Normandy House — Restaurant in Santa Clara

I want to preface this by saying two things. First, I had never been here before. Which is sorta’ shocking for me because, two, I like Bay Area dive- and dive-adjacent bars.

Having lived in and/or visited this area for all of my 50-plus years, that is shocking. And I like this sort of place in a non-ironic, non-wink-wink, sorta’ way. I loved the Cardiff in Campbell before it became an ultra-lounge. I spent many a day and/or evening at Blinky’s before it closed. In more recent years, I was saddened when Patty’s Inn and then the The Red Stag closed. I am happy that Woodham’s still offers up first and last calls. And I continue to be amazed that Vahl’s is still slinging drinks in the hinterlands.

And I frequent these places because, in almost all cases, they provide a service that is rapidly being destroyed in the Bay Area. Great service. Strong drinks. Good prices (relatively speaking). Interesting customers. Normandy House checks all of these boxes.

This place exists where Bascom disappears. It is kitty-corner to what has to be one of the world’s oldest still existing uniform stores. It is located in a non-descript and frankly worn-down corner strip mall, the sort of place that is eagerly eyed by developers looking to raze the place in favor of bland and cheaply made condos that cost way too much.

By dive bar standards (and I mean that as a compliment), this place is huge! Long and lovely bar. Lots of seating. Clean bathrooms. Atmosphere-appropriate lighting. Pool tables and a good jukebox. My friend and I visited on a recent weekday, so the place was nearly empty. But the staff were top notch. We got an instant greeting, several check-ins, and prompt service. They were tearing down the St. Patrick’s Day stuff and putting up new decorations. Having never been here before, I didn’t feel like I was intruding. The staff made me feel at home.

I think the reviews and the average rating are about right. Thing is, check out some of the negative reviews. Most are years old. And the more recent one(s)—I am looking at you, Alex—makes the reviewer sound like a high-maintenance noodle who can’t fathom why people won’t respond to their friend requests. Hint: it’s you, Alex. It’s you.

Again, I am amazed I hadn’t visited before. And I plan to visit again the next time I am in the area. To the staff, thank you. You provided excellent service. To the owner, keep doing what you are doing. In a place that is more and more demolishing the heart and spirit of the area and pricing out locals, you provide a service that I am not sure newer transplants understand or even respect.

Highly...

I typically wouldn’t recommend to go on a first date at a dive bar, but this one is the only exception in my book. You’d think it would be a hopeless place to find love, but I found love in a hopeless place...and it was this place. When we met she had black ripped jeans, which I thought was a waste of jean. She had a “stranger things” shirt on, which was fine. I’ve seen strangers things than a “stranger things” shirt. She was wearing high heals, but they weren’t high enough to be taller than me, which was a relief because I’m not tall and I’m semi-insecure about it. I’m more like secure-ish about not being tall. She also had a blue ripped jean jacket on, which again so much jean being wasted, but blue is my favorite color, so it was cool I guess. The actual date ended up going so well I invited her to come back and play monopoly with my family. After thinking about it more, it did seem a little too soon. Thankfully we ended up getting our monopoly time later, it is one of the most common fights we have now. The only tough part of the date was the bar ended up getting really loud, so for a while I had to act like I heard what she was saying. Overall I owe this dive bar a lot for helping me find love in a not so...

I don’t usually waste my time on a bad review, but you never know what you’re going to get here. I live close and have been here multiple times over the years. The bar itself is a nice dive and I really like the setup of the place. It’s the ratchet vibe, fight-starters and rude bartenders I have a problem with. Plus I was told they water down their alcohol. I was there with friends playing pool on a Saturday night when a fight broke out amongst people we didn’t know. It resulted in cops being called and a guy knocked out in the street. We had just racked and paid for a new game of pool and before we can break the rude bartender tells everyone to get the f* out (it’s only 1am). Using the same language she yells directly at my friends and me to stop playing pool. I tell her we had just paid for the game and what’s her response? She puts her finger to eye like a tear drop and says “aw cry me a river.” I’m not worried about the $1.50 lost obviously. It’s the being rude and cussing at your patrons who spent money on drinks(+tips) and games all night that really upset me. We were probably the most low-key people there, too. Some people take their job way...