The Best Bars, Cocktails & Happy Hours
This is your essential party guide to Redondo Beach, CA, the lovely beach town in Los Angeles.
A local provides information on the bars, where to get the best cocktails and all the Happy Hours, some of which are seven days a week.
The first thing to know is that Redondo Beach is the largest of the South Bay Beach Cities (the other places being Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach) and that it has a lot of young-ish married couples.
Most of these people spend their going-out time in Riviera Village. For the mostly young and single people – and that’s the primary focus of PubClub.com – you’ll want to be at the Redondo Pier, which is within easy biking distance for singles from neighboring Hermosa & Manhattan.
Unfortunately, the pier is mostly rundown and in bad need of a facelift (if not altogether a teardown and rebuild) but it does have a few gems. Mostly, they are daytime destinations; there’s very little nightlife on the pier at night.
THE BARS IN REDONDO BEACH
Here’s a rundown of the most popular bars in Redondo.
The Slip Bar & Eatery has been open for less than year, but it quickly has become the top singles bar on the Redondo Beach Pier. There’s live music weekend nights and a very friendly, casual, drink-as-you-will atmosphere. Like most places here, it’s small and you’re drinking under a concrete roof (one of the many reasons the pier needs redesign) but it’s your “go to” spot in the area.
It’s just down from Naja’s Place, the long-standing bar with 77 beers on tap. And, seemingly, twice that many ground into the floor. Naja’s is the most popular place on the pier, filled with rustic people in tank tops drinking beer in a rustic bar with a beer-inspiring band basting out rock cover tunes from a small and sweaty stage.
In between The Slip and Naja’s is a popular place for beer lovers, the King Harbor Brewing tasting room.
The most classic place on the pier – and a must-visit place if you are just visiting – is the Crow’s Nest bar upstairs at Old Tony’s. This place is a classic, a forgotten-in-time bar with more character than any other bar in the Beach Cities. It also serves a cocktail, the potent, Fire Chief, a true signature drink. O.d Tony’s is usually crowded for sunsets.
PubClub keeps waiting for R10 Social House to explode. It has the best spot in the area, a small bar overlooking the water on the first floor and a beautiful big bar with wood floors on an upper level. But for now, it remains mainly way too quiet.
The Boogie has the potential to become a nightlife destination for the young and fun. It’s behind and below Barney’s Beanery, giving the place a kind of small underground club affect. It has live music Sunday nights.
Riviera Village
Those married people in Redondo can be found sitting by the fire pits on the HT Grill patio and having craft beers and a good meal at Rock & Brews. You’ll get a mix of single people at Friends of the Vine wine tasting room and Ortega 120 (margaritas!).
There’s also a large number of late divorcees who spend much of their free time in Riviera Village. They are sitting at HT Grill bar and if they are feeling frisky, go at night to the Bull Pen, a long-standing bar that some only half-jokingly call the “wrinkle room.”
HAPPY HOURS IN REDONDO BEACH
Somewhat making up for its lack of polish and nighttime activities, the Redondo Beach Pier does offer good Happy Hours. Here’s what you can find for drink & food.
• BALEENKitchen – Tuesday-Friday, 3-7 p.m., and all day Monday. $4 Bud & Bud Light, $5 wells and house wines. Appetizers $5-7 Thursdays is half-priced wines with live music.
• Kincaid’s – Monday-Sat 3-6 p.m., and 9-close. Sundays 3-6 p.m. $5 beers & house wines plus appetizer specials.
• R10 – Tuesday-Friday 3-6, all day Mondays. $5 select wines & beers
• The Slip – Monday-Friday 3-6, $3, $4 and $5 beers and half off wine & well drinks, plus $7 food items until 7 p.m.
Riviera Village
• Bull Pen – Monday-Friday, 4-7. $3 & $3.75 beers, $4 well drinks, $4.25 house wines and half-priced appetizers 5-7 p.m.
• HT Grill – Monday-Friday 4-7. $4 beers (a pilsner & Coors Light), $5 house cocktails, including a Moscow Mule.
• Ortega 120 – Wednesday-Thursday 4-6, Friday-Sunday 3-5, 4-close Monday & Tuesday. $5 margaritas & tequila shots.
• Zazou – Monday-Friday, 4-6:30 and all day Sunday starting at 5 p.m. $5 wines & sangria, plus awesome appetizers such as cannonball-sized turkey meatballs and the best mac ‘n cheese in the South Bay.
WEEKEND BRUNCHES & BOTTOMLESS DRINKS
• BALEENKitchen – Bottomless mimosa or Bloody Mary Bar ($12) with brunch ($12-16), Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Bluewater Grill – Monday-Friday, 3:30-6:30, $4 beers, $5 house wines & $4-6 appetizers.
• Chart House – Monday-Friday 3:6:30, $5 beers & house wines.
• R10 – Bottomless mimosas ($12) with brunch ($10-14), Saturdays & Sundays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Kincaid’s – Bottomless Bloody Mary Bar ($10 w/$3 refills), 11:a.m.-3:30 p.m.)
• Sophi’s Place – Bottomless mimosas ($10; brunch optional), Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
THE BEST COCKTAILS IN REDONDO BEACH
The aforementioned Fire Chief is the top cocktail in town. Heck it’s the top cocktail on the entire West Coast!
It’s rum-based Mai Tai of sorts with a floater of 151 that will
The second-best drink in Redondo Beach is the sangria at Zazou, a quiet restaurant with a small but sometimes entertaining bar in the Village.
LIVE MUSIC IN REDONDO BEACH
The best blues in the South Bay can be found at a small, mostly empty bar next to Old Tony’s called Starboard Attitude. Only its location – in an area where hardly anyone goes at night – keeps this from being a top live music venue in the area. It was the site of the final performance of Jay Spell, an original member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band.
Other live music venues on the pier – all with no cover charges – are Naja’s (Saturdays and Sundays), The Slip (Friday and Saturday nights), The Boogie (Sunday nights), BALEENKitchen (Thursdays-Saturdays) and, if you count small bands or a guy with a guitar, Old Tony’s (after sunset). R10 (Sundays, 4-7) and Kincaid’s (a small jazz trio the first Monday of the month starting at 7 p.m.).
In the Village, the Bull Pen has live music Wednesday-Saturday nights and there’s live acoustic music on Sunday afternoons at Sophie’s, 3:30-6:30.
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