Named for the Caldecott Tunnel (Lamorinda’s gateway), Fourth Bore is Theatre Square’s craft beer destination. With 28 rotating taps and solid pub grub, it’s the spot for catching a game, meeting friends, or grabbing a drink before or after a movie at the Orinda Theatre next door.
The Beer
28 craft beers on tap, rotating regularly. The selection skews local and California craft-forward — expect to find options from East Bay breweries alongside regional favorites. If you’re not sure what to order, the staff knows their taps.
Beyond Beer
The grill menu covers comfort food essentials — burgers, pizza, and shareable appetizers done well. This is pub food with care, not an afterthought. Good for groups, good for casual nights.
Live Music
Here’s what sets Fourth Bore apart from your typical tap room: live music roughly 8 months a year. Check their website or social media for the current schedule. It adds real energy to an already lively space.
The Fun Part
The owners also run The Forge Pizza Fire Truck — a 1970 Ford fire truck converted into a mobile wood-fired pizza operation with a char broiler and beer on draft. They cater private events. Yes, seriously. Check out theforgepizzafiretruck.com if you want a fire truck serving pizza at your next party.
Local Lore: Why “Fourth Bore”?
The Caldecott Tunnel is Lamorinda’s gateway — four tubes (called “bores”) carrying Highway 24 through the hills between Oakland and Orinda. For decades there were only three bores, creating legendary traffic bottlenecks. The fourth bore finally opened in 2013 after years of construction, adding much-needed capacity. The restaurant’s name is a tribute to this local milestone — and a nod to the relief everyone felt when that fourth tube finally opened.
Weekly Rhythms Worth Knowing
A couple of standing weeknight patterns give Fourth Bore its Monday–Tuesday character:
- All-Day Happy Hour every Monday. Not the usual 3–6pm slot — the full open-to-close window runs on happy-hour pricing. On a Monday when Casa Orinda is dark, this is the single biggest reason to walk down Theatre Square.
- Trivia every Tuesday at 7pm. A steady weekly draw that pulls the room past its usual Tuesday early-week quiet — teams show up, the bar fills, and the 6:30–9:00pm window shifts from walk-in-easy to genuinely lively.
Both are worth planning around if you’re picking a weeknight to visit.
Today: Tuesday, July 7, 2026 — First Trivia Night of the Post-Fourth-of-July Stretch
Tonight is the first Fourth Bore trivia night since the Fourth-of-July-week compression cleared, and it lands on the first genuinely quiet Tuesday of the month. Sunset tonight is roughly 8:32pm — the post-solstice one-minute-a-week retreat continues, but the difference from last night is imperceptible on the patio. The room follows its steady Tuesday shape: walk-in-easy from open through the 5:30–6:15pm early-dinner window, then filling from about 6:30pm as trivia teams arrive, holding lively through the 9pm close. Casa Orinda is dark tonight (as always Mon–Tue), so Fourth Bore and Shelby’s next door absorb the casual-dinner overflow, with the added twist that trivia gives Fourth Bore a specific reason-to-be-here that Shelby’s doesn’t have — the dinner-plus-something-to-do crowd tilts Fourth Bore’s way on a Tuesday in a way it doesn’t on a Monday. If you want the tap-room-without-trivia experience, come before 6:00pm; if you want the trivia atmosphere without playing, the bar and patio hold their walk-in feel until the room hits capacity around 7:15pm.
Looking ahead (Wed–Fri, July 8–10): Wednesday and Thursday return to standard early-July weeknight rhythm — Casa Orinda reopens Wed at 4pm, the Orinda Theatre is running its normal weekday programming, and Fourth Bore’s Wed–Thu 5:30–7:30pm early-dinner window is walk-in-friendly with the patio comfortable well past sunset. Friday July 10 brings live music back to the beer-garden patio at the standard 6:30pm start — the first Friday-night live-music-on-the-patio night since the Fourth-of-July-week compression cleared, and the patio will run at full capacity from 6pm on. Saturday July 11 continues the Fri–Sat 10pm-close and live-music pattern; expect the first fully-normal-summer Fri–Sat pair of the post-holiday stretch.
Good to Know
- Located in Theatre Square — grab a beer before or after a movie
- Casual, lively atmosphere — not a quiet date night spot
- Great for groups and sports viewing (TVs throughout)
- Outdoor patio seating available
- Reservations not required but can book for larger groups
Pair It With
- Before: Grab a craft beer here, then walk five minutes around the corner to the historic Orinda Theatre for an early showing. Theatre Square’s parking lot is the same lot — no second move required.
- Instead of: If you want the opposite of the tap room — quieter, dimmer, no TVs, fried chicken instead of pub grub — Casa Orinda is the in-town counterpart. Same 1932-vs-modern split that defines Orinda dining: Fourth Bore is the lively Theatre Square 28-tap option, Casa is the 90-year-old roadhouse on Bryant Way three minutes away. Casa is closed Mon-Tue, so on those nights Fourth Bore handles the casual-dinner overflow.
- The upscale counterpart: If you want the dressed-up Theatre Square experience instead of the tap room — white tablecloths, lobster ravioli, a curated wine list — Shelby’s is fifty steps away in the same complex. The two rooms cover the full Theatre Square spectrum: Fourth Bore is the casual 28-tap room for groups and game-watching, Shelby’s is the date-night and pre-theatre dinner room. On a Friday or Saturday night, a 5:30pm dinner at Shelby’s and a 9:00pm nightcap at Fourth Bore is a complete Theatre Square evening with no driving in between.
- After: Post-game nightcap on the patio works year-round; in the post-solstice stretch the past-8:35pm sunset means you can stretch a 9pm beer well past dark before the after-movie crowd arrives. Friday and Saturday close at 10pm — the only two nights of the week the patio holds past 9.
- The cone afterward: Loard’s Ice Cream is a four-minute walk across Brookwood Road and stays open to 10pm Fri–Sat. A pint of craft beer here, then a scoop on a fresh waffle cone over there, is a generationally-stable Orinda Friday-night rhythm.