Paula & Raiford’s Disco

It’d be fun, if so many of the employees weren’t so rude. I have never been treated as poorly by so many people at one place, and this was experienced by my whole party. Just asking if they had wine at the bar made them talk to me like I was an idiot… Don’t waste your money and go somewhere where the people are actually nice.

This place is incredibly fun, great music, great crowd, great dancing! Be prepared for a line to get in but it’s well worth it.

TIME FOR AN UPDATE.
I’ll still give four stars for TOURISTs and OCCASIONAL visits. It is one hell of an experience that you won’t find anywhere else! And for that reason I still recommend it.
Now I will share that I was a regular VIP for a while there… The staff was so great and blah blah (see my last review) and then they kind of turned on me. After spending as much as we did over those few months (and how much we tipped, jeez), you would think that they would continue their excellent service.
Nope, they didn’t. Walked in one day and they treated me like they never saw me before. Straight money hungry attitude. They’ll be your friend and they’ll be family as long as you have the cash.
A few more things that have annoyed me
— the music is INSANELY LOUD, always has been always will. A lot of folks wear ear plugs (including customers who have been here before). So unless you’re gonna be up in VIP, I recommend it.
— swingers frequent the place and they will bombard you with attempts. On multiple trips I’ve had guys follow us around regardless of our numerous rejections.
— awkward bathroom/​tipping experience that the other reviews can attest to.
— they only take cards at the bar. which means the servers walking around will charge you more than the bar will charge you — BEWARE. Sometimes its $ 5-​$ 10 more and that’s before you tip. Craziness.
— anyone else ever notice that not ONE white/​asian/​latino/​indian person works here?

What a ridiculous place! The staff has attitude (especially the front door woman) & the prices are outrageous. They seem to think they are Studio 54 or The Palms, but actually more like the disco on a low budget cruise!

Cash only but an atm with 5 $ fee next to the bar… Win-​win for the club and the club: Poor customer experience.
Do not try bottle service… They give u a very cheap liquor (vodka in my case that retails at 12 $) for 125 $ and softs do not come with it. Very poor experience on this side. I dt mind the price, it is a club, but i d rather have paid more for a full package and a better drink.
Otherwise, interesting club for the theme, music ok. Just bring old hard cash and buy the 1L bud light.

They threw away my id and all my friends saying they were fake. The whole staff was incredibly rude and unhelpful. Never going back.

I had soooo much fun at Redford on my birthday
Everyone there party like a rock star
Love the smoke room and balloons
The people there are very friendly
Hell ya to the big bottle bears

When I would ask locals where to go, Paula and Raiford’s would always come up and it wasn’t until I went that I figured out why… Disclaimer: I LOVE to dance and I get frustrated when nobody is dancing at the bar/​club. Thankfully, everyone at Raiford’s was clearly there to dance. For me, that made the $ 15 cover worth it, plus it’s open way past other bars (4am)!
Raiford’s is eclectic, for sure. The crowd is a mixture of age groups… older people disco-​ing their hearts out, frat boys, 30 somethings. But, that’s part of what makes it so fun. The music is heavy disco, with a popular song thrown in every now and then. There are streamers hanging from the ceiling, a smoke machine fogging up the place, a light up disco floor and more. It’s an experience I would go back to Memphis for in a heartbeat!

Raifords is my absolute favorite place to get down and boogie. The $ 15 cover can sometimes seem absurd, but Paula has a great thing going on. They are only open 2 days a week (Friday and Saturday)…genius on her part.
The set up is like nothing I can describe. It’s like you go into a whole other world when you step inside! Balloons and ribbons hang from the ceiling. Strobe lights light up the dance floor. I also can’t get enough of MJ… she plays him a lot so hopefully you like him as well!
My only drawback is the bathroom. Every Time I go I feel like I am begged for money by the bathroom attendant. I understand this is a business but I don’t really have money to give someone who just stands there and maybe hands me a towel. Another reservation is losing items. I lost a cell phone there around halloween and they weren’t exactly helpful. I get that, but I really haven’t been since just because they didn’t seem to want to lift a finger to locate it.
However I still give it four stars. I think this is a huge staple for Memphis and Paula is such a sweetheart. This place is an absolute when friends come in town.

this is a late-​night Memphis staple. If you are visiting Memphis for some fun weekend, or having a party as a local, go check out the Fog and Forties. VIP is awesome. Great dance floor. Bring cash

one of my favorite night clubs in Memphis… its not posh, its not fancy… but definitely don’t come here until you’re good and buzzing! think 1980’s strip club atmosphere with disco ball, smoke machines, and lots of pink and purple lights!
grab yourself a forty (32oz bud light) and dance the night away on stage, the stripper pole, or their «i must be close to you» dance floor… but remember, no drinks on the dancefloor!
don’t forget you can call their limo to pick you up to bring you to the party!

Seriously a great time.
I’m 21. This was my first true dance club experience. I don’t go in too much for drinking, so I can’t attest to the bar or anything like that, but the atmosphere of this place is incredible.
Right when the door opened I noticed all the fog and mistook it for cigarette smoke. You can’t imagine how relieved I was that it was a refreshing mist. Red balloons everywhere, people standing on balconies, a trap set by the classic tiled dance floor (where no drinks or smoking are allowed), and a super friendly staff complete with roving bartenders and courteous yet badass security guards.
For the first twenty minutes I felt a bit awkward because I didn’t have a drink in my hand and I didn’t know anyone there. But then «Stayin’ Alive» by the Bee Gees started playing and all my cares flew out the window. I hit that dance floor and never looked back. Danced all night long, with and without others.
I have only two issues that prevented a five-​star review. Firstly, the noise is incredible in this little place. The speakers are oftentimes blaring right into your ears. While you sort of forget the noise after a bit, the effects are apparent once you exit out onto the street. I could hear nothing, and I’m a young guy. I was genuinely concerned about my auditory health. However, I’m sure that can be remedied with a pair of stylish earplugs.
My second issue is that the seventies need to really ring true in the musical selections. It’s all good if there are a few modern hits thrown in. Don’t get me wrong: the borderline 80’s music and clearly 80’s Michael Jackson fit the mood. But in the entire time I was there, I had the privilege of dancing to only one Bee Gees song. And, being a really lame and flamboyant white guy, I needed a little more high-​pitched awesomeness in my life.
Those things aside, I’m definitely returning to this gem again in the near future. I just need to give my ears and my groove a week or so to recover.
Thanks, P&R, for being my fantastic first true club experience!

Look, it’s a particular kind of place.
It’s like any other place: It’s loud. There’s a line at the door. There’s a cover. It’s largely full of 20-​something frat types. Drinks are expensive.
It’s different: They play mostly 70s and 80s music (the disco part is real). They don’t allow drinks on the dance floor. It’s smoky.
It’s awesome: high ceilings, lots of colors, lots of different spaces, they have roving bartenders too (at least when I went). I had a lot of fun, and I’d happily go back for another unique experience. Not every night, but when I want a Paula Raiford’s night.

The BEST Disco on planet Earth
Seriously! If you don’t like this place you have no sense of fun!
Let your inhibitions go and head to Raifords! If you have a crowd and you are downtown– call ahead and they will send a limo to pick you up (and perhaps more importantly, take you home). Go! You will love it !

When I have to choose between Shadows and Raiford’s (the only two dance clubs I would ever consider going to in Memphis)…Raiford’s wins when I have someone from out of town because the experience is so unique… but Shadows wins every other time because I prefer their music to the same music Raiford’s plays every night… and I get into Shadows for free whereas Raiford’s charges really, really high covers.
That being said, I love the fog machine, the floor that lights up, the lights, how everything looks red, the 2 VIP sections, the crowd, the fact that I always run into someone I know, and that they finally have a full bar. The only thing that keeps me coming here on the regular is the lack of current music and the high coverage charge… other than that, it is an awesome, awesome experience! So much fun for a night out with the girls!
P. S. I guess they close at 3 now…:(You can tell I only end up here when it is one of those all-​night parties… that I now only do once a year… because I’m too old to go balls to the wall on the regular anymore

When your name is King Raiford, obviously only thing to do is to open a disco club. This also so happens to be my favorite place in the world, and I have desperately been trying to find my own personal Raiford’s in NYC. How’s my search? Terrible because there is no other Raiford’s in the world.
The pros:
*Great for late night DJ dance parties where the music is dominated by Michael Jackson and Prince.
*The smoggy atmosphere created by an unordinary amount of smog machines.
*The drum kit that you can bang around on on the tiled dance floor.
*The stripper poles through the bar. I’ve at least seen a pole on the dance floor and the raised platform where Raiford himself DJ’s.
*The beer selection of only 40’s adds to the culture and ensure a great night of bad mistakes is ahead
*King Raiford himself. Clad in sequined, flared jump suits, this dude is quite the character.
The cons:
*Recently it’s become pretty loud which is why I didn’t give this review 5 stars. I’m not talking normal bar loud either. After I left Raiford’s my ears were ringing and pulsating, and this lasted until the following evening. I’m pretty sure in 30 years when my hearing starts to fail me, that Raiford’s will be the cause.
*The cover is sort of pricey at $ 15, but this can totally be overlooked because Raiford’s is such a good time.
*Cash only, but also not a big deal. There’s an ATM inside.
Great for:
*Late night DJ dance parties
*Michael Jackson enthusiasts
*Drunk make outs
*Bumpin’ and grindin’
*Bachelorette/​wedding parties

There’s only one place in Memphis where you can dance on a light-​up dance floor while an octagenarian in sequins spins your favorite classic hits.
While I had been to Old Raiford’s (aka, Raiford’s Hollywood Disco on Vance) before it closed, I had never been to the new club that Raiford opened with his daughter Paula on Second St. And because I loved Old Raiford’s in all of it’s cash-​only, brightly lit, 40oz. glory, I was a little apprehensive about this new space. What if they had decided to do away with the office furniture, poles and light up dance floor and get disappointingly classy?
As soon as I walked in, my fears were eased.
When you walk up to Paula and Raiford’s, there’s a red carpet and a velvet rope (making it possibly the only club in Memphis with a rope line). There’s also a pair of chrome-​plated bicycles chained up outside. When I was there on Friday night around 10 p.m., there was no line outside. There wasn’t even a line at the little window just inside the door where you show your ID and pay your cover (usually $ 10).
That’s because I was early — way early. It was just me and a handful employees hanging out, watching the Lakers game. Even though I was all alone, the place was set to maximum party — the music was turned up loud, the fog machine was going full blast, and Mr. Raiford, the club’s octagenarian DJ, was still going through costume changes like it was a packed house.
Even though Paula and Raiford’s Disco is much larger than the old space on Vance, it’s nice to see that some things haven’t changed. Every available surface is covered in red and white rope lights, streamers or red balloons. There are still hand prints on the walls and the signage is still kind of hilarious. I was happy to see that they also kept their seating the same — white vinyl booths, reflective silver tables and high-​backed rolling office chairs, exactly like the ones in your work’s conference room.
Also, not only does Paula and Raiford’s have a pole, the new location has enough room for several of them. Anyone is allowed to dance on them (or, as the case was when I was there, run and leap onto them and slide down fireman-​style), just know that they’re not responsible for your pole-​related injuries.
The music was a mix of old Memphis (Elvis’ «Suspicious Minds» and «Jailhouse Rock»), current top-​40 songs (that «Tonight’s Gonna Be a Good Night» song), group dances (the Cupid Shuffle was played at least twice) and 1970s classics like «Let’s Get It On» and «Purple Rain». I’m pretty much convinced that Prince is Mr. Raiford’s spirit animal.
Everyone was friendly (other than the armed dance floor bouncer, who really doesn’t like it when you leab over the railing to take a sip of your beer) and the boys weren’t shy about asking the girls to dance.
When I decided to head home around 1:45 a.m., people were still streaming inside. I’ll definitely be back though, sooner rather than later.
Paula and Raiford’s Disco is open every Friday and Saturday night from 9 p.m. until 4 a.m. If you’re planning to be unable to drive, they offer limo service to and from the club. Cover is usually $ 10 though I’ve heard that sometimes, it’s $ 15 or $ 20, so bring at least $ 20 in cash with you. Drinks start at $ 5 for shots and $ 6 for beers, cash only. There’s an ATM inside, but the fees are high.

So I never thought the sketchy-​ist place I would visit in Memphis would be inside a bar. The place is like a bad 80s acid trip. I’ve been hearing about Raifords since I moved to Memphis, but I just don’t get it.
— $ 15 cover
— bar is cash only (they have an ATM)
— $ 8 40 oz beers
— $ 1 bathroom (bathroom attendant yelled at me to get money for her from a friend after I said I was out of cash (which I was))
As a disclaimer, I’m not someone who likes to get wasted and dance to Prince on a stripper pole. If you are, then this is the place for you.

OMG, WTF is there not something as wonderful as this in St. Louis? Mike Talanya’s is probably the most similar but lacks to stay open until 6am like Raiford’s.
I love Raiford’s! So, this is how it goes down –
— You pay $ 10 cover
— BYOB or buy a huge 40 oz to continue on the night.
— It feels like you’re stepping back in time to circa 1983.
— Bathrooms are a tad nastier than I can tolerate for a public restroom.
— Cash only bar with overpriced mixers and sodas.
Despite the negatives, this place is actually one hell of a time! This is the party place after the party place. Think of it like this — if you just got kicked off of Beale because of the 3am curfew, and you’re not done with your evening — YOU SHOULD COME HERE!
It’s so much fun to people watch and the ambiance of the place is crazy with the stripper pole and disco balls that are in place. They also have leather couches, hand prints on the wall, and fog machines! The works, seriously.
Just come check it out when you come to Memphis!

If you are trying to decide if you want to go to Raifords you should ask yourself a few questions:
Do I like Michael Jackson?
Do I like Prince?
Do I like fog machines?
Am I willing to dance for hours?
Am I ridiculous!
The place is a little dance nook owned by a former Memphis pimp (no joke) that has an affinity for all things 80s. It’s an odd place to be in since literally it’s BYOB and only 40ozs and overpriced soda cans are sold. But really, why wouldn’t you want to end your Friday or Saturday dancing to two of the greatest pop/r&B artists ever? There is even a drum set on the dance floor.
There is no such thing as a bad night at Raifords!