Sweetwater Saloon

AKA 207 now
managed by the guy who ran the pool in Vegas (for Rehab)
its too small, everyone wants to dance and there is no room unless you get the obnoxious table. The girls here all look so desperate to try to meet someone with money.

I’ve been to this bar twice now and the three stars is an average of my two experiences.
On my first trip, the place was overcrowded and ridiculous. I liked the environment, but it was simply way too packed.
On the second trip, there was no line to get in and grabbing a drink at the bar was simple. I had a great time, but I was also with a big group of friends. If I was here to meet someone on this night, I probably wouldn’t have had that great of a time.
Overall, there are better places in SD to spend $ 12 a drink (it’s a bit expensive…), but the location is good so hopefully they will improve a bit after they reopen.

Closed…
1 Feb update… looks like the Gerber bros have been kicked, er locked out and per the craigslist ads Tarsadia (the hotel management co) is rehiring to reopen. Lets hope they get it right this time…

So it is kinda trendy, but drinks are expensive, $ 14, but afterall, what do you expect from a hotel bar. Anyway, they play decent music but the people here are kinda «eh»…So, the girls are pretty beautiful in a fake blond sorta way. The guys are totally on the prowl. They just stand around and give off a totally awful sleazy vibe. WTF! Yuckos.

Was just there last night and I’m in agreement with some of the other reviewers. I HATE this place. We drove down from OC to hang out for a friend’s birthday and so we didn’t know what to expect but thinking its Hard Rock, it might be decent… WRONG!!!
First of all, stand in line for close to 20 minutes and it wasn’t even 11PM yet. Then, my friends were thinking if we got bottle service, we’d get in faster. That’s when the BS started with the bouncers. They first told us there was a two bottle min for 10 of us, okay… no problem. Then another bouncer told us they didn’t have a table that would accommodate all of us after the first one told us there was. THEN, the 2^nd bouncer just so happens to find us a new table but its a 3 bottle min. My friends were still debating so I got in since I was waiting in another line… when I got in, it wasn’t even half fill… over half the bottle service booths/​tables were open so yeah, they were pretty much trying to run a scam on us.
In this recessionary economy, you don’t need to put up with this kind of BS. Never EVER going back… this one Hard Rock experience killed it for me and I will never ever EVER give any of my money to Hard Rock estabilishments… EVER AGAIN!!!

I was with Jack K. on his excursions to this Rande Gerber extravaganza and I agree down the line. We have learned from experience (and not just here) that it is an absolute truism that a bunch of dudes with no girls and no bottle service reservations are gonna be lucky to get in… anywhere where bottle service is offered.
Money and girls talk in these kinds of places, and Sweetwater is no exception. So please know what to expect… if you are splurging for a special occassion or are made of money and do it the right way, you’ll have a good time. The place is pretty cool as far as clubs go.
Just don’t show up with four dudes or at 11 p.m. with no reservation and expect to roll right in… or at all… unless you’re packing about an equal number of attractive girls dressed like they wanna party. There is nothing more pathetic than some dude begging to get in a bar rolling out all the excuses (I say this from experience too.)

I hate the Hard Rock. I know, hate is such a strong word, but I truly, sincerely, hate the Hard Rock.
I used to like the Hard Rock when they first opened last year, but their bouncers make up some b.s. excuse to hold the line for an hour when we can clearly see how empty it is in Sweetwater Saloon. Ridiculous!
Go somewhere else and don’t bother wasting $ 15 bucks on a freakin’ martini, this place is overrated.
Did I mention that I hate the Hard Rock?

«YOU’RE ON THE LIST»
Appropriately, this is the header on the website for Sweetwater. I would NEVER go to this place if I didn’t have a table there (for bottle service). Namely because I would never want to wait in a line to spend my own money someplace.
That said, I have been there on 4 separate occassion in the past 4 or 5 months where we did bottle service with no big issues. We called up Pablo (their VIP host) and made the reservations.
A few tips however:
1. No matter what minimum bottle requirement (for the number of guests you have) they quote you… it is ALWAYS negotiable as long as you do it before hand.
EX #1: We had maybe 8 – 12 of us for one night and we called up a few days before and said we wanted to get a table and were told it would be a two bottle minimum. So we said no-​thank you and then he changed his mind and let us go with one. Another time, they told us the same thing and we said okay, and then called back a day later and said we wanted to cancel the reservation because we could only buy one bottle… guess what? They let us just buy one bottle. Now I can’t say that will always work because some weekends are more booked than others but remember: EVERYTHING IN LIFE IS NEGOTIABLE.
EX #2 I reserved a table with two bottles for my girlfriend’s birthday a few months back and we ended up being able to get more than 20 people in.
In this case, we had one of the girls in the group set it up. She was better able to schmooze the number of people. They told her she needed to give them our guest list the day prior but they didn’t check it when we all showed up.
2. More dudes=longer wait (even if you are on the list). Yes this sucks, but I wouldn’t even think about trying to get a table here (or any other ‘club’ type place) without at least a couple of girls in our group. I would just go somewhere else.
3. Show up on time. If you have a large group and have reserved a table they will probably tell you to show up at 930 or 10PM. I would try to stick to that as closely as possible, especially if you have a few extra people in your group.
There is usually a gaggle of people around the head bouncer (or whatever he is called) trying to tell him they are on the list. Be direct and let him know who you made the reservation with. «I made a reservation under Spencer with Pablo.»
4. Make sure you have room on your plastic. Even if you were planning on paying with cash or multiple cards they will still need one card to preauthorize for the full amount before they give you bottles. This will be substantially more than the bottle itself cost. I think theirr bottles of vodka were 350 or 400 each (standard for these types of places) but the mandatory service charge for them is another 150 per bottle there (or close to it). And then the waitress will give you a spiel about how they have to split that and they don’t really get all that so you will tip more. I talked to a friend of mine who works the tables at Stingaree and she said that that is kind of a scam. Also, they will charge you a lot extra for red-​bull vodkas.
5. PRE-​PARTY PRE-​PARTY PRE-​PARTY. Their drinks/​bottles are expensive and a group of 8 – 10 will run through a bottle in an hour at the most if they hadn’t been drinking earlier. Unless you are made of money, I would highly recommend this.
Others:
Sweetwater vs. Stingaree vs. Minus One vs. Confidential vs. Moonstone
Sweetwater is designed as much more of a group place. In other words, a place where you are gonna go and hang out just with the people you came with. The layout is much more conducive to this and the dance floor is small. If you want to meet new people I would suggest any of the other places.
I am not sure if Moonstone is even open in the winter but it has a huge layout and is set up to be much more social.
# TIMES VISITED: 7. ish

Booooo! Sorry to be repetetive but damn it! Just calmate alright… no one that is on that guest list is even coming tonight or any other night for that matter because there is never anyone in there… and no I am not here for bottle service!
Get over yourselves, this isn’t Vegas, and you aren’t getting any money slipped your way to let anyone in! Chill out, we all go out to have a good time… shame you couldn’t be a part of that :)

The newest rival to the posh bottle service clubs downtown. This is a Gerber bar, not as in baby food, but rather Randy Gerber. Aka Mr. Cindy Crawford. They pride themselves on paying attention to every lavish little detail. Take note the pillars wrapped in woven leather.
the intention is to have a controlled crowd of «nice» people. Don’t be surprised if you get to the door and are greeted with, «Sorry its private parties only.» This is the standard answer that staff gives because the club functions on a list only entrance basis. If you aren’t on the list have patience and try to be smart about it, you can get in. If you have a group of all guys, grab some girls to add to your group and you have a better likelihood of getting in. Likewise offer the doorman a tip, also a sure way to get you. DO NOT be pushy or rude, they have seen it all and that won’t get you in any time. And show up early, the closer you get there before 10PM the more likelihood you have to be granted entrance.
The drink prices are on par for downtown. So expect to spend anywhere from $ 8 – 15 for a cocktail. I have never seen anyone have trouble getting served at the bar. They do a good job of having enough efficient bartenders scheduled. As for attitude at the bar, I’ve never gotten any. If you look carefully many of the bartenders have come from your favorite dive bars so they are actually very down to earth.
For all of you who love to complain about the attitude of the patroons. You need to check yourself. It is a downtown bottle service club, I believe some cheese comes along with this. You know its going to be a show. You can sit back and enjoy people watching or go to another spot.
I will warn you that the DJ’s are always lacking. I have never hear any solid DJ downstairs they always have a hard time mashing up songs. I hear train wreck after train wreck on the beats they always have their treble turned up too high, which accounts for the music being at times painful. Instead for music I would go upstairs to Moonstone where they have more solid DJ’s. Overall I prefer Moonstone, the upstairs bar, but Sweetwater is a nice treat.
p. s. I have been turned away at the door before. Newsflash, I lived!

Wow, this place has some serious issues.
1^st visit, walked in from the street and had a couple drinks on some nice leather chairs. The place is empty.
2^nd visit, got the whole «guest list» rap, but ultimatly was let into an empty club.
3^rd visit «guest list» rap again and sent away. Club was half empty. You are kidding right? I guess I thought the doorman was messing with me.
Gerber bars used to be my favorite. Lately I have noticed they have been dying a slow death in other cities. Gerber is still using the same policies and attitude that made his clubs hot in the early 90’s. Somebody let them know it is 2008 and that nightlife isn’t so cheesy now.

Heyy check me out. im in San Diego, CA for a conference meeting… I reside in Dayton, OH… but since I figured i was gonna be in SD, CA for a week for a small dick CFO conference I decided to book myself a room at the Hard Rock Hotel and drink at the Sweetwater Salooon…
Im prepared… know why… because i’m so cool w/​my shitty ass grin and suit that im gonna hit on any girl i see at the bar and make a fool of myself. oh wait? money can’t buy me love?/… well i’ll just go back to my room and jack off to the soft porn they have on tv here…
Yeah i’ll do that. .after buying a buncha strangers here at the bar a few rounds and realizing they’re my main competitors in my field of biz… and that biz can’t be looking good. because i look like a douchebag w/​a gay suit on trying so hard to fuck my national sales rep from Florida of all places… hope my wife doesn’t mind… and my 3 teenage kids!!!
Oh im such a douchebag.. I drive a Ford Taurus w/​my family back home. but since im in downtown SD. .i decided to rent a drop top mercedes benz and fake the life!!! look at me get valet parking!!! hurry look ladies!!! before im not next to my car anymore!!! ohhh damnn they didn’t see me next to my euro car that i don’t even own… maybe my money at the bar will attract them. im such a loser… bitch ass homo that can’t please my wife unless i buy her a shot of wild turkey and a gigolo to please her!!!

Worse than the upstairs on a weekend, but not bad if you come on a weekday when its not crowded — I’m being generous. If you decide to come on a weekend brace yourself — the bar is a circus. The patrons are a mixed bag, but you will not miss the group of rotund, full bodied girls (I’m being polite) surrounding their pretty friend who is crowned with a tiara meandering around the bar.
The demeanor of the staff is indifferent, but not annoying or rude. As an aside, don’t bother carrying conversation with the bartenders; they are probably so numb from hearing all kinds of drab stories from out-​of-​towners conventioneers and the standard club/​bar hoppers.
The drinks are relatively expensive, but you should expect that in a place like Hard Rock.
My advice if you plan to visit, get a drink or two and then bounce before the herd of circus freaks come rolling through. BTW, I read my review of Hard Rock upstairs.

35 minutes in line for this?!
It was my sister’s b-​day on Saturday, and after dinner, we wanted to check out a spot downtown. We happened upon this place based on it’s proximity to the garage we parked in.
The good– the inside of this place was pretty nifty. It was definitely dark up in here, but it wasn’t overly crowded, and there was a clear division of dance floor and bar area. I dig that highly. Oh yeah, no cover, woo woo!
The bad– the dj was playing decent music, but really didn’t have any kind of sequence going. There was really no flow to it– you’d have R&B followed up by techno, to some early 90’s. That was truly unfortunate. And there was some jack ass dancing all about with a drink in his hand, splishing and a splashing on everybody. He was this close to getting a foot up his ass. Oh yeah, it looked like 2 16 year olds got in. They may have thought they were pulling it off, but they fooled nobody.
The ugly– as I mentioned before, we had to wait 35 minutes to get in. We got in line at about 10:15pm, so it’s not like this place was packed by any means, but they were intent on letting «only VIPs and people on the guest list» in this evening. If it hadn’t been for the people ahead of us not wanting to wait, and the fact that our party had 3 girls and 2 guys, we probably would not have gotten in.
Overall– plenty of other, better places to go dance and get a drink.

Good music, shitty attitude.
Drinks are deceptively generous served in a highball glass so they LOOK bigger, but they don’t pack much of a happy kick. While I do enjoy pineapple juice, I kind of mind paying $ 12 for a glass of it!
The door policy was a nightmare. There was no one in line, we could peer inside and see a vacant dance floor, yet the bouncers had that velvet rope up as if there was a private private @ Les Deux.

Eh, this is no means a place I like or prefer to go, but I have had my moments there. I’ve shared a bottle of Dom with a celebrity there which made me puke later in the night, and any place that I like enough even once to drink all night until puking has a 2 star place in my heart.
–3 stars for 1) overpriced drinks 2) cocktailers’ tits so eyecatching I feel like a lesbian 3) not friendly doormen that like to make you wait outside in the rain when its not full.

Wow i should have read these review before heading out to this lame a$$ joint… but I thought since this is SD, a new place wouldn’t be too bad to get into…
i expected a line… but seriously who does Sweetwater think they are a Las Vegas club? Please!
Sweetwater more like sourwater.
This place is ridiculous I agree with most of comments below, this place sits on their high horse thinking they are all that but they aren’t…
Just a lame club with old ugly foggies… it was comical!
I would even go as far as to this place (incl. the bouncers) is borderline– R*C*ST.
(this is my absolute truthful testimonial about this place, I really do not like to badmouth a place unless highly necessary… but as you can read it is necessary. This place is really a shame to have in SD)
Seriously SD patrons do NOT, I repeat DO NOT waste your money here.

My advise for all «hot clubs» in the gaslamp: Arrive drunk and get there by 9:30 !!!
That’s exactly what I did Saturday night and fun times were actually had at this obnoxious bar.
We squatted at someone else’s VIP area until we got kicked out. But the hostess was actually pretty cool to us and kept coming back to get our drink orders. Plus we snuck in a birthday cake (and I do mean covertly snuck in a cake disguised under a coat in a gift bag with plates and forks stuffed in our purses due to an $ 8/​plate fee for bringing in your own cake). We gave the extra cake to the busboys and bartenders and made friends. Which later helped when we «accidentally» opened a bottle of champagne that we had also snuck in. Oooopsie! I don’t remember much else. There was music and dancing but i wouldn’t say there was a dance floor exactly. Oh and the restrooms were outside of the bar in the hotel lobby which was a little annoying and made it easy to lose your party as people came and went.

**Based on 5 separate experiences**
1^st visit: Waited in line. No one inside. Turned away after waiting for a good 20 minutes. Bouncer gave the same BS reason you see below — «at capacity» & «guest list only.»
2^nd visit: ««
3^rd visit: Got in. ONLY because we were there for a private party. See experience below.
4^th visit: Same as 1^st visit. Coked out mohawk bouncer told us not to wait in the cold since we wouldn’t get in b/​c they were «at capacity.» This was around 11PM. What is the most hilarious part of this is that we’d walked THROUGH the hotel on the side where Pinkberry is going in, but when we tried to walk back the same way inside the hotel, the bouncer wouldn’t even let us inside. Like we were gonna try and sneak in the other door. PUH-​LESE. It was freezing cold!!! Give me a break! Yet another a$$hole bouncer on the loose!
5^th visit: Same as 1^st visit. Coked out mohawk bouncer was not coked out this time, but it was a different guy that was in charge of the denial in this instance. «At capacity.» The place was EMPTY!!! It was only like 10:30! Great business they’re running here. Losing money left and right and denying paying customers.
***The one and only time we were inside***
Got in only because we had wristbands and were part of a private party in which the whole joint was rented out. DJ was good — DJ Scooter. E-​40 was there for the event, and that was cool since it was up close and personal. Can’t comment on the crowd since this was an «off night» — a week night.
Décor — typical dark, trying-​to-​be-​stylish interior. See pictures I uploaded. One bar in the middle of the place, large enough with an ample supply of bartenders.
Appetizers were bleuh — eggrolls were totally frozen and then fried — NOT fresh. Chicken Satay was so-​so. Cocktail waitresses wore tight low cut shirts — perhaps working their second job from Hooters. Meaning: fake boobs galore. And fake bleach blonde hair. Decent specialty drink menu. Lots of wine to choose from too.
Cool feature: some of the tables around the edges have built in refrigerated kegs. This was freeflowing for the event, but I guess you’d have to pay for this on other occasions, and I’m sure it’s not cheap. They were good about clearing empty glasses and supplying new mugs for the tap.
Bottom line: this place is trying way too hard. The only reason we’d tried more than once to return was that it was free to get in and we wanted to give it a chance. Sounds like they turn away just about everyone and it’s completely not worth waiting for. Maybe soon they’ll figure out this place is a joke and they’ll wake up and fall off their high horse.

EH.
As a big fan of the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas (I could spend DAYS in there just looking at all the memorabilia) I was surprised to find that I wasn’t that impressed with the Sweetwater Saloon.
WHAAAAAAAAT?
Yeah, I know. Then again, it seems no one is.
It’s dark. It’s over-​priced. It has mediocre service. The décor would probably be cool if you could see any of it. The chicken satay app — is minuscule (did I really just use that word??) The calamari was salty. And the server had no idea what Cachaa or Caipirinha’s were… and she didn’t even act like she cared.
I know they haven’t been open long — and I will probably be back to check it out again — I was just disappointed with my first experience and the impression it left on me.
EH.