Rudy’s Pub

They are kind of bitches about their happy hour. They set their clock forward several minutes and the bartender just shrugs when you show her your phone with a clock synced to the correct time. Pretty lame if you ask me.

Hella college. cheap drinks, cheap lighting, people in crappy clothing, beer spilling everywhere, etc. But super fun. Love this place — it never fails to show me a good time and you don’t have to feel bad about being sloppy. they have karoke some nights (maybe all nights?) which also makes it really fun. this would totes be a go-​to spot for me if I attended Stanford as an undergrad. when I went last week, I definitely felt old but oh welps. good to grab a drink and move on.

Interesting night I must say… stumbled upon this place per my coworker’s friend’s recommendation. Turns out this place also has a karaōke which I thought was interesting! Never been to a bar with a place that lets you karaōke and has a dance floor in front of the karaōke stage for other people to dance to your singing and music! WUT?! Pretty cool dude. Place is small… older crowd, but pretty busy still on a Wednesday night!
The highlight of my night was when someone selected PSY’s Gangnam Style to sing… and for some reason the lyrics ended up being CONDOM STAR?!? WHAT!!! LOLOL. I could not stop laughing at how ridiculous the lyrics were subbed into for the song. If you get the chance to go to this place, someone has got to sing Gangnam Style, or should you say Condom Star… just to see how funny the translation is. Hahahaha.

This place is alright. Nice place to have a drink and dance on University in Palo Alto. It’s a little worn down, but if you go here wanting to have a good time, you will. They have two bars, but one bar serves beer on tap and the other doesn’t. The music they play is pretty fun. If you grew up in the 90s you will like the music. On Friday, when I was there, the DJ was playing a mix of dance, hip hop, electronic, pop music. I love all of that music, so I had a good time. I can’t emphasize enough that it’s not the most glamorous bar, but it serves its purpose. There isn’t usually a wait to get in and the drinks are reasonably priced.

AMAZING KARAOKE!
I visited Palo Alto for a business trip, and decided to get a drink from Rudy’s Pub. The bar is old and divey, definitely nothing fancy about this place. The karaōke was so much fun though. The DJ takes his job very seriously. He is the DJ, backup singer, and plays his saxophone on certain songs.
The crowd ranges from college students to 60 year old couples still trying to be young. Needless to say, this place is great for people watching.

Everyone’s been here at one point.
I call’t the Alamo of downtown Palo Alto.
The last stand!
When all others close, it’s to Rudy’s for one last round!
Good good for a dive. Lots of flat screens.
Beer pong
Kareoke
Darts
Dice
Dominos
And foosball
2 bars help when they’re overrun by the thirsty.
Great beer selection
All the boose ya can spend your hard earned $ on

Looking for beer pong on a Sunday night during the long weekend? Come here. This place had more people than the Patio and they had the same bouncer work both places. We got a table pretty quickly but our game took over an hour since we were trying to distract the other team with funny dances and moves. People were annoyed we took so long because we had the table until last call.
I finally learned what «trolling» meant and almost had to do it since I wasn’t getting any balls in. But I learned the form and didn’t have to troll (THANK GOD). Good place for a casual hang out spot.

I’ve been here a few times now. It’s always a random time. But last time I went the DJ was pretty awesome. The music ranges a bit and makes it interesting.
Drinks here are pretty strong too and they have some pretty good beers on tap surpisingly. It’s kinda hit or miss here sometimes. Could be dead earlier in the night and then turn around it’s crazy packed.

One of the «livelier» spots in Palo Alto nightlife (interpret as you will).
The bar itself is well stocked, drinks are decent and fairly priced, and the bartenders are usually easy to deal with and know what they’re doing.
On the weekend it can get pretty busy at times, and they have a dance floor with fairly standard music. They have a cover of ~$ 5 later in the evening, which I always wince at paying, but when it’s busy and the atmosphere is good, then it’s mostly worth the money.
The biggest reason to come to Rudy’s though, in my opinion, is their Wednesday night karaōke. This event is the reason I’m giving Rudy’s four stars and not three. From 10pm until around 1am, you can sing and dance as much as you want with (as of the time of writing this review) the very talented DJ Purple, whose «Karaōke Dance Party» gig is a hit all round the Bay Area. I’ve had a huge number of really fun Wednesday nights with friends at this, and if you like bar-​style karaōke I’d highly recommend it.
I believe they also have speed dating here on at least one Wednesday a month, if that’s your thing.
They do serve food until around 10pm, but I’ve never tried it. It looks about standard bar food, to me.

If only it was possible to give negative stars. I’d rather walk to SF to party or just sleep than go to Rudy’s. It’s unfortunate they manage to stay alive given their near monopoly on clubbing nightlife in Palo Alto and a captive market with Stanford a block away.
What a dump. Poor selection of drinks, especially of any top shelf liquor, especially scotch. Blown out speakers with horrible DJs ruin your ears — just put on Pandora and you’d be better off. The atmosphere is dark and dingy as the floors (and bathroom) haven’t been cleaned in decades and the closest thing to decoration are old TVs playing hiphop music videos around the venue and maybe one $ 100 laser light they bought off Amazon. No surprise such a disgusting venue attracts an «interesting» clientele to say the least — usually underage townies with fake IDs or belligerent drunks with no where else to go. It’s no surprise that 9 days out of 10, the police are parked right outside Rudy’s. At least it’s as inexpensive as it is cheap.

Now there is a cover after midnight to get into this almost completely empty bar. Also, the DJ chooses music that has no variety whatsoever and is too slow a lot of the time.
Also, I know sex sells, but having a million TVs showing the music video to the hip-​hop/​rap song that’s playing makes me not want to go there. I don’t need to see screenfuls of bikini-​clad women gyrating in a strip club while a male artist belittles them. Misogyny is much easier to ignore in lyrics than images. Shouldn’t you care what women want? Where there are women, men will follow.
I really want to this place to be a solid go-​to, but so far it continues to be a disappointment. The bartenders are still nice, though.
I’d say come here if you like showing off your dance moves to the staff on a nice big dance floor that you’ll have all to yourself.

Came here on a friday night and it was crackinnn! I LOVED the fact that they had karaōke and you could sign up to sing! How awesome is that?! No matter how good or bad you are everyone dances and sings along. Great vibe. Also love the fact that the DJ whipped out his sax and started playing to whatever song was going on! Didn’t get the chance to get any drinks, but definitely the next time I go!

A bit of a dive bar/​club, but a decent little hangout.
The drinks were a bit weak. I’d stick to beer here if I go again. The dance floor was pretty active, and was pretty enjoyable. Ran into some unexpected friends here, which is always a good sign. Otherwise, it’s like any other bar with a dance floor.

I used to love going to Rudy’s at the end of a good night in Palo Alto for their great music and dance scene, but after a horrible experience there with some other guests I will NEVER be returning again.
A couple of my friends went onto the dance floor and were borderline «attacked» by a huge group of guys who proceeded to ram/​shove their hands under our skirts while we were trying to dance with each other. After turning around, calling them, out and requesting to have them kicked out their staff oblidged and escorted them off the premises.
However, this incident is a reflection of the types of people that partonize Rudy’s on a regular basis. I have had other similar incidents, not as extreme, but it makes me never want to come back again.
I applaude Rudy’s for taking action, but they need to have more of a filter on who they let in and how they allow their customers to act. If you want a better scene, I would go to their new sister establishment Rudy’s the Patio around the corner on Emerson.

Came here on one Saturday night, I don’t get why guys had to pay $ 5 for cover! This place is grimey and small and carpeted (WTF?!). The dance floor is alright, they play typical house music. I just had a shot of patron here so can’t really say anything about the types of drinks they made. The bartender didn’t seem friendly at all, she look annoyed at us if anything.

Since B412 closed, this is pretty much the other night life spot remotely close to clubbing in Palo Alto. Drinks are fairly priced, $ 5 cover for everyone, and the place gets crowded.
Does the job if you want something local and a place that gets you liquored up fast with big shots and stiff cocktails. Used to be my preparty spot since their shots are notably huge, but now it’s THE night spot.
Rudy’s took over B412’s old spot as well now, checkout The Patio at Rudy’s.

I expected just «average» service at Rudy’s because at first it seemed an «average» place designed to appeal to the college crowd, but during my last three trips I’ve enjoyed enough really good service that I should say something positive about it. The food’s good too, but good cooks/​chefs seem easier to find than good service.
Through a handful of different weeknights over the last few months I’ve come to the conclusion that thirty and forty-​something crowds are missing a bet not going to Rudy’s more often. Once the kitchen closes (8 or 9pm?), the crowd becomes twenty-​somethings, but they’re barely represented before then. In the meantime, the tall, attentive gent with the shaved head who works the front bar knows good beer well enough to make quality recommendations. He and the incredibly personable «Veronique» (according to my receipt; short, well-​built w/​dark hair) at the back bar and waiting tables make a visit worthwhile.
If it’s a decision between some crowded place down the street and a bite at the sparsely-​populated Rudy’s, I know I’ll not have to wait as long and will enjoy Rudy’s droolworthy buffalo chicken sandwich as much as Veronique’s professional attention. The crunchy/​spicy/​creamy blue cheese buffalo chicken’s become my standard order because I just can’t get it – or tater tots – reliably enough on other menus.
They offer a bar-​food menu a notch or two better than most and the prices are downright cheap for University Avenue. For the location it’s a positively downscale menu, but that’s a plus on a weeknight, frankly. I’ll be back to benefit from it in another couple of weeks when it’ll be time fix my buffalo chicken+tater tots habit.

Haven’t been out dancing in a while and haven’t been here since they added the dance floor. While it gets incredibly crowded, my friends and I had a great time. Good music. all the current hits. hip hop/​dance music and plenty of fist pumping! My only suggestion would be to kill the fog machine. It’s already stuffy enough in there and that just makes trying to breathe worse. A little more ventilation would be great too. Or maybe I’m just old and nit picky ;p

My friends & I came here after Nola’s closed at 1-​ish am
The guys warned us that this place was «skeezy» but I, having been to my share of dive bars, thought nothing of it…“I can handle some hoochies people! Who do you think I am?“
Upon arriving at the entrance, we were greeted by a highly intoxicated woman joyfully grinning as she was getting handcuffed. K9 barking violently in the background.
There was a 5 $ cover for guys, ladies free
Inside, loads of people were squished onto a mid-​sized dance floor. but despite the ridiculous amount of people only about 20% of them were dancing… the rest were contributing to a rather awkward atmosphere by ogling the people that were in fact dancing (such as myself)
At some point in dancing, two guys next to me decided it was about time for a fight. I don’t know what came over me… must have been the cheap drink. but i decided to play superwoman and jump right in to break up the fight. My initiative inspired some other guys to get in between the wanna-​be UFC champions & we successfully broke the two up.
My night was made… walking back from Rudy’s I triumphantly proclaimed that «I’m all about world peace!»
The alcohol is cheap so drink up, because you’ll need a good buzz to enjoy this joint!

If I could give this place zero stars, I would. Security and management at this place is probably the most unprofessional and rude treatment that I’ve ever ran into… nightlife wise and business wise.
It was my birthday, we had dinner at Miyake’s across the street. It was a little bit of a wait, so we headed over to Rudy’s instead of waiting outside of the restaurant to get started with the drinks.
We went to dinner at Miyake’s and then just decided to head back to Rudy’s for dancing. It wasn’t far from where we had eaten, where we parked. It seemed easier than wandering around Palo Alto trying to find another place, since we’re not from there. Bad call.
Girls got in free, guys had to pay $ 5 or something around that, whatever. That usually happens at bars/​clubs after a certain time, fine. Then the security guard (the same one that was at the door when we went over there at the beginning of the night) stopped my boyfriend and his friend and told them to wait. Then he said «You guys can’t come in». My boyfriend asked why and he said «The owner is probably racial profiling you». Wow, really? Did you really just say that?
I mean, I’d understand if they were dressed in gang colors or XL white tees or caused problems when we were there earlier. But they were in collared shirts and we were ALL in there AN H0UR earlier. And then for security to actually say that? Wow, again.
Yeah, we left and went back to Pleasanton. Yes, we took our college educated, non-​ghetto, Polo wearing asses back to PLEASANT0N. Basically, if you’re tan and over 5’8″, you don’t have a very good chance of getting into Rudy’s. So just skip the racial profiling comment from their dumb bouncers and go somewhere else.