE IN THE MISSION... CASH ONLY. ATM UP FRONT."
Even though I looked like a total kook because I didn't notice the sign until AFTER I asked if they accepted credit cards... I guess you can't get more direct than that.
For a dive, it's a big joint. I'd guess you could pack in 200+ people easily. There are a few pool tables, a few booths... and like most of the places in this neighborhood, dogs are welcome inside. I just wish the dog owners would put their pets through obedience school before they unleash them in an environment like a bar. There were some rough pups who really shouldn't have left the back yard... but what are you gonna do?
I'm way into the animal friendly factor and it's just a cool bar I like it .. I'll go again
"You're in the mission... cash only... ATM up front" reads the sign behind the long wooden bar.
My mind responded with the following: "You're just another hipster dive bar in the mission, get over yourself."
This would have been kind of a knee jerk reaction though, as the place really wasn't as pretentious as I was expecting it to be. I rolled in with a couple of hooligan cohorts, the last of our bar-stops for the night, to grab some late night hooch and kick it. The scene was dark, dog-friendly, and divey. The prices were not all that cheap, but I guess I'm in San Fran, so whatever.
The tender immediately carded my friends and I, even though none of us look remotely near 21, which was kind of annoying, but again, whatever. The beer selection is decent, the pac man machine looks well used, and a bike parked up on the mezzanine (and I use that term loosely) was amazingly NOT a fixie, so I guess that they do allow some normies inside.
Us normies enjoyed our Stone Pale Ales and a rousing game of travel pigmania as we helped to keep the two dogs in the bar from viciously attacking each other. It was somewhat surreal at moments.
All in all, there really doesn't seem to be anything special about this place. it's kind of a shithole but it's not cheap. There's no real character. It's not all that divey. Again, whatever.
3 stars, I guess.
Great bar!
* The drinks are cheap.
* They have two dart boards in the back. (with real darts)
* Pool table.
* You can bring in your dog.
* The bar is pretty big and you can usually find a table if you're with a few people.
This is basically the Mission stereotype, and I guess I like that. They have a decent selection of beers for fairly cheap, nice-looking pool tables, a pretty chill vibe, and dogs. Must love dogs. Also must love tight jeans and fixed-gear bicycles.
NOTE TO SELF: Come back with Ruth M and challenge her to drunk Ms Pac Man (does not matter if she is drunk or not; I will still win).
So, I recently went to Safeway to purchase some wine. I have my I.D. at the ready, because you know Safeway pretty much always cards anyone who looks remotely like they are under 40. Well, the checker looks me up and down, and DOES NOT CARD ME. Omigawd, my worst nightmare come true. I'm only 26 - do I really look that old now??
Thank god for the Kilowatt bartender who asked to see my I.D. Bless your sweet heart. That was pretty much the highlight of my time here.
Otherwise, Kilowatt is OK. I've spent two evenings here (one on a Saturday, one on a Wednesday), and I'm still not in lurrrrrve with it. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's because, as my fabulous friend put it, "Everyone looks so busted in here." Or, maybe it's because we put our name down to play pool, and the stupid guys in there kept trying to put us off from playing our game. When I put up a fight, their excuse was "You have to understand, we play legit pool here." Well what the hell kind of pool do I want to play dumb ass? All was well when we finally played them and took their "legit pool" skills and shoved it where the sun don't shine.
5 stars for Marty though!!!
This bar is bitchin'.
Cheap drinks, pool tables, dart boards, games, sweet selection on the juke b., dingy, dusty, dark..
Oh, how I lust dive bars.
I wish they had Pabst on tap.
Otherwise...
It's lovely.
except for last night, I never remember when I come here. Its always been fun, sans the one time that the bouncer didn't want to let me in because I was too drunk. I don't know what the hell he was talking about, I was clearly standing up. I guess my inebriation was clearly indicated by the fact that I was hitting on girls. Though I'm not sure if they were taking the bait.
.....aaaaaanyways
this place has a good feel. People from work go here sometimes, there's pool tables, often places to sit, and CHEAP BEER. yes, under 4 dollars for boont, racer 5, all the good stuff. some of the porters go up into the 5 dollar range, but I'm an ale guy anywho.
...if you're a hockey fan, I hear this is the place for you.
I broke a glass here once and I felt really, really bad because I was being drunk and stupid, which I know are usually the circumstances for glasses breaking, but I hold myself to a certain standard of not getting so drunk that I become stupid, therefore, I was embarrassed. OK, so anyway, not only was it the end of the night, but I ended up getting glass shards everywhere. And yet, one of the guys comes over all happy and seemingly super stoked to clean up my ridiculous mess. I kept drunkenly apologizing and THAT didn't even annoy him. Props to Kilowatt for not having a lame attitude that I usually deal with in the Mission.
Unfortunately, I don't get the chance to come here often, because usually I am stuck (yes, stuck) at Zeitgeist. Kilowatt makes me happy though, even if it is small and crowded sometimes. And yay for letting dogs roam around!
This place is fine. They have cheap beer and, from what people keep telling me, a very attractive bartender (I haven't figured out which one it is, though...). They pour some strong drinks, too...if that's what you're into.
CASH ONLY, don't be a douche.
I think they should close the pool tables on Friday and Saturday nights, but hey, that's just me.
Watch out in the ladies room, there is a really tricky step, it's the cause of many bruises.
There are often dogs in this bar. So, if you're into that, you'd be into Kilowatt.
Good place, 4 stars.
This bar is spacious and one of my preferred destinations for after-work drinks. They have a pretty good selection of taps - maybe around 20. I'm definitely a dive-bar guy, and in a perfect world this place gets four or five stars.
I'm knocking it down to three because I've had some flat beer here more than once and that's just plain unacceptable. It's just such a letdown when you order a crisp Racer 5 and it comes out tasting flatter than an Olson twin. They've got some TV's but they're kinda small, so unless you're sitting at the bar, you might be squinting.
totally fun bar to meet up with friends (and possibly surprise your bf with cupcakes on his birfday!) really friendly staff, good seating, music is just right. beer choice for the evening: mothership wit. yum. so the whole purpose of going here was the use the pool tables and darts.. but they were always full. so we are going to have to go back on a non-weekend time for that. the chicks bathroom was clean which is a huge plus. don't like cash only places, but i'll let it slide. pups allowed in bar = awesome.
A great bar for a cold Sunday night!
I hate having to pee here!
I walked into Kilowatt for the first time recently on a Monday night and thought to myself, "Hell, I should have come into this place sooner." Kilowatt is a solid rocker bar that isn't trying to hard to be anything other than a place where you can play Metallica on the jukebox and order booze. Cheap booze. It's not too trendy, not too dark, not too bright, heck not too anything other than a bar. It's almost like what I'd call a "dive bar lite". Kinda think of it as a Lucky 13 that isn't trying quite as hard. And with less Dead Kennedys.
All in all a great spot for drinks whether you're a local or in the neighborhood.
Kilowatt has a more authentic dive-bar feel than most of the wanna-be dive bars in the Mission. Maybe it's all the dogs, or the TV's all showing SportsCenter, or all the leather jackets, or the smell of bleach that you can't help but wonder if they had to clean up some blood last night or what. But there's still a pretty chill atmosphere here. Not TOO chill, but mellow enough, a nice, "stick to the business of drinking with your friends" vibe that is sometimes just perfect.
It's a big and high ceilinged place, which is kinda nice--still seedy but not quite so dank. We're almost always able to score a booth up front, provided we lurk in wait for awhile.
best bloody marys eva!
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