Sound Wave Music Hall

Went to this place during the day for lunch. Classy clear plastic cups for drinks, refreshing beer in cans, decent service, great view (if you pick the upstairs patio), disgusting sides of fruit, brown avocados, not so tastie burgers or chicken sandwiches and attire found in someones hand me downs 80 box.
Come here for a view and a drink. Skip the food.

I’ve always heard about this place and also heard good things about its neighboring establishment. So I was pretty stoked to come here and watch Tribal Theory and Stranger. Met some friends here and was asked if this was my first time. I said yeah and he said «First and last…» Little did I know, this was the last show being held here since the block was closing down. Not sure of the reason but I figured tonights gonna get packed since its the last show at this venue…
Drinks: $ 8 for your Crown and Coke and $ 5 for beer (Can)
Layout: I liked it! I like how the crowd can gather right in front of the band and over in the corner are booths and tables.
Sound: Good sound! Clear vocals and nice deep bass.
It would’ve been nice to have the back area open as an option to hang out and look out onto the beach. But it was sprinkling and a tad cold.
I guess this review won’t really matter anymore… One for the books then!

Great sound for live music. Great bar, great location, not the greatest service, but most places don’t have great service. Love playing it as a musician.

Overall Soundwave is clean and comfortable. The lighting and sound could be better, drinks are average price ($ 7 – 10), specials were not so special. On the night I visited recently a great crowd and great music made up for an average venue.

Went to see katchafire last nite. they got down! I love them. soundwave is cool expext for them rude drunk guys who are looking for fights. lame .over all the band was super hott but they need to beef up security…

As far as the music venue goes, this place is fine. As a restaurant though, I’ll never come back again. My in-​laws and my family all went out on a Sunday afternoon for a quick bite. It was off-​hours for lunch, and despite the beach being really crowded, the restaurant wasn’t. It took probably 15 minutes to get seated, even though we could see open tables all over.
Once seated, it was a while before our waitress (pretty sure her name was Kristin) came over to see what we’d like. By then we had decided on getting two appetizer plates to share since we’d need to have room for dinner later, as well as drinks for everyone. We ordered nachos and wings. When my father-​in-​law asked the waitress for wings, she asked him what kind of sauce he wanted, and when he asked what kind was available, she said, «it’s printed in your menu,» with a nasty attitude.
Later on, my 21 month old daughter spilled my wife’s lemonade. Being the kind of people we are, we tried to clean it up ourselves. We’re not the type to ask someone on staff to clean up after us. We didn’t have any napkins though, and so my brother-​in-​law went to ask the waitress if we could borrow a rag. She basically blew him off and continued to hang out with some of her co-​workers while lemonade dripped on the floor and one of the chairs. My father-​in-​law ended up having to go ask a bartender who was actually helpful. We had the spill basically cleaned up before our waitress bothered to stop in and bring anything to help.
The food took FOREVER to show up. When it did, the nachos were alright (but not great), and the wings were decent. The waitress came by to get my father-​in-​law another beer, and even though 3 of us had empty drink cups, she didn’t bother to ask if we wanted more to drink. She also never volunteered to refill my wife’s spilled lemonade.
When all was said & done, we were just ready to leave. Then the waitress was phony enough to put a little smiley face on the bill when she brought it out. Grrrrrrr. Talk about annoying. She was rude, inattentive, and annoying. She is the reason that I will never eat there again. Neither will my in-​laws. Neither will pretty much anyone in my family. It was overpriced, mediocre food with horrible service. Bottom line is that you’re better off somewhere else.

Was walking around at the beach looking for a place to eat lunch… the place next door (seems like same owners) had a long wait so we checked it out here.
The staff was very cool, and friendly. It was pretty slow there so that was nice too… had a good relaxing feel. I got the grilled tuna sandwich. It was pretty tasty, but for the price I definitely think there should have been more…
Apparently this is also a music venue, but since it was around lunchtime nothing was going on for that… would have been cool to check out some live music though!

Saw Rhythm Devils there. The staff was professional; there was waitress service on the dance floor so I could retain my good spot in front of the stage. Good acoustics, intimate place to see a really hot band. The place was clean and the crowd friendly.

This has to do with the rooftop restaurant up top. … First off the view is very nice. Right next to the beach, from any angle you are able to see the ocean.
You would like this place if you are one to to just want to lay back, relax and have no where to go. I say this because it’s a bit slow here. The waitress extremely nice, but slow service. Mostly it was the people making the food and the bartender.
I feel that they need more staff in the back. I can understand cooking the nachos and what not, but a ceaser salad should not take 20+ minutes. And it shouldnt take 15+ min to get a watered down piña colada.
However, the nachos and salad we did have was very good. The nachos was plently. So many and for those who dont like fake cheese, there’s fake cheese on the nachos. However, no problem for me, i love them!
The salad was good, enough to feed two.
The bathroom is bit of a pain, because it’s downstairs.
Overall, a decent place to hangout if you’re not busy.

This review will focus on the rooftop deck being that when we go to Canes — er, I mean Soundwave — it really has only been for the rooftop deck. I don’t really dig cover/​tribute bands and the acoustics in the music venue are terrible.
We met at Soundwave for «Happy Hour.» Beforehand, we tried to call ahead to see what the happy hour specials were. Sadly, we couldn’t get in touch with anyone… if we had, we would have learned that they have no happy hour special.
So here’s what I’m guessing happened to produce Soundwave. When Canes moved out, the Wave House owners thought it would be nice to take over the space. Canes took their heat lamps, TVs, dishware, etc. Soundwave moved in, bought a bunch of plastic cups, and called it a day.
It was cold, there were no heat lamps. We were hoping to catch the end of the hockey game, but they had no TVs. My friend ordered a Martini and got it in a Martini glass… then another friend ordered a Martini that was placed in a plastic cup. The bartender pointed to the first Martini-​ordering friend and said, «She has our only Martini glass.» I said, «better hold onto that.»
Let’s go back to the lack of happy hour. Each person who arrived was a little floored at the lack of drink or food specials at 5:30pm on a Friday evening in a new as well almost completely empty bar. If you’re new and not even going to try to decorate the place, at least have a decent happy hour. I think it’s pretty assuming that people will just come to your establishment for a view of the ocean through some dirty windows. Well, I guess that’s what tourism is for. Good luck with the locals.
The only reason I’m giving Soundwave 2 stars instead of 1 is because the DJ spinning reggae was very good and we were in fact outside.
PS. I assume that Soundwave will likely be working on the décor with time… I was so disappointed, though, that I probably won’t ever go back to see how it evolves.

Apparently this is a music venue as well as a restaurant. I came here last weekend on a Sunday afternoon to have lunch with some friends on the outdoor deck on the roof. First, the positives: The setting is great. The deck overlooks the ocean and there is good music playing. Kristin, our server, was especially nice for the three hours we were there.
Now for the negatives: The service here was so slow. I can’t remember a place I’ve been where the service was so… tremendously…s-l-o-w. We ordered 5 beers and 2 margaritas soon after we were seated. It was 20 minutes before we got the drinks. The beers were fine but the margaritas were terrible. A friend ended up going to the bar (10 feet from our table) and ordered a shot of tequila to add to his ice water – er, margarita – just to make it a cocktail.
We didn’t get our food until an hour after we ordered it. I had the Yellow Fin Tuna sandwich. It was so-​so. The fries were good.
It was a 3-​hour lunch that should have taken an hour. I may go back for the roof deck and atmosphere but only if they allow BYOB.

One Eskimo — I have been following this band since I saw their animated video for their song «Kandi» and when I heard that KPRI was presenting a private listener concert before they play at Coachella, I had to see them.
The location is the newly named Soundwave Music Hall, a musical venue which is part of the Soundwave Restaurant (I guess it replaced Canes) in Pacific Beach. I have been to this area of Pacific Beach with its mini coasters, games, and the infamous Wavehouse (where you can ride the waves in pool of water). I have not tried that but I was here in this venue to see the group.
Parking was relatively easy since there is a big lot for this venue of mixed entertainment area. I don’t think this will be easy on the summer but for tonight’s visit, no problems. I actually have not gone to this area in a while so I walked around before I went in line. Doors were supposed to open at 6 but did a little later.
The venue is small but more spacious than most, since we are still early spring, the light from the outside makes this place look really nice. The music hall is adjacent to the restaurant so I guess on some shows, you can have dinner at the restaurant and just catch the show.
KPRI — Rock w/​o Rules, I listen to this station from time to time but didn’t realize that the audience is about my age and this relatively new band although not necessarily a Rock band has attracted this age range of concertgoers. Or as we get old, freebies in small venues are better than paying big bucks in a big arena.
The venue itself has a nice stage, some various seating arrangements (which most of the people in line immediately ran to) and service by staff for both drinks and food. There is a full bar on the side and smaller bar on the other side of the hall. There is a second floor staircase leading to the outside areas (probably during hotter days for ocean views).
Overall for a non-​crowded (purposely requested by the band), the venue was great. The green room is on the side of the stage where the musicians wait and go back after the show. For a first timer to this venue, I gave it 4 stars. I would have to check it out during the summer and figure out how bad it can get on a summer evening when the beach is crowded and parking is horrible.
The concert was awesome because I like seeing newer bands on smaller venue and they delivered a short but good set. When the musicians play like you hear them on the cd, then you know there is talent. I absolutely liked the drummer who played various other instruments and the horn too was a nice touch.