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Like The Rest Of The TenderLoin, It's Not So Pretty Anymore
Posted by karen at September 6, 2007 5:18 PM 
Categories: Wine, Restaurants, Liquor, Beer, San Francisco
Categories: Wine, Restaurants, Liquor, Beer, San Francisco
I used to think that the Bambuddha Lounge was reason enough to hang out on the unsavory corner of Eddy and Larkin, the center of the TenderLoin. So, I had heard that Bambuddha was doing a happy hour Wednesdays
through Fridays, and headed over there last night with Roberto for a
drink and a snack. Now, you may see signs in that area that proclaim the neighborhood is now "Little Saigon" but you know that no self-respecting Vietnamese person would wish to claim that patch of land to be representative of the fatherland. We literally saw a bum begging from another bum. Because that's all there is around there, there is no one else from whom to beg. But I digress!
We arrived around 6:30. It would have been nice to hang out on their outside pool area, since it was a hot day:
But unfortunately there was a CHILD'S birthday party outside. I don't think you win any parenting prizes for having your kid's birthday party at a BAR. And as a bar, I don't think you win any customers by telling them they can't use the pool area of the bar because there is a KID'S BIRTHDAY PARTY there. Strike one.
Strike two, cranky inattentive bartender who made one drink (mango mojito) hella good, one drink (illustriously named temptation island) hella nasty like it was made from tang, sugar, more tang, and more sugar. All while shooting us daggers with his eyes. And we weren't even being obnoxious, like usually, I mean Roberto was even using his best inside voice for once.
Strike three, I seem to remember it looking more like this.
But in reality, and in daylight, and sober, it looked superjanky. I mean, just dirty. And I realized- I have never been here in the daytime when I wasn't outside, and I have never been here ever when I wasn't already about 3+ drinks in. I feel foolish, and fooled. But Bambuddha, if you are going to open before sunset, I recommend you hire someone to use a mop and maybe touch up the paint. Yikes.
Plus side, crankypants bartender didn't charge us for our $5 chicken wings (good tasting, but impossible to eat without having your hands get super saucy and smell like hoisin sauce for... hang on while I check... yep, 24 hours and counting) so 3 fancy cocktails (one gro-tastic, two tasty) and some edamame and the wings was only $18. So, I think if I could sit outside on a nice night and order the mango mojito I might actually repeat the visit because that is quite a bargain. But if I go back and there is, you know, a christening or a bris or a pin the tail on the donkey game going on in the pool area, I am going to split.
All of this made me think about the glory days of this particular space. If you were over 21 and spent time in SF back in the 90s like me, you may remember that Bambuddha used to be a bar called BackFlip that was quite the talk of the town with all those newly flush Dot-Commers. Shockingly you can still find pictures of it on the internet, even though it's been closed down for years. Ah, youth.
We arrived around 6:30. It would have been nice to hang out on their outside pool area, since it was a hot day:
But unfortunately there was a CHILD'S birthday party outside. I don't think you win any parenting prizes for having your kid's birthday party at a BAR. And as a bar, I don't think you win any customers by telling them they can't use the pool area of the bar because there is a KID'S BIRTHDAY PARTY there. Strike one.
Strike two, cranky inattentive bartender who made one drink (mango mojito) hella good, one drink (illustriously named temptation island) hella nasty like it was made from tang, sugar, more tang, and more sugar. All while shooting us daggers with his eyes. And we weren't even being obnoxious, like usually, I mean Roberto was even using his best inside voice for once.
Strike three, I seem to remember it looking more like this.
But in reality, and in daylight, and sober, it looked superjanky. I mean, just dirty. And I realized- I have never been here in the daytime when I wasn't outside, and I have never been here ever when I wasn't already about 3+ drinks in. I feel foolish, and fooled. But Bambuddha, if you are going to open before sunset, I recommend you hire someone to use a mop and maybe touch up the paint. Yikes.
Plus side, crankypants bartender didn't charge us for our $5 chicken wings (good tasting, but impossible to eat without having your hands get super saucy and smell like hoisin sauce for... hang on while I check... yep, 24 hours and counting) so 3 fancy cocktails (one gro-tastic, two tasty) and some edamame and the wings was only $18. So, I think if I could sit outside on a nice night and order the mango mojito I might actually repeat the visit because that is quite a bargain. But if I go back and there is, you know, a christening or a bris or a pin the tail on the donkey game going on in the pool area, I am going to split.
All of this made me think about the glory days of this particular space. If you were over 21 and spent time in SF back in the 90s like me, you may remember that Bambuddha used to be a bar called BackFlip that was quite the talk of the town with all those newly flush Dot-Commers. Shockingly you can still find pictures of it on the internet, even though it's been closed down for years. Ah, youth.
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