Hi Tops sits at 2247 Market Street in the Castro and was the city's first gay sports bar when it opened in 2012. Every big game goes up on the screens, the kitchen runs until 10pm, and the crowd treats game day like the event it should be. No reservations for most matches.
For a long time the words "gay bar" and "sports bar" lived in separate parts of town. Hi Tops put them in the same room on Market Street and the formula worked, the place has become a Castro institution and a model that other cities copied. It is a sports bar that takes the sports part seriously and the welcome part more seriously still.
The screens carry all the big games with a Bay Area lean, so Giants, Niners, Warriors, and Cal feature heavily alongside whatever national fixture matters that week, according to the bar's own listings. The room is tighter than a stadium-district barn, which works in its favor, on a Niners Sunday the energy bounces off the walls instead of dissipating into a warehouse. The kitchen stays open until 10pm every day, so you are never stuck choosing between the game and dinner.
What makes Hi Tops work is that it never treats its two identities as a gimmick. It is a genuine sports bar, the kind that knows the start time of a Thursday night NFL game and the qualifying schedule for the next big international, and it is a genuine Castro bar, loud and friendly and game for a theme night. The pairing pulled national attention when it opened, and more than a decade on it still draws a line on a Niners Sunday. The events calendar, trivia on Tuesday and recurring weekly programming, keeps the room busy between marquee games.
What to order: a cold draft and the loaded tots, which have a reputation that precedes them; a frozen cocktail when the patio mood hits; and a beer-and-shot when the game is close. Pricing is standard Castro bar money, fair for Market Street, and the food is a real kitchen rather than a microwave behind the bar.
The food deserves more credit than a sports bar usually gets. The kitchen runs a tight menu of bar plates built for sharing across a long table, and keeping it open until 10pm every night means the place doubles as a dinner option when the Giants are on the road. The drinks lean approachable over precious, drafts, frozen cocktails, and the beer-and-shot combo that suits a close fourth quarter. It is a room designed for a crowd, and it works best when it has one.
Who it is for: the LGBTQ crowd who want their teams without leaving the neighborhood, anyone who likes a sports bar with actual personality, and groups who treat trivia night and Thursday programming as a fixture in their own right. For the full field, our ranked guide to the best sports bars in San Francisco puts Hi Tops in context, and our editorial round-up of San Francisco's best bars for watching the game covers the rest of the city.
Best time to go: a Niners or Giants weekend afternoon for the full Castro game-day crowd, or a Tuesday trivia night for the regulars. The kitchen-until-10pm window makes it a reliable weeknight option too. Avoid expecting elbow room during a marquee game, it fills fast. If you want another lively neighborhood room, Public House by the ballpark runs a bigger Giants crowd, and our full San Francisco guide covers the city's other sports bars.
Sources: Hi Tops (official) · Yelp (updated June 2026) · Time Out · SF Station
