Barboza

I came here for a company party and had a good time. I’m not sure how a typical night at Barboza normally is so this review might be biased. Barboza is a separate bar located at the downstairs of Neumo’s and Moe Bar on Capitol Hill. It’s a decent size room with a bar and small dance floor so this might be more of a place to hang out and meet people than a dance party although there is enough space for that.
The bartenders working that night was friendly, there’s a space with booths and table to sit down on the other side of the room if you want to be away from the dance floor. Bathrooms are in the middle of the room. What more can I say, sometimes it really depends on who you are with that makes it fun than where you are at. I know on normal nights, there’s a cover to get in here and since it’s not a club, there’s no guest list so there aren’t any ways to get out of a small fee, just pay it.
Tell me about your experience if you’ve been here or is going to after reading this review:)

First time going was a Friday night. Cool venue (could be bigger but we were able to snag a booth so can’t complain too much!) great music and the bar tenders were quick and friendly. I’ve heard good things about Monday nights!

Barboza is a music venue located in the basement of Neumo’s. Attended the recent Jess Glynne concert here. The entrance to this venue is pretty indescript. Had to enter through the entrance of Moe’s to reach the venue. Since Moe’s is a bar, you need to show your photo ID at the door first.
Upon entering the bar, you head towards the hallway and walk downstairs. Once I entered Barboza, I saw a bar situated in the center of the room with tables in the back. The stage was located on the left. The feel of this venue is very much like a basement. But I would describe it as a basement of someone’s home. With concerts being like a house party.
Since the venue is located in a basement, cell phone reception is terrible. If you can get reception here, it is spotty at best. I wasn’t able to use my cell or surf the web because of it. The venue was also for some reason quite warm which was odd since basements tend to be a bit cooler.
The show was sold out so the room was full and jampacked with people. I enjoyed the concert, but I had to deal with the usual of concertgoers cutting their way towards the stage. Even so, my view of the stage was good since the venue is so small. But I didn’t have much room to dance since everyone was so close together towards the front. It also seems okay here to enjoy your drink near the stage rather than drinking them in the back bar area, so there was people with beers in their hands.
I like the house party vibe of Barboza. It is nice that you are so close to the stage here. Though I would have liked more personal space to enjoy the concert how I wanted it to be.

Barboza is everything Neumos is not. Intimate setting, yet feels spacious enough and has quite a bit of seating in relation to the capacity size. Excellent bar with drink specials, quick service, and quite a few beers on tap. Clean bathrooms. Decent sound. I’m so much a fan that I’m scouring their calendar looking for excuses to come back!

Barbour has a great DJ and it gets pretty hot but the dance floor has AC in some sections blowing from the ceiling. It’s attached to the Moe Bar and Nuemos but it’s free (unlike Nuemos) and there’s a dance floor (unlike Moe Bar). It is in the bottom floor so the phone service sucks! Meet up with your friends and then go!

Consider yourself Warned, if you go out to this club, leave your valuables at your crib!
I have been going out to the clubs for a while now. My fav places have been closed or because of an incident in Bell town (Seattle’s club hub), mostly shooting, i decided to change clubs. I have heard from many friends that Capital hill was great and that it was safe.
Moe, Havanna are ok.
Baltic — the promotor is a thief.
Barboza — Watch out for your wallet and phone, they will pickpocket you every chance they get especially if there are a lot of people dancing on the floor.
In addition to the people, you have to watch out for the bartenders. If they feel like you are drunk, they will add up drinks that you haven’t ordered. It’s funny because they thought i was drunk when he tried to play me. I asked for black label and he gave me jack daniels, when I told him that this is not black label, he went crazy and told me that it was. However, when he printed the receipt, it was jack daniels.
Just FYI, watch out for your valuables and drinks at this club. not really safe. oh and people smoke inside the club which i thought was illegal in the state of Washington but who am I to judge but give you my experience, and that was the last time i will go to this place.

— $ 5 cover
— Its downstairs
— small to medium size club
— OK drinks
— Good place to go to dance if your in a small group.
— Its a decent spot overall, some people may like this place alot, but I would only go here for it to be apart of a «hop»
— When I went there was people on stage performing but it seemed to be just random people

I like it down here. It’s nice and cool.
It has a weird basement feel, but not a dodgy punk club feel. The stage area is minute; there is no barrier and one could easily get on stage if they wanted to. but everyone here seems respectful of this obvious boundary line. The backdrop curtains almost makes it feel like it might be a basement church event of some kind. Where speakers awkwardly stand in front of a group. I guess it depends on the show, but the intimacy and harmony amongst fans and performers is what makes live music so great, I think. It’s the perfect place for you to go and enjoy that music that (tee hee) nobody else knows about. If you’re up front, you get an amazing view of the performance. Otherwise, you’ll the backs of a lot of people’s heads, and backs. So get a spot up front to see your favorite.
I like it here. Would be happy to see any band here, as long as the place isn’t over-​packed like sardines.

Came for a show and this venue is great. Perfect setup for an intimate show although their speakers could use a little TLC. Plus side, the bartender is awesome. It’s rare to find friendly bartenders anymore. I would definitely come back.

I’ve been here a couple of times for shows and it’s always been fun! The bartenders are nice and they have a good selection of alcohol too.
There are a lot of seats but there are booths in the back, people stand for most of the time anyway though. The bathrooms are in the middle across the bar so they’re conveniently located.
It can get really warm inside so you’ll likely need to go out for fresh air a few times during the night. It’s not the biggest venue, but it’s perfect for an up and coming musician to play here because it’s in the heart of Capitol Hill.

In the Cap Hill weekend nightclub scene, my friends and I like going to Barboza. The wait is not too long, and it’s usually not super crowded at the dance floor. It may be hot downstairs, but you’ll probably have more room to bust a move compared to Havana.
Barboza charges cover, and it’s priced according to the time. Expect $ 10 cover during peak times (close to midnight), and $ 5 at non-​peak times. Coat check is $ 3. I think cover and coat check are cash only, but the bar accepts credit cards. The bartenders are quick, and they make a pretty good Long Island Iced Tea. And this deserves to be in caps — LADIES CAN DANCE ON STAGE!
The music could use more variety, and (at least on the weekends) the DJ does not take song requests. But all-​in-​all, Barboza is a good place to go to if you’re looking to dance on the weekends.

Came here right before Halloween. It was a friday night but the place was not even close to crowded. Even after it hit midnight, the place didn’t pack up. They have an upstairs area also, which was a bit more crowded, but in terms of going there as a first impression, sorry to say, not very impressed.
There were not many customers, but bartenders made themselves busy and ignored my birthday girl and the rest of our group.

Okay so here we go. I’m here for a friend’s show, which is good and great and all, but Unilocalers don’t want to know about how she did. You want to know about the venue itself, right? Fine. I’ll tell you my honest opinions.
1) The night started by standing in an over-​crowded line UPSTAIRS at Moe while waiting for doors to open. Customers at Moe? Were not happy with us. SORRY! Nowhere to go though, since they had Barboza’s hall and own entrance blocked off.
2) The dumb-​ass checking tickets at the top of the stairs, for whatever reason, thought us ‘will-​call’ ticket holders were for Neumos, even though we were CLEARLY in line for Barboza and said what show we were here for. He tried to direct us outside and around the building. I said «That doesn’t make sense!» And stayed in line. The other two I was with took his advice only to come back about five minutes later, saying he was insane. Good thing I stayed in line because by that point we were almost in.
3) The last time I was here, I recall not being able to order food. This bummed me out as I was about as hungry as Starving Marvin. I sadly ordered a beer and sat down. Upon CLOSING my tab after the first set, I was informed that, yes dear Kristina, you may now order food down here. Would you like to see the menu? Heck yes I would!!!
I ended up getting two fish tacos and fries. The tacos were as you’d expect for appetizers — small corn tortillas with battered fish, with some fixin’s. No avocado or cillantro, but what can you do? They were still good. The fries were edible even though they were not as crunchy as I like. They were real potatoes with skin still on, so… Good.
No napkins were given with the food.
4) Sound guy seemed to be having a real bad issue with the second band. The system was super hot and hurting people’s ears through much of the set. Perhaps it could have been because the band was quieter then the first. Who knows. But the sound system should be able to handle musicians and singers that don’t scream or yell into the mic. Just saying. The other two sounded okay.
5) The bathrooms. Ohhhh the bathrooms. Or, should I say, «bathroom»? There was one, for the females. ONE! One? What happened to the days when the bathrooms were so big there were even showers down here? You remodeled to have just ONE?! Let me guess, your designer and contractor was a man. I’d bet money. Dumb dumbs! You don’t put ONE bathroom in a BAR — let alone one that does NOT have a coat hanger, nor did it have an adequate mirror. Wow you guys… Seriously? It’s not like you don’t have the budget for something better. Or maybe you don’t, because you don’t advertise that customers can order FOOD down here. Ugh!
Rant. Rant rant rant. Three stars because the bathroom sucks for ladies, the sound was poorly managed, and they need to have menus readily available for their customers. Not hidden like a secret.

We got here around midnight and there was a very tiny line that went super fast, so it seems like you can get it pretty easily. There was a $ 5 cover which is better than most places you can dance at in Capitol Hill!
Once we got inside it was actually perfectly crowded. There were a lot of people but not too many people, which was a pleasant surprise. The dance floor wasn’t too packed but it was packed enough that you didn’t feel weird dancing.
My complaint though was the music. I didn’t know a single song they played. It was 100% rap music that isn’t played on the radio stations I listen to — aka the pop type stations. It was a bummer cause it is always more fun to dance to songs you know. That’s really the reason we left.
I would consider trying it again cause I did like the crowd and the space, but the music was so terrble

I really enjoyed the intimacy of Barboza, the small stage enables you to get close to the artists and the seating area had cozy booths to hang out in. They boast a nicely stocked bar and about 8 beers on tap, a couple were $ 3.50 a pint and others such as Ranger IPA, Maritime Imperial, etc were $ 5.00. The menu of specialty cocktails had some enticing options and ran from $ 6-​$ 10. With only a 200 person capacity it never took too long to get a drink.
The sound is great, dialed in perfectly and probably the best I’ve heard in Seattle aside from Q. The crowd was very respectful and chill on the night I came (Wednesday night for a City Soul event).
The only real knock I have is the bathroom situation. There is only one for each sex so you may encounter a line. In that case you can head upstairs for an additional restroom.

I go to Barboza at least once a month for K-​Pop night and it is really a lot of fun. Even on a thursday night, this place filled up and was packed. I can only image that on a saturday night there must be a long wait to get inside.
Located in the basement of Neumos, it is a tiny dance floor space with clean preppy design, a dance floor in the front, and booth seating in the back, with a full bar in the middle. The variety of music is what gives this place its signature mark. Everything from K-​Pop to contemporary underground rock.
The other great thing about this place is the location. If you need a quiet scene, you can go upstairs to the bar. Need a change of music, upstairs is Neumos. Need some food? Outside is 2 food carts plus several restaurants and food marts. This is pretty much the heart of Seattle.
Cons: The bathroom door does not lock… kind of a big problem. And good luck finding parking here, seriously, good luck.

Cute little spot, down the stairs from Moe Bar. I came here for a fundraiser event, and the small stage and few seats were actually pretty pleasant. The shape of the space itself is rather awkward for stage-​shows, but if you’re there for music, I can see it being less of a problem because you’re listening and dancing more than watching.
The service at the bar was pleasant, and my drink was tasty. I have no complaints there.

This is the new-​new spot to kick it apparently especially on Monday’s. I’ve seen many people I know here on Monday’s… and honestly, it’s such a fun and great way to start your week! Why start your Monday with crap when you can end it with great friends, good music and drinks?
We arrive on a Monday pretty early, around 10 PM since we hear that it gets pretty packed. Well, guess what? It doesn’t really get packed here until 11:30 PM. Seriously. I don’t really like their long islands here. It’s too strong in a sense where that’s all you taste. I guess it’s good if you like strong drinks.
The music is great. Good selection from old school to new cuts, to whatever. I love the vibe. Definitely the type of club I like… however, it is small. Very small, and barely any air ventilation. It gets stuffy & very hot and sweaty. The bathrooms become make-​out spots and can get really really dirty.
Otherwise, have fun. Great pick up spot for girls, ’cause there’s more guys there than girls hahahaha.

Well, it’s got a lot of… let’s say… character! Haha. For some, like those of us coming up from partying in Hollywood, this place is a bit trashy. It’s not an insult. It’s just what it is based on comparison. For others, this place is just your run of the mill regular ol’ bar and club scene. And for the rest of us… just here to have a good time, right? :)
There is a lot of booth seating at the back part (right side) of the main area.
There is no dress code here it seems. It’s kind of all over the place.
The DJ was not very good the night we were here. His transitions were awkward and the beats were uninspiring — a bit of an identity crisis and not in a fab-​u-​lous way. Oh well.

Barboza is Capitol Hill’s newest hot spot for drinking, dancing, and socializing. I have only been here on Monday nights and, for what is normally known as an off night for clubs and bars, the place has been packed each and every time. On Mondays there is no cover charge and you’ll find a rotation of DJ’s that keep the crowd hyped up as the bartenders work through the constant mash of thirsty party people as best as they can.
The only down side to the place is that its a bit small. The layout seems like it would be more conducive to a more laid back lounge atmosphere, but if the crowd gets to be too much for you, you can always head back upstairs to Moe Bar where things are a little bit more toned down.
I’m looking forward to checking out other nights at Barboza, but as far as Mondays go, there is no competition anywhere in Seattle.