Cafe NELA

I love this place. Every time I have been I have had a great time. The beer is reasonably price, generally good bands, sometime great, but if there is a band on you don’t like, you can go outside to the beer garden. The bartenders are always friendly.

Terrible service! Rude bouncers! I was out front smoking a cigarette and they tased a band leader who they were refusing to pay right in front of me! Screw this bar! Do not give them your business. They assault the youth because they’re all old 40 year old washed out punks who want to relive their glory days.

This place was a nightmare from the start. Bartender was rude and slow, bouncer laid hands on my friend, and I witnessed him taze a band member from the show I saw because the guy was asking to be paid. The bathrooms are an affront to decency and my girlfriend was exposed to an old man’s private parts because of the terrible lock, layout, and unisex function of the restroom.
Will never come back, though I’m sure the proprietors wouldn’t want me to.

Great club and the coolest people in LA. One of the only paces I drive all the way from OC to go see bands and have fun! Very cheap and sometimes the day shows have food! Never a bad vibe always mellow and fun!

One of THE BEST small underground clubs to see bands! Beer so cheap even your mother will want to go. ($ 3+ up) This fairly new, friendly, no-​attitude gem of a dive is owned + run by musicians. Door prices (usually $ 5) are low so other broke artists + musicians can afford to go – one of the key reasons this place stays so cool + cutting-​edge. Never a problem finding street parking here, too. How awesome is that? Great sound. Intimate. Vintage red vinyl booths. Hypnotic B+W checkered floor. Smoking patio. And coolest outdoor «backyard» where u can hang between bands, snap «selfies» with the giant hotdog dude, meet + mingle. Don’t be surprised to see some of your favorite local musicians in the crowd here, too. Why not buy ‘em a beer? They love that.
Café Nela is one of the best-​kept secrets in town for underground music. It’s the REAL DEAL. Places like this are where L.A.‘s music scene really happens. Catch the next big thing BEFORE they get known. And have a helluva good time doing it.

I agree wholeheartedly with Tim Holland.
This place is DA BOMB. Phat and Dope.
YOLO Tim Holland. ¡No me siento bien!

On the surface the place is tolerable but I will never go there again. I bought two drinks, one was $ 4 and the other was $ 7, but when checked my statement I discovered I was charged almost 30 dollars. The live band was way too loud and the bathroom was kinda grimy, but that stuff i would overlook if I wasnt ripped off.
Update: management helped resolve the issue and a was very polite. Gonna give the place another go sometime :)

If you don’t ‘get’ contrary and unusual music, you won’t get NELA. If you need $ 13 cocktails and an attitude from club staff to feel comfortable, NELA’s not for you. And sorry, no Pandora’d soft rock, crappy techno DJs or cliched singer/​songwhiners here. It’s actual artists making honest, innovative, original, kickass, insane music and a community supporting it — whilst enjoying affordable beers and a way cool scene. What a drag, see you at citywalk.

Very cool bar, with great music!
The crowd was rowdy, the music sounded great, and the staff was very friendly!
First off the sound is amazing here, and the property is so cool, they have their own little back yard! They do not serve alcohol, just beer, but we didn’t care it was packed and the bands had the crowd jumping.
We look forward to coming back, they got a good thing going here.

As dive bars go this one is fun!
The only reason I went to Café NELA was to support a cousin putting on a benefit show. The beers were cold and $ 4, the crowd was… colorful and the music shredded my ear drums. I had a GREAT time and got a free pair of ear plugs!
If you’ve been to a dive bar then you’d probably walk in to this place and be like «déjà vu!» Bar to the left, booths to the right, stage at the back. Restrooms were small but functional. No hand dryers though. There’s a patio area just outside the back door to smoke and marinate. If you walk down the hill there’s a «beer garden» that feels like you’re in your homies backyard. If your homie had crazy mannequins and a sexy tub girl selling beers. Top tip: the hill is STEEP so drunk hos and bros should take it easy.
The staff is quick, we never waited for our beers, and very nice. Example: we were loitering outside the front door so the vapers could vape but it was after 10:30pm (dun dun duuuuuun). The bouncer politely told us we couldn’t be out front, but pointed out the (unknown to us) back patio where we could hang out. I’ve been to «nice» bars where the douchebag at the door just shoos us away like beggars.
There’s no liquor but a good selection of brand beers. I didn’t see any local/​microbrew beers available. If I remember right it’s all bottles and cans. I’d partner up with a microbrewer in LA and offer their selections as a way of marketing to the locals. But that’s just me.
The crowd was friendly and there to have a good time. A nice little mosh pit started late in the evening so the metal heads could get their groove on. So to speak. I was surprised to see a good number of ladies there. And they were hot! Tatted, pierced with sections of their head shaved, but attractive none the less. «Did you get that at Banana Republic?» doesn’t work here, boys. FYI.

Best music venue in California! Great beer selection and great people. The best of the LA music scene plays here. Do yourself a favor and go.

A lot of the reviewers here are missing the point of Café NELA. It’s a punk/​underground rock club. If it’s a ‘dive bar,’ that’s only as an adjunct to the rock. They have a license for beer and wine, which they sell at reasonable prices. But you don’t go there to drink fancy drinks, you go there to hear the music, which is pretty consistently good. Café NELA is keeping the spirit of Al’s Bar alive.

All the negative reviews … they don’t get it.
If you frequented any R&R bar (pick one) in L.A. anytime between say 1968 and about 1993(?), this place will make you happy.
Café Nela is a Rock and Roll bar. It has GREAT music every night it’s opened.
You can get a beer for $ 4.00.
Easy and plentiful FREE parking.
XLNT food next door … and they’ll deliver to you in the bar.
5 stars. If there were 10 stars available Nela would get all ten!

CAFE NELA — a great rock n roll establishment in L.A. right near the 5 fwy and the 2 fwys in Cypess Park. Welcome atmosphere bringing top rock bands to happy music fans. Special events include jazz and alternative musicians. Air Conditioned, outside areas. Beer Wine Sodas Juices. Very Reasonable.

I was not very impressed with this place. Even for La it was a really bad dive bar. I probably wont ever come back again. It seemed to be quite filthy and very old. I went to see a friends band play and the place was so disorganized that they didn’t even play on schedule. Just not my kind of place i guess …

What can you expect from a dive bar? The booths had bad seats, so you have to move when someone leaves after their band is done, they only serve beer and wine so expect a beer headache the next morning, the acoustics are terrible so don’t expect to hear much of anything but the guitars and the bathrooms are iffy. So if you are expecting all of that then you came to the right place! We came on the 29^th to see the Happy Haus perform along with many other bands. We got there at 9 to make sure we got parking. It wasn’t too far, we could still see the bar from where we had to park. The negative was that we had to use our phone flashlights walking back to our car at 1am as it was creepy, very dark and the sidewalks are very uneven. It’s too bad that the acoustics aren’t better because some of the bands before Happy Haus were good, but you couldn’t hear the singing. We were very, very disappointed that JWC was allowed to do a very long set that was almost all acoustical, you couldn’t dance to it and most of the audience wasn’t there to see them. When Happy Haus finally came on they were respectful of the bands following them time wise and cut their set short. When they asked «Chris» if it was OK to do one more per crowd request, he was reluctant. We go to see a lot of these type of venues and the music director watches the audience and monitors the sets. They know when to cut a set. This one was very poorly managed and I’m not just saying that because we were there for one particular band that got the short end of the stick. All in all we had a great time and if someone new know was playing there again, we would go but bring earplugs to sound out the guitars.

Came here yesterday for my wifes friends boyfriend whos in a band. The band itself was pretty cool. Otherwise, the place itself is mega dive bar status. Only serves beer and soda’s at the bar. It seems as though this place caters to up and coming little bands by the looks of their flyer. Small place, with a a little patio area out on the side for smokers.
This day, since 5 bands were playing, they were charging $ 5. Plenty of street parking. Not well lit.

Came here once. It’s divey. I love that. Reminded me of my old haunts and it’s always like a rock and roll home.
I’d probably come back if I was more into the local scene, but I’d definitely come here if a friend was doing a gig or if I’m covering something for a blog.
Bottom line, it’s a dive, but rooted in community and music. As they should be.
Plenty of street parking and fairly easy to get to.

Dive bar atmosphere with a stage, minus the hard alcohol. I came here for a show recently and I have mixed reviews. First off, I don’t drink beer. While they had a decent selection and good prices, a cider or two would have been nice. (Update: they have cider now, which is awesome. Angry Orchard is one of my favorites) I did dig the booths, something I always like seeing in Dive bars, especially if you are going with a date or group on friends. The only thing I didn’t like about the location was that there was no parking. I had to park a few blocks away and there wasn’t much street lighting to get to and from my car.

i played one of the first shows here back in September, and the vibe was amazing. beer and wine only at the bar (no hard stuff) but the beer is priced right and the place is right out of 1978. no frills but the place is clean they care a fuck of a lot about music!

beer is good. party is good. location is good.
ez good

The origins of cool underground music in a fun little bar is back. This is the Al’s Bar of 2013. Highly recommended. Dave Travis create a very cool venue, total props!,