Gets 5 Stars for Best Dive Bar to play Live Music on the central coast! Los Osos / Baywood Locals know as well, they have some great bands here, and I play with a the number one female guitar player with a great voice.. Maheyla and The Ritual . Check us out this weekend on the 6th of July , 2013. I been going to this bar for years and it hasn't changed much and I don't mind. The sound is perfect for the bands.. we can actually turn it up!
Review Source:Surly, downtrodden locals, crummy fixtures, wildly uneven drinks, an ATM next to the bar, insistently bright lighting.....surely, one cannot reasonably ask more from their local dive bar. Â Its quintessence is celebrated even on the internet- wikipedia's Dive Bar page flies the iconic Merrimaker sign.
One of the finest of its kind, a kind which is becoming increasingly hard to find in the modern world of ever escalating rents & national chain conformity.
I salute you with five bright stars, Merrimaker.
May your karaoke night bray out across the estuary for generations to come.
I've been coming here for three years and it's my home bar...I kinda have a love/hate relationship. It changed ownership about a year ago and I was hoping for some needed improvements. The bar stools and flooring need to be replaced as does the bar top itself. No one can argue that this old bar needs a little TLC. For me the best part is the live bands on Saturdays. However, there is no stage and the lighting is lame... But they still manage to attract the best bands in the county and never charge a cover.
As other reviewers have said, the bartenders are all experienced and very friendly. Timmy seems to be everyone's favorite. And Sunday mornings, Jackie makes the best Bloody Mary around - she takes great pride in her mixology.
During the day it's mostly local regulars who usually sit on their regular stools. These people are always friendly and welcoming to anyone who comes into the bar. After all, it's the local neighborhood watering hole.
The one thing missing is food. It would be really nice to at least offer a few appetizers or snacks.
I just wish the owner would renovate a little and make it more appealing in general and as a live music venue. He did add new large flat screens and a state-of-the-art juke box. Karaoke is still popular and there is a wide selection of songs. But there is no stage or lighting...how hard would that be to fix? I'm sure it would attract more karaoke enthusiasts. There was talk at one point about having "live music karaoke", which I thought sounded like a great idea but it never happened.
I'm a regular on weekend nights but have lost my enthusiasm for karaoke night. I miss the Sunday night open mike jams and I would come here more often if there were a few improvements in the seating, etc. The back room smoking area is dismal and a disgrace. Ditto the mens bathroom. I'd rather go outside and smoke if they had a heater and cover from the rain...
I'll keep coming here and wishing and hoping that the owner eventually puts some time, energy and money into some needed improvements...but it's still the best bar in Los Osos.
It is, indeed, a dive, but charming at times. As a non-drinker, I go to dance on occasion and to hang out with a friend who likes bars. The big problem with this place is the constant flow of cigarette smoke. I'm sure they're in violation of at least one law. If you are at all sensitive to second hand smoke, stay away.
Review Source:It is an upholstered sewer of the first order. "Friends in low places" is an apt song. Besides, it is on the bay at two feet above high tide. (During the Fukushima tsunami everyone in Baywood/Los Osos asked after the state of the Merrimaker). Watched the receding waters strand a couple of six foot sharks, also the spirits of the place. Do not come here for anything but a relaxed time where nobody gives a s**t about your Porsche or your divorce, unless you're hot.
There are good people inside, standing outside, or headed there. Ambience is the barbecue pit and the proximity of some of the most incredibly beautiful coastline in the world. Highway One heads towards San Simeon, Carmel and the City, just a half mile away. Oh, no crowds, no class, no problem.
Love this place! Stiff drinks at great prices. Who can complain about that?
Karaoke on Fridays and live band (no cover) on Saturdays.
Bartenders are friendly and attentative. If you fall off your bar stool the patrons will help you up and order another one for you! Great place to spend you weekend!
Have not tried the karaoke since it got upgraded but I'm sure it's just as fun as ever. We used to go every weekend but now, since moving out of Los Osos, it happens way too seldom. Bummer. I miss it!
Cheap drinks and no cover! Bartenders have been really cool every time I've been there, and it's great to have somewhere in Los Osos to see decent bands. Good place for weirdo watching - and if you have a conversation with said weirdos they turn out to be pretty damn nice. Downside is like everywhere else in this town they are cash only.
Review Source:If you lookup dive bar in the book you will find a picture of the Merrimaker. Seriously, lookup dive bar on Wikipedia.
To me its not a dive bar. Dives imply a certain element of danger, the occasional parole sweep by the cops, and maybe a couple washed up street walkers. You're not going to find that here. To step into The Merrimaker is to step into a time machine whose knobs are stuck on Ohio 1987. Seriously lousy decor, and people who spent a little too much time on Def Leopard Tour, but there's nothing wrong with that. I'd rather hang out here than at some frat bar in SLO. They are definitely keeping it real down at the
Go to the Merrimaker for what it is, the closest place to drink. Don't go there to get laid, (if you do end up getting some there don't tell anyone it happened) Don't go there to watch the game. Just go there to drink I promise no one will get in your way and you'll have a good enough time.
"If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you."
-Nietzsche
This place is the abyss, if you stare into it you'll be faced with: Dark woods to disguise the dirt, mysteriously sticky surfaces and patrons who look like they were carved into the seats. If you've never hit rock bottom, this is a great place to do it; drinks are cheap and everyone will understand (having lived there for the better part of their lives).
Do you want to talk about the abyss staring right back? Buy some unfiltered cigarettes, put on your canadian tuxedo and come on down for Karaoke on Friday and Saturday! The cast of characters that often show up range from blue haired ladies singing "Lady Gaga" to bikers belting out "Fat Bottomed Girls". For extra fun, you can "Volunteer" one of your friends to sing. "Ring of Fire" is always a good choice for this particular brand of torture, as is "Sympathy for the Devil". If you aren't either laughing your ass off or singing along you haven't been drinking enough (I would recommend double shots of well bourbon, anything less and you'll get no respect).
Come here once a year. Any more then that and you should either be questioning your sanity or signing up for AA.
It is what it is, the epitome of a dive bar. There's not another quite like the Merrimaker. Poorly mixed drinks, glasses you don't quite trust, and customers that look like they might have started a fight 30 years ago but are just too worn out to try it now. It's always fun.
PS. Karaoke night is a must. Your ears will bleed, but in a good way.
Before reading any further, check out Wikipedia's definition of "Dive Bar" and see what comes up.  The Merrimaker Tavern is this "millions-of-a-kin"d located in just about every mid level sized town but in this case it should be on a picture postcard 'ah-hem' corner of sleepy, often foggy banks of Baywood, California.  Going inside you greeted with a few rough looking bikers, plus a few of those chain smokers that haven't a clue how far it is allowed smoke 20 feet from a door entrance. On the clearest of days, inside the bar, a gloom of dark lacquer woods and the petrie dished bar tables with sticky floors hints brawls, flung panties, gambling debts and numerous Ménage à trois patrons who will contribute to the mystique, most seasoned of liver destroyers, marriage challenged and tight jeaned buxom Californian bar babes and bums that you would find anywhere. Â
There was one thing clear about the place, is that it has one rule, and if you want to be accepted, don't follow it. Â In my book, I just had the best smiles, and not for one second was I bored. Â Instead, I was guzzling down the most delicious of beers, while enjoying the scenery. Â So how does this Dive bar to outdoes all other of million of bars? Â Ill provide a checklist of the top eight!!! Â
1.... well.. go in and order three drinks on your first round, and notice that nobody flinches an eye when they find out that are all for you. Â Â
2. Â Play a pinball game, tilt, shout, curse, bang, slam and even one flip salute your lost ball all you want and again - nobody seems to flinch.
3. Â While at the bar, play Five Finger Fillet and maybe get someone to notice you. Â
4. Â Go up to total stranger and say - what is a nice [fill in blank] like you doing in ranchy place like this - and they won't see that as a corny line.
5. Â Order milk and then notice that you'll end up with a brand new drain hole (someone might knife)
6. Â Bottles of fine Cognac and Brandy have never been opened, probably since the first day of business.
7. Â They've decided why bother clean, alcohol kills germs anyways.
8. Â The coat check is the floor.
I went to karaoke night for a friend's birthday, and I was very disappointed. While this place gets credit for offering karaoke on the weekend, it definitely wasn't worth the half-hour drive it took for me to get there. The place is very trashy dive bar with run down, and some patrons were so trashed I was embarrassed for them. The crowd was very mixed, with an overall small-town hick vibe for the most part. Drinks were strong and inexpensive, which was nice.
As for the karaoke, the song selection was decent, but the long waits between songs made the whole thing not worth it.
I arrived here seeking local drink when staying with a friend in Los Osos, and the three of us (lovely) ladies cruised in, noticed we were the only women under 45, and attempted to settle in and accept it.
One star for the fact that the many creepy and potentially ex-California Men's Colony residents from down the street did not try to talk to us, minus a thousand for the awkward moment where all three of us on an attempt to trail out to the smoking area intercepted a truly trashy flirtation from afar that involved a 30 something blonde haired, tan surfer type who was truly a good example of a loser and a 55 year old blonde fattie making sexually suggestive faces at him and shaking her wrinkly cleavage.
If it weren't for an old and slightly crazy friend of mine, I never would have stepped foot in here. The best part about the place is the old-school sign outside and that you can refer to it as "the marraige breaker."
I love karaoke nights (Friday and Saturday) at the Merrimaker. Some of the best worst karaoke ever, with lots of drunken, off-key singing (isn't that why you go to karaoke in the first place?). The bartenders poor strong drinks and are very attentive. One guy got 86-ed after being a little too grabby with me -- and I didn't even have to ask the bartender to kick that guy out, he just noticed and did it on his own. Thanks Merrimaker for making my fun evenings a little safer!
Review Source:
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