Edinburgh Castle Pub

Ok, ok upon first entering the bar– it sorta looks dumpy. But wouldn’t a true Scottish pub be older and worn down? It adds to authenticity!
Pool tables, seating for those not looking to mix and mingle, very spacious– two stories, full bar and friendly bartenders. The style and décor made us feel like we stumbled into a European Bar.
So much fun that one of the members of our party (from Sacramento) is planning to enjoy his next birthday here.
Can’t wait to come back!

This place is a really great dive bar. I wish I could take it home with me. The surrounding area is not the greatest, but it’s worth it.

I like this place because it is how I imagined all bars to look when I was a kid. Double swinging doors inside the metal gated entryway, and a dim red-​orange glow cast over the whole thing. A lot of places like Edinburgh haven’t survived the barrage of evictions and takeovers, but it has managed to stick around in all of its worn-​in ways.
This place can get crazy, and it can also be totally desolate at times, but I find it enjoyable in just about any shape. Dartboard and pool table, a cozy tap list and a solid bar with plenty of seats. Unpretentious and looking like it was carved out of the building it inhabits — I can’t ask for much more.
Atmosphere: Bigger than you’d expect. Nice little seating areas on the second level above the bar. Large smoking area in the front, closed off from the main area.
Try: A nice little fish & chips kitchen in the back, so you can get some solid bar food while you’re there

Drinks and beer menu were fine, and priced appropriately for the neighborhood. DO NOT ORDER FOOD. The fish and chips are cooked at a Korean restaurant and delivered. More like boiled in oil than fried. It was Sunday and the atmosphere was really slow with 4 people there. I would never come back for the food. I wish the bartender had told me the food isn’t very good. It’s worth noting he didn’t bother asking how it was.

All of our friends were pick pocketed here and the security refused to do anything. I see from other reviews that this happens regularly. Beware

Kind of a young rowdy crowd but they have great hip hop music. stiff drinks are always a plus esp when they come at a fair rate.

I’ve been here a few times and it’s alright. Very young, very crowded, very dingy inside. I think people flock here because it’s large, plays hip hop and has cheapish drinks.
I also live across the street and I see the madness that happens here every single week. Serious fights (someone got knocked out and another guy began stomping… leaping and stomping on his head while he was down), people trying to break into cars for the hell of it, theft. Plus, I always see drunk guys going home with tranny hookers all the time. So if you do choose to go here, have your wits about you and leave before last call because s*** will get crazy.

Candy Rain!!!
Only reason to come here tbh. They play the best music (think 90s/​00s/​10s hip hop & R&B) on the first and third Saturday of the month. Any other time I’ve come here the ambiance is cool but the music is super whatever. I now know when to come back! Thanks, Edinburgh for putting me on to one of the dopest DJs around!

Awesome dive but with class. Great selection of brews! Say hey to the owner Tay. Great history!

PLEASE NEVER EVER EVER EVER GO HERE. Our group had 3 phones, 1 wallet and one camera stolen from our purses that were on us the whole time. They do not crowd control at all so the place ends up getting way too busy– which then results in people being able to pick pocket easily. I understand that the people of Edinburgh Castle were not aware of the pick pocketers at the time, but when I called the next day to explain and check in on my wallet they acted annoyed and extremely unapologetic.
As we told the employees of Edinburgh that night, they really should have lockers or some type of coat check to make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen again.

Came in before 10pm and it was still pretty empty, so we were able to find a booth easily. A waitress approached us and asked us if we wanted drinks. We paid her and she pretty much asked for a tip, using the «lack» of change she had on hand as an excuse. Girl, I will tip you maybe after my second drink and after I feel like I’ve had a good time, especially if you helped with that. But nonetheless, you shouldn’t be asking for tips anyways. The cocktails we got tasted watered down, and lacked alcohol. I went up to the bar to speak to one of the male bartenders, and it was obvious he wasn’t pleased to hear me asking him to fix my drink. He eventually gave me a different drink later, but the overall customer service I received here was lacking. None of the bartenders were smiling, nor looked like they wanted to be there. After my friend tipped one of the bartenders (and her drink wasn’t even that good), she didn’t smile nor say thank you.
We came on a Friday night, so it was Hip Hop night, but only the first hour and a half featured throwbacks and classics. The rest of the night felt like a lot of Drake. Before the hip hop, they played Jingle Bells (?!) and it’s the beginning of September. Not impressed by this place, and am glad I came early enough before the $ 10 cover charge started.

If you are looking for a Hip hop bar. I know there are few ones left this isn’t too bad. $ 6 cover is ok seems the place should be free but i guess this keeps out some of the homeless in the area.
I don’t like how the bar accepted card and after 10:30 became cash only.
Indoor smoking area. Cool I don’t smoke but cool.
Gets pretty crowded. Be ready to be shoulder to should on a sat night.

Ok for a beer, nothing special happening here, crowd was seedy tho :-O
Perhaps I’ll come visit on a different night…

Very good beer here!!! Had the death & taxes beer… Awesome!!! Very cool ambiance just a little divey. Very cool tender socializing with… About beer, sports etc

Oh man, do I have some mixed feelings about this place, or what.
Part of me loves it: it’s divey, cheap, a pretty large space for SF, the staff was nice (for the most part), and they were playing some old hip hop last time I was there. I will jam to No Diggity any day of the week (no doubt!)
The part of me that hates it… well, it’s in the TL, so you have to politely decline offers for crack or sexual «favors» from tranny hookers on your way to the door (or accept those offers, I don’t know your life; no judgments here). There was a $ 10 cover on a Saturday night which I think is lame sauce. The place was suuuuuuper crowded, in an uncomfortable, «I’m in the middle of a sweaty concert crowd» kinda way. Even that wouldn’t be SO bad if the crowd wasn’t full of groping fiends. Come on, bros! Me squeezing by you in a crowded bar so I can make my way to the toilets is not an invitation to touch my heiny! But that’s the kinda crowd that frequents this place on a weekend evening, I guess.
There’s also a patio (?) area for smoking but that smoke smell does not remain in that area. If you’re sitting near the door to the smoking area, be prepared to get your daily dose of second-​hand smoke. Pretty disgusting for a non-​smoker like me.
All in all, the place has potential, but it’s never my first choice when I’m looking for some weekend drinks.

This is what I think when I think dive bar. If I am going to go to a place that feels run down and old and has an irresistible charm nonetheless I want that charm to be authentic not created in a focus group and processed with a dive bar coating. I want weird things hanging from the walls you can’t explain, I want old wood everywhere and smells you can’t explain. I want odd bartenders and even odder patrons and I want pool, a juke box, and food that probably shouldn’t be served from a bar. Check to all those things and more.
Edinburgh Castle is a no frills dive bar that has feels like a pub you would find somewhere in Scotland or London. I have gone on trivia nights on Tuesday which I would recommend to everyone. The host is funny and doesn’t take the game too serious but actually runs a really great game. The bartender I have had is always this kind of surly older gentleman but he will get to you eventually. The beers are super cheap as you would expect as well, especially on tap.
The area around Edinburgh isn’t the greatest but people who don’t look like tourists or don’t have their money and cellphones dangling about in their hands really won’t ever have a problem. Its the secret those of us near the tenderloin keep to ourselves. There are actually some really great places over here and if the yuppies are too scared to venture here because of what they heard about an area then its all the better for us.
I haven’t been there for the apparently packed Friday and Saturdays but there is always room to meet up with friends or grab a seat at the bar when I have been here. This is the only place that I feel like uncanny ability to remember which guy was the guy in that one movie is a skill worth having.

Expect the unexpected. Visited on a Saturday night and the place was poppin! The name implies English pub but wait until you get inside. The DJ was blasting every great rap song from Wu Tang to the present and a projector was playing Boys in the Hood on the back wall. People of all trends and lifestyles were dancing together and the vibe reminded me of the perfect house party. I loved every minute of it. The only downer is the bar is cash only which really blows but on the upside the bartenders don’t really measure out the drinks so the result is some seriously strong cocktails. Cheers!

When considering reviewing Edinburgh, I honestly didn’t know what to say about the venue itself. Though my friends and I had such a fun time and I had just been there the weekend before to encounter tons of foreigners who bought me plenty of Fernet and cokes, which was cool in and of itself, but still, nothing really came to mind that made this drinking experience different than any other. But then I decided, maybe there was something awesome about Edinburgh.
We pranced over after checking out a couple places in NoPa to discover that the bouncer wouldn’t accept my friend’s passport as her ID. We started to get sad, but then he said he was just kidding! Oh man, this guy’s got jokes. Next, we walked in to find that there was a $ 10 per person cover charge. Sadness reinitiated, as paying covers suck and we only had $ 6 between the three of us. But then, lo and behold, this bouncer accepted our $ 6 offering and let all three of us in! Childbearing, periods, and lower pay aside, being a woman has it’s perks.
Heading inside we approached the bar, ordered three beers and went up to the top level to look down over the fake rooftop awnings above the main floor. It’s such a cute and fun atmosphere, you have to be a real beezy to not at keast enjoy that.
The night continued, hip hop came on, and the drunken white girl in me had to make an appearance. Enter the first bouncer who gave us good natured grief about the passport, commence grinding /​dancing /​actin’ a fool, but who cares it was so fun and he didn’t seem to mind.
As we walked down to the main floor for another bevvy, my friend reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of those funky false hill billy teeth, so naturally I put them in and started dancing more. I, and anyone who came within one foot of me, could not keep a straight face. Yes, we were all surely tispy and reading this you may think I’m an attention whore (which I am), but it was hilarious.
All in all, an awesome night. Cheap drinks, great music, entertaining staff. One of my favorite TL bars and not too many pretentious hipsters, so that’s a major plus.

The gist: Cool lay-​out for booth seating and cool décor, can bring outside food, but the beers are regular prices.
The bar is worth visiting because of the cool interior shingles and nice little booths. Not a great place for a big sit-​down group — we had a party-​like group in the back that had reserved the big table, and it 1) only fit 6 people and 2) was in between the darts and the pool table, leading to constant power struggle and détente btw the 3
If you’re looking for a fairly quiet bar with booth-​seating, it’s worth checking out. Walking back down Geary, I saw so many way fancy bars and was glad that we’d gone to such a casual laidback place. Sure, beers and wells were $ 5 – 6, which is totally standard on a Saturday, but not something to write home about. I was there until 9 or so on Saturday night and it never got uncomfortably crowded in those evening hours, unless you were between the pool and Darts.
They only seemed to serve bar eats and Fish and Chips, but the outside food options were pretty good. Lots of Vietnamese and Thai, some cheap pizza.

Ermahgerd. I love this place.
Look, it’s divey as hell. So if you want to take a girl somewhere and impress them — this is NOT it. That being said, if you want to let loose and kick back a few brews, this is the spot. It’s got a pool table and darts, and occasionally a dj.
The bartenders here are fantastic. Very attentive and all up for a bit of banter.
The bathrooms smell of rancid piss, but you know what. I wouldn’t change it if I could. It just reminds you that you aren’t drunk enough yet. It’s an assault on your sobriety, which frankly, is the enemy of Edinburgh Castle Pub. This is one of those places that doesn’t really make sense until you’ve had a few. You know what I mean — You come in sober and check the place, and wonder how anyone could tolerate it. 5 pints later, HOLY CRAP THIS IS GREAT!
Also — their fish and chips are going to make you fat, but don’t worry about that. They are DELICIOUS! Just do it. Fish and chips and a boddingtons — and you’ll be a new man. You’ll have wandered in from the fog and the grit — thinking yourself in a rougher part of scotland, and voila, it’ll all make sense as you douse your fish and chips with vinegar. Don’t use ketchup, you pillac! MALT VINEGAR, do you speak it?!
That’s all there is to say about that really. The best authentic pub I’ve found in the city. Come here and get twisted.