Azucar Latin Bistro & Mojito Bar

Yes, To all those asking. Azucar downtown has been closed since ¹²⁄₂₀₁₄
For more information click on the link below

Not a beautiful place, but good enough for me. Live salsa w/​a good DJ and I’m set. More fun than a lot of SJ places i’ve been to. The best was seeing men under 5’3″ destroy it on the dance floor with women 5’7″ — 5’11″! I was mad impressed and embarrassed for my own lack of skills.

Came for the live music and through it the power went out. Management had little to no idea how to control the electrical. Has us waiting for about an hour. Those that were here payed for cover that he refused to return and did not charge anyone else cover. Very poor oraginization of management, and extremely poor planning. They all lost their minds, and the only one that knew anything was the «manager» great job in getting a band though.

Worst place ever!!! So much illegal action going on here. Presenting top shelf bottles filled with low class Safeway liquor. They need to be fined and shut down already

I wrote a review for this ave years ago. Apparently I must rewrite it. This place could be real fun when there is music but the food is not so good and it’s often empty.
I like 2 things here.
The sangria is amazing.
The ceviche is good.
Door really care for the rest. I recommend they remodel.

Saturday night, not serving dinner??? Unilocal says they take reservations. I’ve been there once before, and I know they do. So when I called at 5pm so see if I could reserve a table I was shocked to hear «We are not serving dinner tonight… I was told not to take reservations». WTH? Is this place not wanting business? Is my green cash not enough? He had not explanation. I asked if there was an event, he said no. This is a small place, so I know reservations are a great idea. I won’t ever be calling again or going for that matter. This shows me how poorly they run their business and the lack of communication.

About the only thing going for this place is cheap, and rather strong, drinks at happy hour. That’s about it; there isn’t much in the way of atmosphere, quality, or a good crowd. From a business standpoint, it speaks volumes about your overall ambience and service offering if your key differentiating factor is a price concession.
Like most places in San Jose, it’s where you’d reluctantly hang out if you didn’t feel like driving all the way north. [sigh]

Great music… Fun dancing… Unfortunate service at the bar.
My friends and I went to Azucar last Saturday night for the music & were greeted by a super smiley doorman and cashier (thanks to those two!). We walked in and the place was empty (still early at 9:30) so expected quick service at the bar, especially since there were only 4 – 5 people at the bar at the time. We sat, and sat, and sat… No hello, no acknowledgement, no «be right with you…» for quite a long time. Just two bartenders standing around talking to people they knew. 10 minutes later we finally asked the guy if he would take our order… he did and proceeded to take another 10 minutes to pour a couple of beers and several more to make my (pretty bad) margarita. This was the pattern every time that we went to the bar that night.
Having waited tables/​bartended for 10+ years, making a guest wait 20 – 30 minutes for service & drinks (or to just be acknowledged at all!) is, in my opinion, unacceptable. It was never tolerated in any of the bars or restaurants that I worked in anyway…
Our return is questionable. Aside from the super nice bouncers at the front and back, and the friendly hostess, we felt pretty unwanted.

I only write negative reviews when experiences are so unfortunate that they are almost comical. Our bartender was a sweet young lady but we walked in during our Halloween pub crawl mostly because the sign said $ 2 shots, mojitos and there was no line to walk in nor was it busy. We walked in and saw vats of colorful infused rum and we took one look at each other and knew we weren’t interested in the «fresh» mojitos. Shots it was. We don’t care for well shots and we are more than happy to pay much high prices for top shelf so we asked for 3 shots of AGWA a coca leaf herbal liqueur made in Bolivia and a shot of Centenario. The young lady crawled up the bar to grab the AGWA and there was about two inches of liquid left, so initially I wanted to order 4 shots but I thought there wouldn’t be enough for 4 shots so I went for tequila. She used half of what was left in the bottle, we asked for them chilled, so she chilled it with ice and poured into 3 clear plastic solo party cups. Literally no more than a centimeter maybe 1.5 cm of liquid in each cup, boom! My tequila shot same, not even 1.5 cm from the bottom of the cup, boom! Walked out in less than 5 minutes with a $ 40 tab and while in the state of shock tipped her $ 5 for having to climb up the shelves for our selections. I’m more bummed that we had to enjoy our «shots» out of disposable cups more than the poor pour.
That was the most horrific bar experience of my life. The $ 2 shots I’m pretty sure were served out of the 1oz Solo clear portion cups. A shot is 1.5 oz where I’m from. Seeing that the four of us are or at one point have been bartenders… we just laughed as we walked to the next bar. If Azucar is looking for repeat business from locals or visitors, this is not the way to do it.

Nice atmosphere, but horrrrrrrrrrrid service! In fact, quite possibly the worst service I have ever received in a dining establishment. From the barback who brushed off our request for napkins because she «is a bartender not a waitress» to the waitress who told me I «need to back up out of here» (finger pointing, ghetto as can be) when I approached the manager because on the third try in an hour-​long checkout process my bill wasn’t even close to right.
In a nutshell, here was my evening: Arrive at 9 for a bday dinner. Sit and wait, and wait and sit while the hostess makes excuses that the chef is preparing homemade chips and salsa. Sip on a pomegranate mojito with no discernible alcohol in it. An hour later, three plates with what looked to be a single tortilla worth of chips on each is placed on the table and someone takes our food order. After a couple of snotty, dismissive comments from staff, I pull the hostess aside and let her know how her staff is treating our table. She speaks to them, and takes over service. Sometime after 10:30, half the food is delivered (but no utensils or napkins). And about 15 minutes later, the rest of the food comes. My lettuce was wilted, and the top of my rice was crunchy. So I had to wait 2 hours for food that was under the heat lamp so long it was mostly inedible? I pick at it and order another drink (which is much stronger so maybe the bartender is warmed up now).
At 12, the hostess asks if I can settle my bill so they can go home. Sure, I tell her, as soon as someone brings me one. She points to the folder on another table and asks if mine is in there. Hmm… I look. There are three bills in there, none of which are mine. But there appear to be two drinks of mine on someone else’s check, so I hand her my card to cover those. She comes back to tell me I’m responsible for my meal and drinks, and I tell her (again) that I’m happy to pay as soon as I have my check. She brings back a credit card slip for almost $ 40. And when I ask her for the itemized bill she rolls her eyes, sighs, and walks away to get one. But what she brings is a check for two meals, neither of which are mine. WTF?! I finally go to talk to the manager myself. He’s scrambling now to get it right — no doubt because these two are now on OT. At this point, I’m not confident they have any idea who ordered what and tell him so. And apparently ghetto barbie is offended that I’m knocking her «skill» as a waitress and decides to get in my face. Needless to say, the manager refunded me fully. What a disaster!
Sadly, all three times I have been there it’s been the same. Sad. Because I really want to like the place. It could be a great spot for dinner and dancing — on a regular basis even. But I was so dissatisfied that if I’m ever invited again, I’ll show up before cover charge starts and stand around until the music plays to avoid giving them another penny of my hard-​earned money.

Our organization,
, hosted a happy hour here for supporters. The coordination before hand was great. The staff worked really well on making sure that everything that we needed was available.
Christina, helped organize and did all of the bar tending. She was awesome. The staff was on hand to answer any questions during the event.
The drinks are great. They’re pretty well sized and they don’t skimp on the alcohol.

The drinks were good, but the whole place smelled like a stinky bathroom.

Went here for a friends birthday and the best parts were my friends and the drinks.
Free chips and salsa are great, but not if it’s the bottom of the bag. I can’t scoop salsa if my chip is smaller than the tomato slice… hahaha ok ok. Anyway, the food was pretty good and of good size! But service was just all over the place. Wrong order, wrong meat, etc. I hope that guy was new!
So maybe, this place will just stay as a drinking spot for me at least.

I have been going to Azucar since 2007. I loved the atmosphere of the place. Good crowd, great food and the music created a great ambiance. Although the place is small it drew a great crowd whenever they had salsa bands. The menu had a great variety of Latin dishes all delicious.
Recently I went to Azucar for dinner and was greatly disappointed. First of all it’s no longer Azucar Latin Bistro, it’s now Azucar Mexican Bar and Grill. The menu has completely changed to strictly Mexican food. Not that it was bad but not nearly as good as what it used to be. The place was also completely dead. We were served stale chips. We asked the bartender to try one, she made a sour face and threw out the basket. We ordered 2 different dishes. After waiting for out dinner for 10 minutes we were told they were out of that type of meat.
My husband and I always went there to listen to the salsa music as we enjoyed dinner, however that’s changed too. Hip hop was not the background music we wanted during dinner.
While we were sitting at the bar we noticed a new bartender was starting her
first shift there. The bartender that was serving us introduced her to a lady that looked to be the manager or owner not sure. She was very rude to her. Hardly acknowledged her and was not at all friendly.
Needless to say s place is the polar opposite of what it used to be. This used to be one of our favorite places in San Jose but after our last visit we will not be returning. Very disappointed that such a great place turned to this.

I used to love this place, not sure what happened but last time I went was a HUGE disappointment! They were out of ceviche and chili relleno’s, and the service was terrible. Hmmm where to begin…
When we arrived, I asked the waitress if I could use my
coupon and she said there was no manager there to process the coupon. So if he showed up before we left then yes, but if he didn’t show up then no.
Then, when I ordered ceviche, which was the only reason I wanted to go there in the first place, she told me they were all out. So we ordered a sample platter and a couple of tacos to share. The food was nothing special at all, very bland and basic. The chips tasted stale, and they gave us a tiny amount of salsa.
After we were brought our food, the waitress disappeared and there was no one around to ask for napkins or water. We had no napkins on our table and water was never brought out. After I finally flagged down the waitress she apologized and told me it was her first day. There was no one else working in the place but the bus boy who was helping take orders for a large party that had arrived (20+ people).
Before we left, the manager finally showed up so we were able to use the coupon, the only highlight of our evening was not having to pay full price for such a crappy experience.

I hate doing this, but I just have to.
Their service is awful and slow. We had a party of about 18 for a birthday, and NO ONE enjoyed their food. I was so disappointed. It wasn’t even crowded! Maybe not meant for big parties.
Not to mention the hour wait to get the food and the next hour trying to just pay our bill yet with a whole bunch of mistakes.
Service– 0
Food-​0
But for Unilocal,its mandatory to give at least 1 star. so here it is.

I’m slightly biased, but this place sucked.
So I’m one quarter Latin (Colombian to be exact) and therefore am a big fan of lots of Latin music, and I also really enjoy dancing. But I hate salsa dancing. Some of the music is okay, most of it… not my thing. In fact most of the music I’ve heard here… not my thing. But my bias against salsa dancing aside… this place still sucked.
I’m not sure what was going on, but when I walked in it felt like I was in hell. It was SO hot that it was tough to breath. Now I understand that it can get a bit hot when you’ve been dancing… but COME ON, I had just stepped foot in the place. My three friends all felt the same so we went to the little place next door instead (they are connected and I feel like they are the same establishment?” They were playing hip-​hop there and it was a bit cooler. But still way too hot. The drinks weren’t great prices and were pretty bad.
The cover was $ 10 each which I think was way too high (though to be fair I would have thought $ 1 was too high for this place.)
And for the record, this is clearly a review of the nightlife. Haven’t eaten here… but don’t plan on it.

It was a disappointing experience — We waited more than 20 minutes before someone even came to our table & there was only one other small group in the restaurant. Eventually a waitress came out & provided chips & salsa to a table behind us that just walked in and appeared to be her friends. I had to flag the waitress down to get attention & she actually acted annoyed that I was asking for anything.
We eventually walked up to the bar to place our order & it took over an hour to come out. We also ordered mojitos to start which were fantastic but again had to walk up to the bar to get our 1^st and 2^nd drink. This is a sit down restaurant. I also asked for the wine list and was told, «we have cab, merlot and chardonnay, which do you want?» all from one low end label I won’t even mention. How does a latin tapas style restaurant not have a wine selcetion? When I said that to the waitress she said, «this is a mojito bar, get a mojito!» In my opinion a huge missed opportunity. NO WINE selection to go along with this amazing food? The APPETIZERS were absolutely awesome but we decided to leave and not even order dinner since it took so long to be served.
I think this place could be very successful but needs new management and servers. Its a shame becuase I have seen places like this go out of business for all the wrong reasons.

Azucar? More like uhhh-​suck-​er.
See what I did there?
So there me and my boys are. We just left a singles mixer because no women wanted us to father their children, and we were looking for a place to grab a quick drink. Two lovely girls were standing outside the bar, trying ever so hard to lure us in.
«Happy Hour all night!» they proclaimed. «Two dollar mojitos!» they taunted.
We passed for a moment. After all, if they’re running happy hour all night, what’s the rush, right? We went onward to Fusion, as we were still looking for the Juliets to our Romeos. Alas, it was all men and women that looked like they were still too young to vote. Odd, considering it was a 21+ bar and all, but still, this lawyer knows better.
Still seeking refuge and something to quench our parched throats, we headed back to Azucar. One of the girls was still there. She was friendly and cute, but sadly misinformed. She stated that Happy Hour ended. We questioned her statement in light of the sign next to her that proclaimed otherwise, and in light of her statements fifteen minutes earlier. «Oh sorry, I’m new.» That’s cool. You’re cute. We’ll let it slide.
We headed inward. I went to the bar. My boy went to the pisser. I asked for a regular mojito. She said, «Only pineapple mojitos are on Happy Hour special.» Umm, that’s not what your sign says, but who gives a [fornicate]? «I’ll have pineapple.»
My friend comes back out and orders his own mojito, a few feet down the bar. I’m a gentleman, so I offer to pay for both. She tells me, «Fifteen dollars.» Fifteen dollars? What in the sam hell are you talking about lady? «He ordered a strawberry mojito. That’s not on happy hour special.» Of course, she didn’t tell him about the happy hour special. And of course, I’m not going to argue over ten bucks when she can barely hear me talk.
Should I have paid her? Probably not. I’m not homeless, however. I’ll pay the ten damn bucks extra. I would have spend it anyway on a second round of watered-​down nearly alcohol-​free mojitos, as I strangely enough wasn’t even getting a buzz off of the one in front of me. So, they didn’t gain any extra cash that night. She didn’t gain a tip. They saved about $ 0.30 in mojito mix and lost a good amount of future business.
P. S., this was about two weeks ago. It looks like others are having bad luck there lately as well. Perhaps a little talk with the staff is in order?

To be fair, the following is the owner/manager’s? explanation of the service I received. Note, my reviews cannot be bought and I had to tell this person so. Also, I did NOT use a Groupon coupon during my visit. You can also see an example of how she believes my review should read by checking out Azucar’s review by Local F (the profile who sent me this message:
«Hi Noël,
Unfortunately you got the NEW server who is no longer there and we apologize. In front of management she was great, but to customers and staff she was not attentive.
The other issue we ran into this day is we were training a NEW cook, and our head Chef was out having surgery, ugh! Timing.
Please do let us make it up to you, we value you as a customer and want to make things right.
Please let us know when you are coming in so we can extend a generous discount to your bill for your troubles. It was all bad timing.
Thank you in advance and if you would please consider revising your posting or even removing it, we would greatly appreciate it. Both employees are gone and we are done with grouponers which was a disaster that no restaurant should ever encounter.
All in all, we want your business and will do what we can to redeem ourselves to you and retain you as a valued lifetime customer.
Thank you kindly,
Melia»