I have been stopping at this place for decades (really, since I was in high school!), but it was sold to new ownership some years ago, and it has really gone downhill. It has two things going for it: the funky historic decor and the fact that there's nothing else for miles.
Expensive drinks, below average food and surly management. Do yourself a favor and drive down to Arnold
Looking for a break after being in the snow for the day then stop in here on the way back from the snow hill and have a clod one. Â Peanuts, bear, chicken wings with a shot of Jack!! Â Talk with Bell the great bartender and stand by the wood pot belly stove. Â Great atmosphere for a good time with your friends, check it out!! Talk with Mark, the owner, for some good Montreal stories and a good old time.
Review Source:It's.... a dive bar. Â There's not much else to ask or expect, right? The floors are old, perma-dirty and covered in peanut shells. Â The jukebox is so loud that the bartender had to actually turn it down to hear my question (I couldn't hear her, either). Â The old woodburning stove is toasty warm and all the dusty gee gaws on the ceilings and walls make for visual interest while you're drinking your beer (because you can't talk to your friends due to the jukebox volume). Â The "kitchen" looked like a broom closet - so I wasn't about to order fries or anything from there. Â While the bartender was a real sweetie - she's already told me the joint has high turnover of staff - so nobody could explain to me some of the oddities of the brick-a-brack on the walls because... nobody had worked there long enough to know. Â I've been there, once, and now I can go somewhere else....
Review Source:This dive is awesome! Located on Highway 4, you'll miss this place if you blink considering Dorrington is just the hotel and the Lube Room. The fries here are amazing. And the picture touch machine on the bar is super fun if you've had enough drinks. One time, a local told us that if you wait until 11pm, the games turn from G rated to XXX rated, if that's you're thing. They've got a good beer selection here and my cocktail wasn't bad. Their top shelf gin was only Tanqueray though and that was  a little bit disappointing.
Review Source:The old owners were much better; it has gone down quickly. We were in there the other night and they closed up shop and kicked us all out at 9pm. I thought this place was a bar. It's not like there was only a couple of us in there either. There was about 10 people and we were all doing our best to empty the bar. Â Also if you go in for food don't order more than two or three items at a time... they tens to get a little frazzled.
Review Source:Simply a treasure! Â If you do not like funky and an eclectic bar crowd, Â this place is not for you. Â Keep driving west until you get to Chili's :) Â Best burger around and I have brought many friends up here that all swear to that. Â It was even more charming when waitstaff had attitudes but new owners now and the staff is very friendly. Â The bartender takes your drink order, cooks your food and never seems to be nonplussed by all the work. Â Really cool if snowing outside. Â Really cool all the time.
Review Source:having grown up half San Franciscan/half Dorringtonian, i can say, there's nothing can beat a Dorrington Martini. Marina Girls: Eff off, Mission Girls: you WISH you were this baddasss! stay away, nobody wants you here, or me for that matter. Â the Lube Room is a Room Unto Itself. daaaamn. chainsaws were Never Meant to be your Friend
Review Source:An icy highway lined with snow-heavy evergreens winds through the dark forest. It's a chilly December night as we make our way from our friend's cabin in Arnold to The Lube Room up the road...
Inside the woodstove is blazing hot and the only signs of the cold outside are the monster icicles hanging from the eaves. Old signs and other junk hangs from the ceiling and walls, including a Confederate flag. (We're clearly not in the Bay Area anymore.) We proceed to take over the jukebox. The man who takes our order has a Spanish accent and seems to poke fun at us, but in a friendly, genial sort of way.
Now I'm a bad judge of beer, but this Snowshoe Snoweizen is some good stuff. And my tasty lube burger satisfies my months-long burger craving. Anthony gets the spicy lube burger, which comes with a little plastic cup of spicy, habenero-based, murky-green sauce. The sauce also does yummy double duty on the fries. My sister orders macaroni and cheese from the kid's menu; she receives the Kraft version in a little casserole dish. If we were uptight maybe we'd be upset, but it's cute and Lizzy loves it.
All in all, a cozy stop with good eats and good beer for a cold winter's night.
You know you have lived in San Francisco too long when you see a the name of a bar is the "Lube Room" Â and you think "oh, that must be a gay bar..." Â No worries my girlfriend and I are gay friendly so we dropped by for a beer. Turns out that this place is a former garage, hence the name.
Now I grew up in Nevada so the bar with old junk on the walls is a favorite and I like a character or two, makes for good people watching. But really this place is about the Snowshoe ESB and the burgers all served to you by a Frenchman. Yes that was the oddest thing talking to a bartender/ cook from Lyon in a dive bar in Dorrington...
Yee haw and a tee hee- three cheers for the lube room! Again admittedly, my Puerto Rican ass would have NEVER ventured into this place had it not been for the fact that my beautiful lovely gal pal China started bartending at this place (bartender extraordinaire from Conolleys' and the Ave) when she and her rockin man moved to Arnold but . . . as a dive bar aficionado I was glad to venture in this place. Like another yelper expressed, I too was intrigued by the fact the Lube room may indeed be the only boozery in Cali to serve veggie burgers in conjunction with Confederate flags draped along the walls, but that's what makes it great! Plus, they serve there booze in jelly jars and it don't get any more Americana than that do it? And don't stereotype too quick kids- while the jukebox kicks out really bad new country, the regulars are some of the friendliest folks you will ever meet. And the owner rocked too, making conversation with a smile.
So if your ever in Arnold and find yourself thirsty, don't pre judge or hate on the redneckery, ok? This is the kinda place where everyone is there for the same reason and casual conversation is totally welcome. Check out this watering hole because it rocks!
I'm waiting for the guy next to me to blurt out "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning." Â I know he did a tour or two over in Nam. Â You can see it in his eyes, his hair, and the look of his jacket. Â And I'm sure he left a part of himself over there - part of his mind that is. Â Now he's up in the mountains, hanging out and living his own life.
The guy further left down the bar looks like he just came out of a Halloween movie - at any minute he might pull out a hockey mask and a hatchet. The two girls down the bar to my right are laughing about the guys that tried to pick them up on the slopes today. Â The 40+ year old couple at one of the tables is a local couple that I have seen around and met once or twice, can't remember their names though. Â The group of 6 around the pool table looks like they are here on an escape from a central valley college.
My bet is that Halloween dude is going to follow them back to the cabin. Â In horror movie scripting, the blond with the skin tight sweater and the tall football player guy are going to get it first, probably right before doing it in the upstairs bedroom of their cabin. Â One by one they will disappear and only the brunette escapes (she looks like the token virgin, especially next to the before mentioned blond). Halloween dude keeps glancing over at them, especially when the sweater wearing blond keeps bending over to take her next shot.
Some days up here, I just want some grub and a beer, or maybe a Jack Black Neat, away from the crowd at the cabin. Â When I am in that mood, the Lube Room fits the bill. Â It's a place in which to hide out, no one will tell the wife that you are there when she calls. Â Unfortunately the only parking is in front, so whoever is looking for you may see your car as they drive by.
The beer is served at the right temperature and they have a good selection of standards and locally brewed. Â The drinks are strong and the pours are generous. Â And as important are the burgers - just greasy enough, messy, and oh so tasty, some of the best around. Â Even the veggie burger is good.
The peanut shells can go on the ground and the bay area attitude better stay at the door. Â And on Friday night the people come out to play. Â I've seen a few notables in here on occasion - a couple of faded actors, a few skiing celebrities, and some women that were simply notable.
All of the charm of a bar in the Blue Grass Mountains without the fear that some of the locals might go all Deliverance on your non-whitey friends. Â Probably the only place in the United States with a confederate flag on the wall and a veggie burger on the menu. Â The irony was not lost on this city girl. Â Actually, it totally was, that flag creeped me the fuck out so scratch what I said about the folks NOT wanting to lynch your racially diverse BFFs. Â
I'm also fairly confident that the bartendress is the same one as at The Hotsy Totsy in Albany who has a shirt that says, "For a Free Breathalyzer Exam, Blow Here" with an arrow pointing to her crotch. Â If it's not indeed the same woman, it's her motherfucking twin. Â Her more terrifying twin.
I grew up watching my mom and her posse head over to the Lube Room on summer evenings, wishing that one day I would follow in their footsteps. Once I was legal, well I supplied illegal documentation stating I was legal, I realized what the fuss was all about. Â Fun, casual atmosphere and plenty of mountain men with interesting lifestories to talk your ear off. Â Perfect way to end a day of skiing up at Bear.
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