Starlite

Sadness and sausages. And please in the name of all that is holy do not use the downstairs mens room. That space is only fitting for capital execution.

I tried to attend a show here to see my friend’s band play. Unfortunately the bouncer would not let me in. When I asked why (I don’t drink or do drugs so it wasn’t that), he looked me up and down and said, «You look like you’re having too much fun, Fun Boy». I thought he was joking because I come here all the time and I had never seen this bouncer before. All I can think is that it was the way I was dressed and I didn’t fit the «scene»; but I am still not sure. It really upset me. I was going to spend at least $ 30 in cover, food/​drinks, and merch. Even though I really enjoyed this place over it’s short existence, I won’t be coming back because of this incident.

Best Happy Hour in Midtown. delicious food at a price that can’t be beat, retro ambiance and amazing staff!

Live music and good food! Not too bad and not too expensive. The bartender didn’t know my drink but wasn’t afraid to look it up. If your a fan of local music I recommend you stop by and go upstairs. It’s loud, it’s fun, it’s rock and roll!!!

Not impressed. Came to the bar where only 4 people were sitting. Got ignored by the bartender for a good five minutes. Won’t be returning.

First and probably the last time. Barely was in there for less than 5 mins and we only got as far as the bartender checking our IDs. The female bartender was being so rude and cussing us out while checking ID. She was probably steps because she was by herself but still you don’t cuss out customers in a decent size group bring you business.
Yes, especially on a «f***ing tuesday!»

The band I play in was booked here… we were immediately given a warm welcome by the owners and the staff upon walking in. We were well taken care of throughout the night. Before leaving, the owners asked for our honest feedback about what we liked and didn’t like about the place. They were very open minded and were clearly about customer service and improving their business. I personally enjoyed the warm hospitality during our visit.
The food options on the menu were different in a good way and were delicious.
I would recommend this place any day.

I really love the ground floor of this bar. It’s been completely remodeled from its former self, The Townhouse to look very swanky. It’s brighter and lighter with pastel colors and shiny steel panels. The bar top has been resin-​covered with cute retro trinkets to keep you entertained, including a Sacramento musician Bobby Burns memento (he used to be everywhere back in the day).
The bar staff have always been cool and helpful. It was years ago they gave me my first tasting of Angry Orchard cider for a try before you buy option. That’s sweet! Recently I went no alcohol and they had Cock and Bull Ginger Beer. Hurray, made with cane sugar! I get tired of high fructose corn sweetener!
There’s a nice lounge area for cozy conversations and a partitioned billiards area so you won’t be weary of a possible pole jab! The jukebox, next to the robot has a pretty good collection of alternative and classic hits. Robot? I am scared of the robot. The gumball lady looks a little nicer.
The upstairs is where usually the bands or DJs perform. Not my favorite for acoustics, but as my friend said, «they go for loud rather than sound.»

This is an awesome venue for bands. Acoustics are great and I love how much room there is upstairs. The part that really puts it over the top is that the food is actually REALLY good here. Their cheddar bacon burgers are BOMB. Drinks are great too! Food Service could be better but I mean, it’s a bar. I get it.

I’m here way too much but that’s because I really like it.
1. One of the best happy hours in town. Seriously, $ 2.50 for a super tasty baby cheese burger and fries that will fill you up. The drink specials are equally amazing.
2. Everyone is always super friendly to me
3. Wide range of live music on their calendar.

Fun little quirky dive bar with cheap drinks and good food. That sentence pretty much sums it up but there are a few details that make this place better than your average dive bar:
1. A good selection of beer choices — They have a decent amount of craft beers along with some PBR Tallies for those who prefer that.
2. The food is pretty darn good — I ordered some of the garlic fries and, although my husband might not agree, it was definitely a good choice ;)
3. Friendly staff — I was there with a large group of girls for a 30^th birthday bar crawl and the bartender was able to tolerate us with a smile.
Check it out!

We came here with a $ 20 gift certificate we paid $ 10 for and got a burger, garlic fries, ceaser salad, and a beer which came to a little over $ 20.
Everything was fine, just not for the price. The burger was small and seemed like it might have been of the pre-​frozen variety. Which I don’t mind except the burger was $ 9. The garlic fries were an extra $ 2 to upgrade and were hardly seasoned and had maybe a tablespoon of parm on them. The salad was fine and the beer was reasonably priced.
The service was great, though. We had a friendly bartender who helped us in our selection and was quick.
I would say to visit during happy hour and you’ll get what you pay for.

This venue lost its allure to me when Townhouse closed and Starlite sprung up in its place. It’s the same basic set-​up and both floors are still in use, but they got rid of the ground dance floor (boo!) and remodeled the interior to be a sort of 1950s/​60s modern aesthetic. It seems like the remodel tried to scrub the venue clean of its dive bar status; in my humble opinion, repainting and redecorating a dive bar is like trying to mask B.O. with cologne. I preferred the place when it just embraced the dive-​iness.
Personal preferences aside, it’s a perfectly viable option for grabbing a drink. I’ve only been there once but I pass it often. The crowd seems slightly different since the Starlite opened and I don’t think they have the same dance nights that used to draw me to the Townhouse, but the environment is welcoming enough. +1 star for cleaning up the previously grimy STD-​tastic bathrooms.

1^st time here with a group of friends didnt care for it. Expensive drinks. 6.50 for a Jameson? It was 5 pm on a Saturday. No band playing, just 10 people at a bar.
We thought at first since the food was inexpensive that would make up for the expensive drinks. NOPE. The portions were small. Granted the Garlic Fries were pretty good!
Maybe when a good band is playing, it will make up for the small portions and expensive drinks, but to pop in for a quick bite and drink wont happen for me.

Reminds me of the viper room in LA but it’s not, which is why I like this place so much. It’s off the grid… well kinda. It’s grungy. Its retro. And I was in the mood. So this is where I ended up. And I must say thank you to Mike O. Thanks for the recommendation as this is most definitely your domain. If you need to break away from all the holiday bullshit the Starlight is an awesome place. Come here… you will love the edgyness of this place. A perfect unwind from my hellavuh work week. Unilocal on!!!

The owners remodeled the old Town House into a cool retro 50’s era lounge with live music upstairs. The drinks are cheap, but they do not have beer on tap. Their kitchen serves upgraded bar food which was pretty good. It has a great balance of live music and lounge atmosphere which is nice when you want to take a break between songs to recover. Definitely worth a stop.

I’ve been here a couple times now, and, at the very least, I’m really glad this isn’t ToHo anymore. The décor is cheesy but fun, the bartenders have all been funny, engaging, and nice, and the bathroom is so very, very improved. There is a good amount of seating and a few pool tables, and the drinks, while not dirt cheap, aren’t too pricey. Maybe the place gets more rockin’ later in the evening, but each time I’ve come either the music hasn’t been on or there’s some sort of «live-​music will be on later but right now we’re tuning and messing around» situation.
Overall, a decent three star dive bar.
What pushes it to four stars for me is the food. We got snacks the first couple times we came here (all the usually tasty-​fried things you would expect), and then came in to cash in a Groupon for a proper dinner. My husband and I each got a burger and HOLY HELL we did not know what we signed up for.
The burgers were huge, both tall and in diameter (but still edible), and absolutely delicious. I got the bacon cheeseburger (which I usually avoid because the bacon is always stringy and nasty) and was not sorry about it. The burger was juicy and done just over medium (aka perfect), the bacon was thick and crispy, and the produce was spot on — ripe and cripsy in all the right ways. Truly, Hamburger Christmas came early this year with this hamburger miracle.
I’ll be back to tackle another burger soon!

Starlite, star bright,
First bar I see tonight,
I wish I may,
I wish I might,
Get filthy drunk and wolf down bar food before stumbling upstairs for live music.
That about sums it up in as few words as this non-​poet can string together. I’ll elaborate anyways.
Starlite is a makeover of the former Townhouse. The makeover didn’t exactly clean up the place (it’s still a dive), and instead created the atmosphere of a seedy music club crossed with a 50’s era malt shop.
Belly up to the bar on any given night and expect decent service, mediocre grub and a couple TVs. The real attraction here is the music upstairs. They do a good job of bringing in some quality local acts, but they also pull in some real crap. Either way, I’m just glad there is another venue that will give anyone the opportunity to express themselves musically. The upstairs is dark, dingy and great for certain acts while others feel out of place. The $ 10 charge to get up there during the Saturday I visited was loosely enforced. Hopefully some of that money went to the bands.
Summary: Come for the music, stay for the music.

Live band karaōke every Thursday!
That alone is worth taking a trip down to the place! The downstairs area is cool, the bar is decent sized with attentive bartenders. The bathrooms are very small, but easily identifiable after a few cocktails, which is always nice. When in doubt, look for nursery colors! Pink for ladies, blue for gents!
The upstairs has a bar of its own as well as restrooms. The karaōke and stage are also upstairs. There is plenty of seating and plenty of room for those that want to shake their tail feathers to some fun renditions of oldies but goodies sang by half drunk celebrities in training.
My only complaint about this place would be the price for the drinks and the strength given that price. I ordered a few drinks and I was a little surprised that they didn’t have much punch to them. I say, pregame before heading down here, but be prepared for some fun once you arrive!

*WOW!* The Bathrooms Finally Got Cleaned!
SITREP
No shit. This location — when it was The Townhouse, not the current business «Starlite» — had the most interminable, dirty bathrooms to rival «the dirtiest toilet in Scotland.»
On an unrelated note (but hell, I actually don’t know if it’s unrelated), The Townhouse ended up in foreclosure.
Now welcome STARLITE and it’s new owners and a snazzy new vibe.
MUSIC
I was enticed to make my first full visit of STARLITE last night to catch the awesome DJ set of DJ DADA for the event 45RPM. It was a great musical experience and if I am back to Starlite, it will be mainly for that (but maybe other DJ-​dance offerings could perk my interest — but there’s an issue related to dancing later in this review…)
THE SETUP
The new owners have done an admirable job of sprucing the place up, including:
* Serious — the bathrooms, both upstairs and downstairs ARE NICE, and they have the kind of mastubatory images on the walls that my grandpa probably really enjoyed ;)
* Spritzing up the bar area with a very cool bar counter and a digital jukebox
* Upgrading the physical plant of the downstairs room with a Harley bike stuck to the upper back wall (like where a moose head would go if this were a fraternal lodge of some sort).
* To be honest, it was dark when I hit the upstairs room and so I could not really tell (other than the aforementioned bathroom) if any other effort was put into this room’s physical plant — and yet this is where I was most of the night too.
DANCE FLOOR VS. POOL ROOM LOCATIONS — MY ISSUE
However, speaking of the downstairs/​upstairs rooms, I think this is where the venue made a half-​ass backwards decision and where the logistics of what they COULD have done equals a missed opportunity:
(1) What drew a crowd to the Townhouse in the past was the DANCING in the downstairs room. But now — and it’s only my opinion, but it’s a studied observation of club-​dynamics that I consult on — Starlite has shot themselves in the foot by moving the dancing upstairs, instead of leaving it downstairs
(2) What attracted a lot of patrons when they DID come to Townhouse were the DJ sets downstairs: lots of people dancing, especially when DJ Arnold Phillips did his Trap-​sets and Shaun Slaughter & Roger did 80s, House, Fuck-​Friday kind of stuff. Also a lot of people WATCHING, and buying drinks, and gathering around the edges and on the other side of the viewable walls and WATCHING people dancing, and buying more drinks.
(3) But now they’ve made the downstairs room into a pool room with just ONE pool table. Upstairs you could fit 2 to 3 pool tables and reach critical mass to be actually be called «A Pool Hall», and you would not have to manage the floor upkeep upstairs for a pool room like you would need to (or should, hint hint) for a large dance floor.
(4) Further, if you have 6 – 8 people dancing upstairs, it seems sparse. Dancing downstairs in the more structured space, it seems almost a crowd with room still for 20 more.
Bottom Line:
(A.) move the jukebox and pool table upstairs, and get another 1 – 2 pool tables for there and then you have a draw that is «pool hall» worthy.
(B) Keep the dance floor downstairs. Man, the girls were complaining about having to walk up those LONNNNNNNG ass stairs in their high heels and are not fond of those kind of tripping hazards — yes, think of potential lawsuits and how to avoid them.
© Plus with the DJ dance sets *pumpin*, THAT is the music you want to hear coming out the front door out onto the sidewalk attracting people’s attention as they walk by (OR maybe decide to COME IN). You don’t want to hear Kansas, «Dust In The Wind» droning from the jukebox (now don’t get me wrong — I love Kansas, but not on nights when you want people to dance & drink). Unfortunately, the pumpin DJ sets are upstairs where people on the street may not hear them.
THE LOWDOWN
A great effort for a club rejuvenation, but one that could do so much more logistically to make it even better.