Pudley’s Tavern & Grill

No Longer In Business

Visited December 15, 2014.

I’ve driven by this place several hundred times in my life time and only recently decided to stop in because it’s one of the last rateable places close to my parents place. This afternoon while looking up where Devil’s Canyon moved to I discovered that Pudley’s, the little dive bar on El Camino that’s been there for 20 or 30 years, has a type 23 brewers license. I got to chat with the owner/brewer’s son while watching the Saints beat the Bears. It turns out that they’ve had the brewing equipment for at least a decade and that his dad used to brew as Brewtown. They’ve recently started brewing again and there is already a second small brewer in there using the liquor license. Tonight there were no Pudley’s beers on tap but they had one from the other guy, Sacrilege Brewing, called 4th Wiseman. It was really strange but supposed to be a blonde ale.

So, that’s why I went originally. The place is actually just a dive bar and has been for a long time. There used to be a second location in Belmont but that closed a while ago. Inside there is a small bar and a dozen or so tables. The tables all have pictures of old timey actors on them. Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Robert Redford, the Stooges, the Marx brothers, etc. One of the tables had a bunch of pictures of some 70s and 80s cars on it. All around the room were a bunch of tap handles.

They’ve got about 20 beers on tap. Naturally the big macros are there but they also have some Deschutes, Lagunitas, Saint Archer, Anchor, Sierra Nevada, and the one house beer. The food is alright. A burger and fries with a large (23oz) beer is $13 something. On the subject of burgers, I asked for medium rare as I always do and it came out medium.

If it turns out that they can brew then I’ll definitely be back when in the area. As it is I don’t know yet, and if the beer is no good then Ale Arsenal is right around the corner.

I’ve been to San Carlos now a couple of times as my best friend Bob lives here. All of the times I’ve visited, I’ve been by Pudley’s and had a coiple of cold ones. The have a small but mostly good selection of fine American microbreweries. they also from time to time have local microbrews that of perhaps a litle lower quality than the big micros. The food I would not care to much for.

Good ambiance. No wait staff, but going to the bar to order yields good results. The sandwiches were nice. I ordered a chicken sandwich, and the chicken wasn’t over done. My friend dogged his Reuben before he began drinking, which was a good sign. They poured Racer 5 in 24 oz Pilsner glasses, and the price was perfect at $4.50 a glass. The bar tender was nice, the crowd wasn’t too rowdy. They had a good juke box. I really can’t complain.