Verdugo Bar

Verdugo BarVerdugo Bar
Verdugo BarVerdugo Bar
Bar, Beer-to-go

3408 Verdugo Rd
Los Angeles, California, 90065-2835
United States

(323) 257-3408 | map
verdugobar.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.27
Reviews:
39
Ratings:
63
pDev:
10.07%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Augzilla:
Photo of Augzilla
Rated by Augzilla from California

4.25/5  rDev -0.5%

Aug 04, 2014
More User Ratings:
Photo of cratez
Reviewed by cratez from Canada (ON)

4.22/5  rDev -1.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.25
Visited with my wife on a recent trip to San Diego and Los Angeles.

Tried the following:
Deschutes Fantasy Football League India Pale Lager (draft)
Rogue Farms 10 Hop IPA (draft)

Both were drinking well and the tap selection was impressive. Laid back, cocktail lounge vibe in here, darker than the hole of Calcutta at night. We ended up sitting on the patio which was a bit more vibrant. Service was excellent as the bartender provided great recommendations and we had a nice chat about baseball. Our overall experience was solid, and we would probably come back.
Apr 04, 2020
 
Rated: 3.81 by Teen-o from California

Aug 04, 2015
 
Rated: 4.22 by PretzelCity from California

Jun 23, 2015
 
Rated: 4.46 by blues_fever from California

Jun 03, 2015
 
Rated: 4.69 by Thepleasantimbiber from California

Mar 03, 2015
 
Rated: 3.75 by Ghostman25 from California

Feb 27, 2015
Photo of Buzz3d
Reviewed by Buzz3d from California

3.48/5  rDev -18.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 1 | selection: 4
Loved the vibe of the bar, GREAT selection. Pliny was $12 a bottle which was a little steep. The bartenders were HORRRRRRRRRIBLE!!! After spending almost 70 dollars at the bar she said I could only 2 tastes off the draught. They had a Stone "Enjoy After" in their fridge which should not have been chilled till atleast 2015. Over all I will still come to this bar, but could really care less for the service.
Jan 05, 2015
 
Rated: 4.32 by wethorseblanket from California

Oct 05, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by ubiq3000 from California

Aug 20, 2014
Photo of mig100
Reviewed by mig100 from Texas

3.1/5  rDev -27.4%
vibe: 2.75 | quality: 4.25 | service: 1 | selection: 4
Great tap and bottle list almost all the time. Sleazy dive bar vibe with a spacious outdoor patio. Service and the staff are horrible though. A lot of gangster wannabe's work the bar, and random white chicks, who likely just moved to LA from the mid-west.

Instead of appreciating the fact that their customers are passionate about the product they're selling, the staff act high and mighty and condescend to customers. None of them seem to know or care about beer.

Basically, Verdugo Bar gets good shit on tap... but with so many other choices in the area that have better service and attitude... Eagle Rock Brewery/Public House, Hermosillo/Highland Park Brewery, Glendale Tap, etc... it's better to avoid this place unless they have an exclusive special event going, like BCBS or PtY.
Aug 11, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by RolandBlunts from California

Jun 19, 2014
 
 
Rated: 3.75 by RoyFokker from California

Jun 01, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by werdnacross from California

May 13, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by Kramerwtmf from California

Apr 23, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by Bnoise11 from California

Apr 21, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by bigjoe786 from California

Mar 21, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Gobzilla from California

Mar 17, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by kduf from California

Feb 22, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by EchoParker from California

Feb 18, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by hoppymcgee from Maine

Feb 16, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Stevedore from Oregon

Jan 08, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by belgbeerdrinker from Colorado

Nov 05, 2013
Photo of Dutchrubb
Reviewed by Dutchrubb from California

4.03/5  rDev -5.6%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4
Rapidly becoming my favorite beer joint in LA. The shady neighborhood seems to keep out most of the douchbags and they always seem to have a handful of sours on tap. The Verdugo so far seems to be keeping the California IPA landslide at a distance and the barkeeps seem to drink what they are selling and can talk about the product. High points all around for giving a shit and especially for keeping it scuzzy.
Nov 04, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by GRG1313 from California

Nov 02, 2013
 
Rated: 4.25 by socalbrewlvr from California

Oct 29, 2013
 
Rated: 4 by EB1 from California

Oct 23, 2013
Photo of drewone
Reviewed by drewone from California

4/5  rDev -6.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5
From the outside looks like an old cocktail bar - very low key, slightly grungy. Walk in, very dark, long bar, some booths. Go out back and there is a really nice "beer garden": pick-nick tables and shade, very casual. Would love to hang here for hours on the weekend. Food trucks park in the lot next door and there is an opening in the block wall where you can order. I guess they also have bands sometimes. In a bit of a out of the way location.

Visited as Part of LA beer weeks Walkers Wild ride. They were serving FW Lil Opal. Charging $7 for glass - seemed reasonable.

Visited once before, always seem to have a couple of unusual things on tap, plus plenty of other decent stuff. Have a fridge with interesting, somewhat harder to find bottles (didn't seem like a crazy mark up for a bar).

Service is brusk, but no complaints.

Note - must spend minimum of $10 to use CC, might not seem like a problem, but as I had already been to Far Bar and it was 4 in the afternoon, I could only do one drink. Luckily I just had enough.

If your in the area definitely worth a stop.
Sep 26, 2012
Photo of Retsinis
Reviewed by Retsinis from Arizona

3.64/5  rDev -14.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4
Recent visit this past Saturday for the Walker's Wild Ride event (Firestone Walker) was also LA beer week.

Verdugo bar has a Outdoor patio that is filled with Tin beer signs from various breweries, with long picnic tables (almost a German Oktoberfest influence) The Inside has two rooms, one small with 3 booths, another larger one where the bar is, has about 4 booths, all of which were clean & comfortable. (though they sit a little high, my feet didn't touch the floor)

Definite Lounge decor inside. Full bar, though I was here for the beer, and the list was extensive, with a good mixed of seasonal, rare one offs, & solid quality craft beer.

Price to pour size was disappointing however. Cheapest beer was $6, & they go up from there. There was only ONE beer on the whole menu that was actually an honest pint. For certain beers, say Parabola @ 12% abv it is to be expected to get a 5-8 oz pour, and is quite typical of many bars. What is not so typical, & lowers the score for my review, were the 8 oz pour of a 5% abv witbier for the same price. Also, the sizes all listed were in "CL" which is centiliters, which is a odd choice of measurement, since 3 CL = 1 oz. & some pours were as low as 17 CL, which is a 5.5 oz pour, seems a bit unnecessary at best, and downright odd at worst. No qualms with the metric system, but I'd be comfortable in a statement that well over 90% of bars in the country use ounces, OZ as there stated pour size on a menu. They could be vague & say glass, or pint ( but it better be a 12 oz pint, or a 16 honest pint if they use pint at all) so while it may be an attempt to be very precise, even most drinks sold in stores will use either oz, or ml. I for one did not like that designation, since it's easier to make choices when I know I'm getting a 5 oz pour for $9, vs a 12 oz pour for $6.

Second reason for some deductions, was the lack of beer menu's. The Chalkboards only listed some of the newer taps, or feature beers. They had paper menu's listing all the taps, but there were only 3 of them it seemed in the entire place. A bartender even came to our table (after I'd recently taken it to have for use) & just grabbed it off our table without a word or eye contact. Seemed me having a bar menu was an inconvenience to him, as he seemed to make regular patrols to the tables on the hunt for beer menu's. Why can't they print more? None of the booths had a list of cocktails or the tap list on them. If they don't want to print a bunch every time the tap list changes, like Far bar, TDA, instant replay & many other bars do daily, that's fine. They could project the list on the wall, say how the Hermosillo or Blue Palms does, or have a chalkboard large enough to fit the full list. Not that hard, so it's just a lack of effort imo to do so.

Service was good at the bar, quick & cordial. Though it was not that crowded or busy either.

This was my 2nd attempt to visit Verdugo bar. First attempt was about 2 years ago, showed up on a Thursday afternoon around 4 p.m. on the way back from San Manuel, but they were not open until 6 p.m. (guess I'm use to bars opening just a bit earlier than that, so we headed to Tony's Darts Away that time instead) and overall, the place is cool, though a bit pricey to be a regular stop for me. Also since it's not my local, I will likely only be here where there is a rare event such as today.
Sep 24, 2012
Photo of UCLABrewN84
Reviewed by UCLABrewN84 from California

4.09/5  rDev -4.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4
I visited Verdugo Bar for the first time today. From the outside it looks like a dive bar but inside it's a pretty intimate spot with the bar, tables, and some outside seating. The service was pretty good even with lots of people there for the Firestone sour tapping. The quality of the beer was great and was served in the appropriate glasware. The selection is good with a wide variety of beers available. The only negative is that full beer pours are a bit pricey in my opinion. Definitely a gem in this area of town.
Sep 23, 2012
Photo of RexF
Reviewed by RexF from California

4.86/5  rDev +13.8%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5
Can I say thanks to Verdugo bar for having great beer, great music and some smoking hot babes behind the bar?
How could anyone not love that combination.
We live in LA afterall, we should have great looking ladies tending every bar. Okay enough about the girls.
The beer menu is nicely crafted with a great variety of imports and domestic crafts.
Lounge style indoor seating and a cool back patio make for a great variety of seating options. They don't have a kitchen but they often have food trucks out front which is good because there isn't muck to eat in Glassell Park at night.
If I have to knit pick something it's that there aren't that many beer options and the prices aren't that great especially considering the neighborhood.
PS. I finally got to try a Just Outstanding IPA and what can I say, it was just outstanding!
Dec 19, 2011
Photo of AdamBear
Reviewed by AdamBear from Pennsylvania

3.54/5  rDev -17.1%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4
Atmosphere: not just a dive bar, but a dive bar straight out of the 70's. the thing that i didn't like the most was that this place seems to attract some colorful locals that will creep out your company.

Selection: not large, but beautiful. I was able to find Life & Limb on draft here, which pleased me. Russian River brews rotate on draft. Has the -tion beers in the bottle.

Service: occasionally snappy, yet patient

*no food*

Value: very, very expensive. this place put a dent in my budget. i had 3 beers that led to a bill of almost $40...that was not fun to see.
Aug 20, 2011
Photo of JivanN
Reviewed by JivanN from California

4.3/5  rDev +0.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5
Verdugo Bar is probably my favorite bar. It is what a beer bar should be. Great tap list, great bottle list, knowledgable bar tenders ( and probably the most beautiful looking women who work at a beer bar), and great atmosphere. I would also highly recommend going their on a Thursday night because it's not too packed but you'll still have a fantastic time. It's the type of place where you go once and you just keep wanting to go back.

They also have a to go license and the prices for their amazing bottle list are extremely reasonable.
Aug 09, 2011
Photo of LevG
Reviewed by LevG from California

5/5  rDev +17.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 5
Ok, this is a bold statement, but this is my favorite bar of all time. Honestly, for almost 4 years, I have been a devout patron here, and the staff really acknowledges anyone who goes there regularly. If you're new, they'll be super chill and offer you tastes of beers you're curious about on tap. You get some ridiculous taps on over here (I had PtY here for 3 consecutive years), and any rarity. Ryan Sweeney really brought a great place to LA, where all your beer dreams can really come true.

The staff is awesome (I can't say it enough). Sometimes they would crack open a beer from their refrigerator to taste with all the patrons if they hadn't tried it before.

The place always has food trucks outside (Grill 'Em All, and many others).

The patio is the selling point. It's the coolest vibe outside. The ideal time to go is on Thursdays. Good crowd and not too packed.

Oh, and you can buy bottles to go! At a reasonable price!

Great music, great crowd, great staff, and a great time!
Aug 04, 2011
Photo of SubpoenaDeuces
Reviewed by SubpoenaDeuces from California

4.44/5  rDev +4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5
This place is a bit off the beaten path as I don't often wander into Eagle Rock but my friends from East LA see this as a compromise to my invitations to Surly Goat and Blue Palms, so, fair's fair. The setup is very similar to Surly Goat and the offerings from the 25(?) taps always has at least 4 or 5 impressive offerings i.e. Abyss, etc.

The people are a mixed bag, some hipster detritus, some Pasadena kids, some rum and coke misplaced characters, tough scene to peg. This place is dark dark dark and fills up pretty quickly. The bottle list always has a solid stable of good bottles, albeit pretty pricey, I think I paid $25 for a 335 ml of Consecration batch 5, which is a 100% markup to most BAs.

Still better than most of the Blue Moon/Stella-esque offering bars in LA, some minor pecayunes shouldn't deter.
May 31, 2011
Photo of MuttKDC
Reviewed by MuttKDC from California

3.29/5  rDev -23%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5
I decided to try this place after reading some of the BA reviews and I can't say I was impressed. The neighborhood was somewhat shady (which has never stopped me from trying a new place before). Street parking was a pain.

Inside the atmosphere was really great. Tall wood ceilings and lightly lit and a long curvy bar. For atmosphere, it looked awesome.
I asked if they offer beer flights or tasters, rather then ordering full beers. I was told no.

Decided to order a Pliny the Elder. When served I noticed the beer did not have any head at all (I was a bit disappointed in the serve, maybe they were using the wrong cup?). I commented it to the bartender and she replied that at least I get for beer for my $. I decided not to pursue the conversation.

Needless to say the beer tasted weird. I don't think it was the beer's regular taste but the beer seemed bad (skunky maybe).

After just one sip, I mentioned my problem to the bartender and she suggested another beer. I moved on to Lagunitas Brown Shugga (which had great head and even better taste) . Yet once the bill came she had charged me for both of the beers. I asked and she said that she couldn't do anything about it. I ended paying full price for the two beers (although I only had a beer and a sip)

Should they offer tasters, I would have avoided this unpleasant visit. I don't think I would ever go back.
Nov 21, 2010
Photo of Lesbrad
Reviewed by Lesbrad from California

4.6/5  rDev +7.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 5
What a beer list!?!

Fantastic beer with changing taps and a bunch of bottles. This place is at the very top of the LA class. A lot of California beers and a lot from all over the world. I had a Speedway Stout and a Baltic Porter from Norway last time I was there and both were superb

It gets loud as the night progresses but the back patio if always nice and the decor is very nice. No food, but they get food trucks parked outside on most nights and they let you bring the food in. Also, they have off-sales, so you can pick up a bottle for the road on your way out.

Staff is competent but some are better than others a=in terms of beer knowledge and understand.

Out of the way place worth getting lost for.
Sep 25, 2010
Photo of WestValleyIPA
Reviewed by WestValleyIPA from California

4.22/5  rDev -1.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5
Went to Verdugo Bar for the first time for a launch party for drinkeattravel.com. The bar has about 25 taps, ranging mostly from domestic craft, and a few Belgian, English, European crafts. A bottle cooler also offers some VERY hard to find brews (at the time I went, Mikkeller 1000 ibu, Firestone Parabola, Deschutes Jubel, etc.) Prices are decently reasonable, 6 bucks for most drafts, and a good glass selection (tulips, hefe, etc). Did not see a single person drinking out of shaker glasses. Also some very schmoozy booze. 3 rooms are available, 2 with lounge type seating and a patio in the far back with wood benches. Definitely worth a check.
Jun 28, 2010
Photo of 3HovsepiansBrews
Reviewed by 3HovsepiansBrews from California

4.01/5  rDev -6.1%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5
This place is hard to find with only a small sign that says "Cocktails" that lets you know where it is. Once you step inside, you enter a dark room that is no bigger than a large den in a house with a few couches lining one wall and a bar on the other. The bartenders are quite attractive, which is always a plus. In addition, they have a selection of about 20 beers on tap and many more in bottles. All of the beers that I saw were of rather high quality and are reasonably priced at about $6 - $8 for a glass. The few beers that I had were all delicious and I think you really can't go wrong with any beer they carry. They don't serve any food, but as I was leaving I think a couple of employees were grilling bacon-wrapped hot dogs outside the entrance that looked appetizing. The crowd seemed like mostly regulars and the atmosphere was very laid-back, so much so that the employees seemed like customers themselves. Plus the odd choice of 1970's "The Artful Penetration of Barbara" playing on the televisions made you feel like you were in on a secret that no else has discovered yet, which was cool. I will definitely be a repeat customer.
May 02, 2010
Verdugo Bar in Los Angeles, CA
Place rating: 4.27 out of 5 with 63 ratings