Cinnabar

This is the best dive bar in the Tenderloin, hands down. My favorite and fun-loving bartender at this family run joint is Aye. She is a wonderful presence and the awesome prices will make your night out a pleasant bluer. Cheers folks, see you at Cinnabar.

The bartenders are friendly, but they have been out of Jack Daniels for over a week. I substituted a cheaper whiskey and was charged the same price, and the next shot I was served a different one and charged a lot more.Tonight was fairly dead there, but someone took over the jukebox and played their songs as priority, so for over an hour it's been only Spanish music. Won't waste my money there again soon.I've been there 10 times in the last month according to an app that tracks that.

Was in the area to see a show. The area itself has seen better days but this bar is not to be passed up. Definitely added this bar to my list of go to dives in SF. Asked for proof of vax when I rolled in, which is fine, i am fully vaxed up baby. Plenty of TVs for sports watching. Very nice for viewing ya crudy football team haha. Bar is nice and long so plenty of seats available. The bartender is a hilarious sweet lady. I almost collapsed when she mentioned Tom Brady being attractive. Why?! Haha. She even showed off a lil bit of her spanish. Drinks are nice and strong. Bathroom is what ya expect. Dive in the rough worth checking and catching a game on the tube

It's a dive bar. Delivers on what it promises with dive bar-ness. As soon as you walk, in take control of the jukebox otherwise you'll be listening to crap music all night.

Great cheap dive bar. The bartender was awesome. The night was a bit of a blur thanks to her

Dope spot, drinks were cool. I didn't catch the bartenders name but she was super cool.

Was in the area and needed to kill some time before heading to our next destination, so we popped into Cinnabar. We were greeted right away by the bartender, who was a very sweet girl.It was happy hour and the drinks were cheap, I ordered a vodka and 7up with a cherry, somewhat version of a dirty Shirley, and this drink was super strong.Chatted up with some folks in the bar and before we knew it, it was time to make our way to our next stop.So if you're looking for cheap strong drinks and friendly service, give Cinnabar a try!

Came here because of a Facebook friend works here (her day off) and I found the perfect dive, super friendly bartender and a good array of drinks, multi-language bartender that can mix as well, definitely coming back highly recommend this dive

We we're staying around the area and went to a lot of different bars in the area but hands down the best one. It's a little whole in the wall but I must say, service and hospitality was excellent, exceptional bartenders, they told us the right places to go and even gave my girl and my self a birthday cake shot on the house. Anytime I come to frisco I am definitely gonna stop by. Also Danny thank you for the beers . Plus drink prices are so good, with 30$ you'll come out feeling good.

You can run a dive bar without eye-candy bartenders, a swanky backdrop, top-shelf hooch, or beer on tap. A bad location or a grungy interior is also forgivable if the place is known for kitchy decor with a sense of history or an amusing array of oddball clients. But if a bar is in a bad location, has icy bartenders, lacks any kind of creative decor, and hosts insular and unfriendly clients, how the hell can it stay in business? Halfway into my first round at Cinnabar, I found myself repeatedly pondering this question. Cinnabar is big for a Tenderloin drinking establishment. Rectangular and far longer than it is wide, it has an excess of square footage that most South-of-Market dance clubs would give their eye teeth for. Two TV's service the bar while one stands guard over an interesting area with a large table and opposed-couch style seating. The Giants were playing the Rockies that night, but both TV's shunned baseball in favor of the latest vapidness from "American Idol". Decor is sparse and absolutely devoid of soul. Every bit of it was mass-produced advertising decor from major breweries. Only an SF Giants wall-mirror broke with an otherwise consistently bland decorating scheme. The bartender had a coldly transactional demeanor similar to that of an IRS auditor, and the music was straight out of my worst junior high bell-bottom-jeans nightmares. After back-to-back selections from the Bee Gee's, ABBA, and KC's Sunshine Band, I managed to tune the whole thing out much like one would a repetitive squeak from an aging sedan. Three clients at the point of the bar engaged in lively banter, but they left not long after my arrival. The remaining clientele were about as talkative as fire hydrants. An older man to the left of me was good for an occasional single sentence reply, and all I could get out of a Korean man to my right was brief eye contact and a single grunt. I glanced down the bar to see four other lounge-lizards that were equidistantly spaced about two stools apart. All of them seemed perfectly content sitting in total isolation while staring blankly into space. Cinnabar's only saving grace was a decent selection of beer in bottles, a rarity this deep in the Tenderloin. Their liquor selection looked OK, but drink specials called "Turbo Charge" and "Fire Blaster" looked like something out of a bygone Godzilla flick. I didn't even want to know what was in them. The bottom of a Sierra Nevada Pale ale left little reason to stick around. I walked out the door just as the jukebox started belting out ABBA's "Knowing Me Knowing You". Ick. I visit some pretty seedy places, and seldom does a bar leave me fruitless in my search for just one scrap of charm or character. Cinnabar is a rare exception. If you're on a dive-bar exploration through the Tenderloin, just leave this one alone. 5-20-06 Update: This place is being gutted from top to bottom. Capenters are doing a complete re-model. Probably won't be open for awhile.