Dive Bar

The bartender here tonight rocked, serving all by himself but still fast and pouring in order with a full bar on a Tuesday. The only place we could find that had live music on Tuesday, and the fish tank/​mermaids were very cool. Drinks were a little bit pricey but not horrible and it was worth it.

REVIEWER # 532
KNOWN AS THE TOP 10 DIVE BARS IN SACRAMENTO!!!
Don’t miss the hype, people all over the bay area is talking about the Dive Bar! Why?
Because this is not your ordinary bar… it’s the REAL DEAL!
Dive Bar is a short walk down K Street from several key hotels along a packed and lively path near the Capitol. The main attraction of this bar is that they have a water tank overhead that runs the length of the bar and features a mermaid several times an hour, but the bar also has a generous space just inside the door for live music and another seating area at the back for a more quiet experience.
I arrived on a Saturday evening after I had got out of a comedy show. The bar is a nice place for drinks and conversation during happy hour. The inside is pretty dark inside though.
When I arrived they were no longer serving any food. However, they do have a happy hour that is from 5pm-​7pm. I hear they have a delicious happy hour and serve all types of food such as: Kobe slider and baked mac and cheese, Rails were $ 3 and red bull vodka only $ 5 during happy hour.
The Mermaid made an appearance about every 15 minutes or so and interacted with people at the bar below her. Very playful and most curious moment: her drinking from a beer bottle underwater. I personally never seen a mermaid before and I loved the mermaid tank and the underwater theme.
DID YOU KNOW: The 7,500 gallon aquarium, system, and interior were produced by Tenji Inc! NOICEEE!
If you’ve never seen a mermaid, just go. There is a giant aquarium above the bar where mermaids swim from time to time throughout the evening. They also had a great dueling piano performance when we were there. Good drinks and service. The drinks, Ariel and live music should keep you truly entertained while you have a great drink at the bar.
REVIEW # ⁴⁶⁄₁₉₆

There is a freakin mermaid in the tank above the bar… seriously a DIVE BAR! How cool is that? The tank is pretty small though and only saw 1 mermaid who didn’t really look that interested in what she was doing.
This place could have used a few more bartenders and perhaps it was because it was super late on a Thursday night but the crowd was definitely not into the music or dancing much which was a little disappointing.
Love the concept and how there is a mermaid tank but please up the # of mermaids, bartenders and get more tunes going!

Went here last week and the security outside the club was the most rudest worker ever. He let his friends and people he knew cut the line for about an hr. I didint see this with my own eyes i came up at the end of the altercation but people were accusing him of pocketing money to let people through the line while he made dozens wait. When people started asking him why he let so many people who he knew skip past the waiting customers he claimed it was a guest list but it was 12 so I’m not sure what guest list would allow people to cut at 12am while others had been in line since 11pm. the guys attitude was a huge turn off. Use to love this beautiful venue. But I will not be returning… To many other places to go downtown with friendly staff

The bouncer was very rude, the drinks were horrible, some girl vomited on the floor and they overcharged for the drinks. We waited in line for them to make us wait for bottle service. I will NEVER go to this place again or recommend it to anyone. Ruined the last night of my vacation. :-(

The bartenders are cute engaging and entertaining. The drinks were cool I had the superman or batman something strong and to the point. We came for the mermaid and it was amazing. Tourist attraction for sure.

I would honestly say this place is a pretty cool place to go to on a Thursday or Friday night. The mermaids swimming around, lots of seats and a very chill environment. Had a couple drinks here with some friends after work and it was my first time, great service, bartenders do try to have a conversation with you when they’re not backed up and some regulars would suggest some drinks. Great place with great people.

Ok … This place was so cool … The Manhattan was fantastic … And the mermaid blew me a kiss … A plus !!

It almost gets four stars just for the pun name.
Some good happy hour deals, and good pours on the HH drinks. I’d probably only come here for happy hour though. The bar is kind of awkwardly set up; it’s long and narrow so there aren’t all that many places from which you can actually see the mermaids. FYI the mermaids are only out at certain times: M-​F 5−7pm, MTW 9−11pm, TFS 9pm-​1am, Sun 10pm-​12am — according to their website. They do have seafood options for happy hour as well; we asked if there were any vegetarian options and the bartender said no. Seems like they could just sell the chips without the fish for a little less money but okay.

I’m going to give Dive Bar a ⁴⁄₅ merely due to the fact that they are one of a kind. And this review will solely be based on the ambiance/​atmosphere/​concept.
I did a quick Google search for other bars in the Area or even in the Bay Area that had a similar concept to no avail.
Dive Bar’s name has been thrown around A LOT when I was schooling in Davis. I’ve heard about it from my friends and I kept telling myself that one day, I’d have to check it out for myself. Unfortunately, I graduated from Davis without ever getting to experience Dive Bar in all its glory.
Luckily for me, I still have friends who are in Davis, so when I went to visit them, we decided to go ahead and check out the Sac Bar scene, so of course Dive Bar was the destination.
We got to Dive Bar and there was a line out the door! I did not expect this, as I’ve never had to line up for a bar in SJ. Luckily we had some friends that got there ahead of us, so by the time we arrived to the line, they were already near the front.
Entering the bar was very different. I did not expect loud music to be playing, but damn this place was popping. It was almost club-​esque with the dance music blaring out of the sound system. I expected a different vibe coming into Dive Bar, but hey whatever works.
I thought that the tank would be a lot longer and cover much more of the venue, however, it was just right above the bar. We got there at the right time, because as soon as we got to the bar, our first sighting of a mermaid happened. She came out and did a couple of tricks, swam around the tank and then rested on her rock, with her head above the water.
Shortly after, a merman joined her and they were putting on quite a show. It was very interesting because they had props in the tank and they would play around with it. One prop was a flask, which they then proceeded to pretend to drink from.
I tried to capture awesome photos, but to no avail.
My group and I ordered our drinks and then left to find a place to sit as the bar area was getting crowded and we didn’t want to be in the way.
Music was popping, drinks were mediocre at best, but overall concept was unique.
I definitely want to come back to check out their food items.

I took my out of town friend here on a Saturday night. Not only were there mermaids, but the crowd was nice, music was good, and drinks delish! It is a fun space to get a cocktail or three on k street.

Very impressed with their Happy Hour menu. Both food and drinks. I will be back again and again. I had a nice bartender also, Curtis but he forgot to give me back my cc. Going to grab it today.

When I used to work in Sacramento, I’d love to swing by happy hour (weekdays 5−7pm) at the dive bar. Their happy hour specials are super tasty, both the drinks and the food. I usually just pick 2 of the food items and make dinner out of it. Today when I went, all the happy hour items were seafood and I was really impressed by how well cooked everything was! The lobster macaroni and cheese was especially good! I also really like their house fries. I think it has garlic, some ginger? And other Italian spices. It came with my fish and chips and honestly it’s the first time I’ve liked the chips better than the fish part!
Also, no trip to dive bar is complete without oooh-​ing and awww-​Ing at the mermaids swimming above the bar. It’s a really cool tank with live mermaid actors that I’ve never seen anywhere else!
I give dive bar 5 out of 5 mermaid flippers!

A friend was groped at Dive Bar last night. Another friend reported it to the bartender who did not even kick the asshole out.
That is sexual assault.
Police should have been called.
So, open season for women at Dive Bar?
I’m making sure all my friends avoid it.

Last night on 1÷24÷2016, Alex T, Bridget W, and I were heading to Dive Bar after dining in at Pizza Rock next door at K Street strip. I haven’t been to this 2x dive bar for a long time until now. As I entered their doors, the atmosphere is very, totally laid back feel filled with friendly customers who are coming by to this place every day especially weekend nights. The concept is much darker inside with few dim lights that surrounds the whole wide rectangular room. Very submarine feel with the vintage decors, and of course, the finest and largest fish tank right above the bar stand where mermaids (or mermans if preferred) popped by to say «hello.» The mermaids’ appearance might be available at some top peek days, so you can take an advantage to experience and watch the moments right in your living dreams.
The bartenders are doing a fine job here for making the customers like me a friendly atmosphere. No cons at all.
Now onto the drinks! Alex T and Bridget W ordered the specialty drinks which I haven’t tried it for a while, and for me, I did ordered a glass of Blue Moon’s White Pale Ale. The pros: the drinks are very superb which we really enjoyed it the most. The cons: the price. Yes, their mixed drinks (from Vodkas to cocktail) cost much expensive this time starting from $ 10. The beer price: not too bad at all costing me between $ 5-​$ 6 per glass. I’m sure I’ll might be back again to try their happy hour specials next time if it’s good or not. Otherwise, an enjoyable moment.
Parking at Dive Bar can be quite difficult. You can park it at the nearest surface street parking nor the parking garage too. Otherwise, you can walk, ride a bike, or use public transportation easier without the hassles.
In the end, Dive Bar is the finest, yet the averagest «dive bar» that I really experienced the most right thru my bucket list. Perfect for late night out, and happy hour pleasures. A worthy visit. My rating: 3 solid stars.

Nothing fancy, until you get to the mermaid tank! So nice and pleasant enjoying a drink and watching the mermaid. Even the men’s restroom has a portal you could watch the mermaid.
I’ll be back!
More photos and videos of the Mermaid here:

Some of my family members and myself decided to go out drinking a couple of months ago. This was our first stop. As you would expect from any decent bar, the place was packed, so there was a bit of a wait when we finally made our way to the bar. It was definitely worth the wait though, since the drinks were on point the night we went.
The ambiance is pretty cool. I enjoyed watching the «mermaids» doing their thing in the tank above the bar while I got hammered. The music they played was decent, but some of the songs they played were questionable. Not too many people were dancing the night I was there. So my family and I were just danced and did our own thing.
I wouldn’t mind coming here again.

There have been so many nights in downtown Sac that ends with a trip to Dive Bar. The place is a bit narrow and gets difficult to maneuver. Also the crowd can get a bit… «interesting», but it’s a dive bar so that can be expected. The mermaid in the tank is probably the only reason I end up coming here with a group of friends (mostly for the novelty).
«Dude, let’s go to that mermaid bar.»
«Wait, what?»
«Here, you got to check this out.»
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that conversation…

Without the mermaids, just your average nightclub/​bar. We stopped by hoping to see mermaids but they must have been in Atlantis, because there was nada.
The place has a very nice expansive bar, lined with so many DUDES! All of the ladies that were there were very far from being ladies; everyone of them humping on one another or a side dude, literally dry humping on all of the grimy couches that line the place– making the place borderline ratchet.
With this, it also seemed that everyone was making out in every corner– restroom included. Come on!
The music is meh. I’m def sure there wasn’t a DJ, since every song played to its very end with 30 second pauses in between. There was even a song repeat that killed my mood. Seriously? The same song back to back?
There was no real dance floor and the whole place was lined with carpet. There was a small open section near the front where everyone gathered to dance. It might be good for the ladies in stripper heels but I’m not a big fan of dancing on carpet.
I will only come back IF mermaids are guaranteed. Or IF all the bars and clubs nearby burned down for some reason.

Mermaids!
That’s all there is. Just another spot to hit when you’re on k street. Not my kind of place. It’s outrageously LOUD and crowded at the bar because it’s a narrow walkway. No where to dance and have casual conversations because it’s so loud. The only benefit to this is if you wanna get closer to someone to yell into their ear. Aye I guess that helps huh haha