The Redroom Cocktail Lounge

Smells like you’re sitting inside of a well worn tennis shoe. Could use a well deserved steam cleaning

Worst experience EVER! Went in there late Wednesday night with 2 friends. (All girls) the bartender was nice and so was the bouncer. however the guy that was behind the bar area was awful! I asked the bartender where I can buy smokes with out over paying and the guy turned around and was trying to sell me some of cigarettes. and than attempted to hug me and kept asking me to hug him! Even after I told him NO repeatedly! Idk if he worked there or what. but I personally don’t appreciate a man/​possible employee of an establishment to harass me repeatedly to hug him! He literally drove me and my friends out of the bar. and we were THE only people in there! if he works there. it’s a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen. if he doesn’t work there he probably shouldn’t hang around the back part of the bar. just sayin!!! Ladies beware of that creep!

The atmosphere and the people watching are amazing, they have couches and other great places to sit. Usually the drinks are decent, however, on a recent visit I had a drink that was absolutely terrible. The drink was what I can only believe to be syrup and vodka. I am incredibly disappointed by this it was not worth the 9 $ I paid. I will not be ordering off the menu in the future.

This is review for the upstairs after 10p. They make this place work because its not in the city. It goes well with Santa Cruz. Theres sofas everywhere and you can sit whereever u please the dance floor is not huge but big enuff to feel like a good party in there. The bar is sizable. I been to bigger clubs with half the size bar in the bay area. The people there think that they are cooler than they are, thats for sure. And everytime i go i feel over dressed or something i guess its that hippie vibe. And noone really likes to dance outside their circle. I think since everyone goes to the college and its a small town everyone is a regular and it makes me feel like an outsider. But thats not the clubs fault. I like it in there. Its just not what im used to. And the people that hang around the club outside are dangerous. i see a fight everytime i go. I seen someone get stabbed and i havent gone back since. Like its not even that popping and I never seen a dime piece there for that sort of drama. All the girls that go there are plain so i wonder who are they trying to impress anytime i see a fight? And classy women dont really appreciate fights so i dont know. They should hire police officers to always be in the front. Those security they have aint shit. They are really slack and will most likely turn a blind eye if its not happening right in front of them they wont run to come help anyone mord than 10 feet from them. i seen it go down. The parking is conveniently in a garage and its free. But apart from the violence, all the bums in downtown just makes me wanna stay away. nd its when i go to red room i feel like that because motiv is down the street and its way better vibe and the people in there a more upscale. Crazy how different things can be just on the other side of the street. Go to motiv instead if you are trying to party, red room really is more of a real actual lounge than a party spot.

Great food always! We’ve been really fortunate to have the same waitress twice in a row and she’s really great at her job!!! We had Chicken-​n-​Waffles and they were the best we’ve ever had. For the quality of the food the price is a bargain. Lastly, it has great ambiance. Great date night place! One of Santa Cruz’s best restaurants.

Dive atmosphere, asked the bartender to make a cocktail (last word) using a few bottles I could see behind the bar. Not the fault of our very accommodating bartender, but I think some of the mixers had gone bad. Liqueurs do have a shelf life. I appreciated her recommendation to try the sister business upstairs. This seems like a great place to drink beer and whiskey, not sure about calling it a cocktail lounge as the seem less cocktail focused. Service was friendly.

I was really disappointed in this place. Me and a few friends came here and it was my first time there. The drinks were great. The atmosphere was nice.
And then we get to the staff. Mainly Aaron the bartender we had. We were not even there a hour and he asked us to leave. We were not being loud we were not disrespectful. We were sitting in a corner enjoying our time. Oh, but we had not tipped yet. So Aaron asked us to leave and told us he was refusing to serve us anymore. He seemed pretty proud to kick us out too. When we went up to the bar to ask why he became ruder and told us «he doesn’t have to tell us why we just have to leave»
We talked to the other staff and all in all we ended up having to GIVE him 20 bucks to stay. Black mail much?
I won’t be back except to talk to the owner. It truly was a shame. If the staff was friendlier this would of been a ⁴⁄₅ star rating.

Awesome place to have some drinks! Not so expensive and the environment is pretty chill. Customer service is good! Definitely recommend this place if your planning to have a fun time in Santa Cruz

It was IIIIIGHHHTTTT… not great. The music they were playing when i went was kinda boring music. i mean they played good dancing music but mostly boring, if that makes any sense… Anyway, Bar tender seemed like he really hated his job and not friendly at all. i guess im used to the happy friendly ones

I mean people apparently have no idea the upstairs and downstairs are two separate businesses. But hey it’s fair, I mean what genius owns two separate businesses and then calls them by the same name.
ANYWAYS. This is for the downstairs.
I get why some folks might not be into it, but I’ve never had a problem. It’s not a bar for rookies. You don’t ask for a menu or what drinks they make. They make em. All of em. Except mojitos. I’ve seen em be sweet and hold people’s hand all the way to a whiskey sour but fuuuuu figure it out kids! It’s a dive! A nice one sure but hell you seen the ceiling? Woof.
Just order quick, tip well and don’t f*** with your bartender. They’re all class, old school sweetheart bartenders. BE POLITE. TIP WELL. N that’s how you bar youngins. These people work hard!
Omg and it’s decorated for Halloween right now and looks hella amazing. I love this bar. Ugh.

This is a great place for cocktails, though I’m not very into the food choices. I love the ambiance and the staff has generally been competent. My out-​of-​town guests love coming here. I tend to leave before it gets too crowded because the crowd can be kind of boring and obnoxious later on, in my opinion.

Extremely rude staff — one member of our group was wearing a hat and was told he would have to take it off. He complied and gave it to another friend to put it in her purse. The staff then proceeded to yell profanities and insult members of our group, because apparently bringing a hat inside that establishment is not allowed whatsoever. They need to reevaluate their policies if even the mention of a hat inside a purse is that outrightly prohibited. Overall, extremely rude interaction, including the use of the N word, and I will be sure to tell all of my friends coming here to never visit this bar.

This place is cool, definitely different from what we’re used to in San Jose. I love the atmosphere. They have a very wide range of reasonably priced drinks. Couches, bar stools, and booths, plenty of seating. And they welcome the DJ and open up the dance floor later in the evening! Check it out!

Bouncers constantly gives me a hard time when checking my ID. He says it is not me, So I Bring like 5 different ones (1-​DL, 2-​Student Slug cards, 1-​Triple A card, 1-​Health Insurance card) and he actually takes his time and goes thru each and everyone of them and still ask me questions about my age.
True story, not even making this shit up.
Five different ID and you still have doubt, hummm. I went three times during my college years because places were limit. I don’t know if I would go thru the trouble of making 5 fake IDs.
If you don’t want diversity just say so.

Not very impressed.
I got the Bruce Lee cocktail. Pretty pricey and not very tasty. Basically just tequila and framboise with some sad looking basil. Didn’t taste the pineapple juice or habanero bitters at all.
My friend got a Bloody Mary which I was immediately jealous of, so that was good for him at least. And I was also told that the Flux-​Incapacitator was nice.
The cheese stuffed jalapeños were a joke. Seriously the saddest looking things ever. They were really soupy and didn’t taste like much, and I honestly should have sent them back.
There was a big pocket of flour in one of the onion rings.
The sriracha wings were fine, so there’s that I guess.

Save yourself a trip!!! Went there for drinks and it ended with the biggest disappointment of my LIFE! The bouncers abuse the little power they have. Crude and vulgar language. So disrespectful to everyone. Too easy to get kicked out for nothing. I once saw a bouncer kick 2 people out cause they didn’t like how they were conversating. They explained to the bouncer they were just having a personal conversation and not arguing. I felt bad for those innocent patrons because nobody noticed them til the bouncers kicked them out.
It’s a shame that people swallow their pride and go to this place. They are the true definition of bad people and bad business somehow succeeding. I hope that place closes their doors forever because they will NEVER appreciate their customers.

Bouncers have consistently been awful each time I’ve gone and I’m going to use this review for both parts of the establishment because people tend to jump back and forth between the two anyway.
After the first time I went, I never willingly suggested the place but seeing as how Santa Cruz is a bit limited in options, I would still find myself trying to enter the establishment with friends who wanted to check it out from time to time and was met with hostile security without fail. They’ve been aggressive, lewd and truly seem to get off on the little amount of power that they have.
Half the time they found a bogus reason not to let us in anyway, like the time one of the guys called us names and asked us if we thought he was stupid, boasting that he could spot a fake from miles away, but the ID in question belonged to the oldest of us and they were all legitimate… I can even understand being cautious because it’s a college town but treating people like dirt is not a good business model. Anyway, after a certain number of times it was almost a relief to be turned away because it meant I didn’t have to support an establishment that employes huge egos with superiority complexes.
It didn’t matter if I went with one other person or a big group, or how polite we were, it was always an unpleasant experience before I even walked in the door. Everything else is null at that point, can’t get stoked on a place I don’t feel safe.

This location is small but comfortable, couldn’t imagine being here if it was really busy though. The female bartender was really nice to me and my group & gave me a free chocolate cake birthday shot PLUS a can of strawberry margarita drink. She was patient with our group because we didn’t know what to order… we literally asked for girly drinks and she delivered.
After we were done here she recommended another bar for us to go to.
One thing I may mention, the restroom at this location is really weird.

O G bartender on a thrs nite (Judy is a gem) she was classy. Drink special Jamie & P B R $ 7! It’s a Cruz town classic spot. Usually my knees banging the bar is an issue but here, it’s all good! They got the kush leather under the bar. Pop in and have a drink with some locals and check out the velvet wallpaper its pimpy. This place has it figured out.
This building was built in 1870 and it’s awesome.

A girlfriend and I were looking for something a little more lively to do for an evening while vacationing in Santa Cruz– and someplace where not EVERYONE was in flip flops and hats. We were told about Red Room. We were definitely not disappointed!
Well my first (negative) impression of getting wanded by a metal detector and my purse searched (ummm… ok??) was quickly turned around when we entered upstairs. The music was good, the crowd was young and lively. We made our way to the bar and ordered two drinks from the specialty menu (which is expansive, and has the craft cocktail feel to it). The service was pretty quick given that they are a pain to make I am sure, and it was super busy. The drinks were awesome! We ended up staying here the whole night– we didnt even care to try and venture out. We even came back Saturday night for awhile, we just really liked this place!
Both nights they had a dj over in the corner– and the music although different the two nights, was both really good.
Great weekend spot in Santa Cruz!