Tin Lizzie Saloon — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

i’ve always loved coming to this bar as it’s one of very few LGBTQ+ spaces in orange county! usually there’s no issue, the bartenders are always so nice as well as the bouncers! i had a very uncomfortable and strange experience this past weekend however. i came in with my boyfriend for a drink, we hung out for a while and just stood near the entrance area as the bar was quite packed. he’s tall and lightly tapped the disco ball next to his head once or maybe even twice (when i say tapped i mean like barely even touched it, not being dramatic) suddenly one of the bouncers angrily comes up to us and nearly yelling tells him to leave and points at me and says “you too, OUT” i was extremely taken aback and didn’t want to disrespect the space but i did tell the bouncer that i hoped he also kicked out the white patron who was very aggressively tapping the other disco ball in the bar to the point that it was swinging, he angrily replied that he was watching him and that that wasn’t what happened, basically making me feel crazy and then kicked us out of the bar. i unfortunately see that reviews for this bar from other patrons show that they’ve been made to feel uncomfortable on the basis of them being latino, i don’t want to point a finger like that but my boyfriend and i are both latino men so correlation may be showing here. overall i was very disappointed and as someone who works in the hospitality industry, i feel this could’ve been much better handled by simply telling us politely that touching the disco balls is not allowed. we were not drunk, being sloppy or crazy at all and simply minding our space and sadly i feel uncomfortable to return to this bar that i’ve really...

Tin Lizzie is a great spot! All the bartenders are very friendly and the regulars make you feel at home. The drinks are strong and they have a decent selection of beers, including Stella and Kona IPA. There's no food. Occasionally, snack bowls can be found with chips and nuts. The entrance from the parking lot leads directly to a small and dark space with no windows. You'll immediately find a pool table and an old-school cigarette machine with the pull handles. The bar counter lines one wall and opposite that are refurbished banquettes with cocktail tables. Tufted leather abounds and covers the banquettes, underneath the bar counter and the bathroom doors. Everything else is exposed brick. It adds a nice ambiance. The bathrooms are done up in subway tile. One each for guys and gals - single occupancy only. They're surprisingly and refreshingly clean. A couple of flat screens are always turned to a movie or a football game and there's a touchtunes jukebox playing anything from Shania to The Roots. Be careful though, everyone pays extra...

I am glad that Tin Lizzie exists because there’s not a lot of bars like this in the area. I also appreciate that the drinks were $10-$15 compared to the $15-$30 drinks across the street. However, the music was way too loud, it was genuinely hurting my ears, and the bartender clearly showed that he had no idea what he was doing with my drink, which was Mai Tai. I saw him shrug and just put whatever in my drink and it didn’t taste good at all.

This is my second time at Tin Lizzie, the other time was a mediocre experience. I hope to give it another chance. Shoutout to the other bartender that was patient with me when I...