McNear's Saloon & Dining House in Petaluma, California: Restaurant Review

McNear's Saloon & Dining House is an odd combination of a "serious" bar and a family restaurant, that somehow manages to work out well. At least for certain situations. If you're looking to get plastered in a smokey dive full of "characters" this is the wrong spot. If you want a solid lunch, or a place to watch sports with decent drinks and food at a decent price and no drunkard fools jerking it up for everyone else (or at least a tolerable minimum), this is a good choice. I've watched four NFL playoff games here and if business still took me up to Petaluma, I'd make it my first choice the next time a big game came on that I wanted to see.

The place is actually a converted old-school saloon and has two floors. The bar is downstairs, along with a number of tables, and then there's more tables upstairs along with a couple of pool tables. TVs are dispersed well throughout the whole environs which is what makes this a great choice for the games. They tend to stick with one uniform game choice for all the TVs, but the benefit of that is you have the sound on no matter where you are at in the house. During the nice weather they've also got a bunch of tables outside if you want to go that route.

As far as food goes, the biggest draw is that they serve until midnight seven nights a week to bail your silly butt out when you get busy with something and forget about that whole eating thing until well after the sun has gone down (and really can't stomach another emergency round of Jack In The Box.) Expect to pay roughly ten to twelve bucks per head for a meal and a drink here, unless you go for breakfast, when you can grab a short stack or some eggs any style with potatoes and toast for about six bucks. Portions are generally pretty hearty and justify the eight to ten dollar entree prices in most cases. Quality seems to vary a lot both by item and by whoever they have cooking at the moment, but I've always found the burgers and fries here reliably good. The Varsity Burger is good for a generic but solid 1/2 pounder, the Black Jack Burger is great if you like a little Cajun spice, the Turkey Burger is actually my preference since ground turkey is so much better for you than hamburger (and yet the taste is nearly identical), and their grilled chicken sandwich on sourdough has always come through for me as well. On the flip side, I'd pass on both the fish n' chips and the salads. "Belt and a Brew" chili (made with a shot of whiskey and a shot of JD) is actually pretty good for dinner as is their Shepherd's Pie.

I'd skip the steak dinner here, but for a basic breakfast, sandwich or burger this place is solid and the prices are reasonable. Also my first choice in Petaluma for knocking back a couple of drafts with a good game. The Mystic Theater right next door also gets some great shows sometimes and is a decent venue, but that's a review for another time ...

Mcnear's Saloon and Dining House
23 Petaluma Blvd North
Petaluma, CA 94952
#707-765-2121
http://www.mcnears.com/ (You can pre-order online!)