Shakedown Bar

This place is great with local and visiting bands, and the drinks are limited but good. However, the owner of this establishment is questionable. If he doesn’t want to stay till 2 like the other bars; he’ll yell scream and throw a childish temper tantrum, knocking everyone’s drinks all over the place. If you can’t handlebar I don’t think this place is for you.

Miss this place! I hope it reopens soon so I can go to a show! Was such an amazing venue have seen so many rad punk bands here! Cheap tall cans of PBR too.

They have really snazzed this place up. Way better!
Cheap shows and a good venue. The shows are a bit on the late side, but that is pretty typical with bar shows in San Diego I guess.
You are almost on stage with the band when the preform the venue is so small, but I like that.

I LOVE this place! I have been there from the beginning. After Rhythm Lounge, which was a dump, im so glad this happened.
Now that the ladies took it over, its better than ever!
Drinks are a good price, and strong.
Bartenders are so nice and they are flyyy haha.
I usually come here after work, so its daytime, after 2pm. Its a little slow then, but its way cool. Its a rock n roll bar, so you get the rock n roll vibe. So what if something isnt clean. Hello! Rock n roll is dirty in the best way. Why are you in there if you’re stuck up?!?
Love you ladies!

Make sure you pay attention to the 2014 and later comments, because the place has been renovated recently and kicks A star star. It is dark, intimate, raw, and an awesome place to slam drinks with your bros and get disturbingly close to any of the live bands playing there. The bands will be playing some form of rock. If you’re looking for a nice white wine spritzer and smooth jazz, do not go here. If you want to drink a nice tangy mojito and wrap that cardigan around your shoulders, do not go here.

It helps that I knew one of the bands so there was a vested interest. They line up was a good of punk and rock. The show started about an hour late as my buddies band was delayed.
Bartender was helpful and prompt. Sound was good. However the ability to watch a band sucks. Stage is too low to see the performance. Ended up standing side stage.
If i didn’t know a band. Would go 2 stars. I like the vibe and theme, but need to make the band riser taller by about 2 feet.

SH-​SH-​SH-​SHAKEDOWN! I’ve played at this bar before it changed ownership and it was a DIVE! Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It was dirty, haggerd, and run down but it still had it’s own charm. Although, the regular street traffic would probably be too scared to walk in!
I was back last night, and this place looks GREAT! Completely remodeled with awesome artwork, booths, and a new stage. The joint was clean, the staff was friendly, and the drinks were reasonable. Sound system sounded great too! The new owner classed it up! Great place to grab a drink and catch a show. Glad to see there are still bar owners out there that support and create venues for live music! We will be back soon!

Haven’t been here in years but I was pleasantly surprised when I came in on a Friday night to check out a band from San Francisco (The Institution) by the awesome staff! The door guy was pleasant and Jasmine was super awesome! Made me a great margarita and even went out of her way to give me a little info on the other two bands that were playing that night… she was very authentic, chill and hunt plain nice!

The Shakedown is a legit little place in SD that my husband and I frequent. It seems like they always have something good going on. I’ll definitely be catching a show or two there in 2014! The bartenders there are super nice and they have good drink prices.
Great place to have a good time!

Shakedown has always been a cool place to go drink with my fellow miscreants. Good shows, cheap drinks, good company. What more can you ask of a dive bar? This place is in a tough location; if you’re looking for a fun night in SD though, I guarantee you’ll meet some great and interesting people here.

Shakedown, Shakedown, Shakedown!!!
Outstanding bar/​music venue in San Diego, convenient on Midway in Loma Portal, super friendly staff, drinks for what you need … Live, hard fast loud music, something for everyone, every genre/​sub-​genre. SD local at the forefront, with a wide variety of touring bands from many locales (HB/​OC, LA, LV, CO, TX, MO … BE, DE, on and on).
It bears repeating … super friendly staff (Jasmine, Christine, Kate, April …, the boys)!!
Go on, get some.

This place has recently changed hands but it hasn’t lost its edge. The new Shakedown iscleaner, friendlier, and far better stocked. The people and music are what truly make this place awesome

My band played here on 9÷07÷13 and we had a blast! This place is a total dive bar, and sometime that’s a good thing but not in this case. The other bands that played that night were beyond cool to us and the sound guy working that night was totally cool. They get 2 stars for that and that only, the door guy seemed like he was in a bad mood or maybe he was just tired. The bartender wasn’t that friendly either.
The women’s restroom was foul and I couldn’t close the men’s door when I needed to. Like I said at the beginning of this review we had a blast playing here thanks in part to the bands we saw and talked to and to our friends that drive down to see us, probably will never return here.

This place is awful. It does not even qualify as a dive in my book… and, believe me, I’ve enjoyed my fair share of dive bars. How do you think I got my Barfly badge, people??? Lol.
Anyhoo, this place smells like someone smeared pee and diarrhea all over the floors and walls, then repeatedly flushed toxic waste down the toilet until it overflowed. I’m not exaggerating. My buddy actually ran down to the Taco Bell close by to handle business rather than brave the bathrooms.
I might be able to overlook the bathroom/​fecal odor issue, if the bar got it right, but it didn’t. I’ve been there twice and they have been out of Jack Daniels and Captain Morgan. They also had no pineapple juice. The most frustrating part of them running out of this standard liquor is that there is a liquor store right next door!!!
On top of that, the sound for the live music is awful. I am not someone who is into death metal or whatever it is called, so I’m sure that has an effect. Even fans, however, shouldn’t go to this bar without ear plugs.

Came here once, for a show that my husband’s band was playing.
I walked in, and the first thing I said to my friend was, «Damn, this place smells like meth and despair!»
I like dives, but this place seemed dilapidated. Gnarly wasted women who didn’t care if they peed with the door open or shut. The folks that were there for the show seemed okay, but there were definitely a bunch of folks there NOT there for the show, that just seemed straight up SHADY.
Sound was okay, service was average, but that’s not enough to have me back.
Sorry. Not a chance I’ll be heading back here.

I had driven past it a million times over the past 2 years of living in SD. The gigantic biker skeleton on the side of the building makes a bold statement… I just didn’t know what that statement was. Biker bar? Rocker Bar? Rockabilly? Bikabilly? Will I go there and get my ass kicked? Is a tattoo mandatory for admittance? Are tribal tramp stamps the exception?
So many questions.
A friend told me to see a band that was coming to SD and they happened to be playing at Shakedown. The perfect chance to check it out! The band was great, and we found a bar that felt like it could be our go-​to place.
I’m a low maintenance kind of person. I enjoy places that are laid back, have good drinks, and attract patrons lacking pretension. The atmosphere at Shakedown allows you to relax and enjoy being yourself instead of feeling like you are an extra, stuck in a horrible MTV reality show featuring drunk kids who will be on Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab before this season even airs.
Shakedown is the kind of place where I feel comfortable because the staff and patrons are diverse but also universally awesome. To answer my original questions, there may be bikers, rockers, bikabilly enthusiasts, punk princesses, steampunkers, goth guys, whatever. It doesn’t much matter, it’s a place to get a drink and be yourself with those who appreciate the rare chance to do just that.

This place is my home. I live 40 mins north and come visit as regularly as I can to catch all the great shows they have and run into old friends and new alike. $ 4 PBR & Rolling rocks are perfect for this dive bar. Love the bartenders too.
Though I’ve been here many times, one of the first few times I got cut off for the night in the middle of having a mellow conversation with a ginger dude. At the time I was pissed for them not denying me the beer when I went to go buy it, but the owner promised to get me a free one next time I came back. So the next time I came back I explained this to the bartender and he didn’t give me any grief before handing me a cold one. Awesome. In the owner’s defence, that dude WAS a ginger so I kept coming back ;) thanks for the good times Shakedown!

The Good: If you are a metal head such as myself, this is the place for you. There is nothing better than live punk and metal shows in a small venue. Drinks are stiff and priced to move.
The Bad: The bartender was a cool, fully tattooed sideshow god, however, his time was split between the DJ/​Sound Control booth, stock room and a mile long bar top with 50 very thirsty patrons.
The Ugly: Apparently, the bar is up for a change of ownership. In the wake of this régime change, the liquor supply ran dangerously low. Not to mention that the soda guns were not working and everything was coming out of a 2 liter bottle. Not a bad thing per se, but time consuming for a single tender battling a mosh hungry crowd.

Not the grimiest bar I’ve been to, but hey, they could get there one day. The place is only a few years old.
Sound quality was on-​point.
Bands were great.
Bartender was chill.
Drinks were cheap.
Drinks were strong.
Drinks were good.
Party.
Oh, and props to the guy with the Crybaby hair and D.I.Y. jacket with Leatherface shoulder panel. Ingenuity at its finest. Between him and the skate vids from 1990, my adult A.D.D. was fully satisfied.

Cool venue, but the weird shape makes it not the best for crowded shows. By weird shape I mean it is long and skinny, it needs more width so people aren’t getting pushed onto the weirdos trying to belly up to the bar during sets.
Staff was friendly and I didn’t notice any jerks in the crowd so it was a fun show.