Sinners & Saints

It’s a bar for *certain* type of dude. And I don’t think I’m *that* type of dude. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with *those* types of dudes. It’s just that I’m not *that* type of dude. Many of my friends are *those* types of dudes. I like them. They’re my friends. But if they invite me to come here again, I’m going to suggest Brouwers… or somewhere other than Fremont. When did Fremont become filled with *those* types of dudes?

I have only been here for the goldfish racing which is pretty amusing… well, not the entire time… there isn’t much depth to it. But thrilling races do happen! Along with some cruel things… most recently I saw the tail of a goldfish get blasted off by the squirt bottle! The horror!
The races happen every Tuesday night with a $ 5 buy-​in and registration around 9:00 PM and games beginning at 10:00 PM. It’s worth checking out at least once. It’s usually pretty crowded with a pot around $ 200 for the winner. After the first round is over, the crowd thins out with only the competition remaining.
Aside from the racing, there was nothing particularly special about the décor or the space. Pretty standard set of beers at pretty standard prices. It’s alright.

Goldfish racing is a pretty hilarious thing to watch. Basically to sum it up two racers have a gold fish each and they race each other down a long lane of water. Each racer is given a squirt bottle to squirt at the fish to make it race along. It’s a tournament, 5 dollar entry and the winner takes the pool of cash. If a large crowd shows up to race the pot can get quite large.
The drinks were alright as well, since I came on race night it was hard to find seating so we ended up standing by the bar. This place is fairly small though. They had this Rum Punch type drink for 9 dollars that was quite tasty for a large punch type drink. Beer pricing was reasonable as well but they sold tall boys but ran out around 11 which was kind of early to be running out of something. The crowd seemed really frat-​y and overall pretty relaxed, everyone seemed to be having a good time.
I would recommend experiencing gold fish racing at least once if you’re in the area. (Happens every Tuesday)

My whole life I’ve been proud of representing the underdog. The ones who are forgotten & passed over on BOTH ends of the awesome-​spectrum. I’ll listen to a Nickelback record, then throw on I.C.P. just to be spiteful & unpredictable (or beacuse I shamelessly know lyrics to both of their libraries).
But Sinners & Saints isn’t that of the bar world. No, S&S is the average bar that tries too hard. Just above average, just below awesome — it’s the 3.1-GPA-student, Class-​Vice-​President, and 2^nd-​string-​quarterback. It’s the teacher everyone sorta-​liked, but never remembered.
There’s nothing worse than average. Granted, I’m looking for weird: I want the kid shooting heroin in the alley-​way, or the star-​basketball-​player-​valedictorian doing shots of tequila + broken glass. Anything but average.
Unfortunately, Saints & Sinners was just the kid who drove THAT kid around in high school, and probably sells insurance nowadays. Unimpressive & skip-​worthy. Kudos for goldfishing racing, but I probably won’t be back.
3 stars for a cool name.

Before calling PETA regarding the potential cruelty of spraying goldfish down a track with squirt bottles, consider the inhumanity of Jäger-​bombs and $ 2 Jello-​shots.
We’re all racing down a murky trough of one form or another, at least at the end of theirs the goldfish can win you hundreds of dollars.

Not bad.
I kinda like the feel of the place, although when I was there the DJ was certainly sub-​par. The bartenders were nice, and the crowd is friendly.

After reading the reviews describing this place as empty, I thought it would be a good place to try as I was looking for a quieter place where some genuine conversation could take place.
Showed up around 8 on a Monday night and was not disappointed. Two guys were sitting at the bar watching baseball. That’s it. They were not together. Bartender was super friendly, margarita’s were good and the bathroom was clean with a blackboard provided for my inner graffiti artist.
It definitely has a not quite settled in yet vibe. There are a few Klimt inspired pieces on the wall and a full-​on gilded skeleton in the corner. Maybe it was holding a bird, the details escape me. As I mentioned, they have good margaritas.
I think once Sinners and Saints gets it’s sea legs, it could be a good addition to the Fremont bar scene which should really be better than it is. Sinners also boasts a row of large barrels which proved handy in describing spacial issues. «from about here to that barrel».

I have a show at Nectar to go to but being that I’m not all that much of a fan of Nectar I got my show stamp and walked around to find another bar to hang out at.
My walk took me to Sinners & Saints. I had read a few reviews on this place and it seemed like a good contender for a beer.
It was much smaller than I expected it to be. Why was I expecting an enormous space? I do not know. Hearing it had a Mexican folklore/​Dia De Los Muertos feel I was also expecting it to be dark. You know how bars like to dim the lights way down making it seem goth. Yeah, that wasn’t the case either. There are crosses on the wall and a few big pieces of art which I found very intriguing and beautiful. The bar is to your left and there are tables and chairs to the right with a few plush seats in the back. The bar is filled entirely with tequila. If I drank tequila I would be all up on that. In one far back corner there is a fishtank similar to something a grade schooler would have. I would soon learn there are gold fish races. Hmm…
Being it was a Monday night this place was empty. Aside from myself and the bartender there were two other patrons. I sat myself in a bar stool and was greeted very enthusiastically by the bartender. I ordered myself a beer and asked if they had food available. He said they did and named off options with chicken. I asked if there was anything available without meat and he said he could make the nachos sans meat. Sweet.
My nachos were average but the green salsa they had was fantastic. I really only needed some food in my belly to soak up the beer I’d be drinking the rest of the night.
I ate my food, drank my beer, and read my book. As my stay progressed the music changed from rock to old school Snoop and Dr. Dre. With only four of us in the bar we all ended up introducing ourselves, I sit next to my new found friends, and we became a little party.
I liked Sinners & Saints but I don’t know if I liked the bar itself or the fact that is was dead. I happen to enjoy empty bars. I should make a visit on a Friday or Saturday night to make a final decision but if you are ever in Fremont on a weeknight and just need a place to sit and drink without a lot of hoopla, I recommend Sinners & Saints.

3.5 Stars for Sinners & Saints
Back in early June my goth friend was in town and I wanted to have a few drinks in Fremont with her and her boyfriend. First we tried the Triangle, but it was in the process of closing and turning into a new bar. Then we tried the High Dive but it was loud and we didn’t want to pay a cover. Tost was hosting karaōke and we wanted some quiet. We ended up at Norm’s but they kinda closed early and we were urged to leave. Where now? The Monday night was young. We spied Sinners & Saints and decided to give it a whirl. As soon as we walked in I knew it was the perfect place for my goth friends!
Ambiance: Dark, Cinco de Mayo themes, I like the barrels in the middle of the bar.
Crowd: NONE. We had the bar to ourselves. But on a few recent occasions we’ve driven past at night and it looks packed.
Drinks: We only had beer. They have Mac & Jack. I don’t do tequila but this seems like a good place to have some.
Bartender: Overly chatty. We got an extensive rendition of his work history and aspirations. Thanks for sharing. But he was friendly and let us talk amongst ourselves most of the time, so I forgive him.
Music: Good. He played Portishead and some other stuff I like from the 90s even though he was too young to have listened those bands at the time.
Would I give Sinners & Saints another shot? With the blessing of St Arnold (patron saint of hop pickers), I certainly would!

My g-​f needed to make a last minute plan for her birthday and called up Sinners and Saints to see if they could accommodate us. The staff was incredibly nice and reserved a space for us in the «living room» area in the back on short notice.
The atmosphere is fun and laid back, a nice contrast from the usual fratty/​skanky vibe you find in Fremont on a Saturday night.
The drinks are good and the prices are reasonable. The mojitos are made with fresh mint leaves, newly plucked from a little mint plant on the counter. The house tequila is very tasty, worthy of sipping rather than gulping.
Good music: some Beck, some Gorillaz, some MGMT.
The chalk boards in the the bathrooms («Confess your sins…») are fun.
Downsides: it got pretty damn loud. And there’s a creepy fish tank in the back corner.

It had been a while since I’d participated in a pub crawl in Fremont. Typically if ‘m over there I’ll stick to Brouwers or maybe the George and Dragon. I’m a fan of bars that are consistent with their good food and good drinks.
I peeked inside Saints and Sinners and decided to give it a try. My first headache came about when someone decided to play every Incubus song EVER over the speakers. I hate to dislike a bar just based on a few hours of bad music — but a little variety would have been nice.
I ordered a drink, had a seat at a table, and even ate some food. The Frito Pie was good (not that its hard to make) and my friends had the mac n’ cheese with chorizo. It was AWFUL! We passed it around the whole group and every person who tasted it made an «EWW» face. For some reason there was this intensely bitter aftertaste that was just awful. Out of 8 people no one volunteered to help finish this tiny cup of mac n’ cheese and it just sat there festering until we left.
Nothing was special about the bar. The drinks were ok, the atmosphere was ok, and the food was just barely ok. I wasn’t hugely disappointed but the impression I left with was bad enough that I have no reason to go back.

This is a cool chill place to hang out & have a beer with some good conversation on the side.
I love the inside, nice and clean and so far after three visits I have few complaints.
The bartenders have been really friendly, and a good source of entertainment for the slow times.
The bar offers some pretty unique entertainment and I hope it attracts some more regulars because its nice to have this cool establishment join the neighborhood.
Don’t forget to check out the ORGY size bathrooms… wink wink

This fairly new tequila bar is a nice addition to the west-​end of Fremont. I think the owners were looking for a classy southwest tequila joint vibe (a la The Saint on Capitol Hill), but it felt kind of off.
Their were two flat screen tv’s in the place and the bartenders, while way nice and accommodating, had a very spring break «let’s get all of the girls drunk» kind of attitude. I wasn’t sure if the place was trying to cater to the George and Dragon frat boy crowd (I can say that as a former frat boy) or more of a tequila sipper crowd. In any case, the décor and the mood candles whispered tequila sipping and after dinner cocktails, while the bartenders were shouting tequila shots and wet t-​shirt contests.
As a promotion, they are taking sign ups for movie Wednesday that start June 10^th. Movie Wednesday = come in, buy 2 drinks, and eat all of the pasta you want. Pasta in a tequila joint? One of the guys behind the bar was mentioning how they were going to expend next door to build a deck and fire pit.
I’m confused and intrigued and I will definitely be back to Sinners & Saints to witness the evolution of the place.

NOTE: This is no longer Sinners and Saints, it’s under new (but still very awesome) management, the owner is just as sweet as the previous ones, and they still have goldfish races. lt is now called Woodsky’s. Check it out!
Dammit, l can’t stop editing because l keep remembering good things to say.
l thought l’d written a review of this place, but l guess maybe l decided to wait after a few visits. l met a couple of the owners the other night who asked me if l’d written a review on Unilocal,as l call myself Ali and share the name with another reviewer. l apologize for the faulty advertising, but l’m here to correct my mistake and put one up now.
l LOVE this place! l don’t love it just because l once watched some very disturbing midget porn in the apartment that occupied that space before they moved in, but that helps. Let me count the ways:
The décor is distinctly pirate-​like, which brings out the arrrrrr in me; you can take that to mean that every time l go there, l get very, very drunk.
They have these great chalkboards in the unisex bathrooms where you can confess your sins, and boy, do people confess their sins! lf you’ve ever checked out
, it’s a little like that. Lots of deep, dark, and/​or funny stuff to contemplate when you’re drunk on the john. However, l would suggest a chalk holder of some sort, with a good supply of chalk; there’s nothing like going in there specifically to confess (which l do; peeing may or may not happen) and having no means to do so. And maybe an eraser, pretty please? ;)
l believe at this point, l’ve met all the owners, and l really just can’t say enough nice stuff about them. They’re fun, accommodating, ever-​present, and easygoing, especially when one of them catches you carding people at the door for a joke and wonders why he hasn’t met you. Sorry about that! l had fallen and hurt my knee the last night l went in, and carried my bag of ice in with me. When l returned from having a smoke, a fresh new bag of ice was waiting for me.
They plan on building a small patio along the side of the building. This will be perfect timing for the summer. l believe the projected finish date was in a month or so? Don’t quote me on that; l was halfway to shnookered when they told me about it.
They are dog-​friendly. BIG plus.
THEY HAVE GOLDFISH RACES! How hilarious is that?! They set up long troughs in the middle of the room, which they prop up on the barrels, have you pick out a fish, give you a spray bottle of water, and you scoot em down to the end. PETA people be damned; it’s not like fish don’t have water up their asses all day long anyway.
They also have dinner and a movie on Wednesday nights. The cost is a two drink minimum, and dinner is always a rotating pasta dish. l haven’t tried them out yet, but for that price (and given one of the owners is a chef), l’m guessing it’s going to be good. l haven’t eaten there yet in general, but my friend swears by the nachos, and l’ll post an update when l do try the food.
The staff is hot, friendly, and patient, the latter being quite important when it comes to dealing with me and my crew, and the door guy is so nice that the thought of seeing him really pissed off scares me. The only drawback as far as l can tell is the drinks are a tad more expensive than usual. But please don’t let this deter you; l suspect this is part of being a new business and needing to make some sort of profit, and that once they gain more popularity, the prices will go down. You’ll notice l still give them five stars, and that’s because the experience –and the customer service– is entirely worth spending a few extra cents on a beer.
Saints should enter at their own risk. This place is crawling with sinners.

I just heard that this place is only a week or two old! Interesting. It’s in an older building/​house, and inside it was nice. There were candles and interesting art. They have quite the selection of tequila. I ended up going for the margarita (Cinco de Mayo special) – it was alright – what do you expect for $ 5?
The bartender was cool and was attentive when I was low on my beverage.
There are quite a few tables throughout, and a couple of nice couches in the back corner (with a pair of huge art books on their adjacent coffee table).
One of the interesting things which caught my attention when walking through this bar was the apparent old fluorescent light fixture in the middle of the room. It was flipped over and was filled with water. «What the heck is this??» I wondered.
While sitting back at the couches, I noticed a fish tank with tons of gold fish in it. Apparently, they race gold fishes in that long light fixture! $ 5 buys you in and winner takes all. I missed the race, but it definitely sounds like something to see. Next time.

This place was SUCH a disappointment! I had read all these great reviews on Unilocal and Seattle Weekly and had high hopes.
We walked in after having dinner hoping to have a nice cocktail. The place was not very full but it still took at least 10 minutes to get a bottle of beer and a margarita. I figured a margarita was a safe bet, there were tons of different kinds of tequila and a bunch of peeps at the bar drinking margaritas. ICK! It was at least 75% tequila but tasted only of extremely sour lime. We waited for at least another 10+ mins at the bar to ask for an extra shot of cointreau or something, but apparently the other 15 patrons were totally consuming the bartender so we ended up leaving.
Total bummer. Terrible drinks. Terrible service. If you do go, get a beer.

Sinners and Saints is like walking into one of your good friends homes (that is if your friend had a few flat screen TV’s, bottles of premium alcohol, and a wide assortment of microbrews on tap). I went here the other night with a group of friends during a birthday celebration. The staff immediately was at our service helping us combine tables and making sure we weren’t left thirsty.
It looked as though they were still working on a few things (they only had a beer menu, and I couldn’t seem to find any snack lists), but I see great potential for this cute Fremont house/​bar decorated with barrels, televisions and skeletons (what an awesome combo ha). If you haven’t been there yet, make sure to add it to your Fremont list of great bars to just hang out in (no dancing required!). I know the whole staff at Bold Hat has already put it on their list of places to go after work!

The only directions my friend gave me were «It looks like a house.» Yes indeed. This newby bar, right across from 7 – 11 is a comfortable few blocks away from the crowded frat-​boy stretch of Fremont Ave, but still convenient as bars go.
We stumbled in here as a house party was winding down, and found some tables, cheap wells, and barrels of good time (literally, barrels in the middle of the bar). Granted it’s a little unusual — there is a skeleton, Dia de los Muertos-​esque theme going on in to complement the «Sinners and Saints» name.
This place probably isn’t your ideal locale for camping out the evening, but would be a good place to stop on a pub crawl. But it adds a little bar diversity to Fremont which is always appreciated.

I went here for a birthday celebration and it was excellent. Our party had a lot of veg/​vegans and the staff went out and got fried tofu (non-​menu) cooked and paired it with some sauces FREE OF CHARGE! Our service was great and the staff was really friendly.
Sinners and Saints is a great after work spot, they’ve got an awesome happy hour. Be aware that its a new building/​business still working out the kinks. I also recommend that you go earlier than later, it can get pretty loud.

We stopped in on 4/​25, which was their opening weekend. The bar is on my walk home from work, so I have high hopes.
For a bar that wants to specialize in tequilas, there was not a huge selection available. The bartender I spoke with did say that there was more on order and that they had plans to improve the stock as time when on. They were missing Patron Anejo and some other easily available «top shelf» labels. The well tequila is Lunazul, not Cuervo.
No food was available, and there was no sample menu. We were told that it would be tapas style food when the kitchen was open.
The music playing was mostly frat-​rock, including some Dave Matthews Band. This is probably the biggest negative, and would keep me from coming back. We don’t need another frat boy bar in Fremont.