Saddle Bar

I was here about 5 pm on a Friday for a beer.  It wasn't to busy.  This place is one step up from a dive bar and is a comfortable hangout.

Being just off the 101 is nice because you get less out of towners and more locals. In fact most people walk here versus drive, that's another reason the parking lot is filled with taxi cabs and not cars. It gets popping on any random weeknight. I hear they do goldfish races and other seasonal events. Bartenders are good, but they don't offer near the beer selection I'd like (probably a licensing limit on their taps), but since they re-opened (hadn't been here in years) under new ownership they revamped a lot. They have a personal favorite Magic Hat's Not Quite #9. An amazing Vermont brewery who managed to get their famous beer at stores and bars with surprising frequency out here now (Compass).

The stage is small, but fits a dozen people, probably 20 if it gets crazy. The bouncers do their job, but aren't jerks, I've had good convo's with a few of them. Though I didn't vape inside I did catch someone else doing it with an ego. I choose not to here because of size and my set up blows clouds. Full bar, more top shelf glass than I'd expect, but nothing mixologisty fancy. No fresh mint and basil infused kool whip martini's if that's what your coming here for. It's always going to have this local vibe, this pubish feel, but the fresh leather and high seating along the wall and the wood give off this country vibe.

They have a good jukebox with most of your favorite hits, even new one's. The DJ on Wednesdays is good, he really listens to the crowd's physical feedback instead of going off into his own little world during a set.

It can be a sausage fest, so I suggest you bring your own talent. The dancefloor has terrible ventilation and I have a tendancy to take off my shirt anyhow, bad combination. Oh yeah and their drinks are cheap a vast majority of the time. Weekends, it's about average, but I consider this a weeknight only bar. There is more excitement to be had than this quiet coastal spot. On a weekend. Played some house, some EDM, some pop, some top 40 something for everyone, no country though.

The strange thing is the crowd often swells before 11, but dies by 12 and swells by 1 and dies at close. It's because the people pub crawling on their way home keeps people coming and going. If I lived in Solana beach within walking distance and they had a patio with a firepit I would make this my new OMTI's (favorite dive bar in Oceanside).

I would like to report that Saddle Bar has remedied its stinky situation and I am happy to give it a second chance since it is the perfect meet up spot for drinks before or after a Belly Up show.  They are even starting to organize more live music themselves!  Now that the smell is gone and summer is almost upon us, I'm hoping that Saddle Bar will ramp up its game with more and better bands, as well as DJs (that don't play top 40s), on the weekends to make this spot more of a destination rather than one stop along the way to somewhere else...