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    Cinnabar

    3.9 (47 reviews)
    InexpensiveDive Bars
    Open 3:00 pm - 2:00 am (Next day)

    Cinnabar Photos

    CINNABAR ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Juke Box
    Moderate noise
    Divey
    Classy

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    Reviews With Photos

    Bartender reaction after I said Tom Brady is not hott
    Joe M.

    Was in the area to see a show. The area itself has seen better days but this bar is not to be passed up. Definitely added this bar to my list of go to dives in SF. Asked for proof of vax when I rolled in, which is fine, i am fully vaxed up baby. Plenty of TVs for sports watching. Very nice for viewing ya crudy football team haha. Bar is nice and long so plenty of seats available. The bartender is a hilarious sweet lady. I almost collapsed when she mentioned Tom Brady being attractive. Why?! Haha. She even showed off a lil bit of her spanish. Drinks are nice and strong. Bathroom is what ya expect. Dive in the rough worth checking and catching a game on the tube

    Let's just play only one type of music all night In 5 songs they repeat a group and a song.  Ugh.
    Douglas A.

    The bartenders are friendly, but they have been out of Jack Daniels for over a week. I substituted a cheaper whiskey and was charged the same price, and the next shot I was served a different one and charged a lot more. Tonight was fairly dead there, but someone took over the jukebox and played their songs as priority, so for over an hour it's been only Spanish music. Won't waste my money there again soon. I've been there 10 times in the last month according to an app that tracks that.

    Monica O.

    Was in the area and needed to kill some time before heading to our next destination, so we popped into Cinnabar. We were greeted right away by the bartender, who was a very sweet girl. It was happy hour and the drinks were cheap, I ordered a vodka and 7up with a cherry, somewhat version of a dirty Shirley, and this drink was super strong. Chatted up with some folks in the bar and before we knew it, it was time to make our way to our next stop. So if you're looking for cheap strong drinks and friendly service, give Cinnabar a try!

    Mike W.

    You can run a dive bar without eye-candy bartenders, a swanky backdrop, top-shelf hooch, or beer on tap. A bad location or a grungy interior is also forgivable if the place is known for kitchy decor with a sense of history or an amusing array of oddball clients. But if a bar is in a bad location, has icy bartenders, lacks any kind of creative decor, and hosts insular and unfriendly clients, how the hell can it stay in business? Halfway into my first round at Cinnabar, I found myself repeatedly pondering this question. Cinnabar is big for a Tenderloin drinking establishment. Rectangular and far longer than it is wide, it has an excess of square footage that most South-of-Market dance clubs would give their eye teeth for. Two TV's service the bar while one stands guard over an interesting area with a large table and opposed-couch style seating. The Giants were playing the Rockies that night, but both TV's shunned baseball in favor of the latest vapidness from "American Idol". Decor is sparse and absolutely devoid of soul. Every bit of it was mass-produced advertising decor from major breweries. Only an SF Giants wall-mirror broke with an otherwise consistently bland decorating scheme. The bartender had a coldly transactional demeanor similar to that of an IRS auditor, and the music was straight out of my worst junior high bell-bottom-jeans nightmares. After back-to-back selections from the Bee Gee's, ABBA, and KC's Sunshine Band, I managed to tune the whole thing out much like one would a repetitive squeak from an aging sedan. Three clients at the point of the bar engaged in lively banter, but they left not long after my arrival. The remaining clientele were about as talkative as fire hydrants. An older man to the left of me was good for an occasional single sentence reply, and all I could get out of a Korean man to my right was brief eye contact and a single grunt. I glanced down the bar to see four other lounge-lizards that were equidistantly spaced about two stools apart. All of them seemed perfectly content sitting in total isolation while staring blankly into space. Cinnabar's only saving grace was a decent selection of beer in bottles, a rarity this deep in the Tenderloin. Their liquor selection looked OK, but drink specials called "Turbo Charge" and "Fire Blaster" looked like something out of a bygone Godzilla flick. I didn't even want to know what was in them. The bottom of a Sierra Nevada Pale ale left little reason to stick around. I walked out the door just as the jukebox started belting out ABBA's "Knowing Me Knowing You". Ick. I visit some pretty seedy places, and seldom does a bar leave me fruitless in my search for just one scrap of charm or character. Cinnabar is a rare exception. If you're on a dive-bar exploration through the Tenderloin, just leave this one alone. 5-20-06 Update: This place is being gutted from top to bottom. Capenters are doing a complete re-model. Probably won't be open for awhile.

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    9 years ago

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    14 years ago

    Not really a dive bar at all. Huge empty, cool. Bottled beer. Skimpy liquor selection. Perfect!

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    13 years ago

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    Page 2 of 2

    Ask the Community - Cinnabar

    Review Highlights - Cinnabar

    I usually make it out to this place once a month, and it's a great divey little place.

    Mentioned in 2 reviews

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    The Summer Place - Behind the bar

    The Summer Place

    4.3(82 reviews)
    0.4 miUnion Square, Lower Nob Hill
    $$

    Just on their Xmas decor is a 5/5. Very chill and festive neighborhood bar…read more Service was good. Staff were very knowledgeable and get our orders quickly.

    What a fun spot! The Summer Place is a bar I've passed numerous time during my trips to the city,…read moreyet somehow never made my way in. I've now been twice in the past few months and consider this part of my regular bar rotation in SF. My favorite thing about The Summer Place is the way they deck the halls for holidays. I'm a sucker for a good themed bar, or a bar that isn't afraid to dress itself up for holidays or special occasions (we have plenty of speakeasies and upscale cocktail lounges, y'all - bring back some of the kitsch!). And The Summer Place definitely hits that mark. For Halloween, they had a ton of Nightmare Before Christmas decor adorning every square inch of the interior real estate. It's a relatively small bar, so seating or standing areas may be tough to come by on crowded nights, but if you hang around, something seems to usually open up. The drinks are all fun and pretty good too - nothing too crazy, but consistently enjoyable and creative, with prices that won't break the bank. We tried just about every drink on their Halloween menu, from Oogie Boogie's Bog Water to Worm Wort, and found them all quite good. The servers have all been very kind and really contribute to the fun atmosphere. This is one of those bars that feels like a true neighborhood haunt, where everyone is a regular and knows each other. So if you're looking for a fun, mildly chaotic, quintessential neighborhood bar experience with good drinks and a great energy in the Tendernob area, The Summer Place is your place!

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    The Summer Place - Behind the bar

    Behind the bar

    The Summer Place
    The Summer Place

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    Cinnabar - divebars - Updated September 2026

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