Sidelines Sports Bar & Grille (Sidelines), is the only American-style and American-owned sports bar in Okinawa. The sports bar is located directly in the center of the Sunabe Sea wall in Chatan city and surrounded by local dive shops, restaurants, and small budget hotels along the wall. Sidelines sits right next to the popular Okinawan soba shop, "hamaya soba", on the corner of the sea wall and the main road that connects to highway 58. I like this place! Sometimes, I just want to eat a big fatty burger or some really good pizza. Sidelines has that real American sports bar food.
Upon entering the bar you can choose to sit in the outside area shaded by a covered patio, a 2nd floor sun deck, or sit inside at the main bar. The bar and patio is full of large high definition TVs, and is always playing a variety of popular sporting events. I like to sit outside on the shaded deck and still enjoy the view of the scuba divers and activities on the sea wall. The area is bustling with tourists, scuba divers, snorklers, and sun bathers, so it's nice to just sit and watch. However, sports bars are for sports, and I especially enjoy Sidelines as they always have a variety of mixed martial arts (MMA), football (soccer), American football, and other major sporting events playing all day long. If you have a request, you can ask the staff, and they will play your favorite game on the nearest TV! I love food and beer, and this is a typical sports bar with a large variety of imported beers, domestic draft beers, pizza, chicken wings, sliders, big salads, wraps, and juicy Ishigaki Island beef burgers.
They have some local Asian dishes as well, but two things they have that I adore are the smoked meats and the buffalo chicken pizza. It's just plain delicious! I know it's rare to find a restaurant in Okinawa or Japan that smokes its own meats. Sidelines has their own hand built "smoker", so if you love "home made" smoked meats you can get smoked pork ribs, chicken, sausages, etc. I don't know of any other place in the area (or too many places in Japan, for that matter) that smokes their own meats, so this is a treat that most of us foreigners love.
Sidelines is open Wednesday through Sunday, 6 pm-12 am weekdays, and 10 am-12 am Saturday & Sunday. It's an exciting place to watch a game, play some darts, and enjoy good food. Check the location on the map, but if you were to depart Okinawa's only international/domestic airport in Naha (OKA), you head North on Highway 58 for about 25 km and then turn west towards the ocean sea wall. Cheers!
