Martini Ranch

With bad service, I don’t wonder why they’re closed.

I went by here the other day and its not Martini Ranch anymore. I forget what its called but it’s some cowboy BS.

Can someone please tell me why I paid $ 10 to get into this place? Lame. Just over a lame place.

Typical Gaslamp crowd — guys trying to show off for girls who want free drinks. What I like about Martini Ranch is the distinct areas, especially the second floor. The bartender up there cut us great deals on rounds of shots because he could tell we were happy to tip generously. And the music that filters up from the bar area — the part that’s not the hip-​hop dance floor — is a cool mix of old-​school stuff. The bouncers tolerated our group’s drunken making out until the guys started sucking face with each other on the couches. Same-​sex lovin’ doesn’t fly in the Gaslamp (unless it’s two chicks grinding for the guys, of course).

having connections to get into the Shaker Room, and honestly, it’s not that bad. the dj’s play good music and it gets pretty packed. got a nice little patio outdoors, and the security are mad chill. it’s more to a younger crowd. there is one room with a bar where if you just want to chill and watch the games and drink.
the women there are gorgeous too. check it out.

I dunno, but the girls in San Diego got too much leg and boob action going on with their outfits… I just thought it was too cold for that this past weekend. But they looked good!
Nice club. The crowd is ghetto. Dance floor is tiny!

Great happy hour. Very reasonably priced strong tasty martini’s. Forgo the fried free food and order snacks from next door… Brian’s eatery.

i like the second floor, it’s very dark and posh… the couches seem very comfy, i think that’s the only thing i like about this place, oh and plus the girl bartender/​dancer because ‘miss thing’ knows how to shake her ass, and she seems nice too, she’s getting hit on by every guy in the bar
moving on to the bad side… didn’t really like the crowd here, i guess since i don’t go out often to downtown so when i am in the area, i have some sort of high expectation from the crowd… this place has no comparison whatsoever to On Broadway,… the music is so-​so, nothing that stands out… and there are a few times on that night that i swear to god it smelled like a public restroom on the dancefloor

Umm. this is place not really that cool to go to. If you do go here make sure you get in for free or at least get on the list. The Hip-​Hop room/​dance floor is soooooo small!!! I didnt have a good time here, we left and went to Stingree.

I applaud this place for their favoritism. What do you do when four stumbling, scantily clad girls flash a smile? You get free drinks from the bartender, VIP access to areas that you aren’t allowed to be in, and VIP cards for next time around. I wonder if this place would be just as a cool if we weren’t in the state that we were in. And I wonder how their dirty martinis are…

** CLOSED — TAKEN OVER BY DOUBLE DEUCE**
The first time I went here was when I was still in college. I’ve also been here as a last resort since then, and that includes this past weekend. The plan was to go to Ivy but the line was sooooo long and NOT moving, so we went here by default, and because he let us in for free — guys too, amazingly enough. I honestly think this place might be doing better b/​c there are so many people getting fed up with Ivy so they come here. I hadn’t done any guestlists elsewhere and we weren’t in the mood to pay full cover for anywhere but Ivy so we were gonna wander til we found somewhere to go.
It was completely empty on the dancefloor but the DJ was good and played some old school stuff. Not totally old school, but old in the sense of music that everyone knew the lyrics to in the late 90s. The first drink I had was some sort of peach martini and it was nasty. The kind of drink, as I described it, that you take one sip of at the end of the night and know it will lead you to the porcelain god. So I steered away from it after that. The martinis were only $ 9, which for downtown was pretty damn cheap!
Once it got crowded at like 11, we were surrounded by weirdness. There were at least two dance-​offs, one between an overly touchy feely PDA male/​male couple. Honestly the place itself is not that bad in terms of location and set up. I think they may just need a new promoter or maybe they should just change their name or get some sort of a makeover. It could be good. The upstairs bar w/​seating is nice for viewing the dancefloor, there is an outside fenced in area, and the bar section is nice enough too. Something is just off.

2.5 Stars.
Its been about 2 years since I’ve been here (sorry if you hate these kind of reviews).
Catch it on a good night, the place is packed. Mixed crowd, lots of dancing and LOTS of drinking. My friend claims he got a BJ on the steps and his sister actually walked by and caught him.
I can guess what you’re thinking, but who are you to judge???
I believe him, knowing what I know about the Gas Lamp district. They let loose down there!

One star only.
My friends and I went to Martini Ranch after my friend recommended me to go there. Cover was $ 5. WOW.
Anyone who gives this place more than 3 stars has to be really old or gay. And I mean it when I say gay! On a friday night, the crowd seemed to be all metrosexual gay guys with their tight jeans and plucked eyebrows or a reallly reallly older crowd. I mean old as in balding old.
The dance floor was «packed» but it was full of older people trying to dance to current music. Try to picture it… exactly.
The music was alright at best. They mixed hiphop music with trance. What the hell? I didn’t know we were at a rave.
The drinks were alright, they were mildly strong. Some drinks felt watered down. My screwdriver was good though.
Overall, I agree with Christine. If you’re making the effort to go out on a friday night, don’t make the mistake of going here. I think this place is a last last last last last resort.
I think I just caught Martini Ranch on a bad night… perhaps I’ll give it another shot later :)

Used to be good, now it is not. Happy hour is ok, but would not be httting this place up at night.
I just went here again a couple of weeks ago, and I am upgrading to 3 stars. The décor is improved, the crowd was better, and the bartenders were slinging quick drinks.

Ghetto.
2 stars for their strong drinks.
Okay… so it wasn’t my choice to come here. It was my friend’s cousin’s birthday so we had to go along with her plans. We trekked to San Diego to party in the Gas Lamp district which is usually really fun!
But…
The clientele at this establishment was pretty much crap, which kinda just ruined it for me. By the end of the night, I had come up with about 5 – 6 really rude ways to say NO to the very agressive, and not to mention very touchy, men in there. Basically, it came down to, «Hey buddy, I’m not nice, so beat it.» They were also playing pretty shitty music, so that didn’t help either.
Oh well… Next.

Such a relaxed atmosphere! One of the places that I frequent whenever downtown if I am to meet up with friends.
At Martini Ranch, you aren’t there to impress. You are there to socialize and drink. Hell, you can even dance if you’d like but I never seemed to like the dance floor area (maybe it’s the people…).
The cover is a bit steep for a place like this ($ 10) but whatever — you’re downtown so you are definitely ready to party. The drink prices are average and aren’t as watered down as some other places.
There is an upstairs area great for groups of people. So far, I have loved all of the waitresses. Very friendly staff.
In the end, a great place to stop by to socialize and pound down some booze, dance a bit, and then move on.

if you’re poor and have a drinking problem and wanna spend money on booze and not food, come here for their 4−7pm happy hour. they usually have a buffet thing for happy hour. i know cos my company has a drinking problem and had their after hours company drinking fiesta here during happy hour and we had free food from Alex’s Brown Bag on a Friday.
yeah. booze over food. i dunno. it’s a little wrong.
nevertheless, good beers on tap too. and big screens for you to watch sporting events while boozing and eating free food. i recommend the top floor, hit the buffet on the way up.

I like Martini Ranch, but I think if you are going to to through the trouble of going out downtown (IE look for parking, dress up, etc) there are better places to head out to, like Henry’s.
But I do like Martini Ranch because similar to Henry’s, this bar does have a relatively relaxed atmosphere, but Martini Ranch has a pretty poppin’ dance floor as well.
However, I don’t like dropping about 10 bucks a drink, especially a martini that takes me abou 3 seconds to drink. OK, maybe it is not Martini Ranch’s fault that I can drink fast, but I would have a much better time during happy hour when the drinks are cheaper, but this place gets a good crowd during the weekends, so I definitely recommend going here, if you don’t mind the price.

The Martini Ranch has a decent happy hour. I think it’s $ 5 for a house Martini during the early hours of the work week. This place has potential; I dig the Shaker room (fancy name for the dance club half of the venue) and the crowd is tolerable. But as far as events and promotional club nights go, The Martini Ranch has really fallen off the map in the last year or two.
They used to have Dave Patrone (a young, fun Sinatra-​type performer) come in at least once a week. He’d dance on top of the bar and it was loads of fun. Oh man, and way back in the day they’d have live shows. I saw Ten Pound Brown perform in the Shaker room years ago (they’ve evolved into Transfer, one of my favorite local bands that I still follow to this day).

In what used to be ‘no man’s land’ between the heart of Gaslamp and the ballpark. Now, it’s a great location. They get a good, lively and friendly crowd. On a nice night, it’s a blast to sit outside.