The Royal Dive

I went there a while back. The minute I walked in, it smelled like ass & puke. This owner needs to get it together. The bathrooms are disgusting, the carpet is sticky and
stinky. Health dept needs to go there and have a hayday.

We’ve been coming to the Royal Dive for several years– great selection of beer, fun place to hang out, good music. Even the comedy shows were fun.
SUPER-​BUMMED OUT that they have abruptly closed. Saw a Facebook post today from a scheduled band, saying that the bar was closing, so we rode our bikes over there for one last hurrah. Too late. The place was being cleaned out to make way for a «wellness center» to be opened soon.
No idea what happened, but we’re sad. It was a cool place to go.

I play in a local band here in Oceanside, Kenn has always kept his end of the bargain with us. Bring a crowd and he will take care of you. Bands should always promote themselves the hardest.

Can’t believe the owner wouldn’t pay up his guarantees. Lousy owner, don’t support a business that can’t keep a decent business etiquette. Refusing to pay? Really?

Horrible venue. Ken is a scumbag and rips off touring bands. Drinks are horrible, food sucks, atmosphere is trashy. Don’t waste your time at this horrible excuse for a business establishment.

Touring bands do not book shows at this place. The owner «Ken» has a reputation for screwing bands out of their guarantees and doing a piss poor job of promoting shows in the first place. Dishonest people should not be rewarded. Do not support people like this.

Touring bands do not book shows at this place. The owner has a reputation for screwing bands out of their guarantees and doing a poor job of promoting shows in the first place. Dishonest people should not be rewarded. Do not support people like this.

The owner of this place is a jagoff douchebag that thinks its okay to screw working bands. Even worse to screw over small indie touring bands. F*ck him and F*CK this place.
A**hole.

i totally got a kick out of this place!!! came to see Sprung Monkey play…
it was far far far from home… and i was a tad sick… but so glad i came… the only thing that would have improved my visit would have been a full bar.
sound system… not bad for a dive bar!
parking.meh…plenty of street parking
cover charge… no clue .i was on the guest list
backstage…cozy with 2 couches and a pitcher of ice water
bar…beer and wine only… i wouldn’t touch the wine… good selection of beer… but if you know me. i don’t do beer… my girl cinna ordered a bottle of something and when she realized it was cider (and not beer)…she pushed it over to me… i can do cider sometimes… it was pretty darn good.
cinna enjoyed ordering different beers…
loved the free popcorn… as long as you don’t think about all the hands that have been in there!
only negative… i asked for a glass of water and the bartender literally gave me a pint of HOT water… not room temp, not warm… but hot. WTF? i guess drinking water and being the DD is frowned upon here… that really pissed me off… especially when i saw that we had ICE water backstage… they totally had cold water available and didn’t give it to me!!! i drank the entire pitcher of ice water
would i come back? only if a friends band is playing and i am on the list and have a bottle of something in the car…

This is a cute little bar that features a pretty darn good selection of micro brews, hard ciders, and good old favorites! We came here from san diego to see a live band called Sprung Monkey!
Pro’s:
Good show,
Good sound,
Clean restroom
Good beer selection-​no alcohol
Plenty of parking
Good beer prices
Good fast service
Con’s:
kind of a grungy little bar. But, what do you expect from a Royal Dive?

This is the perfect place for me to come and unwind after work. Upon getting to know the staff that work and run this place I have become a frequent patron to this establishment. Serving only Beer and wine I find that the patrons here stay a little more down to earth and don’t get out of hand often. The beer is always cold, and the entertainment is constant. I enjoy the open mic nights (Wednesdays 9pm) because I get to see an array of talent! Cheers!

Love the bartender, Willie. Funny and prompt. I was at the dive for their underground hip-​hop night. The place was packed. Would highly recommend this place.

Love the Royal Dive! Very good beer selection, great atmosphere and on their open mic Wednesday’s they have the sushi bus there!
Watch out for the guy on the banjo he’s a great entertainer!
Will be back soon!

When I moved up to Oceanside from University Heights in San Diego, I was in withdrawals. Couldn’t find any divey joints to chill at, no live music, no cheap drinks. Then I stumbled upon this gem.
Punk rock? Check.
Weird patrons? Check.
Tiny? You bet.
Live music on the regular? Yes.
Cheap beer? Its there, along with pricier ones.
I recommend this bar to my fellow miscreants. Its in the middle of nowhere too, which is ok with me. Not usually any macho man marines trying to start a fight way out in the boondocks.

Hi, local dive, Royal Dive. I’m not sure you deserve the royalty status, but you are definitely a dive.
The beer selection is good, American Dad seems to be perpetually on the TV, the seating area is small, as is the stage, but if you want to see local talent and open mic nights, this is probably the place to do it. There are some larger events that require tickets and actual money, I’m not sure that I’d pay to be here unless I was a huge fan of the artist, but for that average night, it’s not a bad place to hang.
The bathrooms are generally filthy, like heavily line the seat and hover anyway just in case, but the place is okay overall. It doesn’t stick out (positively or negatively), but it’s a place to be and it’s close to home. Who could complain?

Not bad. Super small on the outside and not much bigger in but you’re super close to those playing if you want to come watch and support a band and I have to say, I enjoyed their bar/​beer selection. Plenty of choices on tap including some IPA’s and a super friendly bartender. I like it. For a dive, it was nice. They had a few tables to sit towards the back, some huge curtains in front– different.chill.ok.

Very small from the outside, no parking spaces really dedicated to this dive. Walking in the walls are painted black but as soon as you get pass through the small dark hallway you finally enter the heart of the dive.
Ive been here a few too many times to support the events of the production company i work for. The staff is really chill, they dont give off any creepy vibe which is surprising since the whole atmosphere in there feels like anybody could be staring at you lol.
Its really cool how they have a stage setup with a very good sound system to rock the whole place! Beers are cheap, normall from 9 – 10 its $ 1 beers! cant beat that.
For a local dive very close to my house, i would come here to get away from everyone i know in this city:)

So much more than an average dive! This place kicks ass! Super tiny but has a great beer selection. We came here to see a concert and was wondering how the hell that could happen at such a small spot but it did and the concert was awesome. They service was great, and we had such a fun time.

My favorite bar is OMTI’s because it’s a dive, not the diviest around, but close. Years ago Royal Dive didn’t have much going for it, interior sucked, layout stunk, drinks were cheap, bar tenders were drunk, no music, pool area felt like a rec room in a drug lab and the outdoor area felt like a ghetto chicken coup. With new ownership some things have changed like bands, local bands, a newish interior with some decoration. The bar tenders are acceptable and it feels divey now like it’s name suggests, not turd-​holey like it used to me. The owner is a cool guy and even the under 24 crowd isn’t afraid to show face around here. This is how I liken the 3 valley bars. Royal Dive is a little nicer/​newer, but doesn’t have the local/​regular following that OMTI’s has, OMTI’s is the biker bar where people leave you be and those big ol fire pits and River Bottom is the pile.

Oceanside does not appear to have a gay scene, at all! I tried to find something through Unilocal and a few places appeared; this one being the one we chose to visit. However, this is not a gay bar! Not to say that it didn’t fit the description of a «dive» or that it wasn’t welcoming enough to order a beer.
FYI: Oceanside must have some kind of local ordinance against hard liquor because I couldn’t find a single place that served it.
Confirmed: owner is a kook!