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Incredible little spot at the end of town (Yountville/Napa). My friends said it Reminds them of a Wisconsin bar, but i think of it more like a locals only spot you'd find in Mexico. Feels kind of run down, but really, its just a well used bar. 2 pool tables, inexpensive drinks, and a super cool and on the spot bartender. He was making rounds on maybe 100 people, 20 ordering up at anytime, and keeping everyone happy. Great white trash couches in the back with a nice view over the pool tables and into the bar.
Amazingly... they allow smoking inside, and everyone was smoking.
In a land of wine and pretense (don't get me wrong, I love wine and even the pretense that goes along with it at times) each little town in the Napa region seems to have one bar where all of that goes out the window. A place where one can get a beer and burp and say tacky things with wild abandon and little judgement.
Pancha's is Yountvilles answer to the heavy drinkers escape from all things grape and all things classy. This is where you can sit on a couch that you might otherwise find at the city dump, where you can smoke indoors and listen to people fight about the rules of pool, where you do not need to describe anything as having berry or oak or earth undertones, except maybe the air, which might just actually taste of earth due to the grunge, not the harvest.
It is a place that doesn't fit its surroundings but somehow does, or at least for me, by the time I am ready for something other than wine, it sure seems as though it does.
OK. I love everything Yountville. EVERYTHING, from one end of the town to the other. Panchas, is by far, my favorite hangout in this quaint little town. I love the.....pooltables, chairs that are falling apart, "porn couches" (yes, that's what we call them), the "jukebox", Bobby, Rose, Gary......I love all the signs, the fact that they let you smoke...( I don't but hey, it's a bar!). I've ordered wine from Gary, and he rolls his eyes. I'll stick to Corona. Where else can you dance with the charming Vets from the California Vets Home??? Only at Panchas! I will always come back!
Fun bar
Has a lot of "divey" appeal, I particularly like the crazy couches with tacky floral print all over them, and the woven chairs that are blatantly falling apart. Add that to all the beer placards all over the walls, and you have a winning combination of dive decor.
$3.00 beers, 50 cent pool table, 50 cent "juke box" and the bartender put on the Finals for us on the TV which made me happy. And to top things off, Odum actually played well! Amazing!
Obscenely cheap beer, fifty cent pool, and crazy shit on the walls. If only I could have been here at a later hour to observe the colorful locals in their natural habitat...
I Love Dive Bars. You meet the most interesting people in them. The Vietnam Vet Telling you of all the great and wonderful things you can do with pliers and a ball of string... The woman that looks like Patty from the "Pop Inn" playing video poker in the corner, practicing her skillz for when she makes her monthly trip up to Reno... The young Wiggah swilling a Budweiser as he writes down flows in his steno notebook (he WILL BE the next Eminem! He gonna Blow Up one day, yo)... This is the kind of salt-of-the Earth people I hope to meet at a dive bar.
The patrons of Pancha's have too many teeth and know too much about French food for it to be deemed a true "Dive." Plus, don't these people realize second-hand smoke kills??? Sheesh. *CoughCoughWheeeeeez*
The bartender called me a "stinky cunt" and kicked me and my friends out before we even walked into the bar. They were drunk and belligerent and tacky and mean. This place sucks.
My girls and I managed to find a dive bar in Napa similar to one back home. Great way to end our looong day of drinking. Little too smokey, which was a surprise because I thought in CA they were super stuffy about smoking, but the shots and drinks made up for it. Definitely a local's type of place.
After a LONG day of wine tasting it was great to get back down to what I'm used to...which is beer drinking at an unpretentious bar. I was welcomed by the family of the owner and the owner himself. It was game 6 of the '09 World Series, this being my sole reason for finding a place to pound some beer and watch the game. The infamous "Rose" that I was supposed to make sure not to piss off was a damn sweetheart (thanks to me saving her seat for her while she went to get ice cream). The owner and I shot a few games of pool, which I did my best to lose..or maybe I was just too drunk to win in my best efforts. All in all, a great place for those who just don't fit in with the typical Napa Valley crowds. Hey, I love wine and great food, but I don't wear dockers, trendy shirts or anything else similar to the typical Yountville attire that I saw in my two days staying there. For all who want this, it is recommended highly! But if you plan on re-wearing clothes on your trip to Napa, don't wear them here. The smoke will permeate almost as much as the positive impression that you will find here.
Look up the term *Dive Bar* in that one imaginary dictionary that people always refer to and you'll see a picture of this place right next to the entry, serious.
From the shag-tacular couch that you couldn't pay me enough money to sit on to all the dive bar flair on the walls, this place is a dump. The fact that it is in Yountville amongst the likes of French Laundry and such just makes it that much sweeter. If they serve wine it's probably in a plasic tumbler for sure.
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Kevin wrote on Jan 11, 2009 9:11 AM:
" What's "unusual" about walking home from Pancha's at 12:30 am? "
That was posted on the Napa Register's website in regards to a gentleman walking home late last Friday night from Pancha's, which sits at the end of the dark end of Washington Street, Yountville's main drag. This guy was at a wine party being held at someone's apartment only three or four doors up from the bar. There were, by one account, forty bottles of wine open. There was wine tasting, lasagna, more tasting, some dancing, photos of everyone tasting straight from the bottles, and then the notion to stumble over to Pancha's. He doesn't remember ordering two beers at the bar and chasing a girl around the pool table, his mirrored sunglasses and sweatshirt hood likening him to the Unabomber. Also foggy to him was leaving the bar and heading south on Washington Street. Where the hell was he going? Pancha's had all he could ask for: music, friendly folk, a full bar, a haggard yet attentive barkeep, a small garden area out back for getting fresh air, and plenty of stools inside for dragging on a smoke and taking up conversation with anyone. Instead of having the security of being in a warm, well-lit place, surrounded by neighborly people in a genial atmosphere, he slinked away and off down the street he went. The Sheriff's Deputy was driving by and couldn't help but notice this individual tottering down the street. As he stopped to question the man, a car lifting off from a 'hollywood stop' hit the officer and kept driving down the road. The Deputy and the staggering fellow hopped into the crawler and stopped the car a block down the street. The officer suffered minor bruising and a fucked up side mirror. The man who tagged along was minimally hung over the next day.
I can recommend Pancha's if you're in the area. I wouldn't suggest going there for a remarkable wine list or beers on tap, but perhaps for some strong mixed drinks. It might be the most fun you have on the Yountville strip.
By the way Margot B, very nice photo of Pancha's!
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Incident as reported by NVR:
http://www.napavalleyr...
Before my first trip to Yountville, I couldn't stop hearing about how "great" the food can be in this 'burg. Well, the first place I walked into was this cafe/wine bar named Gordon's and- looking at the menu and people waiting in line-I wasn't sure I was looking in the right place. I meandered next door and my eyes gravitated toward a potato chip rack and beer taps featuring Sierra Nevada and Pabst Blue Ribbon. It was about 2:00 PM and while, this dive bar seemed to offer everything I'd want on a day-to-day basis, I still wasn't convinced on the idea of Yountville being a culinary oasis.
I continued walking down Washington Street and made my way into Bouchon for a late lunch, but I couldn't stop thinking about that bar. A year later, I was employed at a restaurant in Yountville and all my co-workers could talk about was a post-shift drink at Pancha's. The moment I re-entered the bar, a sense of homecoming took over me. The smell of smoke and chef pants laced with salad dressing made me feel at ease. The jukebox featured Phil Collins, Depeche Mode, Steely Dan, The Pixies and The Smiths. I thought that I had reached heaven.
I ordered a Pabst and a shot of Jim Beam. Soon after, I ordered another Pabst and bought a Sierra Nevada for a co-worker who was apparently "too good" for a PBR. I ordered another Pabst and the tap ran out just as my cup-to-be was about to be full. The bartender put an empty plastic cup on top of the PBR tap and sadly announced that Pabst was done for the night. Later on, I ordered a Sierra Nevada and by this time I had smoked half a pack of cigarettes and made industry chit-chat with visiting chefs from Los Angeles about how wine service can be filled with so much bullshit in many cases.
I left Pancha's that night with a sense of rebirth. I ended up being pulled off the road by California Highway Patrol that night. They issued me with a ticket for driving under the influence and invited me to stay in their county jail for the evening. I moved to Yountville later that month and I've walked home from Pancha's ever since. I love this bar and I don't think anyone could make this bar any more of a fixture in Yountville.
As I'm typing this review, I'm reflecting upon the special moments that I had at Pancha's this very night. I hope everyone can have such cherished memories of Pancha's as I have had in my stay in Yountville. Check this place out and let me know what you think.
"Dive Bar"? BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! You guys are joking right? This is Yountville, there are no dive bars. This place is about as phony as Cinderellas Castle at euro disney. Need proof? Just look at the bathrooms. Spotless. Still not convinced? Talk to the patrons. most are regular dinners at Ad Hoc, Bouchon, and French Laundry. This a dive bar for the elite. It's a bunch of weekend warriors heading out to dinner and pretentious/sluty/drunk winery chicks before 11:30pm.
However... After 11:30 a lot of the various servers and restaurant staff that have been dealing with those pretentious pricks all day get off work. That's when this bar gets crackin. But seriously, if want a dive bar head down to the Green Door in napa. Or better yet, the Ha-Ra or Zeitgeist is San Francisco.
Geez...it's been a while since I've hung out at a dive, and I forgot how much they RULE. This is probably the only place in California that still lets you smoke inside!
I felt like I was back in Hawaii again (circa 1996, Anna Bannana's, smoking my brains out). This is where all the French Laundry, Bouchon, and Ad Hoc folks go to get post-shift libations - we were accompanied by Ad Hoc-ian Nessim, and even saw our waiter for the evening, Peter, sans brown Dickies.
I was slightly inebriated when I arrived after a lovely birthday dinner at Ad Hoc, so I don't remember the finer details, but I distinctly remember pool tables, rocking out to the jukebox, and being hit on by three very VERY drunk dudes at the end of the bar offering me a birthday sandwich. (And I don't think they meant food.) I really just had to laugh - it was a very interesting way to end my three-day birthday celebration. Oh yeah, the drinks are nice and strong - I passed the hell out in the car ride on the way home.
Is it wrong that I went to Napa for my birthday and had more fun at the dive bar than I did tasting the gallons of amazing wine I consumed over the weekend?
Because I did.
And I want to go back to Napa, not to taste more delicious wine (although don't get me wrong, I love wine), but to hang out at this bar.
I'm going through my boy-crazy 13 year old stage about 11 years late, so the plethora of local men in this bar was almost overwhelming for me. Not really overwhelming so much as amazingly fun though.
We played dice, we drank pabst and whiskey, I doubled the number of cigarettes I've consumed in my life, the jukebox was blasting, people were playing pool, and at the end of the second night in a row of going, the bartender gave us a giant bag of potato chips (because my mom loves her chips when she's drunk).
I like Pancha's a lot. Maybe even more than I like boys.
This is the place the Yontville Chamber of Commerce doesn't want you to know about. When my brother lived in Yountville, we'd go all the time. It is the ONLY local hangout that you can patronize daily and not force you to file chapter 11 (or is it 13?)
Owned by the same family since the 1870's,This place is overrun with off-duty, dirty-dancing wine-pourer chicks from up-valley tasting rooms, grizzly ass-kickers, and a steady stream of subordinate chefs just ending their shifts from the kitchens of the nearby darlings of the Zagat Survey. Tired and greasy from another long night of finessing foie gras and seared ahi, they come to Pancha's looking to blow their tip-shares on Pabst Blue Ribbon...I love it.
Smoking, while illegal in all CA restaurants and bars, is ok...no....encouraged at Pancha's. Dinner plate sized ashtrays are set along the length of the bar serving as a middle-finger to any prissy, whistle blowing gens-d'armes or state inspector that may come in looking to disturb its seedy status-quo.
An MP3 jukebox and pool tables offer time passing entertainment. Who knows, Thomas Keller may challenge you to a game of 9-ball.
This is THE dive bar in napa!
Don't mind smelling like smoke the next morning?
Want the COLDEST beer in town?
Touristas, locals, kitchen dogs from the gormet getto, they are all here because this is the place for diving & diving deep!
A dive bar in YOUNTVILLE? Love it. The smoke is overpowering, but I love the atmosphere...this is the reason that Yountville is able to steer clear of the stuffy, over-the-top snobby attitude associated with other parts of the Napa Valley. A hang out for locals and tourists alike and open late! Plus, they have pool!
Fantastic dive in the heart of the otherwise pristine and exclusive wine country. It's just so out of place feeling you HAVE to go in and check it out, which we did. Nice breath of fresh air after the wineries. Really strong drinks (the way I like em), locals hanging out in the middle of the afternoon, awesome seediness everywhere you turn. Loved it.
Before spending a wad of cash on your TK meal, drop by Pancha's for a dose of what life is really like in the Yountville. I thought everyone there lived off of 25 course meals from the French Laundry. How wrong I was! Fantastic little dive bar with a nice mix of regulars, that serves beer in plastic cups (bar fights?), lots of great beer signs, had no ginger ale (but gracefully substituted 7-up for my whiskey cocktail), cheap ass pool (Karen K, predictably, is a fantastic pool player) and of course, the true sign of non-SF life, you can smoke indoors. Excellent pre-game destination. A brief drive from Bouchon & Ad Hoc.
losers vs tourists when it comes to this joint. pool tables unable to to played, lush bags, dead-end hospitality workers looking ...just looking
many many willing souls. i was first afraid - but found the love of this unforsaken place - deep in the heart of drunkville - u can walk blindfolded and still smell your way there. ...word to the willing wise, dont sit on the couches. by far best coors in town!
If you ask gary for a vodka on the rocks ur lucky if you get 4 ice cubes. Don't sit on the couch because of the coons skankiness. Great bar, beats all of the other dive bar competition in Yountville.
This place is always crakin with the locals of the town. Deffinetely a "dive" but a perfect place for this establishment is Yountville. Locally owned and has been for years. The only kicked back place up valley where you can grab a drink, play some pool, and by the time you leave everyone knows your first name.
This is it. It's the best bar in Napa Valley. Jessie M. is wrong. Stop in right after work hours. Stop in late, after the dinner crowd fizzles out from too much wine. Stop by in the middle of the day on Saturday. Of course there will be some "elites". You're in Yountville! But this is a regulars place. You can smoke, you can BS with the owner, you can play the jukebox, play pool, buy a bag of chips. You go in there at 5:00 on a Tuesday and there won't be one shiny shoe in the place. It's one of the only real bars in this whole area. SF is packed with small, local, neighborhood dive bars that no one knows about but the people that have been going there for years. This is that place. It's just in the small tourist town that houses restaurants with more stars than any other place in the world. If this isn't real enough, go over to the veteran's home and check out their bar action. And try decaf Jessie.
By far a definite happening small pub, the bar is fascinating and the drinks great. The juke box ran auto but every song was my tune. The only downside is that the only two pool tables around werent available for use. I thought the beanbags and corner couch look was interesting. It gets 3 stars for having good drinks but negative for only accepting cash and not having free tables. Otherwise id highly recommend if youre just wanting to put back some cold ones and forget you ever went to the green door.
awesome little local dive we ended up in, and that almost ended us! filthy, cash only, seedy looking characters, etc. in short, amazing. my liver hates me forever as a result of pancha's, however, my wallet is not as unhappy as it might have been :)
pancha's is like the bar in "cheers" because everyone knows your name, or will pretend to know your name if they've been drinking enough... the drinks are cheap and the jukebox has everything you could possibly want. all the reviews about the couches are correct, don't ever sit on them...but the bar stools and wooden chairs are all fine and dandy. pancha's is the type of place where the bartender will rag on your for not taking another shot of yukon jack, and not only will he chant "wussy, wussy" over and over again, he'll get the entire bar to chant with him... good times. NB: always wear your shoes. as is true for any good dive bar, the floor is disgusting. i once saw some drunk gilries walking around sans footwear. i almost vomited on the spot.
Napa, CA
Category: Bars
Napa, CA
Category: Dive Bars
Yountville, CA
Category: Grocery
Calistoga, CA
Category: Bars
Napa, CA
Category: Grocery
