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Category: Dive Bars
Neighborhoods: Nob Hill, ChinatownMon-Sun. 2:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
"What a great dive bar. Small, crowded, friendly, lots to see and people to meet. Every time I roll into San Francisco I hit this bar. Have…" read more »
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2 part review:
1) Came up to SF to this lounge from Long Beach just to go to the SF equivalent of our weekly monday nite funk session Funkmosphere at Carbon in Culver City. We arrived early to check out the bar. It looks amazing inside and the female bar tender was SO welcoming and let us know the haps around town. She made some drinks that knocked my boyfriend on his ass which was great since we were on vacation. 5 stars for the bar.
2) Sweater Funk- The bay area's sunday nite FUNK PARTAYYYY. Way awesome. All the selectors were great and kept me sweating all night. Everyone in this joint was having a great time. It is located in the basement of Li Po Lounge (another thing we don't have in Southern California..way rad!), I noticed that the moment people entered Sweater Funk, they were dancing! Sweater Funk is EVERY Sunday and I would really suggest going esp. since it is free!
I love this place. No frills and completely unpretentious. The jukebox is full of old love songs and cheesy Chinese love songs. No joke, last time I was in there I heard the Best of Air Supply in it's entirety. Sweet.
When you walk in it feels like you're walking in to a tripped out 70's Chinese Disneyland. The basement is kind of freaky and Pulp Fiction-esque, but if you ask me this just adds to the charm. Drinks are also strong. Get a Mai Tai; it's the best one you'll have in the city. Apparently they have music in the basement on the weekends but I have yet to check it out.
Li Po is one of those special places (they tend to be bars) that make me trip out on urbanity. There's this tuckedawayness, a feeling of submersion in the bowels of a civic monster that I'm psyched to have been swallowed by.
The bar looks like it's been burrowed rather than built, salvaged instead of designed. The use of space says "This is the bone that the city gods threw us." Cave-like walls, an awkwardly accessible downstairs, and a seating area with no light but that which reflects off the red plastic-upholstered booths.
But perhaps none of this would be all that impressive if not for Li Po's mai tais. They're made with a Chinese rice whiskey that's somewhere over 80 proof, but you would never know it from the taste. You know it, however, when you just have two of these things and you start getting excited about shit like civic monsters.
This was stop number 8 for my friend's birthday bar crawl, at this point some people in the group started to drop out, some forfeited the hole, others had just to flat out retire for the evening... Still Im glad most of us that remained decided to play through. Walking in we were warmly greeted by what had to be one of the most friendly/chill bouncers that I've run into during my misadventures in the city. When we came in it wasn't to crazy inside, we were able to grab a couple seats at the bar and got settled into a couple of rounds.
The man behind the bar set us up with the house's specialty drink, their Mai Tai. The drinks came served to us in plastic cups, it didn't bother us that much, considering it's what was inside that counts. The Mai Tais were pretty tasty, but be warned these concoctions are a creeper, before you know it, your mystical effects will catch up to you. After a few drinks the night was coming to an end, so we closed our tab and made our move to the next bar. Still considering the chill atmosphere, good drinks and friendly people are all the things I look for in a good dive bar. Ill definitely be back.
Where we've been and we're were going on this birthday bar crawl...
http://www.yelp.com/li...
I asked the old Chinese bartender how to say "Kung Pao chicken" in Cantonese. Instead of answering my question, he handed me a glass of water.
Huh?!?!
I have blonde roots. Help!
I'm sorry but I don't think there's a "right night" to go here. The awesome cave-like dance floor everyone's buzzin' about is everything but the dance floor. I know it's a dive bar but the tiny clear dixie cups, wow.
Ok, ok, it is in Chinatown.. but I don't think I should set my expectations reallllly low, right?
surprisingly fabulous Chinatown dive bar.
It's not the dive with red lights, casino carpet and motley crew on the jukebox. The lights are a little brighter, but it has a long cool bar with lots of red vinyl booths in back, great for groups. It's a sf dive bar with an 'chung king express' twist
they tolerated our debauchery and kept the drinks coming. cool find.
Apparently I went on the "right night." I'm talkin friday the 17th, midnight till 2am. If the guy who was dropping beats downstairs comes around every week, you know I'll be there. Awesome jungle house and outrageous dancing, all performed from dual floppy disk decks.
Daniel's mai tai is all it is cracked up to be and then some. I really can't ask for more. I had a *fantastic* time.
If I lived in SF, I have a feeling I would live at this bar. It was dark like a cave when we wandered in at 3p on Friday. It had an Asian theme (duh, since it's in Chinatown) and looked like it had been around for a while. I don't know what it was about the place, but I immediately felt at home. It reminded me of Time Out or Yucca in Tempe.
Bartender was a pleasant young lady who didn't seem too chatty, but was quick to start up the jukebox when two more couples wandered in (I found it touching and mildly amusing that she chose "Stayin' Alive," "Hotel California" and then a Whitney Houston jam - like she thought that's what us white folk/tourists might enjoy).
I was also mildly amused to see that the bottles on display behind the bar were conveniently marked with a Magic Marker with their price for a drink (simply "8" or "6" or "5"). Pretty smart, really - every bar should do that.
The bartender at Bliss Bar mentioned that this place also hosts small shows in their basement. I got a glimpse of this area when I ventured down the steep steps to the bathroom (scary bathroom winner, with it's dim lighting that becomes near-darkness when you shut the stall door and cheap, tissue-piece-style paper like your elementary school had...it's also what they had for paper towels too: wha?). Anyway, I don't know that she specifically said "punk shows" but that's what I'm going to assume and therefore declare this my favorite dive in SF (though it's a close tie with Zeitgeist).
I will argue that Li Po may feature the worst bathrooms in San Francisco. However, I do not care. This place is crazy fun if you go on the right night. If you go on the wrong night, it is what you make of it. The right night is when they have the basement opened up with a DJ. The wrong night is hanging out with a few old people who do not speak English upstairs while they play tiles or dice games...whatever.
The place isn't very big. They have a few booths in the back of the upstairs and some seats at the bar. That is pretty much it. When the downstairs is open, it adds some space, but the ceiling is low and the place feels claustrophobic. This would normally bother me, but not when they have a cool show taking place like Lazersword!
The last time I went, the bartender thought I was a promoter. She kept insisting that I have free drinks. My friends were cracking up. I tried to pay, honestly. I look forward to my next visit...maybe they will let me serve some drinks.
I have heard stories about the basement and a secret passage that leads into the underground city that lives beneath Chinatown. Apparently, this is where you would find opium dens and a tunnel to the Bay where they pushed the dead bodies back in the day. Fact or fiction? Who knows. Go check it out. Cash only.
Not the best place to go for hip hop clubbing music. The underground dance floor is more of like the basement of a really bad frat party and was super sketch. Cover probably depends on who is DJ-ing for the night, but it was $12 when I went. Worst $12 I've ever spent. The overall quality of the place was definitely sub par. Never coming back.
from the outside, this place is pretty terrifying. i've walked by on numerous occasions while on the search for some secret somethings i get in china town (i'll never tell) and have vowed never to enter. it looks like hell. it really does. but it's not that bad.
i, for one, stuck to bottled beer, because i refuse to drink vodka from a plastic cup; i'm too classy for that. the bouncer was really nice, and while the basement smelled riper than a banana in December in Brazil, the band down there was pretty decent. my perspective on this place is probably skewed, however, as i came for a birthday party so everyone there was either a friend or a friend of a friend and i think it's safe to say that it's pretty obvious that i roll with cool people.
It's like going to frat parties all over again. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to trek through 2 inches of jungle juice in the downstairs basement. Oh that was a dance floor? You guys are so silly, confusing a little girl like me. I also thought trading in the red cups for clear little dixie cups was pretty classy. If anyone wanted to roofie me I would definitely have seen the reaction occurring right before my drunken little eyes. Frat parties are movin on up!
This place is like a scene out of Big Trouble in Little China. I was expecting Lo Pan to come out at any second and shoot his laser eyes at me.
Also, you better put on your hipster costume before you get here or you'll feel out of place. Good thing there was a small group of drunk, pervy chinatown ruffians leering in the corner. Keepin it real!
The drinks here are NOT as cheap as you think they should be. I'd still come back though!
The bathroom says a lot about a place and this one was screaming at me, YUK! The disco music playing "Night Fever" was strange but the patrons seemed to enjoy it, heck they probably played it and a bar seemed like a strange place to see a Buddha alter but why not.
This was recommended on a TV Show, I just didn't get it
I went to a friend of a friend's birthday party last night in the dungeon underground basement... which was super cool. They made it especially pretty with twinkle lights and streamers. The stairs are pretty treacherous, scary steep stairs. I suggest taking the first door on the right and going down those stairs if you're trying to get to the basement.
The bar was descent, no beer on tap, mostly just miniature mixed drinks for $5 but they're tasty enough.
The bathrooms are pretty gnarly, avoid them if possible.
I heard that the friend of the friend booked the basement for $80. They had a DJ, disco ball, fancy lights and seats for everyone.
the staff are friendly and it seems like a cool place to "get away from it all" - away from the hype and routine of the North Beach scene. I really dug the decor and eeriness of it.
Li Po reminded me of that one time I was kidnapped and smuggled to China.
Being raised in Europe, it is normal that my average night out on the town would start no sooner than midnight.
It should not have come as a surprise when my friends called me on a Sunday night around 8 telling me that they were heading to "funk night" at Li Po. I told them, "great! I will see you in an hour."
Little did these Americans know that an hour for me really means double that time frame and add 3 more. Simple Italian math (not Swiss).
So I show up at midnight, thinking that the real party had not even started. But when I got to Li Po, and followed the Electrofunk music to the basement, I was only welcomed by a sense of disappointment. Granted the beers were not very expensive (about $4.50 for a Sierra Nevada), but for it being Labour Day week-end, the place was not very packed.
The basement was not crowded. At all. So...
How does one justify the condensation accumulating on the ceiling? Boh!
How do you explain the lack of ventilation? Boh!
How do you explain that they were rushing me to finish my beer at 1 freaking 20 in the morning? Boh!
How do you explain the fact that they forced me to leave my unfinished $4.50 beer on the table because, at 1h45 am, it was time to head for the door. Oy vey...
Needless to say, I was pissed. I understand it's "ze law" to announce "last call" before 2am, but kicking people out? In addition to that, they ceased playing music at 1h50.
Not on my Swiss watch.
I was excited to check this place out. I have lived in the city for almost 10 years and have never been to a bar in Chinatown. I thought Li Po was going to be a cool dive bar with a neighborhood crowd. Instead, it was full of hipsters in tight pants wearing nerd classes.
I could not have been more disappointed. If you took your average hipster dive bar in the mission and transported it to Chinatown, it would be Li Po. Another bar ruined by people who take themselves too seriously. I will not be going back.
Visiting with a group of San Diegans - decided to take a shot at every bar on the way from Little Italy to our hotel at Union Square. Randomly went into this one. Despite my foggy memory, I do remember we got waved in from across the street by some chick who seemed very friendly, that it was in Chinatown, that the decor was dive-y Chinese, it wasn't cheap, that were a lot of younger "urban-looking" white people, and there was hip hop playing.
We took our Jamesons shots and moved on... we ran into no bars after that. Just ended at the Urban Tavern @ the Hilton where my friends were staying...
Presumably named for the famous Chinese poet, the Li Po could well typify what happened to Chinatown in the 70s. From the days when Chinatown bars and lounges catered to tourists seeking the "exotic" (we're talking around 1939), the Li Po features an artificial cave entrance and a decaying gate lantern (big!).
That's where the show ends sadly, as Li Po becomes a dive bar. Cheap bar posters, overbearing jukebox, pinball machines, and curt service.
So why am I so keen on the Li Po?
Cheap drinks, of course, and the dark booths help, but it's that while you sip you can see the history of Chinatown as no other bar. From the glory days of tittering tourists, to the mass exodus of Chinese in the 60s and 70s, to the for-profit 80s, up until now, when hipsters come looking for magic in the dust. Whether it's a stop on your way to the Buddha or North Beach, the Li Po is a San Francisco experience worth every sip.
Trivia bit: There's a glimpse of this bar in the film "Lady From Shanghai," with Orson Wells
I came here tonight - the night of the Chinese New Year Parade.
Everyone, EVERYONE (except the bartenders) were white. Any reason to party - they're here. Gotta love that.
This was a great stop on a little bar crawl - it was pretty dirty and crowded outside with kids and adults alike playing with the pop rock things in the street (I have a serious fear of those..) so Li Po was the perfect place to take refuge in.
The bartenders are nice - they make sure you are taken care of. The 2 bartenders tonight were busy. this place was packed with locals and tourists demanding only the best beer - TsingTao. (NOTE - I hate beer, but I did manage to gulp down half a bottle of TT..I mean, I couldn't order a cosmopolitan there -- it just wouldn't be right..)
Super dive bar, fun/mixed crowd - definitely a great spot in Chinatown.
Wow, what a fun place! The two enormous red booths in the back are quiet because they're way in back, and are huge, roomy and unlike any place else in the city.
The songs on the jukebox are not matched with their numbers, but oh well, and I suspect San Quentin has nicer bathrooms.
The elderly Asian bartender makes a mean Mai Tai and runs the entire place single-handedly.
I would have never known about this bar nor ventured into it to have a drink if it were not for a Solstice Chinatown Scavenger Hunt I was on.
Li Po also known as Li Bai was a famous Chinese poet and we needed to find out how he died for the question.
I love the gold paint and red decoration on the outside. The bar is fairly large on the inside. We sat at the bar but I saw that there are tables in the back for groups of people.
My team and I had a few shots and mixed drinks. Good fortification to continue on the hunt and win.
I would definitely go back and check out the downstairs.
Check out Sweater Funk on Sunday nights where the cool kids party to rare disco in the sweltering basement of this Chinatown dive. Tsing Tao, lanterns, no cover.
My brother was hosting a band and art event downstairs of this place. We happen to be in town last Friday so we could go. It was tons of fun. We got there a little early, and saw people still setting up the stage and putting up art work. So we went back upstairs and watched the end of the Giants/Cards game on the bar TV. It was a cool L shaped bar and the upstairs had a few booths just past the bar area. The door man was really cool, he knew who we were after a while. Don't try and bring any outside food or drinks in...he will catch you. Once the bands started playing there were tons of people downstairs. If you have been drinking and trying to go down the stairs ...hold on to the railings....its a steep set of stairs and I almost fell like 3 times. All 3 bands were cool and I even met someone who did some of the paintings, and I got him to paint me something for my new baby boy Davis. Once he is done he will mail it to us...well my brother will...he is friends with my brother who lives there in SF. The place was easy to find and the bartenders were both really nice and when it got close to 11pm, every time I went up to the bar and stood in line, the woman who was bartending had my drinks ready for me by the time I got to the front of the line. She was really busy and she still remembered what we were drinking. I left her quite a big tip. When we come back in town and if my brother hosts another party ...we will be there. We had a great time.
MZ
Dear Li Po:
I'm sorry we snuck whiskey into your scary basement rental space during our Prop 2 party, but we really didn't have any choice, because you charge $4 for Bud Light.
We really are good people. Good, poor people. Trying to raise money for a good cause. That's why your basement was chosen to hold the party in -- because it's cheap (and okay -- you'll always be our bar of choice in Chinatown, okay?).
So, I understand why you had to throw Amir out and end our party, and I wish I could say we won't do it again, but...
We probably will.
And just so you know -- the rats didn't scare us. Rats in Chinatown will always be far less shocking than $4 Bud Lights.
I've been to quite a few good shows here, otherwise, I probably wouldn't frequent the place. Mixed drinks come in a kiddie cup, but are adult priced. The upstairs consists of the usual bar and stools, some yart drunk video gambler games, and then some awkward booth setup in the back. Tiny entry way gets pretty clogged as the night goes on. The real magic begins downstairs in a basement straight from some midwest college town kegger. It's dank small and smelly once the people start pouring in. There's a back stairwell that allows for easy escaping if the band is terrible.
Cross the street, and you can schlurp on some bubble tea.
As a dive, Li Po has an interesting mix of regulars and hipsters that make up a relaxed vibe. I actually wouldn't have known it was down this street in Chinatown if I wasn't told. We went on a sunday night for their sweater funk party, which is held below the bar. Very "garage party" feelin', but I'm into subculture so I liked it. The dj was awesome and played great funk beats that my friends and I have never heard before.
What else can I say? At an average of $6 the drinks are reasonably priced. Jackie, one of the bartenders was super cute and chatted it up with us while we were there. She seemed so positive and really friendly, which was cool for me as a newcomer to the place.
Perfect for groups, and on a more low key night for a date.
Li Po was a poet and celebrated drunkard. According to legend he drowned trying to embrace the reflection of the moon in a lake. This sort of thing doesn't happen to non-drunkards.
So they named a bar after him. Lets do the math.
The kitsch is worth at least one star off the bat. The semi functional neon sign, the red carpet and lighting, the cave like appearance will out-cheese the most ridiculous tiki bar, only it's generically chinese instead of generically island themed.
The bouncer is really nice and drinks are served quickly and with a smile. another star.
If you grew up in SF you probably heard all sorts of stories about how there are networks of tunnels underneath chinatown where contraband was transported and bought and sold back in the day. There is such a tunnel here: down the back stairs, past the restrooms, left, and right again, you'll find a large room that sort of resembles your grandparents' basement. One more star for keeping childhood legends alive.
But minus one star for the unreasonably high drink prices; I'd expect to pay 4.50 for a bottle of beer at a place like Harlot, but not at a seedy chinatown dive, and if I'm paying that much for a vodka soda, I'd generally expect to get in in a glass made of glass. Reserving your grandparents' basement for a private event is dirt cheap, though.
And minus another star for the bartender singling out a member of our party and completely overreacting. Granted, we probably shouldn't have done what we done, but the outburst was uncalled for.
And plus one star for each giant rat that ran by outside.
This place is pretty legit. Came here last night to listen to some gooooood music in the gritty downstairs basement for $5. The crowd here is so great. I agree with what another yelper said about walking in, you feel like you're walking into someone's house. Haha.
Anyway, downstairs was what I liked really. Everyone's so chill and it doesn't get packed like a regular "club". Not that this is a club. But you know wat I'm sayin. Good electronic-glitch-hip-hop that is still danceable to = everyone dancing and no perverted dudes trying to "get up on yo ass". We got stamped so once our alcohol wore off all we had to do was rush off to Vesuvios for WAY better and cheaper drinks and we got back in.
So awesome. No one checking bags, no pervs (okay except for one dude who appeared right in front of me dancing with me and tried to grab my arm until I snatched it away and gave him a look that could kill as I walked away towards my pretend boyfriend), no jerks, no pretentiousness.
It was all a very dandy time.
This is a very cool dive bar. Whenever I stay at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco, I usually drop by here for a few drinks and hang out. It has a very diverse crowd....... of all ages. I think there is a live band that plays here on Fridays. They have your usual dice, cards, and dominoes here. Thank God they don't allow smoking here anymore.
Came here last night with a few friends and it was good cheap fun.
I used to frequent Li Po a lot. No, not bar-fly frequently, but enough to know this place gets pretty rowdy and fun late into the evening and early into the morning.
The place is a work of Asian kitsch art. The bartender is very nice in a "World of Suzie Wong" kind of way, down to the exaggerated accent and honey-sweet smile that hides the I'm-going-to-suck-the-dollar-bills-out-of-you-by-p lying-you-with-super-strong-drinks-until-closing-t ime look rather well.
Our large group manned the red pleather booths in the back of the bar and we listened to Canto-pop and 70's garage rock over the PA.
Interesting mix of local bar flies and tourists early in the evening. The magic starts working in this establishment AFTER the tourists go back to their hotels and restaurant reservations.
As soon as I saw this place from across the street, I knew I would be setting foot in that mysterious cave.
Turns out, there's beer and basketball on tv. And a rice cooker behind the bar. Mystery solved!
***Half-Assed Limerick***
It's a Cool Dive
It's Very Kitschy
It's Drinks Are a Little Pricey
It Has Tables in Back
It Has a Basement for Bands
It Has a Cougar for a Bartender, Spicy!
Thank You.
4 stars cause I like dives, but minus a little cause the bathrooms are small and weird (even for most dives).
This joint shows real class, one of my all time faves. Try the Ng Ka Py or the Mau Tai in the white bottle if you've got an iron gut and brass balls. Daniel makes a killer Mai Tai too... cash only baby, it's Chinatown!
So, it ain't dirty cheap, but too few places are. The best bang for your buck is going to be the mai tais and not the beer.
I think its better when its pretty empty.
Atmosphere is seedy without being dangerous or sketchy.
I like to drop mai tais and play dice on the bar here. I think that's because sucking down mai tais and playing dice at a seedy bar is kind of what I think Chinatown is all about.
the bartender here also bought me a shot. but the downstairs basement is wicked eerie.
After getting off a bus which included a man claiming to be the Jesus and a man getting into a fight, a beer is what I needed. When choosing to go right or left the choice was easily made. The front of this bar is amazing, you cannot miss it. The bartender was wonderful and even gave us recommendations of a good place for peking duck and directions to our dinner reservations. I would live there if I could. What's not to like a bar with a shrine and gong?
I have limited experience in going out in this general area but I like this bar.
I'd call it pretty close to a legitimate dive. The bar area kinda feels like you're in someone's living room. If you happen to venture down into the spooky basement area, it definitely feels like your uncle's creepy basement. There's usually dancing and couches down there although it can get hotter than a camel's nutsack and the ceilings get low in a few places.
Probably the clincher for me was the excellent service. Despite the fact that the bar was about a layer deep with people, the bartender was consistently right there to get me another drink when I came up to the bar. I know a bartender always likes to chat with a regular or wash glasses but it's nice to have someone ready and anxious to get you another drink, especially on a busy Friday night. The language barrier made it a little awkward at one point since I thought I was getting charged $13.50 (which actually was $20.50) but hey this bar was a good time.
Oh yeah, and if you complain about a dive bar not taking credit cards, you clearly don't go to enough dive bars...
Make sure you get the Mai Tai when you come to the Li-Po. They put a small drop of something mysterious in them from this dusty bottle they keep on a back shelf. I don't know what it's called, but the bottle is shaped like a gourd, or maybe it's a dried human stomach. Possibly poisonous, but delicious.
Cons: Until you get used to it, the slamming dice sound makes you hit the ceiling every time. And the only way to get used to it is to get drunk/poisoned off human stomach Mai Tais.
Neighborhood: Nob Hill
Category: Dive Bars
Neighborhood: Nob Hill
Category: Nightlife
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Neighborhood: Nob Hill
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