Ivy Bar

This place is still open?! It’s one step away from a brothel. It’s full of skanky middle aged women pretending to be in their twenties catering to sugar daddies, essentially. Bottle service is ridiculous, the Karaōke is cheesy, and the place stinks. $ 10 for a «ladyshot» of Patron? Please. No cocktail menu?! And it’s in the lame part of Richmond. Totally felt like I am back in some Korean suburb, made me feel cheap. Also, somehow my phone number ended up with some law student back in Michigan that I met while trying to double-​fist my vodka cocktails; and it’s been like two years and I think he still calls me once a month.

Can you say «money laundering?»
I have lived around the corner from this place for years, and finally stopped in for a beer on the way home from sushi with my GF (we are both white). The only way I can describe the «vibe» is that it felt like everyone in there was actively engaged in something criminal (underage drinking? prostitution? gambling?) and they all thought we were undercover cops. I have never felt so much «evil eye» on me in my life. We were made to feel very uncomfortable and unwelcome and we didn’t even finish our drinks before leaving in a hurry.
I don’t know how this place stays in business, but it cannot be from the legitimate sale of drinks over the bar. It is rarely open, and there are rarely any customers inside when it is. Enter at you own risk (or better yet, don’t).

Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Sad…
Sometimes the music would just stop and there would be a few minutes of extremely awkward silence in the bar.
Its a Korean bar that has Karaōke. I went here on a Saturday night after sushi for a friends bday. There were 6 of us, 2 bartenders and I think 2 or 3 other guests, so its a dead spot. The Karaōke song list sucked. they must have had the discount song package. In honor of Michael Jackson we did an all MJ tribute.
They have a pool table and a couch, pretzels, and that’s about it.
I guess this could be a cool place if you are bringing the party. If your just going here with a couple of people this place blows.
They get 2 stars instead of 1 because my friend was pretty belligerent and they still let him sing.

Hostess bar, and I’m not talking twinkies or cupcakes.
Let’s take a look at the price breakdown for a $ 10 bottle of Corona over here.
$ 1 Corona cost
$ 1 Operating cost for rent
$ 8 Cost to have the young AZN bartenders ask you about your day while serving you a beer.
Might be for you, not for me. $ 10 dolla make you holla.

Finally came here the other night after passing it so many times.
I had read the reviews and was expecting it to be much more divey. I’d qualify this place as a lounge — comfortable lounge seating near the kareoke machine and a good blend of subdued lighting and paints layered about.
Unfortunately for me and my buddy a group of… I don’t know how to describe this group — let’s just say it was a group of about 15 and some of them were learning how to hold down a shot. Even worse, they were picking the worse songs to sing and doing them a mock high pitch voice that was not funny at all.
Yes, the drinks are expensive — $ 5 for domestic bottle beer?! Well, I figured out the prices are high because you can come in here and do your kareoke thing for free. Plus the pretty Korean girls behind the bar probably use the extra cash for all the dolling up they get.

Depsite the fact that this place used to be a much seamier place, weekend nights here are pretty fun for a few drinks– as long as you’re not looking for some ‘authentic dive’ experience or a moodily lit vodka lounge. There are other places for you.
It’s definitely a niche audience– if you’re a post middle-​age Asian man (as I aspire to be) what are your nightlife options? Who says you have to be at home reading poetry by lamplight and go to bed at eight?
All they want to do is get their drink on, belt out Englebert Humperdinck/​Petula Clark/​Tae Jin Ah/​Patti Kim songs, do awkward jerking epileptic dances, have somewhat attractive women around you, and generally relive your 20’s (the sixties? seventies?). Note: if you’re not careful you’ll get roped into old-​timer conversations where they tell you how it used to be, but somewhere between the accent and them lapsing into their native language it’s hard to know what’s happening– only that they won’t let you leave. But you have to try, otherwise they’ll drag you up there and make you sing obscure BeeGees songs.
I think Margarita T.‘s ‘pathetic’ and ‘sucks’ might be a little strong but clearly, any enthusiastic drunk rendition of Earth Wind and Fire in falsetto with a Chinese accent is an acquired taste.
Also, very well kept pool table with a whole bunch of new-​looking cues.

SF Food Inspection Score: 100!
Aw a 2 star? Really? I kind of liked the divey feel of this place.
AND the super drunk Korean girls that were fun, attractive, positive, and helpful.
My favorite part was when they were serving some of my friends jagger and the bartender called it «get fucked up juice».
Tons o fun!
But watch out for the sneaky over priced drinks. Totally spent $ 20 on two drinks. No good!

I was let out of a cab in front of this place late at night after a work function and wandered in. Its technically the closest bar to my house, so I figured it worth a beer. There was a kinda wierd vibe about the place, that’s for sure. $ 5 for a bottle of Stella was about a buck too much for that level of establishment. Friendly bartender chit-​chatted about whatever, don’t really remember. Singing «Ebony and Ivory» is also kind of blurry. Nobody smoking when I was there. Of course the only other customers were two Korean businessmen so drunk I don’t think they could hold cigarettes. Altogether a bit strange experience. I might go back sometime if I was drunk and felt the need to belt out some cheesy 70’s ballad or something.