El Rio in San Francisco

Amazing bar filled with good energy, friendly staff, and great drinks.

I cant believe how little its changed in the nearly 30 years Ive been going there. Service is slow. Drinks are strong. Shows start late. The clientele are beautiful! Bathrooms are broken. Backyard is one of the best in SF! Go while youre young and vivacious!!

The bouncer has bad attitude and is boring.

I’ve been to the bar in 2008, i would recommend it

The bartender ignored one end of the bar. Seriously bad service. Was at the bar for over 30 mins then left it was funny after a while since it was so ridiculous. The couple to the right of me stayed they are going to text me when they get served it is now 50 mins no text. It wasnt as if it was not clear as to who arrived at the bar 1st or that the ones who just walked in and got served were regulars. Just pure incompetence and laziness by bartender. Went across street got a beer in 30 seconds on this wonderful Friday evening.

Love this institution and its outdoor casual patio. Drinks are just fine for a hipster dive bar.

Completely amazing vibe. The music will get you pumped up and the crowd is lovely. Try to go during Daytime Realness!

Day Time Realness at El Rio is one of my favorite monthly parties. Sunday afternoons here are always a blast!! Given the opportunity definitely check it out!

The most fun I’ve had in a long time! Come for the day parties!

El Rio is a queer classic known for its patio and chill vibes. Staff is generally friendly and the weekend parties are some of the best gay events the city has to offer. Come early, but dont plan on staying until the wee hours, more than a few times in the past few months theyve called "last call" hours before their posted closing time. Chalk it up to pandemic related not quite back to normal weirdness, but it sure would be nice to rely on this queer staple to honor their posted hours because when its open its truly one of the best spots in the city.

Always fun, bar tenders friendly, love the street food.

It’s a big crowd and big space with terrible absolutely terrible music. Honestly if they just put on top hits from 2000-2010s, it would be much better.

The bathroom is a disaster. Real health Hazard. Bartenders are average. Theyll treat you right if theyre in a good mood or if you overtip them.Woman at the door was rude and bossy. There are way better lgbt places to spend your money, for real.

I love that they never got rid of the “Your dive” sign.Used to come here 30 yrs ago with my roommate Katie. Free oysters on Friday evenings. Pure joy.

The beers were not that great. I couldn’t drink one of them (which is a first for me). Seems to be a tad overrated 🤷‍♂️

Best queer hangout and dance spot in the city. Chill dive bar venue with outdoor patio, variety of indoor/outdoor events from comedy, live shows, DJs, drag performances, community fundraisers, etc. Tons of wonderful memories with friends throughout the years.- Bartenders are quick and do great service, tip them!- 4 single bathrooms (2 in back, 2 in front with 1 a urinalbut expect long wait times and good conversations when theres a big packed party like Mango- outdoor patio with ramp and stairs to ground level. On normal day, theres lots of seating with tables and chairs. If theres a day event, theres less tables/chairs available. Heat lamps around.- Inside has a shuffle board/pool table

Hip popular bar with good staff, great patio area and local music. Goes out of their way to make everyone feel welcome, even if a bit in your face about it. Real crowded on weekend nights with cover charge, which makes it feel like it cant decide whether it wants to be a club.

Large back patio is still festive during the pandemic. Drinks are cheap with a mix of cocktails, beer and wine. One of my favorite places to hang out after a good dinner.

Love the dive vibe with quality drinks, the variety of people who go, and the bartenders are efficient and friendly. Lots of bathrooms. Awesome outdoor space. One of my favorites.

The backyard is so big and when the DJ crew Sazon Libre has dance parties here it feels like being at your friend house party, so much fun!

A wonderful bar that has lots of outdoors space as well as indoor games such as pool and shuffleboard. Many times throughout the week there will be live music in a side room that they have setup as a concert venue. During busy days and special events there may be a small cover. Throughout the weekend and extra busy times they will open up a smaller bar outside and have food truck style food served outside. They are known for special $1 oysters on Fridays for a very limited time and also have $3 Tecates at all times.

Veronica is great. Super friendly staff. It wasnt very busy on a Saturday but Im cool with that. DJ Baysik is always amazing and definitely brings a good crowd when he is there. Good people!

One of the best dives in SF. They also have entertainment in a small room on the side. There is a really nice patio in back that has food sometimes I think you can reserve space for parties back there but it is never closed to the public as far as I can see so very communal and a good taste of the Mission in SF.

A cute and more intimate club. LGBTQA community establishment. It doesnt get too loud, sometimes theres karaoke, the patio out back is lovely with space heaters and tons of seating, it is non smoking as well. Smokers can smoke out front, with an ashtray post well maintained.

Cute bar with fun decor and a guy on the keyboard when we arrived. The bartenders make great moderately priced drinks and poor a extremely heavy shot of tequila. I enjoyed hanging out on the back patio on a cool summer night. Cash bar and a steep ATM fee is my only complaint.

Awesome spot! Its been mostly the same for more than 20 years. Great vibe and nice beer garden in the back. Welcoming to all. Sometimes a wait for drinks when they are really busy.

This is THE most fabulous bar in San Francisco. The vibes are chill and the drinks are affordable. They occasionally host awesome dance parties that are welcoming to everyone. 🏳️‍🌈

Super fun! A good beer selection but my favourite was the outdoor patio. I went to see the Evangenitals and they rocked it! The atmosphere is fun, welcoming and LGBTQ awesome!

I went here on a Monday after work to meet friends. It wasnt very busy, which was nice. The drinks were a good price and the card minimum was $20. I liked this spot to meet up with friends. They have games available to play. Some of the advertised entertainment sounded fun, so I would like to come back on a busier night.

I enjoy coming to this bar on the weekends. The location is very spacious indoors, as there is the bar area, a huge outdoor space, and then a dance floor where the DJ is. The prices are more than fair for SF. The music is usually pretty good, too. There can be a $5-10 dollar cover, depending on the night, but there can also be no cover. If that is something that deters you, watch out. I would recommend coming here!

Great food, good beer and nice cozy atmosphere. All their brewery beer is gluten free, which is awesome. Highly recommend you stop passing by it and get some good food and brew.

Bartender was very rude. We had a small missunderstanding that blew up into a big drama over nothing.Seemed like a nice place to hang out, but left with a bitter taste that really would have been solved easily by just talking

Its an amazing place. They accept only cash. (they also have an ATM inside)

My absolute favorite bar in the city. really nice folks, frequently not very crowded, live music sometimes. bring your own food.great stuff.

First of all, the crowd is a mix of Mission residents and visitors from other parts of the city but it retains a Mission vibe. On a cold night you can be warm outside on the back patio, compliments of some awesome heating units placed conveniently for your use. Theres food usually served outside and never disappoints. All sorts of fun bands come and play here and its just in general a great place. Staff has always been kind to me and anyone I came with. To top it off, there are indoor games available to play such as a pool table and this other game which I dont know by name. 10/10.

The best kind of dive bar. Come as you are - great bartenders who know how to manage a busy bar top, and the best patrons in the Mission.We stumbled upon it on our trip to San Francisco, and it was the best accidental discovery of my week. Dont listen to the bad reviews, I cant say anything bad about the place and Id like to think I have an eye for good bars with good people. Bring in outside food, as they dont have a kitchen (but be kind and clean up after yourself), and oh, its one of the stalwart gay bars in town.Its the place where anyone can come in and be themself, regardless of how you roll. Ill be back.

The most Oakland bar in SF! Cool, diverse crowd, very queer-friendly, with cheap drinks and occasional live music in the delightful little courtyard. If they still do $1 Mondays then you have to check it out!

Great atmosphere! Always felt welcomed and the back patio is huge! So theres plenty of space to go around. One dollar tecate night was one of the best times Ive ever had at a bar.

This was awful. A woman at the door named Kristin, was so unhappy to even be doing her job, she looked pissed off from the moment we walked up. We asked her if she took cards for the cover, she rolled her eyes at us an said it was a cash only bar, which is fine, but why be hateful?!. Then she pushed me out of the way with the swinging door PUSHED ME and I said why are you being so rude to us? And she said we werent getting in "her" bar tonight. When I asked her why, she said she didnt like my tone. I asked to speak to the manager and she said she was the door manager and that there was no one I could talk to and told me to leave. We were 100% sober and it was just the start of our night. Ive never had someone be so unkind and unprofessional. Defiantly not the feeling you want when youre visiting a city or in the LGBT community. I would never recommend this place! Get friendlier staff Rio, or maybe just someone who doesnt hate their job! Kristin is RUDE.

Particularly a great spot to visit on a nice day to take full advantage of the backyard patio. They have a great happy hour where beers are cheap and they offer free oysters (donation is recommended). They have a shuffle board (my personal favoriteand play great music. It can have a hipster vibe depending on the crowd, but its not too off putting yet. Dog friendly

Cheap drinks, chill atmosphere, and lots and lots of hipsters. Ive been to this bar twice and both times I had a pretty good time. Like I said the drinks are cheap...really cheap ($3 rail drinks and beerand they dont stiff you on the booze! Although the inside of the bar is pretty small, with an area in the back with one pool table and shuffle board, the outside is BALLER. I was not expecting that patio when I walked into Rio, but I was pleasantly surprised. There are a lot of hipsters, which I like in comparison to the gropey creeps on Polk. Seemed to be pretty 420 friendly cause I saw a lot of people smoking but there was a bouncer sniffing around (not sure if that was to join in orrrrrr not). Anyway, definitely a solid bar for a saturday night in the Mission.

Quirky place with interesting types of people. Happy hours are decent with the $3 draft beers and free oysters. (That means one per person pretty much, but theyre fresh.The outdoor patio is nice; people will be smoking up there. I feel like it has an old SF feel to it. You wont find the tech folks out here but an older crowd and more eclectic types.

Large Patio, Good Drinks, Live Music. This is a great place to spend an evening drinking with friends and they sometimes have a small food offering available as well. I like to go here on Summer evenings and enjoy catching up with friends here. If you arent going for music there is usually no cover charge. I think the bar is cash only.

Love this bar! Definitely among a vaunted few favorites in the city for me. Shuffleboard, great pool table, live music venue, epic patio, and generally fun crowd...always worth the trip! The only thing wanting is a really great beer selection, but they still have plenty of stuff to get you drunk, and you can always go out back to enjoy other vices!

Amazing bar, its cheap, has a patio to relax on, shuffleboard, and a room for live bands. The staff was great, gave my friend a free shot for his birthday. We had a blast playing shuffle board and chilling outside in the patio underneath the heat lamps.

Cash only. Great fun with shuffleboard. Pours could be better. If youre a boy, wait for a boy bartender and youll get served a nice strong drink. They have an epic patio with tons of space heaters. Friendly crowd.

I think I found one of my new favorite hangouts. Sure, this is probably more of a girl-leaning girls bar for girls, but truth be told, I like girls. As people. This bar really has it all. Beer, liquor, both pretty cheap. Outdoor heated patio. Laid back atmosphere. Food. Shuffleboard. Burlesque performances. Live bands. Dance party. Pool. Disgusting bathrooms. I could probably live here.

I love the back patio! This is the perfect place to come on a sunny day and just chill with friends and a beer. The bartenders are attentive and they have great events and happy hours every night of the week!

What at first appears to be a small dive bar opens up into a huge establishment with a fantastic patio (equipped with heat lampsand concert venue. There are no less than four places to order beers on a busy night and the crowd is always relaxed and friendly (unless theres a punk show). This place is a favorite and somewhere I dont regret having spent as much time and money as I have.

El Rio reminds me of summer. Thats because the best thing about this dive bar is the huge outdoor space that is reminiscent of a friends backyard. There are picnic tables, a patio setup, and string lights. Whats more, imagine that this friend is generous and offers you free raw oysters and grilled sandwiches on Fridays! He even gives free salsa lessons on Sunday afternoons! Obviously we are best friends.Although the mixed drinks here are cheap (less than $5 per drink), they taste pretty bad, particularly the bloody marys. It might be smart to stick to beer. Youre in the Mission - embrace your inner hipster and, more importantly, that PBR!