Alchemist Bar & Lounge — Restaurant in San Francisco

Alchemist Bar & Lounge is 2oz craft cocktails, ½ oz good music, ½ oz lounge chairs and actual seating. Stirred direct over 2nd story Soma/South Beach views. Garnish with no cover and you have a drink for success.

All I heard this past weekend on the radio was Hyphy, Trap and Justin Beiber and despite keeping myself busy by eating and drinking my way across the Bay I kind of wanted to get back to my roots, my peoples, a craft cocktail bar. I was a little tiki’d out and the beer up here is not as good as back home. SF is arguably where I got my craft cocktail start back in the day at B&B, Rickhouse and though I usually check out the latest and greatest, my friends suggested something for the whole group.

It’s a connected bar at the bottom of the stairs to a sports bar, neighborhood space with video games, but we wanted to go upstairs where the music was. 90’s, 2000’s, R&B, Hip Hop. No DJ tonight, but the set up is in the back by the mens room. The dance space is small and right down the middle flanked by the lounging couches and area on the far wall and the bar. A small alcove loft has some more private areas, but it’s loud so it forces some intimate proximity just to talk. Brick walls, tall ceilings, very flat/loft esque with wood floors and tables, coat/purse hooks. A dozen seats around he bar are pretty comfortable, but as the bar gets slammed you will feel the crush of 2-3 deep. Bathroom is small, but has large stalls.

Just looking at their bottles on shelf they have everything you’d expect, fresh fruits, citrus, syrups, cordials, orgeat and a variety of rums for tiki (smith & cross, Hamilton, flor de cana), a few dozen whiskies/bourbons as well as amaros.

My night here, the point station was run by who I think was the manager, obviously knew his way around a bar, but not this station, was a little slow on the recipe’s. I could tell Simon at the service station usually ran point based on which hand he grabbed the bitters, well bottles and mixes. I went to him and patiently waited as he served female after female and string ordering sports jacket wearing ex hipster after string ordering sports jacket wearing hipster. A quick chat and a few tips later I had my drinks, some free shots and connect. No Henny, so we went with their Martel XO Cordon Blue, which I warned my friends would cost a pretty penny as it’s between VSOP and Paradis. Negroni, 2 cognac & Mexican coke’s were $47. I went with a mezcal & green chartreuse with a smith & cross daiquiri back. My next round was a vieux carre, a shot of fernet, then some Rittenhouse. My buddy wanted a surfer on acid which hey couldn’t make, so I improvised the recipe using branca menta, plantation rum and pineapple. A hit. They have pebble ice and their cold draft machine is on point. Bar back looks like he’s on his 2nd 5 hour energy. They are definitely short about 1 waitress and probably need to rope off the service area. Tip your bartender people, it goes along way.

Even someone like me can find it hard to hit up all your favorite spots, which now have waits and with so many places to try I’m glad I found somewhere I can add to my list for good drinks, good music and a non...

With all these new bars opening up around SF, it's incredibly hard for me to keep track of where I need to visit. Luckily, when you have friends that live in the city, it makes being in the "know," a whole lot easier. This particular night, we were in the SoMa watching the Giants play. The game ends as expected, and thus we are left with the rest of the night to drink. Public House and all those spots are okay, but I really wanted to try out some new spots in the area. The Alchemist, was definitely new, and boy do I like this spot. If you're coming from AT&T, it literally is about a 5 minute walk. There really isn't a dress code here considering the fact that it's so close to the ballpark, but people still do dress nicer than your average pub.

Alchemist is a 2nd story bar right on 3rd street. If you're just walking up 3rd Street, you might actually miss it because there aren't any huge signs telling you to come in for a drink. Once you walk upstairs, you're transformed from the baseball filled SoMa, to a lounge/speakeasy of sorts. The theme is definitely somewhere around the 1920-1950s. From the music, the foreign movies playing in the background, and the sofa/lounge area, everything screams speakeasy. Luckily, unlike most speakeasies, there is plenty of room to both sit, and stand around. Even on a Friday night, I was able to move around easily, with plenty of room to spare.

As far as drinks go, it's your straight up cocktail bar. Alchemist does have their own concoctions such as the Beez Nuts, but I always stick to the Manhattan when I venture to cocktail bars. Price-wise, they're around the usual price of $12-15, so that shouldn't shock you at all. Taste-wise, my Manhattan was pretty amazing. It was strong, just how I like it, and had the right ratios of each of the ingredients. I enjoyed my drink, and the ambiance so much, that I proceeded to have another.

With so many bars in San Francisco, sometimes you just want to drink in a chill spot where you can actually hear what people are saying, and have room to move around. Alchemist fulfills both of those requirements, and adds on great ambiance as well. This is a great place to grab some drinks with a few friends, and even better, grab drinks after the Giants win...

Really, really impressed. It's hard to find a way to do "mixology" without bald face pretension. This was a very refreshing atmosphere, likely due to the location. It's possible that Giants fans are simply the most democratizing rabble imaginable - no matter the environment, they sort of shut down the hipster too-cool-for-school vibe in any scenario. So plus one on the location to make it a better crowd of good people.

& I doubt it was the Giants fans that poured in about 3/4 the way through our visit..... The owner (I think) & the staff were professional, on the ball, and cheerful... no disdain, and certainly no "I know better than you what you like", which is a constant problem with this "movement". It's likely they still just considered themselves noble bartenders crafting high end cocktails. They even seemed to deconstruct the "silly drink name" list, quite well, showing a bit of coy sass and good natured aplomb - obviously not taking themselves too seriously.

The barkeep that tended to us was friendly but professional without being curt during her 4 or 5 person deep crush.... as busy as it got, she was able to converse, keep up with drinks, and still provide "service", in the lost and traditional sense of the word.

I guess that's why I enjoyed my experience so much - this place is obviously about hospitality, and that's all too rare nowadays. Perusing their website after the fact, I see them actually use the concept as a hallmark of their mission... and it's lovely to see. As a hotel guy, me and friends joke that the problem with modern hospitality is that there's none of it.

It's really refreshing to find a corner of this city where good-natured service and professional hospitality isn't just an operational decision, but a way of life. Good on you guys....