Tiburon Tavern

I used to frequent Old Town Tavern for karaōke until the unfortunate fire this summer. I decided to check out this place and I don’t regret it! Good vibes and the crowd is not too bad. The place is small, but not too bad on a Friday night. I need to go back to belt out some Queen tunes haha.

Nice little neighborhood bar! Just happened upon it walking around the area near my hotel. The bartender and regulars were all very pleasant and talkative with no drama attached. Great place to have a cold one or two!

I’ve been singing karaōke for 26 years. Seen it all when it comes to singer rotation practices. Only been there a couple of times, and I wanted to like this place. Dyno seems like a nice guy, but here’s my beef. If I give you a song slip having arrived at the show 20 minutes late, and five minutes later you’re saying you’re at the top of the rotation but I haven’t gotten up yet, that’s messed up right there. But I am familiar with the rotation practice that has that result. But if a host ever decides and works it out that I will see someone I saw sing after I gave that host my slip – some other singer I saw sing will get to sing again before I get to sing my first song – I don’t go for that. So, I will never go back to TT, or go to any other of Dyno’s shows, because that is what he had worked out on my final visit to a show of his. I would rate this zero stars if I could. Dyno’s English, I believe, and the English have different ideas about what is fair than Americans do.

Two stars for the bartender (otherwise place would get 1 star). Place smelled like vomit, with a handful of men staring me down as I walked in. Bartender was friendly and made us really good drinks.

oh yes please. it’s all true — great dive bar, great juke book, good stiff drinks, bar stools that swivel and great bartenders.

Cool vibe. The place is a cozy bar equipped with a plethora of drinks. Although I was the DD tonight, my friends had a blast. A little bit too much. Jenna is a really fun bar tender too. Overall an amazing place.

We were there on a Sunday evening on a holiday weekend, so maybe the crowd differs on other nights. However, on this evening it was a very friendly bunch of colorful locals. Everyone there knew each other, and yet they were open and inviting. Later in the evening the jukebox went silent and the bar tender got some trivia cards calling out hints while everyone shouted their answer. It was fun, especially laughing with Laury how had too much to drink (and apparently, is usually in that state). We also played pool. It was a clean hospitable and thoroughly enjoyable dive bar. Bar tender was awesome.

I’m sick of these dive bars that buy fancy jukeboxes and then override your plays after you’ve already paid for them. The drinks are typical, ambiance is exactly what you expect from a dive – overly drunk patrons getting in your personal space and all that is part of the fun, but when I put $ 5 in the jukebox and the bartender cancels it and refuses a refund, I consider that to be the last time I visit.

Great place to grab a drink! Stopped in after checking reviews on Unilocal and was very impressed, divey and classy spot. The bartender Jenna was awesome! Sweet n sassy, lotta tough love. She made the guy next to me drink water to make sure he was good for the night. Some bars you go to every once in a while, but places like this feel closer to home n I’d definitely come on a regular basis.

A friendly place to pull up seat and toss a few back…
I was in town for a concert, and spent most of the night wandering State St. looking for a place to wet my whistle after the show. Downtown SB was pretty dead on a Wed night, so me and my gal ventured off the strip to some dives that all left something to be desired…
I gave the old Tiburon a call to ask how late they were open (it was about 11:30pm), he replied, «2am, we’re like a real bar, dude» Haha, I knew this had to be the place, me and my gal Über’d up to the top of State st, we were relieved the see the sign posted out front «A/​C IS ON!» We walked in and took a seat at the bar next to a couple of regulars, they immediately started chatting us up as the bartender poured us some drinks. Very friendly and welcoming, soon the place began to fill up, music on the jukebox and people playing pool, overall a great casual atmosphere with cool people.
We hung with our new buds until just about closing when they finally gave us the boot, we thanked them for the hospitality and were on our way… wonder if we’ll ever make it back to the old Tiburon Tavern.

Nothing but the best things to say about this place! Great energy! Great People! Great Time! Thanks guys!

Yup, it’s a dive bar… But we loved it. How often can you hear/​see a white guy singing gangmanstyle in Korean on karaōke nite… Well worth a visit and a few cocktails

I’ve stumbled in here a couple times after uptown lounge decided to kick people out way before their listed closing time. It’s not the type of place I’d choose to be in any other circumstances at the age of 23 and a female. Shit can get pretty weird. Which is fine with a good group of friends to back you up. The regulars didn’t seem to care what songs I picked on the Internet juke box, despite other posts. I laughed really hard when the chick bartender didn’t know how to change a keg and a customer offered to do it for her. She claimed she was new. Maybe she should have been trained first before throwing her in behind the bar at night. Either way it’s fine if you live close by and your looking for somethin to do late night.

I live within crawling distance, but even if I didn’t, I would still say this is a good, genuine Santa Barbara dive bar. Off the track of the tourist bars down town, this dive has friendly tenders, drunk locals and Karaōke. What more can you ask for in a dive bar. Friday nights Karaōke turnout is big. Get there early, because unlike any other night, by 11 there is a wait to get in. Get in the Karaōke rotation and you’ll be singing a song every hour.
Rock and roll.

Love the Tiburon! All the locals, Sammy, Jack, Sili and Ron! Ill be there tonight singing my heart out, see you there!

A fun bar with lots of different people. Good beers and a relaxed atmosphere. Music perhaps a notch louder than I would have liked but perhaps that’s me. It was certainly not too loud to talk.

I like dive bars. I like dive bars that are dark. I like dive bars with bad pool players because they make for a very entertaining show. And most of all, I like dive bars where the older white bartender belts the lyrics to Jay Z’s «99 Problems» and the homeless guy checks for IDs. Yes, that pretty much sums up my first visit to Tiburon on a rainy Saturday night. I will be back for drunken karaōke next time!

I’ve only been here once so far but it’s A-​OK in my book. It’s a great little relaxed divey joint where you can comfortably throw back a drink or 5. I get the impression there’s always an inebriated enough source of entertainment.

Okay, this isn’t a bad place. If I was in my 40s-​60s and a local I’d totally be down with Tiburon. But if you are young don’t expect to get the crowd going with your rendition of Coolio’s Gansta’s Paradise– this place will not be having it. The people here are nice and probably come here every single weekend. It seems like they practice singing show tunes and country songs in their showers to prepare for their performances. One lady who appeared to be in her 60s was a little drunk and talked about «Golden Tonsils», which became our nickname for her that night. Old Goldentonsils loved singing show tunes in a sorta sexual manner. It was kind of fun to watch, but may lead to nightmares.
The drinks are reasonably priced and some people sang cool stuff like Johnny Cash, but honestly it was mostly current country stuff I can’t stand. And the one guy who sung a Sum 41 song, well, he didn’t quite fit in either. HAH.
Oh yeah, we met the «extremely elderly tommy bahama-​wearing sugar daddy» mentioned in a review below. He tried to pick up my mother and little sister. he offered to smoke pot with them in the parking lot. I’m not quite sure what he was hoping would happen but he got turned down pretty hardcore by my mom, even though he offered to «change her life.» Did he expect some sort of mother/​daughter thing? Maybe. GROSS.

My honey and I were in town for a wedding. I wanted to find a cool spot to hang out the first night that we were there. I texted two friends and asked them if they knew anywhere that had Friday night karaōke. They both responded suggesting this place. I then invited them to join us there.
Tiboron is in a nice spot away from the lower State Street bar extravaganza craziness. There was a diverse, friendly crowd and the environment was chill. This was a great spot for meeting up with some old friends and singing a few tunes.