Wow,
We needed a place to grab a drink after eating at Cascal and I realized I had never been to a bar in Mountain View before. I did not know any Dive bars existed there. Mervyn's lounge had high marks so I said why not. It was really hard to find, it is literally in the back of a Chinese restaurant.
Pro's:
Insanely cheap drinks. Bottles of bud were like $2 and Kettle vodka drinks for the ladies were $4.
They have the new Jukebox where you can request virtually any song.
Con's:
Cash only
It smells a little rank in there.
I will be back to hang out with boys for sure.
This hidden dive bar is behind a Chinese restaurant. The first time we came here, on a weekday. it was pretty much abandoned except for a few older men. We felt so awkward we left. Then we came back on a Friday night, and it was packed! Cheap drinks, cash only, pretty dirty. Pretty much standing room only... until we snagged the booth in the corner like ballers, yes! Ballers in the diviest bar.
Review Source:Mervyns? Isn't that the clothing store that went bankrupt???
This place is literally a hole in the wall, it sits behind an unmarked doorway and shares the bathroom with a chinese restaurant. Â
CASH ONLY! .. but there's no complaining here, I never could refuse a $5 top shelf shot!!
The bartenders are a little surly unless you're a regular, but it matches the character of the place. Â Ladies: if you're wearing heels, BE CAREFUL in the bathroom, it does get pretty wet and yucky during the busier times!
Mervyn's is my favorite bar in downtown Mountain View. Â The drinks are (ridiculously) cheap, the bartenders are nice (as long as you're nice to them), and they have liar's dice which is a fun game with any size group. Â It's usually my first stop before heading to Molly's or Stephen's to dance, though I've spent just as many weeknights hanging out and playing liar's dice with friends.
Review Source:This is my 500th review, and I've decided to break my style and write in long prose.
Normally, I write my reviews in seven words.
But I can't for Mervyn's. There simply isn't seven meaningful enough words to capture the essence of this place.
The truth is, I left the U.S. in 2009 and I have not been to Mervyn's since. However, every time I write a review on Yelp, it reminds me that I have one draft I should complete: this place. Over three years after my last visit, I've finally relented and decided to write my longest review to date (and possibly forever).
Mervyn's for some, is a dive bar, for others, is a dirty little hole in the wall, and for some others, is a place to get cheap drinks before hitting the strip (if you could call it that) in Mountain View.
For me, Mervyn's is an institution. It's what stands against the tide of change and the eerie sameness that seems to envelope everything. When bars, restaurants, and landlords are trying their best to maximize profit per square foot and as a result arriving at disturbingly similar conclusions, Mervyn's doesn't care.
There are so many things this place could do to increase profit from raising drink prices (considering the local competition, 10% increase will make absolutely no dent in the popularity) to remodeling the bar to draw a more mainstream crowd. Heck, the entire space could be rented out to a different business who could probably bring in twice the profit. But Mervyn's (and the landlord, I assume there is one) doesn't care.
I want to believe that this place is a relic of the distant past, but I haven't been alive long enough to confirm such nostalgia. Besides the ambiance that hasn't seem to have changed since around the time I was born, the regulars on weekdays seem to be a good indicator. In fact, the people who come here is part of what makes this place mystical.
On the weekends, the place is mobbed by those trying to hit the Mountain View scene without being too sober or broke. The rough crowd from the East Bay often frequent here and a fight or an ambulance is not a rare sight.
The weekdays are where it gets interesting. There are the diehard regulars who seem to have frequented here since the beginning of time and will probably perish without their lifeline of mysterious foods left in the corner. Then there are those who are simply indescribable. I once met a girl who tried to convince me that all cars on the road should make noise in such a way that highway traffic sound will be harmonious and musical. When the clientele at St. Stephen's Green and Molly Magees are so predictable, this place is a welcome change.
I have many fond memories of this place, from meeting this girl, to my Australian friend almost getting in a fight with a drunk guy and all of us getting kicked out, to finding the place shut down for health code violations only to reopen a few days later.
I was never a regular here. I simply didn't live close enough to put in the frequency required for the bar tender to learn my name, and I don't particularly stand out in the Bay Area. For what it's worth, I probably looked like another Google geek faux-slumming it.
At the same time, I don't know if I want to become a regular here. It's not that the clientele reminds me of depressed alcoholics that one would imagine of bar regulars, but time really does stop here. It's not easy keeping up with the whirlwind of changes happening in the rest of the world, but if I came here too much, I worry that one day I would wake up from my drunken stupor as Rip van Winkle wondering where the world has gone.
I know nothing lasts forever, but I hope Mervyn's will stay as the institution that it is as long as I am alive. Someday I will come back here, sit down, order a drink, look around, and relish the fact that there is something more to life than continual improvement.
Cheap, small, strong, and literally a hole in the wall...but a good stop for me and my friends on a Saturday night!
My friends and I had just finished laser tagging and were looking for a place to get drinks and at first, we couldn't find this place because it was literally on the side of the alley. The only problem is the seating is awkward for large groups, but we made do. They have a few TV screens here as well, if you wanna watch some sports. I think there was one or two booths, but they were taken already. Some of the customers (maybe just a few people) here seemed sketchy though.
I gave the bartender a $1 tip (my typical tip for bartenders) and he seemed extremely grateful! Most bartenders tend to ignore me because they're so busy or they just don't care, but the staff here seemed really nice! And the drink was cheap! It was about $3.25 for a redbull and vodka (granted the cups are slightly smaller). But it was great here, overall. Even the security from another bar recommended us to go here since we were looking for a cheap place with no cover.
I would give Mervyn's 2 stars, but then I realized, it's SUPPOSED to be a dive bar so it gets one more star for being no more than what it is. So I admit, I have walked down this hallway past Mervyn's about a hundred times with no clue that this was the bar behind the door. Usually there is a sketchy looking old guy smoking a cigarette outside. There are no distinguishing marks on the door or any signs even indicating the name of the place. Not sure how they stay in business, but when we stopped by on a Tuesday evening around 10pm, it was actually surprisingly packed. Currently, they're running a special of $3.50 for Newcastles. Also, the interior was absolutely sweltering hot.
Review Source:In my experience, hidden doors lead to a world of enchantment. The Secret Garden. Bourbon & Branch. Smuggler's Cove.
...Mervyn's, while hidden, doesn't exactly fit such descriptions of grandeur. That being said, it has some of its own little "secret charms."
Two girlfriends and I ventured in to Mervyn's after dinner a few Friday nights ago. One kept calling it her "secret dive"- a super fitting nick-name.
We ordered 3 Vodka Sodas. - $8.25 NOT EACH, BUT TOTAL! My jaw nearly hit the table! Can you buy 3 drinks ANYWHERE in San Francisco for this price?!?!? To my knowledge- NO! I was floored that we left, two rounds of drinks later, for just around 20 bucks (including tip). Mervyn's- you could be dangerous!
Note: Mervyn's is cash only. Boo.
Mervyn's has a juke box! Yay!
On Castro street hidden behind the Chinese restaurant is a little door, that takes you to a magical place. The place is unmarked and all the door says is cocktails/lotto. Open the door and its as if your home!
The place is small and dark, the ceiling is low... its almost as if your in a secret club or you found a very neat version of wonderland with booze. Yes, i do mean wonderland of booze.
The prices here are just so darn cheap I died, and become a child inside as if my money from my lemonade stand was going to cover my night out! ((By the way it did))
I enjoy the scene inside, its younger and a little bit more hip if you could say that. Its cheaper than the rest of the street.That alone is really saying a lot.
They do cocktails and bottled beer. No Draught beer to be sold around these parts but who cares.
Been here more than a few times now so a review is a must!
Cheap, friendly staff, and strong stiff drinks.. what more can you ask for. Â This is a Dive bar so all the pretty princesses don't come expecting polish furniture and chandeliers! What you see is what you get.
Def. a great starter place to hit up before you head out to the night life on the streets of Castro or dinner.
As always, drink responsibly and see you at Mervs!
Is this place closed? I called the number and it was Chef Liu's number and address, and it matched the front of the store so you can connect the dots. My friend and I were so confused! Unless this is hidden somewhere, my friend and I couldn't find it anywhere :(
Update: Thanks to Katharine A. Now I know where Mervyn's Lounge is "It is behind the restaurant. Unmarked. Go down the blue hallway. Open door with paper on it that says cocktails.....it is before the chairs lines up in back by the parking lot". I will be making a visit soon and re-rate.
Good lord this place is cheap!! My jaw dropped when my friend told me that she got three drinks for $9, and we immediately went and got four more Coronas for just $14 more. Wish they had pitchers, but nothing on tap here. The whiskey sours weren't very strong, but I'll take anything for $3.
The bar is down an alleyway next to Pho Garden. It's super tiny inside (probably the smallest bar I've ever been to), and there's only one bathroom, but everyone just minds their own business and doesn't push and shove, so it was no problem. It's a shame there wasn't room to dance, because they played a strangely great playlist.
There are a lot of dice cups, and I'm not sure what you're actually supposed to do with them, but we played seven/eleven/doubles with them.
This is what a dive bar should be. Â Cheap drinks. Â Cash only. Â Jukebox. Â Lots of regulars. Â Mellow crowd.
This place is stocked with all the basics. Â Nothing really fancy. Â But, they have some fancier tequilas. Â They give you a lot of booze. Â Most drinks run between 3 and 4 bucks. Â 4 bucks for a jameson. Â Such a deal.
They do not sell anything on tap. Â So, it is not as cheap as buying pitchers at the Nut House. Â But, it is not filled with annoying Stanford students either. Â I like the dark lighting. Â Combined with the drinks, even you can look like a superstar. Â Hooray for Bar Goggles.
As I mentioned under Chef Liu (which is now the frontage business, between the bar and sidewalk), Mervyn's is not just a tiny good-value bar but a civic institution, with far more history and dimensions than most of today's establishments.
Less central to silicon-valley history than Walker's Wagon Wheel, less influential to the Internet than G T's Sunset BBQ, Mervyn's Lounge has outlasted them, while drawing the same kind of loyal decades-long regulars. Â
All that, even though Mervyn's Lounge doesn't actually exist, in the legal/contractual sense -- the business now is formally part of the Chinese restaurant. Â But by tradition and spirit it has been Mervyn's since before many people reading this were born.
While I honor Mervyn's, I'm no regular (might become one if I hung out there and earned the respect of the others for a few years), I've just been by a few times. Â It's tiny and can get very crowded, like twice a week when all the golfers show up (refugees from a former hang-out that closed), demonstrating the importance in golf skills of bending the arm. Â Mervyn's might strike some newcomers as really divey, and its beer comes bottled, served that way; but it's more genteel than many a small bar and far more historical. Â More genteel for instance than its former competitor up on El Camino, the 101 Club, whose beer selection extended to Bud and Bud Lite. Â (Mervyn's offers a range.)
(The 101 Club was among the last of the businesses named when -- as you know if you know local history -- El Camino Real was Highway 101, before the current Highway 101 "bypassed" it in the 1950s. Â Which has slowly happened over much of 101. 101 still had stoplights in downtown Cloverdale when I first drove throught there, and still does farther north, in Willits, due for bypass soon.)
I submitted this review back in summer of 2010. Â Yelp removed it for some reason. Â Maybe they think that they know what I like better than I do. Â I've continued to go there once or twice a week and I still think my original review reflects MY opinion. Â
So here it is again (with a couple of minor changes):
Mervyn's is just you local, friendly dive bar. Â Unpretentious, unassuming, local, and affordable are terms that all apply. Â Cold bottled beer (none on tap), shots, and stiff mixed drinks will NOT break the bank, unlike many of the "upscale" places nearby. Â CRT and LCD TVs showing sporting events, the juke box playing at moderate levels and your conversation with other patrons and the bar tenders is the entertainment offered. Â If you are hungry, you can order Chinese food from the restaurant up front and it will be delivered to you. Â That is, until they close, so don't wait too long.
Anyway, Mervyn's is affordable and fun. Â Just don't expect people there to be impressed by your new Audi, BMW, designer clothes or power job.
Good dive bar. Cash only. Cheap drinks. Perfect location.
Juke box regularly playing. Dice cups available, although I'm thinking about contributing replacements because these have seen serious wear.
Don't expect anything fancy and you will be pleased. Â
Don't act like an asshole and everyone else will be pleased.
Hole in the wall bar. Â The quintessence of a "dive bar." Â Here, you must dive into the crowds of people to obtain a drink. Â Don't let cheap prices fool you. Â They are very generous with their alcohol.
Located in Mountain View's psuedo-downtown called "Castro Street." Â Don't mistake this for SF's Castro Street. Â Mountain View's soul perhaps rests and thrives in this bar. Â All kinds of people walk and crunch through here. Â Working people. Â College people. Â Post-college people. Â And more.
Come here with a few of your good friends. Â Guaranteed to have a great time on a budget.
This is where we go to pre-drink before the actual drinking begins.
I remember a random Wednesday after work, we started with a shot of patron at Mervyn's, and then headed to dinner down the street at La Fiesta del Mar (with tequila tasting), then back to Mervyn's for 2 more rounds of patron, then off to Molly Magee's for beers, shots, cosmos and push ups on the dance floor. Seriously.
There were so many blanks to be filled that night, but it was memorable nonetheless. All thanks to the cheap drinks at the small alleyway dive bar, Mervyn's to start us off.
Bring cash, good friends, a healthy liver, and a can-do attitude.
What do you want from a dive bar? Â Cheap drinks? Â Zero pretense? Â An amazing cross-section of society? Â Low lights to help you forget what time of day it is? Â Then Mervyn's is your place. Â
There is absolutely nothing not to love about this place.  You get hungry, you can order food from any one of the yummy Castro street greaseries nearby.  Or  try your chances with the "free" snacks served up by the regulars (who, apparently, take turns bringing food to share).  Yeah, it's THAT kind of place.  And it makes me want to go back.  A lot.  I'm just glad I didn't frequent it when I worked down the street.  Otherwise I might've been let go years ago.
As good as it gets! My first Dive Bar experience!
Beers, basic cocktails each for $3 !!!! Â That is happy hour all day long!
CASH ONLY!
Perfect for a pre-party joint before you head out somewhere else in downtown Mountain View, Palo Alto, or San Jose!
Very small venue! Â Basically you walk in and theres the bar and one bathroom to your right! Â Located in the back of a chinese restaurant.. so be careful for you girls walking in the alley way.. it does get creepy and shady looking.. but it is A-Okay!
Place gets packed because of how cheap drinks are here! Â Regulars are to be seen! DEFINITELY an older crowd if you are there hanging around with another girlfriend or two... This just means DANGER! Â I know from experience -_- Â ......
In general, I had a great time playing Liar's Dice on the bartop throughout the night with regulars and got to know the bartenders! Â
i definitely recommend this place for PRE-PARTYING.. because that is what I will be doing next time I come back.
Mervyn's Lounge is worth a try at least once. Â As a dive bar, it's pretty good and surprisingly small. Â It's cash only and there's no ATM, so you better come prepared, otherwise you're going to have to go across Castro to St. Stevens Green or Molly MaGee's to get some cash. Â There aren't any games that I recall, as there's barely enough room for a couple booths and a bar. Â Â
Assuming you have actual cash in hand, you can have a good time in this little place. Â The drinks are cheap ($4 or less for most cocktails), the staff is friendly, and there's always a good mix of folks hanging out. Â The jukebox plays a decent (though not stellar) selection of songs and you get decent play for your hard-earned money.
The only thing that sucks is when a group of 7-10 people all show up at once and almost take over the bar. Â This place is a hole in the wall and very small, so if you go, take a friend or two...but not the whole Dirty Dozen. Â
It has all the basics, but again - no ATM probably catches some people off-guard. Â You'd think they'd either start taking cards or get one installed somewhere, but no. Â So they lose a 'star' in my voting for that. Â
Still, considering how close it is to downtown Mountain View, and how expensive most of the places are around there, this place really is a hidden gem (literally) if you want to drink and party like a rockstar but are on a budget. Â In these troubling economic times, you've got to find all the values you can and for that, Mervyn's Lounge definitely qualifies.
Useful tips from Huey:
To find this place, walk in the alley next to Chef Liu's. Â Look for a door with a sign that says "Cocktails Lotto." Â If you look close, there's a small piece of text that says "Mervyn's."
"So what are your specials?" "Um, everything is cheap. Cash only."
Even though you think there's nobody in the bar, it shares its bathroom with a Chinese restaurant. Â Thus, you might have to wait.
It's the diviest bar in Mountain View, so enjoy the cheap prices and bring a date. Â If you're lucky, she might slap you a few times.
Archie: Two double vodka sodas please.
Bartender: Here you go, that'll be $7 please.
Archie: Oh, no, sorry, I said two.
Bartender: Yeah, I know. Â $7 please.
Archie: *eyes start watering
I have been here far too many times to be proud to admit but my latest escapade was decidedly successful.
We came here on St. Patty's day when all other overpriced bars had lines longer than the Krispy Kreme drive through in Kansas.
We managed to walk right in and get drinks right away. Â
The crowd is always "eclectic" and you'll be wise to watch out for the token tough guy picking fights on people but other than that, it's a place to visit for sure.
CASH ONLY.
Bargain.
This place is my standard for a dive bar.
Required standards--If you can: (A)be shnockered at a bar at 4 o'clock or midnight. (B) be chatting up with the bartender or quitely peer and contemplate your day/ latest drama/ life while staring into your drink and no one bats an eye either way. Check and check.
Expert standards: Most (if not all) drinks under the $5 dollar mark. Jukebox has Sinatra. Booths with vinyl seating reminiscent of everyone's other favorite drunken hangout, Denny's. Selling Lotto tickets. Playing Fletch en espanol on Saturday night.
Superior standard: Being located down an alley away from the cleanliness/ pretentiousness of Mountain View and having NO windows or any other source of natural light. If a dive can truly create that dark magical vortex of timelessness well than that, my alcohol drinking friends is (a) not only a dive bar but (b) priceless.
If you're drinking pints of Molson in the Toronto airport due to an Air Canada delay and hear one of your friends weave a magical story of a Raider's dive bar with no windows, $3.50 Tanqueray and tonics, and which happens to be located on an alley in Mountain View, you probably won't believe them. It's ok, I didn't either.
But they're speaking the truth. Â The paper sign now reads "Cocktail Lounge / Lotto Sold Here," but don't worry, nothing else has changed.
I have to admit that I'm not the dive bar type of person, but one of my friends is so I go with her every now-and-then. Â When you walk in, you literally feel like you've stepped into a wormhole that has magically transported you from Mountain View to some Southern trailer house of sorts. Â They have limited seating, and from our experience had a decently sized crowd (8 people maybe?). Â The drinks were dirt cheap! Â I had a Samuel Adams and my friend had a vodka tonic: total, $5.50. Â
As I mentioned, I'm not the dive bar going type of guy, but no one gave me shtick, so it was all good. Â
The one cool thing was the cash register which is some random antique that looks like they found at a flea market. Â
If you're into dive bars, hit up Mervyn's. Â If you want a larger dive bar that is more college-oriented, hit up Antonio's Nut House. Â If you're not a dive bar type of person, but your friends are, either place should be alright.
Words alone can't describe how amazing Mervyn's Lounge, or "COCKTAILS WE HAVE LOTTO" is. We call it that because there's a single piece of notebook paper posted in an alley by the entrance that says simply "Cocktails We Have Lotto". Sometimes understatement is key, as Mervyn's lounge clearly understands.
There are four things that make it amazing:
1) The dive-ness. It's definitely a dive bar, and has all the characters you'd associate with a dive bar. However, everyone seems pretty harmless...so you're not gonna get molested. In fact, everyone was quite friendly and outgoing. People went out of their way to find places for my party to sit and to let us know that they had free food that night. Â Which brings me to...
2) They have a free buffet every Monday night (when theres football)! Â One of the regulars cooks food each Monday night and brings it in to share with everyone. That's so cool!
3) The drinks are DIRT cheap. $3.50 for scotch, $3 for beer.
4) They have lotto - like the sign says, it's got a keno game going constantly. Keno is awesome because its like, really cheezy and a lotto you'll never win. Except my friend won twice.
Mervyn's Lounge or Cocktails We Have Lotto is like a secret world of awesomeness right in the heart of downtown mountain view. I highly recommend it to anyone who is cool - otherwise don't come and ruin it for the rest of us
Quite possibly the best kept secret in downtown MV. Â If the phrases 'dive-bar' and/or 'cheap drinks' are mouthed, your mind should automatically be tuned to Mervyn's. Â And no, they don't sell clothes here, sorry. Â But, you can order some very tasty egg rolls from the Chinese joint around the corner. Â
So the last time I was there with a co-worker, we met up with some wild elementary school teachers looking to get wasted. Â We're all having a good time, sampling the rolls....when all of the sudden, one of the teachers leaves and comes back with a HUGE head of cabbage....seriously. Â
Stay with me here....cabbage, as in the leafy vegetable.  Content with her with her newly  found prize, she puts it toward the back of the booth and lets it chill for a while.  No biggie right...? Â
WRONG!!!! Â Not long after, the power goes out at the bar. Â I don't know what prompted me, (I'm blaming it on the purple hooters) but I take a handful of cabbage and toss it at my co-worker. Â Wow, bad move! Â Next thing we know, our booth turns into a full fledged cabbage war-zone. Â Cabbage in our hair...cabbage in our drinks...cabbage in the ladies' bras....cabbage everywhere! Â
I know you're saying to yourself...what the hell? Â It's fine because we were nice enough to give them a 20 to help cover the cleaning cost. Â But nonetheless, a fun night!
In the TRUEST definition, A dive bar, or simply a dive, is a drinking establishment (or sometimes a restaurant) with a dated or ramshackle appearance and atmosphere. In a dive bar, the drinks tend to be cheap.
The term "dive" dates from the London of the 19th Century when younger gentlemen wanted somewhere slightly more risqu to spend their afternoons than the great clubs frequented by their father. They formed more informal clubs where they smoked and drank coffee.
People tend to frequent dives for the sole purpose of drinking (or sometimes eating) inexpensively and sometimes there are frequent patrons who appreciate the laid-back atmosphere.
Mervyn's Lounge is one of the bay area's best dive bars and the best kept secret in Mt. View!! Â I'm pretty sure they serve the cheapest drinks anywhere in the bay area! Â If you can find it...WELCOME!
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