The vintage 1907 throwback bar will be pouring their famed Barkeep’s Whimsy again soon, though an initially reported reopening date of October 19 may no longer be operable.

Update, 10/15: Representatives of the Comstock Saloon tell SFist that "The opening date has been updated to Oct. 26." So Tuesday, October 26 it is!

Back in 2014, when the Barbary Coast-era time capsule cocktail lounge and restaurant  Comstock Saloon had a BMW crash through their front door, they bounced back and were back open the very next day. The North Beach bar and gourmet burger place, a favorite of the late Anthony Bourdain, was even wisecracking on Twitter about the incident.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has managed to shutter Comstock Saloon for nearly 19 months. It looks like it will not be closed for a 20th month, though, as the restaurant announced on Instagram this weekend that they would be “officially reopening in a few short weeks.”

The post may have been edited since, as SFGate reported Monday that the post said “Mark your calendars and get your drinking boots on because Comstock Saloon is officially reopening Tuesday, Oct. 19th! We’ll cheers to that.” The October 19th date is no longer in the Instagram post (though it remains on Facebook), so they may need a little wiggle room on that. We’ve reached out to the Absinthe Group, which owns the Comstock Saloon, and will update this post with any clarification.

But co-founder Johnny Raglin may have indicated the reason for the possible delay in remarks to SFGate. "We’ve been careful not to commit to a date because it’s hard to find bartenders,” Raglin told the site. “We're hunting hard right now and hopefully, everything will square away, but that’s been my biggest challenge."  (Want to work for them? Here’s the job posting.)

Raglin also downplayed the likelihood that Comstock Saloon would be opening outdoor dining parklets, saying the location is “a museum piece. We couldn’t provide that in a different way.” And do recall that other Absinthe Group restaurants have opened parklets, and ran into some tro0uble here and there.

Related: Comstock Saloon Asks Customers Not To Drive In [SFist]

Image: Andrew D. via Yelp