El Farolito Bar

Most people do not know that next to the famous El Farolito restaurant is El Farolito bar.
The best part of the bar is that you can order food from the restaurant without waiting through a grueling late night Mission line. It’s quite pleasant to sit down, drink a nice Corona, and eat a great burrito within 5 minutes of arrival. Especially when the people next door are stuck waiting 30 minutes to order a burrito.
The problem is that the crowd can be rough at times. The last time I was here, there was a prostitute taking Johns to the bathroom. This was in plain view.
So all in all, this is a good bar, great service, but unfortunately the flagrant prostitution makes me hesitant to come back.

Dropped in for a cold one, but was disappointed to find no tap beer. Had a Tecate and lime and chatted with a friendly patron getting wasted on wine who seemed genuinely surprised to see a non-​Latino (but local) drinking here.

Very authentic Mexican soccer bar. Amazing Tacos can be ordered from the taqueria next door.

Long story short:
I was tipsy. I ordered a super carne asada burrito. It was super flavorful, and even better with green salsa. It was about $ 7. I couldn’t finish it all. I ate the rest for lunch the next day. I was sober. My coworkers were jealous. Some were slobbering. But, not on my burrito. It was still hella good after microwaving. I would got back right this moment if I could. I like it sloppy with goodness. I like to be tipsy, too. The end.

Cool Bar! It’s a great location right outside of the restaurant. Great place to simply have a burrito and afterwards (or during) grab a beer

Farolito soccer bar is my personal heaven. They always have big soccer games (especially world cup and if Mexico is playing) and you can order food from El Farolito the restaurant next door while at the bar. How can you beat that? If you’re not latino and/​or don’t speak Spanish you’ll be a little out of place since it’s a local place that yuppies and hipsters don’t frequent.

Watched Team Mexico in World Cup 2010. Definitely lots of fun and great place to feel the spirit. No cover and very packed and included both Latin and non-​Latin crowd. Many Mexican beers were $ 4. Nice service, and for team spirit, this place rocked!
Is there a downside — it was crowded (really crowded), but that made it feel even more fun.

This, Loyal Pie Holers, is more about my recent adventure in The Mission, than the bar in which it actually began. Yet, we will give it it’s due.
Sandy S and I, arrived at Civic Center Bart Station, having met in Fremont in order to avoid driving in The City. Our original plan was for Ma Megabyte and The Captain to meet her there, but this was partially foiled by Ma not feeling well, so Sandy and I soldiered. on with Ma attending, only in the spiritual sense. (Ma Megabyte is The Captain’s Spouse, Partner in Crime, and Chief Tormentor)
After arriving at Civic Center Station, and walking for what seemed miles, we finally took a Muni trolley bus, and stepped off in the heart of The Mission.
Being windburned and craving libations, we noticed next door to El Farolito Taqueria, a bar of the same name. It looked like the dive it is, but being thirsty and tired, we entered beneath a crudely painted, inoperative neon sign which surely dated back before WWII, bearing the joint’s name, and found it was doing brisk business on this Friday afternoon. Sandy and I felt lucky to find two unoccupied adjacent stools, and we were promptly greeted and served.
Being partial to Margaritas, Sandy had one, and remarked it was good. The Captain opted for beer as usual, and enjoyed a Modelo Especial, but was saddened a bit because they lacked tap beer. Hence, four stars, not five.
The place seems to be a neighborhood nerve center of sorts for soccer fans. The wall, back of the bar, is also festooned with the usual bunch of placards which preserve popular jokes for posterity. Being hardly fluent in Espanol, The Captain could understand only a few, but the ones he could decipher were funny.
After resting and drinking, then drinking some more, whilst discussing the affairs of the world, and it’s inhabitants, as well as debating the mysteries and adventures inherent in
, then drinking some more again, we left the bar’s cozy environs to walk (perhaps a tad unsteadily) next door in order to dine at the taqueria which bears the same name.
After loading up on the savory comestibles offered therein, along with at least one more libation… or two, either of which were not sucky by any measure, we took a short stroll about this neighborhood and drank it in as readily as we had imbibed in the aforementioned venues.
The Mission has a history as dynamic and fascinating as any district in Frisco. (Hee hee. Sorry natives, The Captain just couldn’t resist!) It is dominated by the towers of SF’s oldest building, Mission Delores, from which the neighborhood takes it’s name. Sadly we lacked the time to explore it on this visit.
This enclave was well established as a place where Northern and Eastern Europeans could settle and prosper, and where many more businesses and families in this ethnic category relocated after the 1906 quake.
After WWII, and on through the 60’s, Latin immigrants from all over Central and South America, of which most, were primarily Mexican, were attracted by low rents and moved in, while whites. flush with savings from lucrative wartime jobs, fled to the suburbs. During the 80’s and 90’s Asian Immigrants, many of them South East Asian refugees, began to move in as well, and are now firmly established.
The inevitable, and some would say, pernicious gentrification was well underway by the late 90’s, with an influx of «yuppies» during the Internet boom. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on one’s point of view as well as one’s stock portfolio, or even whether one had said portfolio or not, the boom went bust.
The displacement of blue collar families was markedly slowed, and the neighborhood’s flavor and diversity, was at least, somewhat preserved, yet newly augmented with a strata of college degreed and prosperous professionals who are now included in the mix.
This has left it a terrifically colorful place to dine, shop for «objectose de artose» being sold by street vendors and small shops, or for just walking around, smelling the smells, and seeing the sights. Street food is well represented here, and The Captain saw varieties hitherto unknown to him. Next time he and his entourage go there, we might just eat our way up one side of Mission Street and down the other.
A Bart station pops up right in the heart of the place, so getting there is a snap. Because Sandy and I were to attend a
UYE that evening, we couldn’t spend nearly enough time as we wanted to here enjoying the eclectic tumult of this fascinating neighborhood.
In the pompously immortal words of General Douglas MacArthur, «I shall return.»
Captain Pie Hole, the Hash House Avenger.
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by «Captain Pie Hole» are copyrighted ²⁰⁰⁹⁄₂₀₁₀ by Pie Hole Publishing. All rights res

Now this is a dive bar, with friendly bartenders and with a half dozen barflies at any one time… yep, repeat, at any one time (not that I go in and drink before the afternoon to verify, cough). The Coronas and the-most-interesting-man-in-the-world’s Dos Equis are $ 4 so it’s not too difficult to hang out here. The wall shelves all around the pub are full of soccer pub league, as well as pool tournaments, trophies (very unique in that sense). The two pub pool tables take $ 0.75 per game.
Went here to see game 1 of the 2009 NLCS and found out «happy hour» is 11am-​3pm. lol. The 24^th St/​Mission BART is a few steps outside, and an El Farolito taqueria is right next door, hence the fourth star.

Soccer on the televisions. Coronas. Los Tigros del Norte on the jukebox. What’s not to love?
There are two billiards tables in back, and if you’re nice about it, the excellent taqueria next door can send your tacos al pastor over to the bar, so you can continue to cheer on Cruz Azul, or Marseille, or the Mexican National Team, or whatever team you happen to be watching.
Service is always friendly, and the guys hanging out at El Farolito can shoot a mean game of pool.
I love El Farolito, both the taqueria AND the soccer bar! :)

Tejano music was blaring at eardrum busting levels from this bar, and I’d just had one of the best carnita tacos of my entire life. I looked at my pal and suggested we go in. She had an wicked lil glint in her eye (as usual) and was more than happy to jump right into this dive.
Soccer was playing on the TVs, soccer trophies lined the shelves and soccer pictures lined the wall. Soccer fans, this dive is for YOU!
Without hesitation, my friend ordered 2 coronas and 2 shots of Cazadores. I reminded her that I don’t drink beer and she told me to shut the fuck up and drink it, she was buying. So I did and it seemed to go well with the tequila.
They really need to revise those touristy t-​shirts ya get from Mexico that say ‘lick, swallow, suck’ to «rub hand with lime, sprinkle a lil salt, lick hand, swallow shot, suck lime». Which, perhaps isn’t as catchy, but it’s more accurate. At least that is how the bartender ladies broke it down for us when I confirmed the ‘lime, salt and tequila’ guidelines.
I really enjoyed the Cazadores, it was super smooth and I took that shot down like nothin’. My friend practically spilled half of hers on the bar because she’s a puss & can’t swallow like a champ (i.e. me)
So I bought her another shot and she almost puked. then I felt really bad for her. But, she somehow avoided the hurl so all’s well that ends well.
Not sure I’ll be rushing back to this place. I’m just not a big soccer fan and Tejano music gives me a fucking headache. I don’t know what the heck we were thinking that night.

If you need an authentically latino soccer-​watching bar, this is your place. You can order food from the taqueria next door while drinking $ 3 bottled mexican beers… cheaper than most happy hours!
I loved the different «dichos mexicanos» throughout the bar and how courteous their patrons are. Would totally go back, even if my team loses. Again.

Mission on Mission last Friday night felt a little bit like a tourist on an African safari. However, instead traversing the Serengeti, I was transecting one of San Francisco’s more diverse neighborhoods, the Mission. With Savanna Jazz behind me, El Farolito Bar awaited just 2 blocks ahead.
For personal protection and to blend in with regional wildlife, safari attire has traditionally consisted of khaki clothing, bush jackets and pith helmets (remember Banana Republic circa 1989?). Working from the same premise but addressing a totally different type of «wild-​life,» I donned a black hoodie and jeans to travel Mission’s 2500 block.
While there were no acacia trees or any desert brush obscuring my path, I did encounter pot holes and a lot of concrete. As I hiked through the neighborhood the vibrant storefronts clashed with the smells oozing from the city’s pores and BART rumbled underfoot on its way to the 24^th Street Station. The dissonance of the city made my ears yearn for the oasis of the rhythmic jazz from my last stop.
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little known fact– they’ll serve you food from the more popular, curiously likenamed taqueria next door, El Farolito. Gotta have ID though, and a crazylook in your eye. I wandered in here with my ex late one night, with her flaming bro and «friend» in tow. Pool, pistoleros, golden statues of men with balls all vie for one’s eager gaze, and luscious barmaidens graciously smile at everyone but me. We speak muy crappo enspagnol and there’s very little room for error in this bristling wolfden, we huddle and regroup. Men with sticks smash glass bottles further down the bar, the doorguard conspicuously turns away. Then magically a space is cleared at the bars end, a gruff old man gesticulates feverishly, and a wild party atmosphere descends over the room, reminding me of when our bus lost it’s brakes near the cliffs of acupulco. Food and drink pour forth, we are swept along in racous row, and four hours later stumble out, oblivious of our close brush with muerta. The line outside the real farolito’s has barely moved. A wannabe guido offers us a glimpse of his «bowls». we decline and drive home quickly.