I’ll be honest about this up front: I hate the Marina. I like drinking in dives, around people who don’t give a damn how I look or how they look. I like drinking to relax, to let my hair down and my belly out. And most times I’ve been dragged out to the Marina, it has looked like everybody was sucking it in.

So I asked a friend of mine who used to tend bar there where I could go. She works at the fabulous Sutter Station downtown, a dimly lit dive where I often settle my post-work jitters, and I knew I could count on her taste.

Ace Wasabi’s Rock ’n’ Roll Sushi

Sunday night, then, I found myself, my girlfriend and her brother (Molly and Jake, respectively) at this chilled-out sushi restaurant, per my friend’s advice. We sat at the bar – by preference, not necessity, as there were plenty of empty tables – where a friendly guy named Kyle took our orders. We got three 21-ounce bottles of Sapporo for $7 a piece, and Molly got a Rainbow Roll for $11. Her fish was delicious and fresh, she said, and I enjoyed the tuna-salmon tartar with guacamole ($9) and the spicy Kamikaze chicken fingers ($7), happy to see the restaurant had some alternatives for folks like me, who aren’t thrilled by sushi.

I asked Kyle about one of the five or six beer taps he had behind the bar, one with a carved sumo wrestler on the top of it. He said it was Kirin, a rice beer, and not his favorite – but he quickly offered me a taste and came back with a near-full glass on the house, which I thought was classy. It tasted a little like Hefeweizen.

Food: ranges from $1 for rice to $15 for the most expensive sushi
Drinks: $3.50 party shots, $5 beers
3339 Steiner St. (between Chestnut and Lombard streets)
(415) 567-4903

California Wine Merchant

Then we headed down to this nearly-empty, wood-paneled wine bar, where we met Lenny and Rossy Greenberg, a couple from New York who were celebrating the birth earlier that day of their newest grandson.

“We always come here when we’re in town,” Lenny said. “It’s relaxed, it’s pleasant. The cheese plate is fantastic.” I ordered one and got a few slices of a rich white cow cheese along with bread, pistachios and olives for $6.

Bartender Chris Galen poured me a great glass of pinot gris for $8.50 and my girlfriend drank viognier for $9, while her brother had a couple bottles of Anchor Steam beer for $4 each. Things were getting pricey, so I sipped on my wine slowly, enjoying the company and the mellow atmosphere but not wanting to drop my whole bankroll on wine.

$4 for 12 oz. bottles of beer; wine ranges from $3.50 half-glasses to $20 full glasses
2113 Chestnut St. (between Pierce and Steiner streets)
(415) 567-0646

Horseshoe Tavern

Molly was tired and headed home around 11 p.m. Jake and I stepped into this laid-back sports dive with a big screen showing baseball highlights. I put a dollar in the jukebox and picked out a couple Pogues songs and one each from George Thorogood and Neil Young. They had Powers behind the bar, my favorite Irish whiskey. Harry, the bartender, filled my shot glass all the way to the top with it for about $5, a decent price for such quality. Things were looking good.

But then Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” came on, and nobody but Jake and I sang along. The crowd wasn’t huge, just about 20 people, but if you’re in a bar and that song comes on and nobody sings, you’re looking at a serious lack of character and enthusiasm. Then I noticed Harry was wearing a T-shirt with the name of the bar on it. A staff uniform in a dive bar? It was time to go.

Beer and cocktails $4 and up, no specials ever
2024 Chestnut St. (between Fillmore Street and Mallorca Way)
(415) 346-1430

Pizza Orgasmica

We walked up Fillmore toward the Bus Stop, usually my favorite spot in the neighborhood, and we were stopped by Vyomesh, a drunk guy claiming Pizza Orgasmica had kicked him out because they were racist against Indians.

“Look at this,” he said, “I’ve got a $15,000 watch! I don’t need to be treated like this!” His friend suggested they might have been kicked out on account of the restaurant needing to close, but Vyomesh wasn’t listening. He did, however, take out his driver’s license, unprompted, to show to me when I asked for the spelling of his name.

It was a triple bummer: a false accusation of racism, a play for status by boasting about jewelry and a closed Pizza Orgasmica. I was getting hungry again and the slices there are always totally delicious and satisfying, with top quality ingredients and inventive combinations for solid prices.

Slices from $2.75 to $3.75
3157 Fillmore St. (between Greenwich and Pixley streets)
(415) 931-5300

Mauna Loa Club

So we soldiered on, skipping past the completely empty Comet Club (3111 Fillmore St. at Filbert), with its red make-out lights and cheesy club music spilling out into the street, and bought a round at this trendy little bar.

I normally really, really hate this place. It’s packed to the gills on weekends, the cocktails aren’t strong enough and the well drinks are $4.50. There are a couple carnival-style basketball machines in the back, a quick recipe for macho posturing and yelling. Who can properly unwind when two drunken Townies are shouting each other down to impress the skinny blonde girls they both brought?

But that night they did have $4 shots of Fernet, which I like, and they were almost empty, which I liked more. Still, we were close to home, and I was eager to finish our rounds and head to the last bar. We hurried past the loud beats of Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” blasting out of Bar None (1980 Union St. at Buchanan) and made it to my favorite spot in time for one round before last call.

Beers $4 and up, cocktails $4.50 and up, with daily specials
3009 Fillmore St. (between Filbert and Union streets)
(415) 563-5137

Bus Stop

For my money, this remains the best bar in the neighborhood, with rich character and great prices. On Tuesdays you can get six PBRs for $9. On Saturday, it’s five Red Stripes for $15. Even when it’s packed, I can usually find a corner to hang out with my friends and watch them play pool.

The television screen behind Rick, the bartender, played bull-riding highlights from a rodeo. Rick playfully made fun of me when I ordered a Bloody Mary so late in the day, which I would have done too if I’d been him. But I was still hungry and tomato juice sounded like a good way to eat while I was drinking. He mixed it up quickly and I ordered a Guinness chaser to tame the spiciness in my belly.

It was a very small crowd, just six other people –– Rick said it was his slowest Sunday in a long time –– but Jake and I started talking anyway with a young guy from London named Louie. He was touring the western chunk of the country, and said San Francisco was much better to him than Los Angeles. That just pleased the hell out of me, just in time for the bar to close.

Beers and cocktails $4 and up, with daily specials
1901 Union St. (between Charlton Court & Laguna Street)
(415) 567-6905

“You know, despite your prejudice you’re gonna have to do a pretty positive write-up of the whole night,” said Jake. “We had a good time for the most part.”

I told Jake to shut up.