The Flatiron always had great food, but I was never really a fan of the rest of the experience. Â Since the new owners took over, they made the menu ever better, not only for the food, but for the beer as well. Â There are beers there that you won't find elsewhere in the town. Â There is food there that you won't find elsewhere in the town. The service, the service is always good. Â The bartenders are attentive, even during hyper busy times. Â I was there while there was an Oakland A's and SF Giants game and I believe a private party in the back, and the bartender, Karina, was all over it. Â I was watching, sitting at the bar, as she didn't skip a step. Â Making sure everyone had their drinks, making sure whoever got food got their food. Â I was watching the servers run around and handle the tables, making sure people were covered. Â Watching them make sure everything was taken care of. Â It was like a well tuned machine. Â The owners should be proud of the house they have built. Â Karina was definitely the one that makes me want to keep coming back to this place. Â She tied the whole experience together. Â I hope someone who knows her reads this, and tells her she rocks!
Review Source:The new Flatiron is amazing. Â If I were to dream up my fantasy sports bar, it would look like this place. Â They completely remodeled it without changing the soul of an iconic Marin community hub. The old spot was cool but low def in so many ways. Â The new owner has brought HD to the Flatiron in every way possible. Â From the new hard wood floors to the new screens to fantastic pub food, did I mention the food? Â It is soooooo much better! Â This place is the iPhone 5 of sports bars...finally in San Rafael! The atmosphere is warm and unpretentious, I will absolutely bring my family and friends back.
Review Source:Food and service were great. Â The house made pulled pork and blackened chicken sandwiches were excellent and the accompanying house salad was super fresh. Who eve heard of a sports saloon with homemade croutons in their salad? Â We will return to try many of the other yummy sounding items on the menu.
Review Source:A welcome refresh to what had become a stale staple of San Rafael.
Great service plenty of screens to watch your game of choice and the new menu is rad.
I'd like to extend a sincere Thank You to the owners of the Flatiron for helping to breathe some new life into the San Rafael bar scene.
I've been to the Flatiron a handful of times since the remodel and love how the place has been lightened up. The floors are recycled from an old high school gym in Redwood City, fan turns lazily on the ceiling, natural light during the day. Â Bar is comfortable as are tables; televisions are large, good resolution, and mounted low enough to not have to crane your neck to watch sports. Â The environment can be loud, but the sound system is well designed and usually covers background noise. I've tried several items on the menu - salads are good as are sandwiches and the jumbo coconut shrimp are amazing. New items keep appearing along with specials so will be back for more. Â On the bar side they have a good selection of draft beers along with a full bar that stocks some of my current favorites such as Templeton Rye and Ransom Gin. Service is friendly and efficient - when Schaefer is behind the bar he always remembers my drinks, builds them well, and occasionally crafts up something new. Best Sports Bar in Marin and great place to relax anytime!
Review Source:I can not believe how great the new flatiron turned out. My family and I recently went in to catch a giants game and get some dinner. I was blown away at all the new TV's and how good the sound was.
I got the Al's wings and they were great. My brother and cousins got the burger of the day and they were very satisfied. My Grandma, Mom, and Aunt split some Moms tacos and The Asian Panda salad witch was very refreshing.
On top of great food they have 21 beers on tap with the majority of them being craft beers that I have not seen at any other bar in San Rafael.
Thank you Flatiron for bringing a breath of fresh air to a dying scene.
WOW - has this place has died and quick too! Â WOW - the food is bad, the service is bad, used to go in for a game or two -now they play movies, no sound, only the incessant bad music they play from CD's. Â Dark, Dark, atmosphere. Â Juke box is gone, pool table is gone, Golden Tee is gone - Used to be a family place - until a few months ago, then new owners came after that and now I wouldn't bring my family here if I had to. Â WOW - that is all I can say - used to come to this place a lot, it was friendly, cheerful, sports oriented. Â Now, I don't know what it is. Â Avoid it!
Review Source:Use to come here years ago. I understand now they have a new owner and they're updating the menu. They use to have this chicken sandwich with a big pepper on it which I got all the time but they didn't have it this time so I just got a burger. It was good. The server was great and the place is great to watch the games
Review Source:CLOSED FOR REDECORATING as of the middle of June 2013. Worrisome. I do see signs of life from within, but hope they come back better than ever. The food has lately taken a turn for the worse, with the chicken being replaced with much lower grade, and the menu seriously truncated. I hope the renovation is a good rather than bad sign for one of my favorite local businesses.
Review Source:Biggest disappointment I've had in a while. REALLY?! The only 'sports bar' in Marin. Â I understand it's under new ownership, the new staff knows very little about sports, they were very slow to acknowledge our presence. The bartender must have walked by us 3 times without even making eye contact, later i heard him tell another customer he was one of the new owners. The waitress seemed to be the only one who cared about customer service, the food was the same, but with this new ownership, I will probably not go back. Also, I caught wind they will be closed for NBA and NFL playoffs. Not a solid start for new ownership!!!!
Review Source:Who doesn't love fried foods with beer? Service is good and they're very prompt & accommodating. Also a good spot to come and watch sports games and what not! They have a bar area and also a lot of tables/seating throughout.
Note: some marin people be cray, but who doesn't love some character! :P
I came there 2days into new ownership!
Very nice,
I was looking for a place to watch my first Giants game with my 5year old. Have to say he was the only child there, but they were super accommodating and nice. Â
Held us a table so he could see, 20min in everybody knew my sons name, and at the end they gave him a "authentic fan" poster from there wall. There were no drunk people! (7pm) He was so so happy and his first Giants experience was great even though the soccer table ended up being more interesting then the game. Â
Would recommend this place for families to watch games maybe till 8pm after that it started feeling more like a bar and no place for kids.
It's not a family restaurant but definitely a very family friendly and accommodating staff and new ownership . The food was despise all bad yelp reviews  fantastic and aberrantly the place will be renovated in a few weeks. I will for sure come back!
Not a dive bar anymore, The Flatiron Saloon is all cleaned up and was a well behaved mecca, crowd capacity filled, bar/eatery for Superbowl Sunday halftime. I literally got the last seat in the house and was promptly waited on. I ordered a Bloody Mary which is always a tell tale way to find out how good your mixologist really is. I was pleased and a bit surprised to have the spicy, well blended drink that could have used a bit more garnish for the crunch factor. Still, it was well priced and I enjoyed it much. They also serve food, anthing from a meal to a salad to nachos and the portions were decent. I am looking forward to going back and trying several of the menu items when they are so filled to capacity.. A good time was had by little old me. Now, Niners, bring it back to the bay. C'mon, please,
Review Source:Going down hill fast......... Â I was there yesteday.
12 BUCKARINOS for a skimpy greasy bar burger-REALLY?
Used to be a decent burger for 8 bucks WTF?
Love the help -friendly, helpful, could not ask for bettter!
Great selection of beer
Just raised prices on very typical type bar food  (can you say chicken wings?)
Theyhave many tv's with every game on-but  could use some new flatscreens though-  their's are dying almost as fast as their business!
The truth hurts...but someone has to say it!
Thumbs up. Â I was up in San Rafael a few weeks ago and was looking for a local bar to watch The SF Giants play. Â Found The Flatiron on Yelp and Google, gave it a chance and was not disappointed. Â Atmosphere was fun, alive and it was a packed house. Â Never a concern about the place or anyone being out of control and had a great time. Â Beer was fresh and cold (waitress kept my Guiness glass full) and burger and fries were a C. Â I will be back.
Review Source:Never judge a book by its cover! Â This crappy looking sportsbar in the middle of San Rafael never attracted me until I actually ate there. Â I can't believe how good the food is. Â The menu is just like every other sports bar in the world, only the kitchen is well above average. Â It's not high end gastro pub fare, but it is generous, delicious, and reasonably priced. Â The wings are the best in town, the burgers are huge, and there are lots of beers on tap with drink specials going on all the time. Â The service is hit or miss, but generally pretty good. Â Hoping there aren't a lot of Oakland fans come Football season.
Review Source:Came here with a group of friends on a Wednesday afternoon to grab a quick bite/ drink. I ordered an angus beef mushroom burger, which I can't recall the name. Â It was so good! The beef was very tender, and the burger was served on sourdough bread. Â I also got a side order of garlic waffle fries. I wanted to get a whole order of waffle fries, but the side order was very generous already. Food was so delicious! I also order an AMF, it was just a regular drink you can get anywhere. Â
Overall, I enjoyed the food and will definitely come back. Dominican University students get 10% off food here.
In all of my years of living in Marin, I had never been to The Flatiron. Â Practically a San Rafael monument, this bar is super popular with the locals and hosts some great game viewing parties. I was meeting up with some folks in the Marin tech community and was excited to see what everybody was working on.
I needed a beer to get started and opted for the Prohibition pale ale. It was pretty hoppy and had a nice kick to it. Â To soak up the alcohol, I ordered a mushroom and Swiss burger with fries. Â The burger was pretty tasty but the ciabatta bread was a little too thick for me. Â Because we reached our $100 special spending threshold, we got 2 free pitchers of PBR, which of course tasted like ass, but it was free! Â Can't beat that no matter how you slice it.
I had a lot of fun meeting with this group of Marin entrepreneurs and Flatiron was a gracious host. Â The vibe is totally divey but feels like home. Â It's a great place to watch a game too!
Food: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Price: $$
Atmosphere: 6/10
It is cold, raining, and I'm going in to watch the depressingness which is the UC Berkley Golden Bears football team. Â
The last thing I need is the bar to be FREEZING! Â
That aside, the nachos where acceptable, the bloody mary serviceable. Â
The one bartender girl was a little jaded and over worked but overall, not a shabby spot.
I didn't become the man I am today by leaving fried calamari on the table, but the Flatiron's rendition of this dish was all but inedible. Flaccid frozen/thawed refrozen meat, gritty cornmeal batter, and a general lack of effort characterized the congealed lump of sadness I exchanged for ten of my hard-earned dollars.
To say something nice: the bartender was friendly and welcoming, and perfectly willing to acknowledge that it's weird to advertise an Arnold Palmer drink special in a venue that hasn't made any iced tea.
Food at the Flatiron is fine. Â It's beer food; fatty, fried and salty. The Thai Chili Wings, Sliders, and Sweet Potato Fries are the better picks. The happy hour drinks are cheap and cold.
They show most of the football games. But, on Football Sundays/Mondays the tables fill up fast. It can be very difficult to get service.
Seriously, their big pluses are:
(1) Â They are a bar, ie, they serve alcohol and have a good beer selection
(2) Â They have the Sunday ticket (all football games)
(3) Â They serve food
Big BUT.... Â Their food isn't any good. Â they have 3 breakfast choices, of which all are "smothered in country gravy", and deep fried stuff (we got fries and chicken fingers) come out cold and slightly under-fried...
3 stars for them b/c they're the only sports bar in Marin that shows all the football games on Sunday...
Living in the North bay, and being a die hard Denver Broncos, this is about as close and as good as it gets to a sports bar. Â The food is lackluster, the set up isn't great, the service is ok but when the place is full with every football game on you wouldn't know the difference. Â
Keep in mind that the place gets filled up quickly, so for those fairweather fans who show up 1/2 way through a game and expect to get a tv to watch the dismal KC cheifs or whatever other team is next in line to lose to the Broncos, you arent going to get a tv. Â
No matter what, the beer is always cold there!
Drinking is not a spectator sport.
There's something hypnotic about watching a game on a flat panel TV at a bar. It doesn't matter what teams are playing, your eyes will inevitably gravitate toward it throughout the night. The Flatiron has 10 TVs (not counting any in the upstairs party room) - at least one TV hangs on every wall, so even if you wanted to look at something besides a game, you can't.
For sports fans, this obviously has tremendous appeal; for couples or friends hoping to carry on a conversation over dinner, not so much. Still, whoever said that men can't multitask has never watched a guy focus his entire attention on the TV while loosely carrying on a conversation with his date, drinking a beer, and eating whatever is within reach.
There's comfort in that, but even so, I'm not really one for sports bars. I have driven by this red painted building and its eye-catching advertisement for the Flatiron dozens of times, and I had held out hope that it would be more like an authentic Wild West saloon. The ornate front door and the solid wood bar that stretches the length of one wall with its cast iron stools do give the place an iota of charm, but the rest oozes sports bar.
It has all five of the sports bar essentials:
Beer - copious amounts, about twelve on tap including Fat Tire, Sierra Nevada, ESB, and your basic Budweiser swill. Â
Full bar - When your team performs badly, a full bar is like a band-aid. Â Or when your team is kicking the snot out of their opponent, it's time for shots.
Wenches - I just like the word and there's simply no better way to describe someone who would seem to exist solely to serve me beer; and better still if they can be described as "lusty, ornery, sassy, brawny, or brutish".
Food - A sports bar without food is like a cart without wheels. Preferably, the grub offered is fried, smothered in cheese, an ample serving, and of the "would probably make you sick if you weren't already drunk" variety. Nachos, wings, chicken tenders, fries, and burgers are staples, while the Flatiron also has a variety of waffle fries, a Philly cheese steak, and a pulled pork sandwich, all of which are passable (with beer).
Fans and Locals - Only in a sports bar is the ranting and roaring of sports fans not only socially acceptable, but widely encouraged. And who are you and why are we hugging, buying each other drinks, and/or waking up together...? Oh, that's right, I almost forgot, go Giants.
Every time I drive by this bar it is very bright as in the lights are on. Â Very weird considering it is a bar and usually they are very ambient. Â
We decided to stop by for a few drinks to watch the Cowboys vs. Giants game. Â Pleasantly surprised by the amount of people inside and the great service. Â This bar is the epitome of a "sports" bar. Â There are team banners everywhere and three big screen TVs. Â There was a good group of sports fans in the bar and lots of good camaraderie. Â
I'm coming back for the next big game.
Well..... all I can is it has changed a lot and for the best. The place is CLEAN now... very clean. I've only eaten there twice so far in the last two weeks but each time the food was very good. They have a really nice feel. I stopped going there several years ago because you just know it wasn't clean and the food was very greasy.
I do have one suggestion for them..... in regards to the chili dog, would you please use shredded cheddar instead of chopped up cheddar and also I think the cheese should be just a tab bit melted.
I will go back... they have some fun events. Please check them out if you are in Marin and see if you feel any differently than you did many years ago before the new owners took over.
Being a sports fan, I have to like this place to a degree. Â Even if I don't eat the food. Â But I do, and I must say it is ok. Â The prices surprise me. Â A fancy burger, fries, chicken salad, and 2 local tap beers cost me $35 with a tip. Â Wow. Â That's a bit much for pub food.
The service was lacking.  Beers came fast  but the food takes a long time.  Maybe it's quick during the week but Sunday it just takes forever.  We waited 30 minutes from order to food for a hamburger and a salad.
But it's the only gig in town (10 screens) for sports bars.
God I have memories of this bar. Most of them associated with this dude I used to "see". And by "seeing" I mean "watching movies, drinking, smoking & having really amazing sex with all weekend. Without leaving the apartment"
So apart from the occasional trip to Safeway to stock up on munchies (and he was a stoner! Surprise!) we didn't get out much.
But the flatiron was literally right across the street from him. So when we did venture out it was usually to go here. So we would have a couple beers watch whatever was on ESPN, have some fries, which were great (USEFUL PART RIGHT HERE FOLKS) and then go back & smoke a bowl or play video games or some equally mind numbing activity.
And as I write this I realize how sad this whole episode in my life was. But man, good sex can get a girl by the BALLS!
My Dad used to take me here before he'd subsequently beat me after consuming so much alcohol at this place. Â I loved it. Â Now I have gone there with the new management I can once again only blame the ravenous 4th Reich for taking over another one of my childhood getaways and raping it.
Was a great place now its a shitty place trying to look upscale but homely. Â Don't let the Nazi's fool you. Â
My wings tasted like cum...
I am very sad today. Â I used to live in Marin and frequented this place a lot when Pat and Mike ran it. Â I came into town today and went to the Flatiron. Â New menu's, new foods, and a tear came out of my eye because all the terrific staples were gone. Â No more local sports heroes were named after the food. Â I asked for the Ben Rothlesburger, and the guy had no idea what it was......why name it that if you don't know what it was. Â The food was atrocious. Â Burnt Burger, Burnt Fries, Flat Soda.....I am ashamed of what this place has become. Â Pat.......Mike........I Miss you
Shit they even took down a lot of the sports decorations.
It Sucked!
Better food, better service, better people, better atmosphere.
And it doesn't smell of wee anymore. (This is important.)
Excellent place to watch your sporting duel of choice. From NFL to real footy, where... I dunno, you get to watch Liverpool kick Everton around for 90 minutes, they got it all, and the bigscreens to show it on. The new ownership's done a great job of turning this place around.
And thanks for the hangover, BTW.
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