0 Thirsty Bear, San Francisco, California
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Places > United States > California > San Francisco

Thirsty Bear
Exceptional based on 57 ratings
Type: Brewpub (see listing)

661 Howard St
San Francisco, California United States 94105 [ print map ]
415 974 0905

thirstybear.com

Mayor: bnoel09 (1) | Taps: 9 | Bottles: 0


Thirsty Bear

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Beer Available At Thirsty Bear (arranged by most recent)
Thirsty Bear Panda Bear Ale , Thirsty Bear Broadsword , Thirsty Bear Howard Street IPA 87, Eel River Certified Organic Porter 90, Thirsty Bear Meyer ESB 49, Thirsty Bear Valencia Wheat 38, Thirsty Bear Polar Bear 45, Thirsty Bear Full Belly , Thirsty Bear Brown Bear 48, Thirsty Bear Golden Vanilla 34, Thirsty Bear Red Hallucination , Thirsty Bear Edelweiss Hefe-Weiss , Thirsty Bear Kozlov Stout 87
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57 reviews for Thirsty Bear
 Ambiance  66%
 Service  67%
 Selection  59%
 Food  70%
 Value  58%
 Overall  62%
 Rating  67%
90+
80
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60
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Rating Distribution


66
  AMBIANCE 2/5   SERVICE 7/10   SELECTION 12/15   FOOD 6/10   VALUE 8/10   OVERALL 12/20
Clembo1957  (37) Smethwick, England | April 24, 2013
Not much Ambience about the place as has been mentioned here. The sample tray of house beers isn’t bad, food is ok
72
  AMBIANCE 4/5   SERVICE 7/10   SELECTION 10/15   FOOD 8/10   VALUE 5/10   OVERALL 15/20
t0rin0  (184) La Verne, California | March 20, 2013
Visited half a dozen times since 2006.

I dont mind the ambiance, I’m not sure where the complaints stem from. My only problem is when the place is packed. Otherwise it’s clean, friendly, and has a nice decor. The service is decently knowledgeable and can at least describe the beers and tell you a little bit of relevant info (style, when it was brewed, etc) but arent necessarily beer nerds, not that I ask them a lot of questions.

They always have at least 7 or 8 house beers on of which a couple rotate. I dont think they make amazing beers but I guess I havent really had a terrible beer from them either. This is not a place I go all that often but every once in a while (once a year) I’ll stop in on my way to/from 21st Amendent.

Beer prices are a bit high and the food is definitely expensive (but not bad either) so for me it’s just a pint of the newest beer usually.
50
  AMBIANCE 2/5   SERVICE 6/10   SELECTION 7/15   FOOD N/A   VALUE 6/10   OVERALL 10/20
Schlenkerla  (200) , Austria | January 13, 2013
Very average place. You do not feel that this brewery is managed by beer enthusiasts. Beers are drinkable. No need to visit this place, although very centrally located.
64
  AMBIANCE 3/5   SERVICE 7/10   SELECTION 8/15   FOOD 7/10   VALUE 7/10   OVERALL 14/20
badlizard  (130) Berkeley , California | November 24, 2012
I’ve never been able to quite figure this place. They’re not after the beer snob market, but they have some interesting experimental and sometimes fantastic one offs. The food is, well, a touristy version of tapas in my opinion. It’s not bad, but if you’re expecting bellota or other high quality Spanish fare, this isn’t your place. There’s certainly worse places in the City, but there’s also much better.
70
  AMBIANCE 4/5   SERVICE 7/10   SELECTION 11/15   FOOD N/A   VALUE 7/10   OVERALL 13/20
womencantsail  (386) Garbage Grove, California | October 15, 2012
Pretty nice brewpub, actually. Large seating area downstairs with a long bar, plenty more room upstairs. Some pool tables and a bit more of a lounge setup up there. Service was quick, the food looked okay, but the beers were average at best. Too bad their beers aren’t good because it’s a cool place to hangout.
68
  AMBIANCE 4/5   SERVICE 8/10   SELECTION 9/15   FOOD N/A   VALUE 6/10   OVERALL 13/20
joeneugs  (88) Livermore, California | July 4, 2012
Nice brewpub in south beach pretty close to BART. The inside is pretty large with a big bar, lots of seating and a loft where there’s even more room. I was impressed with the place considering I’ve been unimpressed with most of their beers. The bartender was really cool and gave me samples of everything. I didn’t have the food. I recall getting a nice view of the brewing equipment from the bar, which I really like. It’s unfortunate that most of their beers are subpar because this is a really nice place.
64
  AMBIANCE 3/5   SERVICE 7/10   SELECTION 9/15   FOOD N/A   VALUE 6/10   OVERALL 13/20
Frank  (50) Chicago, Illinois | March 22, 2012
This place is alright. I stopped by in the late afternoon before the happy hour crowd blew in and had the place practically to myself. Their taps focused on their own beers, there were about ten, which were solid but not outstanding. Being at the bar by yourself nets you pretty good service so I can’t say much about that but the bartender was reasonably knowledgeable about their beers so I’ll give him credit for that. This is an easy location for most folks stopping through San Francisco for business so I recommend the stop if you can swing it for lunch or something.
66
  AMBIANCE 3/5   SERVICE 8/10   SELECTION 10/15   FOOD 6/10   VALUE 7/10   OVERALL 12/20
TEJA  (39) Stockholm, Sweden | March 16, 2012
A crowded place next to the Moscone conference center. A big selection of their own beers that was mostly was OK but don’t try their Vanilla beer. As the place is so crowded the bartender could not tell much aboute the different beers but the bar has small information notes aboute their different beer. A wide selection of their own beers (aboute 10 different).
66
  AMBIANCE 3/5   SERVICE 7/10   SELECTION 10/15   FOOD 7/10   VALUE N/A   OVERALL 13/20
msante79  (335) Mount Prospect, Illinois | January 21, 2012
Last stop of the night for me and my wife. Place is huge and spanish themed. Some type of spanish folk band playing and place was packed all the way to closing time. Had the ESB and IPA which were both average. Had a flat bread which had burnt chorizo but was still decent at this point of the night. Nice place for dinner and drinks, but there are better beer options in the city.
62
  AMBIANCE 3/5   SERVICE 6/10   SELECTION 10/15   FOOD N/A   VALUE 6/10   OVERALL 12/20
gnoff  (256) Mölndal, Sweden | April 27, 2011
Place looked small at first, since it was packed almost to the doors and I was asked to find a place among the standing tables close to the doors. Noticed it was a lot bigger when using the restroom though. Tried 9 draught beers on a sampling plate, then had a rerun of one of thos beers together with a plate of fries. Not the cheap place, beers were OK to more than OK. It got very loud, perhaps due to the brick walls and the large amount of visitors. Not a must go I’d say, but since it was the only brewpub I had time to visit in San Francisco I can’t compare it to the other ones.

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