The Empire Room

Went here recently (last Thursday to be precise!) with little to no information about this venue. From what I could tell in the pictures, it looked super fancy and super nice, so I was pretty excited to go somewhere new. And it was cool, I guess. if you could disregard the fact that being in there felt like being in a steam room.
Not sure if it was just for the specific event or if this is a usual occurrence, but I liked how we didn’t have to bring a physical printed copy of our ticket or show it on our phone. Apparently, by purchasing the tickets, our name goes on the guest list? Completely new to me, but I can dig it. There’s two bars inside the venue. One immediately to the right of the entrance, and one further down on the main dance floor. Both are unfortunately cash only and serve different things. I believe the first bar only has shots and cocktails, while the main floor bar has shots, cocktails, and beers. Apparently, they weren’t well stocked the night I was there, as the front bar had somehow run out of Hennessy. On the plus side, the front bar is enclosed in its own room so it’s a good place to go to talk, drink, cool down, or to just escape the crowds on the main dance floor.
Anyway, back to the venue. It’s very. very. very. hot in there. The kind of hot where I resorted to buying beers just to put the cold bottle on my forehead… I kid you not. Fortunately there’s a back smoking area where you can go to cool off/​smoke, but we didn’t even know about it until halfway through the night.
Other than the cash only aspect, I don’t think this place is tooooo bad. Perhaps the night I went just had the venue to full capacity, but if it wasn’t super crowded I doubt it would be that hot. so idk, maybe there’s redemption for you yet, Empire Room.

I came to The Empire Room a couple weeks ago for a Paint Nite event. The space gives off a nice, swanky vibe with high ceilings, wood floors, and sparkly chandeliers. I was surprised at how huge their rooms were, since the entrance on Golden Gate Ave was unlabeled and EXTREMELY unassuming. So don’t doubt your GPS when it says «you have arrived!» because you probably just need to go in through those random double doors!
I was unimpressed by the drink offerings, though — they had a handful of $ 10 cocktails but they were out of stock of ingredients to make some of them. My liquor-​loving friends were sad to find out that they did not have the house-​made mix for a Michalada. Why advertise, then?
Biggest gripe… it was a CASH ONLY bar. I’m not sure if this was set by the Paint Nite company, but the bartender was exceedingly unapologetic about it.
Looks like this place hosts different sorts of events with new rules every time. If you plan on coming here, I’d try to get some details about it to save yourself the aggravation!

I wish I could put a N/​A star rating up — because I actually didn’t get to go inside.
We had been looking forward to checking this place out. A nice place in that area? Hard to find. Unfortunately when we showed up at 5:30 on Friday, the place was closed. We emailed to find out why you were closed — and late that night we received a cursory email saying that the place was closed for an event.
Fine, close for an event — but be professional enough to state as much on the website, or at the very least on the door. You are doing a huge disservice to yourself by being unpredictable. You have lost the future patronage of three lovely ladies willing to spend money at your establishment, and tell their alcohol-​loving friends about it. Why would we ever trust that you are open now?

I have only been to one event here — but I found that the space was a great fit for the psychedelic themed party that I attended.
The Empire Room isn’t particularly a memorable venue, nor would I say that it’s in a convenient location either. That being said with it’s long bar, ample VIP areas (which were closed off during the event), and it’s large chandeliers it’s a great space for someone looking to host a classy event at a new/​not very well known space.
After perusing through The Empire Room’s website — it sounds like the space is still in progress — when it comes to both their bar and food menu. I would be curious to learn more about what the owners behind this space have in mind when it comes to this venue and what the capacity and cost of the space is for private events.
Trust.

By far the worse experience I have ever had. The club is small and the crowd at our venue were too many. There was no room to dance or even breath properly. We reserved a table prior to the event but it was in the worse possible place. I suggested to add one extra bottle and extra tip so we could move to a better place but they said that’s not doable and the girl who was the manager let laughing and saying «oh sorry!!» We didn’t get the table and that’s a lost to the club as the minimum of our spend could be easily $ 1k. Do not go to this place for a special event or you will be very disappointed.

I was able to attend the first party hosted at this event. In fact, I was one of the door hosts. What a fantastic club and bar concept. In fact, the neighborhood has been lacking good options for about a few years. I work in an office nearby and just proposed this as a location for our next happy hour. I love the theme. I didn’t even realize they would be doing the happy hour lounge option until today. I am quite pleased to think that we may be one of the first groups to enjoy such an endeavor. Thank you for bringing this concept and quite possibly I will return for some great music performances as well.

Checking this place out at a free event. Great bartenders, not too crowded tonight due to the private event, but I’m sure it’ll fill up soon enough! I really enjoyed the drink I got. I simply told the bartender I wanted something fruity and he whipped up some bee pollen bourbon concoction (that I’m sure I got the name wrong), but whatever the name… it was yum!