Shia LaBeouf -- Day Drinking Before Arrest, But No Weird Behavior

Shia LaBeouf was drinking and watching the World Cup early Thursday afternoon ... and he was acting just fine.

According to the folks at Iguana NYC ... Shia showed up around 1:00 PM to watch Belgium's World Cup soccer match against South Korea. A bartender there tells us Shia said he wasn't much of a soccer fan, but felt the need to be patriotic because his family was from Belgium.

Shia ordered 2-3 margaritas,pacing himself, and didn't ordered any food. The staff says he was quiet, polite, and nice to everyone. He even posed for a few pics (above) and tipped well.

All in all, he was there for about two hours without incident.

The restaurant is right next door to the theater where Shia went off the hinges.

Multiple witnesses tell TMZ ... Shia showed up outside another bar, Three Monkeys, at around 5:00 PM. They say Shia seemed really angry and drunk and began yelling at a random woman on the street ... who had no idea why Shia was so worked up.