Cowfish

Great entertainment, cheap drinks, and plentiful seating: what more could you ask for?!
When we first walked by around 8:30pm, it was a stark empty bar emanating it’s blue light with the fish tank visible at the bar. There were only two people at a ping pong table, so we assumed it must not be a very popular place. We were also looking for dinner at the time so we continued on our search.
After our bellies were filled, we figured we could give the place a shot and went over just before 9:30 to find all of the curtains down and zombies standing outside, one drinking «blood» out of a bag. When we went in, we found that it was zombie night and they had converted the ping pig table area into a dance floor. The bouncer told us that he couldn’t charge us the cover charge of we bought drinks immediately, so of course we did.
We bought well drinks for $ 4 and chilled out on their spacious couches before wandering to their 2 pool tables. We were pleasantly surprised to find that they were free and proceeded to suck at pool, yet be thoroughly entertained.
They also have a couple arcade games including Pacman, Street Fighter II, and the asteroid blasted came that I can’t remember the name of. Each play was only a quarter and we dukes it out on Street Fighter for several rounds, with a lot of jumping and yelling, at least from me. It would be an understatement to say I was thoroughly entertained.
Earlier on in the night, they played throwback pop hits, but gradually transitioned into more club/​electronic music.
Their dance floor is very spacious with a small ledge with a lip along the wall to hold drinks and jackets. The volume was definitely sufficient and I could literally feel the music.
Overall, I had an amazing time at Blowfish and I would certainly go back if I get the chance!

Wow. Security is horrible! I don’t know who these people are but I feel super disrespected. Myla, in particular, feels that her job is more a cop instead of a shitty nightclub security person. I have to put her name on here because she tried to steal my phone from my hands, and push me and my «tiny» friend for calling her out for being incredibly rude. She assumed that because I told her she was rude, I was too intoxicated to come in. When in fact I was the sober driver and Myla is just a bitch! Thanks cowfish for hiring quality people, we will be taking our business elsewhere.

I went to this establishment on Saturday and when I went to close my tab learned that the bartender had given my credit card to a male person. (I clearly have a female name) The bartender then proceeded to walk away as my mouth hung open in disbelief. I had to ask him to come back and talk to me about what had happened. Who does that? He said the person said my name and last name and gave them the card. I didn’t talk to one male person that night and was with a female. He didn’t ask the MALE person for ID either. He didn’t ask if I was going to be ok, if I had a way home, money for a cab or could he offer to call anyone. He gave me the managers name and I have yet to hear from her. I called several times and the voicemail box is full. I finally reached someone and asked for her to call me and have not heard from anyone. I am very upset that this is how they have chosen to conduct their business. If they claim it was a mistake or they were just busy, or this is the first time it had happened, that is not acceptable. That is my Bank account! With ID theft today I’m floored that neither the owner or manager has responded to me. Frankly I’m surprised how the staff handled the situation as well. Careless, flippant, and unresponsive. Beware of this place, do not go. The BBB got a full report. Why can’t I give them no stars.

Worst club I have EVER been to, and I have been to some clubs all over the world. Sure the drinks are cheap and the bar staff is OK– but security is absolutely unacceptable. Just spoke to the Eugene Municipal Court and the entire city of Eugene justice and police departments have Cowfish on their radar for how awful and messed up and unfair their security is. I caught security screaming «YOURE GOING TO JAIL BITCH» as they hit and incarcerated a pretty harmless but intoxicated person on July 4^th. The music is also a joke. Funny thing the cops said too is that cowfish weirdly always is lacking the security camera footage for the court cases. DO NOT GO HERE.

Honestly Eugene is really scarce with good dj’s. But tonight, 6/​13, the one that was playing was so good! Great songs, good mix. Surprisingly pleased! Good service & the drinks were good too.

The first time I came here, it was okay. Typical club, whatever. Second time I came, same thing. The women bartenders are really nice, they’re the saving grace of this place. Third time was the last straw. Music was boring, it was maybe half full on a Saturday, but what really did it was one of the male bartenders. I wish I would have gotten his first name but oh well. Rude, horrible customer service, quite possibly the worst bartender we’ve ever encountered. Tried to force my husband to pay $ 2 for plain cranberry juice, when almost every other bar charges maybe 50 cents, tops. My husband told him he didn’t want it. Didn’t touch the drink, didn’t drink it, said he didn’t want it, a polite no thank you. The bartender proceeded to hound us throughout the club saying we owed him two dollars and ended up calling the bouncer over. A $ 3 cover charge for a crappy club and then calling over security because he didn’t want to pay for overpriced cranberry juice? REALLY? The bouncer at least was level headed and nice about it. How many hundreds of dollars does that place make a night, and they get mad over a drink that wasn’t even touched and literally costs them pennies to give out? It’s not like he drank it and tried to give it back. The bartender was a total jerk. I would never recommend this place, in fact I would discourage it. Just horrible customer service is all I can say, we’re never going back.

Animals and nightclubs don’t mix. I was shocked to see that live fish are confined to a tank amid crowds of clubgoers and subjected to loud music from a DJ booth as well as live acts. Aquatic animals are highly sensitive to vibrations. Holding them captive is cruel enough, but a nightclub setting rife with loud music, bright lights, and noisy crowds causes them extreme torment and stress.
The Happy Hour features excellent well drink and beer prices and from runs from something like 5 – 8. Most the the staff and DJs are friendly.
But please, stop bombarding fish with bright lights and loud music at Cowfish.

Cowfish was the go to spot back in the day after getting roofied at john henrys on Thursday. Great times! The dj is playing fun top 40 hip hop electro and is occasionally very gassy, but don’t let scare you off.

ugh, what has Eugene become? Bad DJ’s that can’t keep a beat to save their life or the surly bartenders that take there time to help you? It’s a dismisal night that I am so trashed to come in here and dance or try to dance to no beat DJ’s, Drive to Portland, rent a hotel and really have fun.

I’m a student at U of O so I frequent a lot of the campus bars. Went to Cowfish as one stop for my buddy’s 21^st, and it is THE WORST BAR I’VE EVER BEEN TO, not just in Eugene. After getting ID checked at the door, I walked right past the guy at a table collecting the cover without noticing him and a bouncer had to ask me if I had paid. The guy tells me it’s a $ 3 cover even though the place is maybe half full. I went back to tell my friends at the door there was a cover and the doorman told us if we were with the birthday boy we would get in free. However the guy collecting said only the birthday boy gets in free. We ended up paying $ 3 for no acknowledgment from either bartender and crappy music. I walked home, it was that bad. Staff needs to get on the same page, actually do their jobs, and maybe clean up the place a bit. The bouncer was nice though!

The bar was fun, drinks were cheap. The first bartender we had was really friendly (tattooed young guy wearing a beanie). The other bartender, heavy set Hispanic wearing a hat, was extremely rude. Due to this fact, I would not attend this bar again or recommend it to others.

Violent worker alert! Lead of security apparently.
I have always reluctantly gone to this bar and had a great time with my friends! I am not much of a dancer and never frequent Cowfish. I went for my last night in Eugene with my friends and was wearing an amazing «fat suite» that a friend let me borrow. I was dancing all night which is so unlike me! When it came to the end of the night, I has so many complements and praise on my costume, I thought why not just give everyone a good look by dancing on the table for a second. I knew it would get asked to get down no harm no fowl. I had done this at the last bar kitty corner to Cowfish and was respectfully told to get down so I did an apologized, but had to stop. When I was told to get down from the table at Cowfish by a man with long hair and a long bear that they refer to as «Cowboy» I respectfully got down. As I was coming down I found out from my friends later that he said my chest hit him on the way down which at that point he shoved me. I play sports so I naturally I batted his arm away at the shoulder as hard as he shoved me and said «why did you shove me?!?» I did not understand why things escalated. His response was that I needed to get out or he was going to «choke you out» his words CHOKE ME OUT!!! Next thing I know as he is pushing me out, which I would have walk out with my friends happily. Two female bouncers intercepted as he is still threatening me and trying to shove me.
I am a strong woman and can stand up for myself, but I do not know who he things he is to shove and threaten not only a woman, but another human being’s life for something so harmless. I cannot imagine if I was not a strong woman or if those two female bouncers had not intercepted. Either way will not tolerate hate violence against anyone. Other wise the night with my friends was amazing! I did not let this «Cowboy» fellow ruin it!

I was visiting Eugene for a week and decided to go out for one of the evenings. Coming from the big town of Seattle, I can admit I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to ‘clubs’, but Cowfish won me over.
PROS:
It must have been one hell of a happy hour because I ordered at least six to eight mixed drinks, and two beers and my bill only came to $ 13.00? Whatever the reason, this made me super happy
Servers were helpful, and drinks were made pretty quickly.
Has really nice décor and decent dance floor. Much nicer/​classier than some of the usual divey places Eug is known for (not that divey is always bad)
Pool tables were nice.
I know some people are bitching about a cover? Luckily, there wasn’t one the Monday night I showed up (and no live band or DJ playing) so that made sense, but honestly coming from a big town where I’m used to $ 5 minimum covers it wouldn’t have phased me.
CONS:
Don’t really have any cons, I had a good time there drinking and playing pool on a slow night.

This place always has a cover and some of the creepiest, sketchiest people in Eugene. I actually liked this place until I got roofied here and woke up alone in a park I’ve never seen before. I’ve been yelled at by the bartender before because I asked him why he had skipped over me five times before taking my drink order. I tip generously and I’m not the type of person to ever get belligerent or disruptive. Enter this place at your own risk.

There is approximately one club in Eugene. This is that Club.
It would not be the club that you would go out to for a craft cocktail, a hip DJ, or to rub elbows with some grown n sexy folks. That said, this place, as the one club in Euegene, has EVERYONE. Old, young, rich, townie, dancy, druggie, hipster, bachelorette — ALL types. That’s what makes a place like this unique— everyone is forced to interact within what is essentially an LMFAO video crammed into a box with little/​no bubble-​wrap.
In another context, this bar would be that annoying place that you had to go to for your friend’s birthday and just stood there talking about how you felt like you were in high school. In THIS context, you simply revert back to high school, and get down with a good messy time you haven’t had in 10 – 15 years!
Also, there is a Cowfish.

$ 5 cover is ridiculous when most of the Portland clubs don’t even charge that much.
This place is dirty, the music usually isn’t that great and the clientele can be really creepy. As for the staff, I’ve always liked the bartenders but have never had very positive interactions with anyone else. I have been yelled at for walking too quickly through the club and the staff did not care that I was trying to escape from some overly zealous men because I could have spilled someone’s drink. The employee said he talked to us the night before and when we denied this claim he said he talked to some Asians who looked exactly like us. He then proceeded to call my male friend a number of vulgar names when he was simply being a gentleman and standing up for us. What an ignorant racist.

Cowfish is always fun, but it kinda makes you wish bar owners would take some of that cash they’re making and re-​invest in their business.
When this place opened it was great, spotless and pristine, but now the carpet (in a place where drunk people congregate, bad idea) sticks to your shoes and the bathroom REEKS of piss and has broken faucets. In general cowfish has more in common with the 50 year old alcoholic with a scratchy smokers voice than the sweet tongued 20 year old vixen she once was. The service is usually pretty good, but sometimes staff there could try to have more of a sense of caring about their customers. The coat check is great!
Lots of people think this place is a gay bar, but it is definitely not. Just because some straight guy saw a gay guy here once, or every Friday and Saturday, doesn’t make it a gay bar. It’s a dance club, that doesn’t equal a gay bar.
At any rate, Cowfish is fun and it’s the only game in town re: dance club. I’ve never had a bad time here. Being the only game in town also means they can lower the bar and still get tons of people coming there which is kind of sad. You should be able to expect a restroom in a business that isn’t a gas station on the side of the freeway to not reek of piss, crazy as that sounds.
If they could just clean the place up a bit and instill a better sense of service into their employees, it could be so much better, like it used to be. Nowadays it just looks and feels dirty and used up and like they feel the patronage of people is what is owed to them. That is never a place any business should be happy occupying.
With all that said, you’ll have fun if you go. Guaranteed!

Whats with all of the negative reviews on here?
I went with friends last friday and it was a blast. There is a 3 dollar cover charge which is a bit annoying on principle (this isn’t disneyland). But I guess if you pregame and only come to dance it makes sense that you gotta pay. Anyways, my suggestion pregame and buy drinks here!
We bought a few drinks here but the only one i remember was the tic tac which was delicious!
The place was packed, and my friends and I danced for two hours! We got there before 11 and left around 1.
After reading a few reviews it seems like a-​lot of people who didn’t like cowfish came on random weekdays because it was a bit slow, but thats expected. this is eugene not SF.
Moral of the story, come on the weekends! Its tons of fun.

OK, so I am from the SF Bay Area & like to hit the Castro so I know a good gay time when I see one. I was told by the locals here that Cowfish was THE ONLY gay bar/​dance club in Eugene, so I HAD to check it out. WOW. I really wish I hadn’t.
I went on a Friday night after midnight & it was filled with way too many freaky/​weirdos. The music was ONLY house/​trance –_​–
Plu, s a $ 3 cover for that crap was so not worth it. I would have felt ripped off if I had gotten in for free!
If you want to dance to some decent music, go to The Rok. end of story.

I’ve been to cowfish twice — both on weekend nights after 10:00. I just wanted to dance, but I was out of luck. On both occasions, the DJs were TERRIBLE. Someone told me this before I went and I chalked it up to them being really snobby about music and DJs, which I am not. I just enjoy some good beats and am happy to get my groove on to lots of stuff. The DJs couldn’t seem to play anything that anyone wanted to dance to. The dance floor was empty. Granted, I think both were after school let out for the summer (? not sure); but it was a little pathetic. I think I might be able to do better.
The bar was not that busy at all and we still waited to get served. I don’t drink that much so can’t vouch for the quality of the beverages. They have water out for self-​serve, which is very nice.
As for the ambiance — one other poster mentioned «Ikea-​chic» and that is probably the best descriptor I could use. Has anyone else noticed that the giant aquarium that is kind of the focal point of the whole place above the bar has like 1 fish in it? Seems kind of sad to me.
Haven’t been there for coffee or food during the day hours.
Overall, I gave it two tries and wouldn’t go back again, except that Eugene’s dance scene is pretty sad in general and I will probably wind up getting pulled back in there some night if the dance floor ever looks like it has more than 10 people on it.