Antones Cocktail Lounge

Small local establishment with a friendly staff and good selection of drinks. You can see that the place is popular with a loyal crowd that stops by to watch a game and grab some drinks. It's a dive bar - and they stick to what they do well

Here you'll find the fairy tale story of Antone's and the fairy godmother of libations, Ms Lisa.Enter Antone's, and you'll find yourself in the warm embrace of Lisa's hospitality--a modern-day Mother Goose of the mixology world. With a wave of her metaphorical wand, she conjures concoctions that dance on your taste buds like magical elves on your tongue's magical forest. As if she could read the very pages of your soul, Lisa knows precisely when your goblet yearns for a refill. She, the master storyteller behind the bar, wove tales with spirits and flavors, transforming the ordinary into extraordinary libations.Whether you are a seasoned patron or a first-time visitor, Lisa bestows upon you the magical aura of familiarity. She possesses the uncanny ability to make newcomers feel like cherished characters in a timeless story, while regulars swoon in the comforting embrace of a familiar tale.In Antone's, Lisa isn't merely a bartender; she is the guardian of comfort, ensuring every sip was a chapter in a delightful saga. Her warmth envelope's you like a cozy fairytale, and the echoes of laughter and clinking glasses resonate like the sweet verses of a lullaby.So, if ever you find yourself in need of an enchanted refuge, venture to Antone's and let Lisa, the benevolent Mother Goose of libations, whisk you away on a journey of flavors and fellowship. Cheers to the fairy godmother of Antone's, where every libation is a happily ever after. Just don't ever play Ozzy Osborne on her shift ok!

The worst place in the work, the customer service is just terrible. .................................

Was looking for a new place to watch the game and this place was great. Friendly staff and guests made us feel comfortable. Reasonably priced appetizers.

Best dive bar on peninsula. Cocktails (??)...that's not happening here....but great pours, people and enviro. Huge fan

One awful experience really can ruin a place for you forever. Last Friday night was one of those "I would award zero stars if I could" kind of nights at Antones. But I'm throwing them 2 stars out of nostalgia for all the good times I've had here. I teach Salsa dancing around the corner, so over the years (pre-covid) I came here with students and friends from time to time after Wednesday night classes or after weekend dances for a nightcap (or 2 or 3...). Always low key, always friendly, always fun. Great deals on drinks. We would often pile into the corner booth and just chat. Sometimes we would throw some darts or shoot some pool. Occasionally we'd put some music on the juke box and have a little impromptu dance party. I even brought my little dog several times. Really good memories. This last Friday we wrapped up a Salsa event and like old times, came over to Antones afterward for a nightcap. 10 or so of us arrived between 1:00-1:10am. Everyone mild mannered, no one rowdy. We are still ordering drinks for our group when the bartender -- Jessica -- screams "LAAAST CAAAALLLL!!!" This bar closes at 2:00. She comes back to us and says, "I gotta be somewhere tonight." Maybe that should have been a red flag, but we finish ordering our drinks as a few of our group is already seated with drinks.1:25am: We all are finally seated with drinks. Jessica is screaming again, "FINISH YOUR DRINKS, WE'RE CLOSING. I'M SO DONE! WE'RE CLOSING." We still have mostly full drinks, some literally just got theirs and sat down. Incredulous, we check our watches. It's only 1:25. Ok, we say to each other, let's just finish and we'll go. Meanwhile, Jessica is getting into heated exchanges with several patrons seated at the bar. The next 15 minutes is surreal. Several of Jessicas personal friends show up, evidently to escort her to wherever it is she's gotta be. These friends start going around to patrons rudely telling them "finish your drinks and get the f*** out." When two women approach our table to tell us this, we calmly respond, "We're drinking as fast as we can. We just got these. It's only 1:30." These women condescendingly reply, "Don't whine about it. You just need to chug your f***ing drinks and get the f*** out, we're closed." Everyone in our group is basically speechless, looking at each other. We're quietly talking to each other about what to do, when these women start back in with more of the same. We finally ask, "Sorry, but do you work here?" "No, but she [gestures at Jessica] is my best friend, and I'm friends with the owner." "Ok," we say, "please get the owner on the phone we'd love to speak with him." We just keep repeating that until they leave us alone. 1:40am Jessica herself finally comes to our table. She says, "We're closed now, leave your drinks, you need to get out." We reply, "We're almost done. It's only 1:40." Jessica says it's 2:00. Whaaaaaat??? She doubles down, "My bar clock says 2:00, and my bar clock decides when we close." At last, we give up. Maybe we should have given up sooner, but we bought 10+ drinks (and tipped well), we just wanted to sit and talk and enjoy our drinks, not get harassed for close to 20 min. As we're walking out, all Jessica's friends are sitting at the bar. "Byeeeeeeeeeee, thanks for coming!" one of her male friends mocks us, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Uggghhh.We exit, and the BOUNCER is profusely apologizing for Jessica's behavior. He's telling us she's usually very cool. He's telling us a close friend of hers passed away and they are going to the memorial, that's why they closed early. He's encouraging us to come back another time. He says he's gonna talk to her about tonight. Here's the thing. If all of that is true, there are so many better ways it could have been handled (as we told the bouncer, and he agreed).Jessica could have warned us when we were ordering our drinks that she would be closing early. We would have altered our selections appropriately. We would have told our other friends who were grabbing In & Out not to bother driving back to join us at the bar.Or later Jessica could have apologized for closing early and explained it was due to extenuating circumstances and please come back and visit them another night.I get that dive bars are not necessarily where you go for top notch customer service. Sometimes the bartenders can be a little salty. Totally fine. This was next level harassment, gaslighting, and just total inappropriate behavior for ANY place of business. Ironically, Antones website actually touts "the friendliest bartenders in San Mateo."It's a huge bummer, but I don't think I'll be returning. I can't bring students here knowing they could get screamed at and harassed. I'm gonna be looking for another local spot for our post-event nightcaps.

I loved this place before pandemic. We're promoters that have big socials every month just a few blocks away. Today was horrible experience. Jessica the bartender rudely kicked more than 30 customers out 30 min before closing time (literally kicked everyone out she said she has plans) . She also had about 6 friends with her that harassed customers in the bar's name to get the f out, literally the words they used to paying customers.This person should not work here anymore or people should not come here again. This kind of behavior is the worst customer service ever. I'm so sorry to leave this review.. i love the normal Friday night bartender. Management should kick this one out of it venue.. tonight the bar lost at least $250 for 45 min (time we, 12 people,planned to stay).

Is my mom there? Can you tell her to text me and she needs to call me and say let's go home

In response to Vladimir K's response I saw the entire incident last night. The bartender was 110% in the right to not serve any of your party. If you go to a bar in the state of California and do not have a US form of ID the only other identification they can legally except by law is your passport as proof of age. Your country ID is not acceptable. The bar owner and bartenders are responsible if the cops should come in and check IDs, which I have seen it done before the owner and bartender get heavily fined and possibly jail time. Furthermore to post someone's photo on a yelp review have a little more class.Your behavior was complicit out of line! If one of my adult children behaved that way, I don't care how old they are there would have been some ass whooping.

Quite a disgusting place to say the least, the bartenders are quite unpleasant and rude. In regards to the environment, it is pretty dirty and I don't recommend going here under any circumstances.