Smiles

This place is awesome. Great drinks at a decent price, hot go-​go dancers and a small dance floor that everyone typically seems to flock to later into the evening. They play a great variety of music so you are never bored. They also serve food, though I haven’t eaten there (at least it’s an option). Only downsides are that the space is rather small so seating is limited (tables are usually reserved in advance) and it’s usually too loud for talking and hanging out. However, it’s awesome for drinking and getting your dance on.

Music was really good in the beginning, but as 2 am approached and they were trying to get everyone to leave the dj started playing some ridiculously slow/​undancable to music, We were begging him to play suavamente, but he kept saying no because he «needed to get the crowd to leave» .whatever, this place is ok, their drinks aren’t bad, and up until about 1:30 AM the music is actually pretty good. so if you happen to be in the Sherman Oaks area and don’t feel like driving to Hollywood to go clubbing, it’s worth checking out.

I felt so fancy here. The waitresses were really sweet and very attentive. Even the owner started making drinks at one point. They have a nice patio area where smoking is allowed, they also have tables and lots of seating. You can also smoke hookah outside (they have a nice selection of flavors).
The inside is kind of small but it’s nice, they have a decent size bar, lots of seating and a small dance floor with a small cubby hole for a stage for DJ’s (I don’t know what they do on nights with no DJ). They have «go-​go dancers» most of them usually shake around and hump the stage and barely do it to the music, so if your into that you’d appreciate it but I’ve seen better go-​go dancers. They also have an upstairs with a smaller bar with couches for seating area (not a full bar) and bathrooms both up and downstairs.
They have a full food menu and it’s decent food, I would come back here again if I wanted a night out, it’s worth it.

It’s been a while but wanted to take the time to update my review. I celebrated my birthday here in September on a Saturday night and had a blast. Chris was sweet and saved a booth for me and my friends who arrived their before I did and they were advised were to sit. It was great and the night was set with a dance performance on the dance floor which caught the attention of many peeps there.
Dance floor was always packed, the go go dancers on point and the drinks were strong and kept on coming!
The peeps at Smiles were very amazing to my friends and the bar was always busy and cracking. The music was great and I was always on the dance floor!
I gave it four stars because they were so busy that our drinks would come like 20 min after we ordered our stuff and it seemed that their was just one waitress for the whole place.
Nevertheless I’m still excited to go to Smiles and I’m going there to celebrate my graduation in a week! It’s going to be GREAT!
Thanks Chris and Smiles Staff and keep up the good work!
P. S. Don’t listen to those haters…

Had a good time on saturday night. No cover, go go dancers, live DJ, quick bar service, descent drinks at about $ 7 a pop, a variety of music genres and relaxed people there to have a good time.
Yes some thug types, some guys in suits, some hood girls and others that look like they belong on a magazine. The crowd was easy to get along with.
Its not a large place, but rather cozy, which I prefer the more intimate setting versus a bar or club large enough for 300 people.
They have valet parking or you can easily find parking on the street.
I’m happy to have found a good night club in the valley.
To Chris/​Owner: Yes, it was that night. Interesting how you remembered me being there. I want to add that I usually do not give out 5 stars, as you can see from my profile, so 4 is pretty much top notch. 5 Stars means it is something way out of the ordinary and something amazing. 4 stars from me is a great thing. I like Smiles and look forward to coming back. Thanks.

I invited a few friends to this place. The music is alright. Good prices on drinks and very friendly staff. Everyone is generally happy to be there and that’s usually what matters.
The one thing that could improve this place is if it had a consistent theme. Too much of it seems irrelevant to each other. Lately they seem to be working on that too though.
Go have a decent, inexpensive time at Smiles.

Looks cool from outside I’ll give ‘em that. Also they play some great old school joints– half the time– but that wont bring me back.
The selection of people that come here are not attractive– by appearance nor personality. The men are overbearing, rude, and honestly haven’t a clue on how to treat women. The girls are jealous, bitter, racist, and– well maybe they belong here to match up perfectly with the men.
This place reminds me a lot of Club One Seven– you guys remember that one over on Hollywood and Highland that was for ages 17+ !?! Yah… that’s what this is– a bunch of ugly little kids with no social skills, too reminiscent of high school.
Their $ 4 – 5 drink specials are pointless, with the watered-​down incompetent juice they serve you– you’re better off pregaming.
I ended up having an ok time only due to forcing myself to become as drunk as possible so I could have my own little party within this little hole.
The DJ was pretty generous, putting on whatever we asked for– still not enough to bring us back. Nope sorry
The only smile you’re getting is the one you’ll have walking out of this little dump. Oh the dancers are hot– there’s a plus for all you little boys out there
*****AND DO YOU GUYS BELIEVE THIS OWNER– ADDING HIS CUTE LITTLE REMARKS ON ALL OF OUR REVIEWS– WHAT IS HE LIKE 16? OR PROBABLY AN ADULT THAT HAS MAJOR LITTLE-​MAN SYNDROME. YES YOU DEFINITELY PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS WELL ;) XOXO *************

Interesting spot… strippers, 90’s ghetto rap, and the Russian mob. I did thoroughly enjoy watching the creepos drooling over the strippers though with their dropped jaws and unyielding gaze. I’ll highly recommend this place to friends who are in need of a good laugh.

There’s definitely a fine line between a «hidden gem» and a bug under a rock, right? There are a lot of things that I enjoyed about this place first of all — the location, the inexpensive drinks and free entrance. You cannot go wrong with those 3 IMPORTANT aspects!
Other than that, I wasn’t impressed, because I was more confused than anything! I felt like it was a hybrid of a Saddle Ranch and a strip club. Don’t get me wrong, I like go-​go dancers, but I wasn’t sure if go-​go dancers are supposed to accept tips. I may be ignorant to the lifestyle because I’m not a go-​go dancer or any dancer of some sort, but I was a bit taken back by it.
Aside from the entertainers, it’s incredibly hot in there, so be prepared for humidity. Ladies, pull your hair back and put the bangs away because then you’ll fret with the bangs sticking to your forehead or your long wispy hair being stuck to the back of your neck. I’m trying to help a sistah out, k?
Mixed crowd, good affordable drinks, casual attire, music was SO-​SO (combination of top 40s and Spanish music), free parking on the street, and no entrance fee.
How can you lure me with a Smile? Stick to a theme and no more confusion, or else you’ll remind me of a really bad date.

For S. Oaks locals, Smiles (aka Smilies — thank you Mr. R&D) is a great place to go dancing for several reasons.
1. There aren’t a lot of great places to dance in the valley. Smilies provides dancing, booze and (at times) a decent crowd
2. It’s walking distance to a bunch of other decent bars so it’s in an ideal location for bar hopping. It’s close to The Oaks, The Chimney Sweep, The Local Peasant and The Dixie Tavern
3. The booze doesn’t have Hollywood prices!
4. It’s close to Señor Freds and The Viceroy Brrro!
Parking can be tough on Ventura so it’s best if you look for parking on Moorpark and walk a little ways.
I read a review saying the go-​go dancers are unattractive. NOT TRUE!

Okay so I give this place a great review only because of the owner Chris. Me and my girls wanted to go out and have a girls night and talk… He was very nice and even came and said Hi to us when we got there. but i didn’t get the chance to say bye before we left because I didn’t see him anywhere.
This place on a WED night turns into a little club… great music… top 40’s house hip hop etc… Their go go dancers were not cute … and nobody was really there but if people knew about this place I’m sure they would pick up… or maybe we just didn’t stay late enough… we left around midnight.
Our waitress was HORRIBLE… it wasn’t busy at all and we had to wait at least 10 minutes between drinks. even the comedy host made fun of her. but don’t let that be a reason for you not to go there…
I would probably go back… maybe during the weekend cuz im sure its more busy then.
:)

Happy Hour everyday til 9pm! Love it.
Saturday nights with DJ Black, Electro House Hip Hop. nights are always a blast!

Pros:
no cover
reasonably priced strong drinks
go-​go dancers
good waitress service
dj, music, dancing
But…
we had our own party so we were happy getting down on the dance floor. but I would probably not come back. The crowd here was disappointing, not a single person I wanted do dance with. This spot has potential but needs to attract a better clientele.

FREAKEN AWESOME!
This place deserves two thumbs up!
1. DRINKS were really good, and not pricy at all! bar service was fast and waitress was fast as well.
2. MUSIC was awesome! The DJ played the latest hits as well as older dance music. EVERYONE seemed to love the music and we couldn’t help but get on the dance floor.
3. SERVICE in general was GREAT. The owner welcomed us in and compt’d our cover charges. We made a reservation for about 15 people for our friend’s bday and they compt’d the charges, reserved tables for us and even called to confirm the times. I thought it was very nice since many clubs/​lounges do NOT do that or fall through on their promises. Outside patio is very nice and has table and chairs, so you feel very comfortable being outside and still feeling like part of the party.
It’s really too bad that a tree is covering the club’s sign, bc it’s such a great place. It’s not too crowded and it’s not dead at all! It seems like there’s enough place to sit at a table AND dance! Last Sat night they even had a performer do a couple of songs, which really energized the crowd. They have awesome hot go-​go dancers too!
This place has the atmosphere of a medium bar AND an smaller club. Which to my opinion is the best balance!
Now that I know this place exists, I’ll be returning!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Not once but twice has the owner written me, which was understandable for my 2 star review, this second time he simply wrote me eff u! Now that’s some classy management!

Why did Smiles have to be so deceiving?
I went on a Friday 2 weeks ago. It was $ 5 for guys and free for girls. My friends and I had the best time ever. Danced, drank some decently priced drinks, and left with a smile on my face.
This last Friday was a completely different story! First thing was that the door guy was trying to charge $ 5 for guys and girls. I told him, «um, it was free for girls last weekend.» So I handed him a five to pay for my BF and after a pause he said OK that’s fine. I feel bad for all those people that didn’t challenge him. I noticed IMMEDIATELY that it was 100x more crowded than last weekend. Which makes me think that they were just trying to be sneaky since more people were coming to charge for guys and girls and make a huge profit. Smart thinking, but it makes the manager/​owner seem like a greedy person. I could understand if they had a special DJ or talent preforming, but the door man said nothing of the sort in relation to the price change… just stared at me.
Back to the over-​crowded bottom floor. You couldn’t even walk around. I couldn’t even see the dance floor. The line for the bathroom was starting to feed into the main room! They just kept letting people in! It was unbearable. So my friends and I decided to leave. Outside there was a line to get in. I feel so bad for those people waiting to get into a sardine can.
Upstairs was where you could go to breathe, but there isn’t any dancing or activities up there… so that wasn’t fun.
I have to say that the Valet guys are super duper nice though!
So…after last weekend bad time, I don’t think I’ll be returning to what could have been a promising place.

2.5 Stars
First the goods:
–Awesome drink deals going on every day of the week all night all the time. Hard to find cheaper drink deals after happy hour.
–Bartenders are pretty damn fast at whipping out the drinks, especially when the place was as packed as it was when I was here.
Now on to the negatives:
–I understand charging a cover on a Friday night I get it, but charging ladies to get in too kinda sucks.
— I have been a couple times and the first time was positive and had a great time, the second time the place was way too packed, I mean fire hazard packed. I could barley breath it was so crowded forget trying to move to the other side of the place, not gonna happen.
— Really long wait for the bathroom due to there being only 2 single person restrooms and how crowded it was.

I have to say, I really enjoy this place :) They had a cover even though it was advertised as free, but my roomie covered it since I came with him and he thought it was free, so kudos to him for that. Outside of that, the venue was spacious enough, and the comedy was very very hit or miss «mostly miss, with like two pretty good hits»…but after the comedy, the real treat happened… they had music and a dance floor. Can’t say much on the food because I wasn’t balling tonight so I didn’t eat anything, but I did noticed that before 9pm everything was half off! so that’s always good :) Also, nobody was dancing so i had the whole floor to myself with a few of the go go dancers «randomly a girl I used to date was one of the go go girls, and i girl I was planning a photoshoot with was another», so I came home soaked from dancing.
Now here’s the real kicker, and I will come back and update this review after doing so, but apparently Tuesdays they have video game tournaments, ½ off the menu, free entry, and free chips and guac and salsa… to me that sounds like effin’ paradise, so I will surely be checking that out soon!
For now, i give Smiles a 3 out of 5 stars

I’ve been to this establishment twice.
First was for a live performance a year ago, and the second was a friend’s birthday party.
I like how there is no cover, there is ample street parking, and how it looks like a «cool chill dive bar»
However, when I went on a Saturday Night. It did not have that cool chill dive bar feel. I agree with other Unilocal reviewers when they said, «this place does not know what it is yet» So the hard wood floors, high ceilings, pictures of elvis, ghandi, bob marley, on the walls not too bad.
But when you mix it with furry boot wearing go go dancers, and a DJ who will mix Journey with that «shot shot shot shot shot shot» song that plays on the radio, somehow it just does not work out.
To top it off, the place had an odd smell of dirty old rags that night for some reason. It kind of made sense to me when I went to order a drink at the bar, there was something spill on the chair, and I asked the bartender nicely if I could have a napkin, then he found a rag on the counter and gave it to me. Gross.

Came here for a birthday party last weekend. It seemed to me of a place that wasn’t quite sure what it wanted to be. It was one large room, with go-​go dancers (one who looked a little bored the whole time) some screens with sports and others with 90s music videos, and no theme as far as I could tell. I did appreciate the absence of cover charge!
The birthday girl we came with had reserved one of the back, private rooms, but I guess they got bored there and decided to carouse around the mail room by the time we arrived. It was pretty difficult and time-​consuming to get any bartender’s attention even though the bar area was pretty small. It looked like there were drink specials every night, and that night it was $ 5 jäger bombs and $ 3 Coronas. I paid $ 8 for my other well drinks. $ 15 minimum purchase for a credit card… who the hell does that? I will say that the drinks are pretty generously poured, though.
Overall, this place wasn’t really anything special; I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here, but wouldn’t be opposed to it if someone else offered. I did appreciate the laid-​back atmosphere (no set dress code as far as I could tell, you wouldn’t be out of place in jeans or in club dresses) and the amazing parking available. It seems like this part of town needs some nightlife like this, too. Just make sure to bring cash!