Neck of the Woods

Went there last night for Michael Jackson and Prince tribute and dance party. Great crowd but the staff isn’t friendly or helpful. Two of the security guards who are African American were nice though. Bought sodas at bar and was told if you bring your cup back it’s free refills. One friend got her refill but I was told no such thing after waiting for a bar tender to serve me for 25 minutes while they served others that came after me. Others happened to be white and I’m African American. And I had to start yelling excuse me excuse me to get them to even help me. If you’re African American I sure wouldn’t go here.

Walked in here while waiting for Burma Superstar down the st. Free games And photobooth On Tues. worth checking out for sure if you’re in the area.

If I could give this place negative 6 stars I would, I strongly urge for you to stay away from this place. Where do I start,
Played open mic here a few times and every time we played they always messed up on times. So we played at 12am the first time even though we where supposed to play at 9:30 after inviting all our friends out to watch us, now they had to sit threw 3 – 4 hours of horrible performances and the host in between is switching acts so that her friends could jump the order and go on first. (Irritating)
To make things worse she cuts us off after 5 min of our 10min set. That we waited hours and hours to play. Not to mention having to run to the bar at 7 to sign up., Than have to come back at 8 so they can tell you what time slot they put you in, telling everyone what time you play so they can make it… «Thanks» But wait don’t forget them pushing you later and later until you realize that your the last act and it’s almost 1am. And there’s no one in the bar.
–do yourself a favor go to the boom boom room in the fillmore, 10x better and you won’t have to deal. with a bunch of rude/​crazy/​homeless people!!!
Also the bar tender here spends to much time talking on the side of the bar than he dose behind it.

One of my favorite local joints. I played here when it was rock it room and new digs step it up. Open mic is fun and communal if you give it a chance, local shows are always fun, salsa, kareokee, my favs upstairs seated shows.
Owners care about sound and acts unlike some other SF venues that just use bands like milk from a cow.

Never buy tickets in advance. In fact, don’t even buy tickets at the door. Do you get what I’m saying? DON’T GO TO THIS PLACE. I have been to two concerts here. Do you want to know what the funny thing is about those concerts? They were both cancelled and the organizers did not tell anyone. So I drove 40 miles to see Ptaha () a few months ago and it got cancelled. Tonight, I drove 40 miles to see VovaZilVova and it was cancelled. Why did the owners not have the courtesy to let their clients know via Facebook or via email that the event was cancelled? There is one big reason why this place is so disorganized. It’s because the owners are Russian and any business operated by Russians is a piece of crap. Oh, and I’m Russian so I can say that and you can trust me. So in essence, I’ve been fooled once by this place, and I won’t be fooled again. You lost one client and if you keep up your act you’re going to lose many more.

Great spot. Atmosphere is positive. Comedy night was off the hook! Would do it again in a heartbeat.

NOTW is a big bar that needs to make the real estate pay for itself — so they host events. It works as a bar but its not optimal.
NOTW is a cool enough event space but its not optimal.
I checked out some stand up recently and while ok the experience was definitely not as comfortable as even a venue like cobbs.
Because of this the only reason i ever go NOTW is to see some show which is far from high praise for a bar.

Nice venue upstairs. I did not check out the ground floor this time but karaōke sounded awesome. Drink prices aren’t too bad. I’ll have to come back for another show.

Good crowd on Salsa Mondays, usually plenty students for the class and fair number of decent to expert social dancers after class.

My first round of salsa adventure! It’s nice to see a 2 story bar/​semi club with ample dance floor.
The music is mostly salsa and a few bachata (I think the bachata is mostly playing downstair)
Very beginner friendly. I danced non stop for hours with many people even though I have two left legs and no hip. Still remember the cringe on their face as I step on their feet.
All in all, a night well spent!

I’ve been working on my moves at salsa mondays, it’s a great workout and for a drop in fee of $ 20 you get to take both the beginning and intermediate classes, or if you’re super new at salsa, they offer a easy bachata class downstairs while the intermediate salsa is going on. PLUS the club is open until 2:30am. you could really turn up all the way until tuesday! Salsa upstairs, Bachata downstairs, and sometimes there is a live band and if not, its a DJ with an awesome handlebar mustache.
the only drawback to this place is that it gets pretty crowded and stuffy, and they only have 2 fans and no AC, eventually the you and the people you are dancing with will have damp clothing.
its a great experience and a change of style from the usual clubbing scene, and I’d recommend it for any level of dance experience

I have to admit I never been to a bar that had two floors… upstairs for concerts and downstairs for karaōke =P
I went here to support a great musician, Lily Holbrook. I would say that it is hard to find parking but roaming around the block for 30 minutes was worth it =)

Not too big for a live show! Good or bad music depends on who’s playing? If you want to chill out it’s not a bad place. I also liked their special drink of the night. Cheap! Although if you like to watch your favorite sports shows, forget it!

Overall not a good experience: We were there on a Friday night, at 9pm ish. had to pay $ 10 to go upstairs, and then when we finally made it to the second floor there were only a few people in the –decent looking– venue, which felt like we were attending some shitty event. The music was decent though. But I will not be back.

Saw one of my favorite bands here and the sound was awful! All bass and could barely hear anything else. Walls are so thin the bass beat from another club could be heard over the band. The ladies bathroom was flooded and dirty. Even if good bands play here again, I doubt I’d waste the money to come.

I wish I could review this venue as last Saturday I attempted to attend a show here. I was going to see the bands downstairs, however there was a long line that snaked all the way down the block for the upstairs band. I asked the bouncer who confirmed that there was one line only. I waited almost 40 minutes in a line barely moving, and unfortunately gave up. There were clearly two very different events going on, and it is a shame that the highly likely lesser attended event had to suffer.

Too legit to quit. Neck of the Woods has got a lot. Booze, a photobooth, seating, parking outside, restaurants across the street, cute barstaff, open mic night. Trivia would make it better, but hey, it’s a bar and they’re doing pretty well without it.

review for salsa mondays
i’ve been taking lessons with dancesf at rockit room/​neck of the woods for years now. and i love it. the instructor is awesome. i’ve been to other salsa dance classes and this is superior. it is especially hard for a guy to learn how to lead. the instructor will tell you where to step, where to place your hand, and the timing of the movement. the more you learn, the better leader you are, which means it is easier for the ladies to follow :)
the people who come here are also very friendly and easy to dance with. i’ve taken friends who have never salsa danced before to friends who are experts. it can get crowded, especially at the beginning of the month but everyone here is just interested in salsa’ing and the crowd is of all ages. definitely recommend!
occasionally they have live bands and it is amazing to dance to. the venue is small and intimate and the sound is great. the drinks are cheap and good too!

Really great spot to see live show. Both the floors have a stage and good sound system. Staff is great and welcoming. Open mic, salsa dancing, burlesque, rock, hip hop, dj’s, you name it — they have it. Kitchen is to open soon, which is going to be great addition to the place. Check their calender, which is constantly being updated with great events. If you are in Richmond district, check it out, won’t be disappointed.

Pretty cool spot to see a live show. Small stage down stairs with a large bar and a large stage upstairs with a small bar. Seems odd, but it works. I thought the sound system in both areas was pretty solid although the DJs downstairs were playing a bit too loud to have any sort of conversation with friends.
The room upstairs is more of a proper music venue with pretty good sight lines and a large floor to get close to your favorite band. They also have some seats along the walls if you are a sitting type. I thought the bouncer presence was a bit excessive given the relatively tame crowd in attendance the night I was there. They weren’t pushy, but they always seemed to be hovering around.
Parking in this neighborhood seems to be a little tough during dinner time as their are a lot of restaurants close by, but it seems to clear out by 9 PM or so.

We came here to hear a Miami Horror set on a Friday. Tickets were $ 15 each.
The venue has little to no atmosphere (upper floor); the bar staff is incapable of doing their jobs, i.e. they have almost 0 overview, are confused and it simply isn’t fun. One time, they just sucked up my change, either forgetting about it or assuming that it would be my tip. Other times you just stand there forever and wait to be served while every jackass who is «more aggressive» gets his family reunion order of 25 drinks in the right order…
The door staff was friendly but equally incapable. You get a stamp once you enter. Once you leave one room to go downstairs or outside you can get back in by showing your stamp. So far, so good. The bouncer «ok’s» you but then you get called back by the stamp lady like «hey hey hey! where are you going? come here»… *yawn, really?“
After this situation got cleared up you proceed upstairs where you have to present your stamp again before the last step (third time now). Just when you thought you are through this, another bouncer comes and randomly selects you, while standing at the bar, and asks you to present your stamp. A little paranoid, don’t you think?
The worst, however, was the sound. It was honestly terrible. There was almost no base while there was too much treble. Overall, it was just really bad. not worth a music venue at all.
In all, a below average place. Will not be back.

$ 2 Henieken specials? I’m down. This place is never super crowded which I love because crowds make me angry. They played 90s/​early 2000s music when I was last there and it had a really fun vibe all around.
Word of advice though: Go for the cheapo beer. The cocktails are not so great. I had the moscow mule which was just ginger ale and what tasted like whiskey. Sigh… if they didn’t have the right ingredients why didn’t they just tell me to order something else instead of making a nasty faux version?

This place is amazing. The multicolored sign prominently displayed on the exterior of the building radiates a vast array of impressive colors, luring me in with intrigue and awe. Green, dark green, aqua, blue, dark blue, fuschia, purple, violet, light pink, red, orange, yellow, white!!!

Interesting place to go to on a Friday night in Inner Richmond. This place has two floors which are very different from one another. The first from is more of a lounge. The music isn’t very loud, and it kind of has they biker bar kind of vibe. The second floor is much louder which bands performing. This place is surprisingly roomy. There are plenty of spaces for seating and for people to stand and dance.
The band performing was a 90s cover band and played some pretty good 90s rock and hip hop songs. The service is pretty good. The bartenders made very strong drinks, and the bouncers were very nice. I was surprised that the place wasn’t fully packed, especially on a Friday. One gripe that I have was once the band was pretty much done, they didn’t have any background music playing. Other than that, it’s a pretty good bar to go to listen to some bands and get your drink on.

It’s my first review in SF, and I didn’t think it’s go this way. But I couldn’t disagree more with the rest of the reviews. It’s Saturday, and there’s nobody here. So, I’m writing this review before I bounce to the next bar.
Did I mention that there’s nobody here? Yet somehow, they’ve already depleted their Guinness supply. And unfortunately, that makes up one-​third of their draft beer selection. You’re allowed Heineken, Guinness, or Newcastle (hard cider doesn’t count). I think this may be the only alcohol-​serving establishment in SF where you can’t at least just get an Anchor Steam.
The ambiance is ok. It’s clean, Nicholas Cage is on TV, and I like the festive holiday tree they have up. But make it too far past the tree in the entryway, and you’ll be immediately driven back by the smell wafting from the bathroom. Again, you’re limited to the first two-​thirds of what could be a great bar.