Two-dollar oysters is a genuinely low number in San Francisco, and Novela runs them daily from four until seven. The bar around that deal happens to be lined floor to ceiling with books, which is either the main attraction or an eccentricity depending on how you feel about themed rooms.
Two dollars an oyster, three hours a day, in a room made of bookshelves.
The deal
$2 oysters, 4pm to 7pm daily. They are on the smaller side — petites rather than large varieties — but they are fresh and creamy, and at that price the size is not the point.
Three hours is a reasonable window, and the daily frequency is what makes it usable. It sits across the standard after-work slot in a neighbourhood full of people finishing work, which is the whole reason it exists.
The address is 662 Mission Street in SoMa.
The Thursday anomaly
Here is the detail that will ruin an evening if you miss it. Monday to Wednesday the bar opens at 4.00pm and closes at midnight. Friday it runs 4.00pm to 2.00am. Saturday it runs 5.00pm to 2.00am. It is closed on Sunday.
Thursday is different: 7.30pm to 2.00am.
So on Thursday the bar does not open until half past seven, which means the 4pm-to-7pm oyster deal cannot happen — the doors are shut for the entire window. Thursday is the one night of the week where turning up for cheap oysters is guaranteed to fail.
The Sunday closure is the other one to note. A weekend plan that assumes this bar is available on both days is wrong by half.
The room
Novela is a literary bar — the design and the drinks pay homage to classic novels, authors and characters, and the space has floor-to-ceiling bookshelves as its defining feature.
It is also a large room by cocktail-bar standards, with high ceilings, which matters practically: this is a bar that can absorb a group of eight without anyone standing in a doorway. Most bars with drinks this carefully made cannot.
The space hosts live jazz sessions and community events, so what you walk into on any given night varies more than at a standard cocktail bar. Worth checking the calendar if you want either the music or the quiet.
How to use it socially
This is one of the better after-work group rooms in SoMa, and the reason is the combination of size, deal and hours. Cheap oysters give a group something to do together, the room is big enough to hold everyone, and the 4pm open means the earliest finisher is not drinking alone for an hour.
The move is to arrive around half four, order oysters in rounds rather than all at once, and let people join as they arrive. Ordering forty oysters at 4.35pm for a group that will not be complete until six is how the deal gets wasted.
After seven, transition to the cocktails. The literary theme runs through the drinks list, which gives a group something to talk about that is not work.
SoMa around it
Mission Street at 662 puts you a short walk from Yerba Buena Gardens, which is free, open and one of the more pleasant places downtown to sit before a bar opens. SFMOMA is close by if you want a paid anchor for the afternoon.
The neighbourhood is well served by transit — Montgomery and Powell BART are both walkable — which is worth knowing for a bar that runs to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.
SoMa empties at weekends, so a Saturday visit is a much quieter neighbourhood experience than a Tuesday one, and the 5pm Saturday open reflects that.
Cheap oysters and how to judge them
A two-dollar oyster raises an obvious question about quality, and the answer is usually about size and species rather than freshness. Petite oysters are cheaper per unit because they are younger and farmed at density, not because they are inferior.
The things to check are the same regardless of price. The shell should be closed or should close when tapped before shucking; the liquor inside should be clear rather than cloudy; and the oyster should smell of the sea rather than of anything else. A bar shucking to order in front of you removes most of the risk.
Small oysters are also, for a lot of people, the better introduction. A large oyster is a mouthful with a lot of texture, and a petite is a cleaner and less confronting version of the same flavour.
Order six, taste them plain, and only then decide whether you want mignonette. At two dollars the experiment costs less than a coffee.
Practical notes
Novela, 662 Mission Street, SoMa, San Francisco. Monday–Wednesday 4.00pm–midnight; Thursday 7.30pm–2.00am; Friday 4.00pm–2.00am; Saturday 5.00pm–2.00am; closed Sunday. $2 oysters daily 4pm–7pm — but note the bar does not open until 7.30pm on Thursday, so the deal is unavailable that night. Petite oysters rather than large. Book-themed cocktail bar with floor-to-ceiling shelves; hosts live jazz sessions and events. Large room, good for groups. Yerba Buena Gardens is a short free walk. Montgomery and Powell BART nearby. Hours and offers change — confirm before you go.
Tags: #happyhournearme #novela #soma #sanfrancisco #oysters #cocktails #sfbars #missionstreet #sfnightlife #bookbar #sfdrinks #yerbabuena #sffood #sfeats
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Ask Karpo first
Want to check the bar is actually open before you walk over for four o'clock oysters? Ask Karpo for Novela's hours today, whether the oyster deal is running, and what else in SoMa has a comparable window if it is a Thursday.
