Shattuck Down Low

Salsa night is pretty fun, but the cover is pretty expensive relatively speaking.
Creeper-​ish.

A COLLEGE DOWN WITHOUT A DANCE SPOT!!!
Come on, people. Let’s make sure this venue is a phoenix that rises from the ashes PRONTO. I don’t wannna pay BRIDGE TOLL + COVER to shake my tail feathers!
Berkeley people… how are we going to survive until then?

Very sad to hear that the The Down Low is closing. why?! Admittedly, the décor could use a remodel and possibly some cleaning up. but do you really have to close the doors? I can still remember the Michael Jackson memorial party here. awesome music and Jackson impressionists. The music is usually good and they have themed nights. i just don’t understand it. Brazilian night is epic here. Oh well, i guess I will have to come out for the closing party.

Kinda creepy? Yes.
Cheap ass drinks? Yes.
Do I frequent this place? Yes.
Happy hour until 11pm all weekend… what!!!
$ 2 beers, $ 3 mixed drinks
Every now and then they get decent/​good dj’s but most nights you won’t even care or notice cause you’ll have downed so many cheap drinks!
Many a nights, my girlfriends and I have come to pregame here but end up staying since we’re healthly inebriated and there’s no where else in Berkeley to go dancing.

Was ok… I bought 5 drinks for $ 30, not bad in my book. The crowd was ok. I like to get dolled and I really didn’t have to because this place and it’s patrons on August 10, 2012 weren’t worth it…
Now to a real review. There is plenty of parking on the street. The «bouncer» was chill… the dance floor was big enough for the location of the venue. There were some pool tables and there was food, I really don’t know wtf the food was doing there! :) There were many bartenders, who hands were heavy lol they’re trying to get people toe-​back! Over all the night wasn’t bad… I would go back.

Went on a Saturday night, great place.
Dress code was very casual, i felt a bit out of place in a dress, so ladies ware jeans and a nice top :)
No Cover charge which is always a plus and drinks were half off from 9:00pm — 11:00pm!
Music was great, at the beginning of the night they were playing old school hip hop then around 10:30 they began playing top 40 hits mixed with songs by Adina Howard –Freak & Monica-​Dont take it personal. LOVED IT!
Parking was ample on near by streets.
My only complaint is NOT ENOUGH BARTENDERS… there were only 2 people behind the main bar so order drinks early!: /

No, this is not the joint. Let me tell you why by detailing one of my nights there. (Don’t judge me for going more than once… it’s free cover! Hence the one star)
Top 40s playing over and over again all night long Fridays and Saturdays… good music if you stay late enough, but I don’t recommend it.
So my boyfriend and best friend were already pretty hammered by the time we got here, and my friend just wanted to dance. Music sucked, but the girl wants what she wants. Being the pretty little thing she is, tons of guys wanted to dance with her, but alas, she has a boyfriend in the army. So I got stuck with the cock blocking job for the night. In this charade of me cutting in on guys who just would not say no, I was booty bounced off the dance floor a jilted fella and then my friend was booty bounced off the dance floor. Not to mention, there’s not too many people on the dance floor till about 12. And the ratio here for guys to girls… about 5 to 1, and that’s me being generous.
They get another star for good bar service and nice bartenders. My friend was basically wasted after drinking her third AMF here and fell out of her chair. The bartender immediately stepped in and handed us a drink of water. However, the same guy also said that night was odd that the Down Low was filled with a bunch of creepers. IT’S ALWAYS FILLED WITH CREEPY DUDES. You have your young creepy dudes that don’t seem old enough to be in there… with there backpacks on, nonetheless. Then you have your old creepy dudes dancing by themselves in the corner. Then there’s the dudes that don’t seem too creepy, but end up being creepy. I thank God I’m not single.

The Down Low has AWESOME Reggae on Sundays. Cool live band, cool DJ.
$ 10 Cover is a little steep. 10:1 male to female ratio, a bit of a sausage fest. Discounted entry for chicks might help with that ;-)
Nice and chill around 10pm, but it gets slammed around 11:30. Hot and sweaty bodies everywhere are not fun, but the music was cool.
Keep in mind the location is pretty close to Oakland, so the crowd can be a little sketchy.
Overall, it was a great time. I will be returning!

Decent salsa night with lessons taught by technique-​perfect Salsamania teacher (Allison). $ 10 cover.
Social dancing well-​attended by skilled regulars.

SDL cares about its community. I am a veteran and former student at Cal. Recently, the Cal Vets (UCB’s premier veterans club) conducted a Valentine’s Day auction to benefit breast cancer and ongong activities. SDL graciously donated space and half-​off drinks to make our benefit a smashing success– really, I would like anyone on Unilocal to tell me where you can get a single of 15yr. Oban for $ 8. and tall pours at that!
Anyways, the club’s layout is original and the line-​up for shows and events is always surprising and impressive. Would love for everyone to be able to give this place ⁵⁄₅ stars but your night is what you make of it. and so are your bars. Tip: when you find a diamond in the rough, its easy to not see what could be– if you want a decent bar in downtown Berkeley that isn’t jam packed, start the revolution yourself and offer to patronize/​organize for the bar with desirable results tied to your work. I.e. if I get you 20+ people in here every Friday for a month, you put in another table over there etc. Lets stop wasting time going to the city and start investing time in building our own sweet spots.
Just my two cents.
John

I’ll summarize this review to make it short and sweet because I don’t think I have enough words to even describe this place.
Pros:
1.No cover
2. Drink specials (Yet, the drinks seem quite water down)
3. Fog machine and lighting (Cool effects)
Cons
1. Not popping at all
2. The bathroom stall had no locked on it and they lacked towels.
3. The crowded was just blah,
Overall the place was so bad that my friends and I immediately bounce after being there for less than an hour. I’ve defintitley had better experience else where.

Will be my shortest Unilocal review.
Cons:
1. Not popping
2. Smells like booty
3. More people staring like creepers than dancing
Pros:
1. Fog machine and cool effects! (omg just stare at their ceiling and you will know)
2. No cover and drink specials.
3. I dig the basement sort of décor.
But real talk (Kevin Hart voice)! No matter what, if their is no crowd. There is no party.

I went here because of the $ 3 first drink check-​in offer. I thought it would be a hip, urban, swanky little dance club lounge but found it to be the opposite. Cheap, smokey, musty, and full of youngins. The dress code is fit for a dive bar…

Perfect place to start your night out!
Go before 11 for half-​off drinks. Stand near the bar and order as many shooters as you can or ask the bartenders to make you something good. Once it hits 11, move on to the next.

If my review was based on the first time that i came here, it’d be 1 star. Why? Halloween decorations that were disturbingly frightening (blood splatter on bathroom mirror) instead of lighthearted and cute. No one on the dance floor. Getting leered at on the way out. General grimey-​ness.
Decided to try it out again after finding out about Salsa Wednesdays. Here are some highlights:
–arrived at 8:45pm (Cal students only pay $ 5 for cover with school ID; it’s $ 10 otherwise) for salsa lessons which start at 8pm. So crowded that I could barely see the instructor’s bedazzled heels.
–the instructor was extremely considerate in realizing the crowdedness and had the lines «rotate» so that every row got a chance to see her steps up close
–after practicing the basics, we got in a circle and paired off to do partner work. the instructor insisted on man-​woman combos.
–we then rotated partners just like in speed-​dating as we tried to learn more complex moves.
–at 10pm, the music started and people who clearly knew how to salsa took the dancefloor and men who knew how to salsa reeled in partners non-​stop
As a terribly uncoordinated person, I had a hard time learning the moves and the feminist in me didn’t particular enjoy being jostled around by men who loved to be in charge and take control of everything. Especially if they were smelly.
Other notables: the nice bartender with the accent, men who took rejections way too seriously, and dancers who, as my friends put it, were trying to make this into Dirty Dancing.
Overall, cool experience for a good price but you can’t forget that it’s still shattuck down low.

Went here with a few of my friends and let me tell you, this place is filled with a lot of weird, normal, old, young, ugly, pretty, cute, people.
The bartenders were great and knew right off the bat what kind of drinks my friend & I wanted throughout the whole night. That’s kind of impressing with it being our first visit there.
The crowd… there were a lot of weird people, but as long as you’re with a group of friends, there’s nothing to worry about. Don’t get me wrong, not EVERYONE were weird but the majority.
The night started out slow, empty, but as the night got later, it was filled with people and the dance floor filled up within a blink of an eye.
I would most definitely come back. Afterall, the bartender said he will remember my friends and I (:

A group of friends and I happened to wander into this place. We have all never been there, and have heard some very unsavory things about this place. But hey, maybe those people were wrong? Let’s give this place a shot. Walking down the stairs, we notice that there really isnt that many people in the bar. It is a huge space. We go to the bar, and were happy to find out that drinks were half off at that time. Along with the drinks, the bartender passed out bunny ears to all of us, plus one top hat. We figured it was close to Halloween, maybe they were being festive. Unbeknownst to us, it was the ever-​classy «pimps and hoes» night. I’m sorry. I can’t support a bar who thinks this is a great idea. I understand they are catering to a Cal frat/​sorority/​college student crowd, but. that’s just disgusting.
Anyway, that was not the most disgusting thing of the night. What I have seen here on the dancefloor cannot be unseen. From what I could see that night, this dancefloor seems to be a popular spot for gross older men. One in particular was dancing by himself (with no one else on the floor mind you), until some drunk girls came in. This was one of those things where if you saw him doing this out in the streets, you’d call the police. Groups of guys were sitting around the dance area, staring and laughing.
Gems of society right here, folks. I’d rather spend my evening at a 24 hour Walgreens.

I came to Shattuck Down Low because I was determined to finally take Salsa lessons. I have been wanting to take lessons for as long as I can remember, but always found myself so tired from work to motivate myself to cha-​cha on a random Wednesday night.
But, I made myself. Best thing, ever.
I was supposed to meet a galpal that night, but I realized that I was going to fly solo. I was at a club by myself all gussied up and instead of feeling awkward, I embraced it. Eff it, I’m going to learn some awesome moves, dance with some random dudes and live it up!
I learned so much. The instructors were informative and went over all the basic steps, and they oozed enthusiasm and passion: two things I gravitate towards. Some moves, I’m not going to lie were confusing and really difficult to hone. The shifting of the weight, the slight hip rotations, but I picked it up pretty quickly. Toward the end of the lesson (which costs $ 10), the dance floor opens up and people get down. I danced with this one dude, who did his own Salsa, if you know what I mean. I was like, «uh, that’s a little too close buddy.»
It was about 10:30pm before I decided it was time to head home. I’m not sure I’m going to take another class since I learned enough to improvise and shake on my own, but I had blast and that’s what matters most.

Came here with a group of friends on a random Tuesday. The gods must have smiling on us that night, for Tuesday is karaōke night at the Down Low Lounge. If you want some grade-​A entertainment, then I suggest you come here and people watch for a couple of hours. Oh man, what a shitshow. It’s all in good fun, and who am I to talk? Really, I was one drink away from getting up and doing my amazing rendition of Bad Romance (or Spice Girls, or Blackstreet. I couldn’t decide), but thankfully, we left before that performance would have been inevitably put up on Youtube to haunt me for the rest of my life.
Let’s see what else I remember. The bathroom was large, but like ³⁄₅ stalls were out of order. I thought that was weird. The large leather sofas were supposed to be comfy, but I felt like I was sinking in and it actually made me sleepy. The bartender was friendly, and the drinks were strong. The floor was so sticky, like, everywhere. I know that’s par for the course at a bar, but I will never not think that’s gross.
All in all a decent experience. I wonder what it’s like on non-​karaōke nights.
They also have a Check-​In offer on Unilocal for half-​off your first drink, so do that. Also it’s apparently good on your fifth drink, even if you practically shove your phone into the nice bartender’s face. So I heard.

5 Stahs (yes, I am talking like I’m from the east coast or an old rich white lady)! Maybe I’m feeling generous, or maybe it was the magic of the night. Who knows? And no, I did not smoke out or drink… hehe
*This is definitely not my usual stomping grounds, but I have seen a few shows at this spot, all underground hip hop. My bf (Overflow) and his boy (Apakalips) opened up for Dead Prez last night and there was so much love for them and their music (DJ Funk Master Phil was on the 1’s and 2’s), providing the sound. Peepz also copped the album which shows Berkeley folks are all about supporting their local artists! ****Time for a shameless promo… Look up Apakalips on ITunes or
, Overflow helped produce the album and is on a few tracks*****
*Good thing is that unlike Gerard’s experience, the sound system was working great that night. My only pet peeve about this place is that the best view for a show is literally on the stairs while you are walking down. As a Five Footer, I only saw heads bobbing from the back, or as my friend said, been up front getting my hand or ass grinded on inadvertantly (or intentionally) by people pushed to the front with some aromatic body odors if you get my drift. Didn’t purchase drinks so I can’t speak to that. I did like the Free water from the Water cooler. That was nice and felt more refreshing than the sink water I usually end up getting at clubs in the South bay.
Oh, ahhaha. I just realized why they called it Shattuck downlow. I know, I am slow… The place is on Shattuck and it is below the street level. Ahhh. I love epiphanies!
Unilocal. You push me to new levels of understanding!