(Wesley Lapointe / Los Angeles Times)
Head to these sports bars on Super Bowl Sunday for food and drink specials
Fans flock to sports bars for two obvious reasons: to drink and to watch sports. The food is often an afterthought, served in large portions and generously doused in cheeses and sauces to distract from any lack of discernible flavor.
Thankfully, here in Los Angeles, that’s not the case. We’ve got sports bars with lengthy tap lists, others that appeal to new demographics with stylish, muted aesthetics, and more still with raucous patios where no one will judge you for screaming at the screens. And yes, we have options that somehow hit all these marks while turning out impressive food to boot.
Where do NFL fans gather to watch playoff games in Southern California? From Packers to Patriots and Chiefs to Rams, use our guide to find your game-day spot.
Whether or not you’re invested in the outcome of Super Bowl LVIII pitting the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Feb. 11, consider booking it to one of these sports bars launching limited menu items and discounts in celebration of game day, ranging from barbecue and wings to an Indian-inspired pizzeria and a Korean-German gastro pub.
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(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times )
BiergartenLA
Koreatown Korean Gastro Pub $$
Watch L.A. Football Club (LAFC), UFC and live Sunday football games, including the Super Bowl, at this unassuming Koreatown gastropub that successfully fuses Korean and German flavors. Upon stepping into the spacious tavern where flags for L.A. sports teams wave from the ceiling, it’s easy to see how it endeared itself to host Guy Fieri on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.” You’ll spy German and Korean staples on the food menu, like a Bavarian pretzel and kimchi tofu, as well as signature plates that blend influences, such as chile-sauced kalbi tacos, gravy-doused German fried rice, a schnitzel katsu burger and drunk bier chicken that’s oven-roasted and beer-brined, served with cabbage slaw and house-pickled jalapeño and daikon. The bar features more than 25 craft beers on draft, plus bottles, cans, ciders, non-alcoholic options, a short wine list and cocktails, with deals on beer and shot pairings.
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(Bludso’s BBQ)
Bludso's
Fairfax Barbecue $$
Kevin Bludso has been a titan in the city’s barbecue scene for years, first opening a takeout stand in his hometown of Compton in 2008. The location on La Brea followed five years later and is still going strong, in addition to a stall at the Proud Bird Food Bazaar near LAX and a new, spacious outpost in Santa Monica. For Super Bowl Sunday, Bludso’s will air the game live on multiple TVs behind the bar, paired with signature meats smoked low and slow with California flair, such as half-chicken with pollo asado-inspired seasoning, rib tips coated in a brisket rub, and gargantuan dinosaur beef ribs, plus sides like mac and cheese and baked beans and desserts (get the blackberry cobbler with ice cream). Reservations are filling up quick, but you can still order barbecue trays that feed 10 to 15 people for takeout and delivery.
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(Jakob N. Layman)
Brooklyn Ave Pizza Co.
Boyle Heights Mexican Pizza Chicken Wings $$
This Boyle Heights sports bar celebrates Chicano culture with menu items like mole pizza topped with Oaxacan quesillo and poutine-inspired fries with beef chorizo gravy, queso fresco and cilantro. The name pays homage to the original name of the street now known as Cesar Chavez Avenue, and just next door is the Paramount, a ballroom venue that’s been around for nearly a century. The interior features exposed brick walls and a tiled pizza oven that dominates in the corner, with high-top tables and bar seating, while the street-adjacent patio makes for a low-key date night or family dinner . For Super Bowl Sunday, the bar is offering its regular menu, including hot wings dusted with Hot Cheetos, naked wings coated in lemon pepper and wood-fired wings topped with crispy garlic and raisins, plus pizzas with toppings such as chef Jorge Sandoval’s signature beef-pork discada on the meat lovers pie, fresh ricotta and hand-pulled mozzarella on the white pizza and a mole option with queso Oaxaca and curtido. On the drinks side, there are brews like Estrella Jalisco and Dos Equis, wines by the glass and bottle, craft cocktails like an elote old-fashioned with guajillo honey and roasted corn and house aguas frescas that can be spiked with your choice of booze. Get your order to go to watch the game from the comfort of your home, or enjoy your selections in the restaurant/bar area, where every seat offers a clear view of one of seven large TVs.
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(Lucas Kwan Peterson/Los Angeles Tines)
Clearman's Galley
East San Gabriel Eatery
Here’s my pitch for including Clearman’s Galley, or “the Boat,” a big sports bar in San Gabriel, on this list: Yes, the food is pretty standard pub grub. But doesn’t everything taste better in a giant nautical-themed bar with a cute red-and-white boat out front? Doesn’t everything taste better when you’re watching a 16-foot TV that has its own nickname? (It’s “the Admiral.”) And don’t those bites of onion rings taste twice as good when you’re looking at models of the Titanic or the Clermont, credited with being the first commercially successful steamboat? My answer is a resounding yes. You could do worse than its fried fish plate or coconut shrimp, and the chili cheeseburger is actually a pretty fair (if slightly less sloppy) approximation of a burger from Tommy’s. That’s right. I said a 16-foot TV. Throughout the NFL season — and especially for the Super Bowl — find Clearman’s open early, starting at 10 a.m. on Sundays.
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(Wonho Frank Lee)
Crawford's Social
Thousand Oaks American $$
Westlake Village’s sprawling new cocktail lounge regularly shows big games on its two indoor TVs, plus pours craft beers — including a house lager — and offers frozen drinks and other concoctions to wash down pizzas, chile-glazed wings, truffle fries and smoked pork ribs. For Super Bowl Sunday, it’s going even bigger. Look for a tailgate-themed menu and additional screens added for outdoor lounge viewing, which means short rib nachos, vegetable chili and ice-cold beers, margaritas and piña coladas on game day all over the grounds. The event will also serve as the launch party for its beer collaboration with nearby 14 Cannons Brewery.
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(Kelly Puleio)
Hi Tops
West Hollywood Bar/Nightclub Bar Bites $$
Owners Jesse Woodward and Dana Gleim expanded their original Hi Tops location, which they billed as “your go-to neighborhood gay sports bar,” from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2018, opening an instantly popular outpost in West Hollywood. The vibe: craggy brick walls, light wood floors, exposed ceiling beams, mounted TVs facing every possible angle and a hearteningly diverse crowd. The food: a universally friendly mix of burgers, sandwiches, salads and “stadium fare” options like warm pretzels, loaded nachos and corn dogs. Beer options range from Bud Light to Chimay Premiere and local craft IPAs, and cocktails run strong and smart. A cocktail creation like the Claw — a limey blend of gin, green chartreuse, cardamom bitters and pineapples — defies sports bar stereotypes, something that can be said of the place as a whole. A third Hi Tops in Los Feliz joined the family in the fall, duplicating its signature atmosphere and winning formula, including trivia nights early in the week.
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(Shelby Moore / For The Times)
Pijja Palace
Silver Lake Indian Restaurant
Silver Lake’s genre-bending, raucous, modern-Indian sports bar is always worth a visit, no matter how invested you are in baseball, football, basketball or hockey. That’s because the kitchen, helmed by chef Miles Shorey, currently turns out some of the most exciting pastas, pizzas and bar fare in L.A. Owner Avish Naran built a singular spot that’s big on simply having fun with it all: The ranch is flavored with curry leaf, the chicken tenders get a serious spin on the classics (jaggery and tamarind for the barbecue, achaari for the buffalo), and the onion rings come gloriously browned and puffy thanks to the dosa batter that serves as the breading. Even the cocktails are a notch above the usual sports bar sips, with options for “chai-rish coffee,” house-made mango lassi with mezcal, blood orange negronis, and amaro that’s scented with black and green cardamom. While the Indian-leaning takes on classic bar bites are always a win for game day, the pastas and pizzas — namely the signatures of Malai rigatoni and green-chutney pijja — are requisites no matter the occasion. This year Pijja Palace is celebrating the Super Bowl with an all-afternoon viewing party complete with team-inspired food and drink specials. In lieu of tickets, seats can be reserved online with prepaid food and drink minimums ($120 per person); in addition to the restaurant’s menu of modern-Indian hits, the team will offer items such as Kansas City Ice Water and Horsefeather cocktails, and perhaps the Martinez and the Cable Car to represent San Francisco. The game day event begins at 2:30 p.m.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The Greyhound Bar & Grill
Highland Park Bar
A decade in and with two locations (the second is at 933 S. Brand Blvd. in Glendale), the Greyhound Bar & Grill continues to draw crowds for major sporting events showcased across its TVs and pull-down screens — though for many, the food is its own incentive. Heralded for its chicken wings, which are available in more than a dozen sauces, the game-day staple serves lightly battered, gloriously crispy wings in options such as classic buffalo, garlic, gochujang, lemon pepper, al pastor and even a cotija-topped esquites variety, and offers classic bone-in wings and boneless, plus battered cauliflower for a vegetable take. Depending on the location, the kitchen also whips up potato tacos, classic or bulgogi cheesesteaks, shrimp cocktails, beef or vegan burgers, carnitas nachos and personal pizzas made with 48-hour-fermented dough. Whether you’re there to catch football, soccer, basketball, baseball or beyond, keep an eye on the chalkboard for daily specials such as steak frites, chicken schnitzel or curried mushroom stromboli. When it comes to this year’s Super Bowl, stop by both locations for viewing and to-be-determined specials.
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(Wood Urban BBQ)
The Wood Urban Kitchen
Inglewood Barbecue $$
With high-top tables spilling onto the street-side patio and a velvet rope partitioning the restaurant from a busy Market Street in downtown Inglewood, it’s hard to miss the Wood. An early-’00s playlist and daily happy hour might draw you inside, but it’s the menu — spanning barbecued meats, burgers, sandwiches, wings and Southern-inspired sides (in addition to an L.A.-specific Mexican corn dish) — that will persuade you to get comfortable and stay a while. The sports lounge from Jonathan DeVeaux is consistently packed on NFL Sundays, and for Super Bowl it’s going all out with all-day happy hour, family platters and live music, so don’t delay in making a reservation and consider arriving ahead of kickoff.
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(Lucas Kwan Peterson/Los Angeles Tines)
Tony's Darts Away
Burbank Eatery
Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank is a longtime favorite of mine. The unassuming place manages to be a sports bar without the excessive, over-the-top feel a lot of places have on the day of the big game. There are only a few TVs — enough to see what you want, but not every square inch of the place is lighted up like an LED flatscreen. There are also board games — like Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit — and, of course, darts. And the menu is not only solid but also notable for its generous selection of vegan dishes. A banh mi sandwich with vegan pork and jalapeños is a good choice, as is a Darts Away Jr. burger with an Impossible patty and Russian dressing, the bar’s answer to the In-N-Out cheeseburger. Disco Fries are a happy mess, slathered in mushroom gravy and vegan cheese. There are nonvegan options too: The bacon-wrapped hot dog may not quite transport you downtown after a Lakers game, but it’s close.
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(Brandon Ly/Los Angeles Times)
Wirtshaus
Fairfax German Beer Garden $$
You’ve probably driven past this lively German sports bar and beer garden on La Brea Avenue. Although the German-centric draft and bottled beer lists are tempting on their own, you’d do well to arrive hungry. The food menu spans the German and Eastern European dishes you’d expect, such as a Bavarian pretzel served with sweet mustard and house beer cheese; a selection of sausages ranging from smoked pork oozing Emmentaler cheese to wild boar with roasted garlic and wine; a selection of schnitzel; a hearty beef goulash with house-made Spätzle (egg noodles); and classic sides like sauerkraut and sweet and sour red cabbage. The bar hosts trivia nights on Wednesdays and a Bavarian night with live traditional music on the first Saturday of every month. For the Super Bowl, the bar is bringing in additional TVs for the patio and will open its back projector room for viewing. The chef also is cooking up some limited specials, including a Super Bowl burger. Reservations are recommended.
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(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Ye Rustic Inn
Los Feliz Bar
One of the city’s favorite dives is all dimly lit and plush with burgundy leather booths, a perfect setting for the textbook-definition buffalo wings served there. There are no frills, no fancy sauces: just barbecue or classic buffalo, the latter of which is available in four spice tiers that range from mild to “suicide.” Ye Rustic also offers the option of ordering your wings dry, as well as customizable in crunchiness: regular, crispy or extra crispy (always go extra crispy). Great as they are, it would be a mistake to commit only to the wings; the hand-breaded chicken strips come almost shoestring-thin by tenders standards and are remarkably juicy. The most popular burger, the Myrtle, arrives heaped with grilled onions and bacon and tastes like an ideal backyard cookout. There are nachos and salads and pancake breakfasts and fish and chips all worth exploring — bring a crew to sample your way through, and, of course, to help tackle a pyramid of buffalo wings.
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