Octave

After visiting couple of bars, this was my least favorite. Just because:
Cons:
— The place was filled with cigarette smoke and my clothes and hair were stinking so bad. (If you are a smoker, ignore this «con»).
— It took forever to order a drink (even if the place was not crowded).
— Karaōke stage is right next to the bar and pool tables, very inconvenient and strange.
Pros:
— Maybe location… Right next to other places!
— They have pool tables.

My boyfriend have been here several times before and the service was usually decent. We decided to visit again for Halloween with our friend, where we ordered several drinks, and my boyfriend started a tab under my name. When it was time to collect my card, a bartender donning a zipper mask asked my boyfriend extremely rudely what the card name was under, then yelled at us, then overcharged us my drink (it was 7 but she charged us 10). Obviously, she didn’t get a tip, and we were both disgusted that we were abused by someone whose job is to give us respectable service.

Wow I haven’t come across such rude bartenders until now. The attitudes are horrible but I guess it’s because we aren’t the traditional crowd that comes in here. If you need to grab a beverage go somewhere else.

I’ve never written a review of an establishment before but this place is so amazingly awful I feel like people should be warned before they go there. I’m bummed you can’t give zero stars because one is definitely more than they deserve. I’ve been a bartender for a very long time and work at a spot nearby that typically doesn’t close that late. It’s nice to be able to grab a quick drink close by after work. Or it would be if the place close by wasn’t the octave. The service has been a joke among us ever since they opened, some of the slowest rudest worst bartenders I’ve ever seen. It’s nearly impossible to get served regardless of if they are busy or not. There seems to be a constant group of friends/​boyfriends/​coworkers at the end of the bar that get all of the attention that should be going to paying customers. There is one girl in particular that stands out as the worst of the worst, unfortunately as part of her awful service she doesn’t give her name, but run if you see a short (usually drunk) dark haired girl behind the bar. The incident that did it for me was after waiting a painfully long time to get a beer as the bartenders looked at one of their phones completely oblivious to all the customers waiting and then being talked to rudely when one finally decided to help us, the girl rang a bell indicating we didn’t tip her causing the whole bar to chant the word asshole. Not that she deserved anything but I’ve never not tipped a bartender, we WERE going to leave a cash tip on the bar. Instead we will never be going back to this terrible bar and I suggest you don’t either. If you’re looking for a great bar downtown, try the Bends. That’s where I’ll be taking my business from now on.

Beware of terribe attitudes at this establishment and the new one that is opening soon with same owners.
I’ve been coming here periodically for a couple of years. I have enjoyed it here even though they have had the most unpleasant bartenders of any place I’ve frequented in St. Pete. I can deal with that. I didn’t come here for their charisma.
But tonight I had such a bad experience that I felt compelled to write this terrible review.
I ordered my drink during happy hour and there was a shift change. The first bartender, an awesome woman with a blond bob, was super friendly and told us she had been working here as a second job but would be picking up more shifts because the owners were opening up a new bar near Engine No. 9 and some of the bartenders here would be moving to the new business. My friends and I got excited that someone so friendly would be here more often! I ordered a well drink that was 2 for 1 and I was given a ticket for the second drink. There was a shift change. She told me my tab would carry over.
When I went to the bar for my second drink I encountered an unpleasant woman with shoulder length dark brown hair and bangs. I ordered 3 drinks and gave her my ticket. She told me that the drink ticket for the drink for which I had already paid wasn’t good after 9pm. I said that the prior bartender had told me that it would carry over. New bartender lied to me and told me it was the first bartender’s first day working here and she misspoke. I asked if she would honor it since if I had known I would have cashed it in prior to the deadline. I said I thought it was pretty bad to not honor it when an employee had told me it would be honored. «Is there anything you can do?» I asked. She said she wouldn’t honor it… and not in an apologetic… my hands are tied kind of way… In a particularly abrasive and crappy kind of way. The kind of way that makes someone who was been a bartender for years come back to the table and write a bad review and vow not to tip her. It takes a LOT for me not to tip a bartender.
She acted like a jerk and her terrible attitude has ensured that I won’t come here again and will encourage my friends to avoid it as well. And if she is one of the people going to the new establishment the owners are starting, it is doomed to failure… or at least fantastically horrible karma.

This was the worst bar ever. The bartender knew nothing about the liquors and seemingly couldn’t be bothered despite it being near empty. We left her no tip, (which we never do!) and a note saying «learn your liquors.» Then, as we were leaving, we were yelled at for not leaving a tip. I’m serious. I’m rarely on Unilocal… but this place, it is one for the history books.

Cool bar. Great pours. We watched South Park and This is the End on a Saturday at 4pm.

I’ve always had a soft spot for this bar. We visited a few times back when it was Dirty Nelly’s. They Octave owners basically painted the walls green and added some band posters.
On our recent visit our bartender was awesome. She was funny, fast and efficient. We told her what we wanted and after finding out that their beer selection was very limited she was able to suggest alternatives. I tried Shocktop’s Honeycrisp Apple which I loved. It is a very sweet, fruity beer which is right up my alley. Their lack of good beer selection is why I am giving them four stars. They do have a decent enough liquor selection (although it isn’t huge either).
The Octave is right by State Theater and a great place to go before a show. They have pool tables, a few arcade games and a stage that they do karaōke on. I love how there are two different rooms and little nooks and crannies to hang out with your group of friends. I will definitely be back to visit Octave.

Good selection, not so good sound system. Barely any monitor, had to inhale the mic.

The drinks are well poured. The karaōke is fun to watch. And so is the crowd. An interesting mix of middle aged biker dudes and twenty something hipsters. A cool place to hang out, as long as all the smoking doesn’t bother you.

Wow– some of these reviews are quite shocking. I actually had a great experience at Octave, and would put it as one of the coolest places to hang out in St. Pete, although maybe I just was there on a good night!
A bunch of friends and I were bar-​hopping, and decided to swing on in to play some pool and throw some darts. We stopped in around 7 on a Friday, and it wasn’t terribly busy. We threw some songs on the jukebox, stepped up to play some darts, and were able to play a number of games of pool without anyone else waiting.
We were there early enough to grab some 2 for 1 drinks– I tried the Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale on draft, and it was absolutely delicious. They also had a number of great beers on tap as well as bottles, and the bartenders were pouring some pretty strong drinks.
The majority of the crowd was very cool and laid-​back, most folks were just hanging out in the booths, enjoying drinks, and mingling with the locals. I did have one bad experience with a snotty blonde who was way better than everyone else in the place, however even that didn’t sour my night here. Would like to stop in for karaōke, but some of the other reviews are nightmarish… maybe I will give it some time and see what happens.

The place to be for fine drinks and making new friends and meeting up with your old ones all the while singing a little karaōke.

I travel to tampa each month and am slowly mapping the karaōke terrain.
Pros: karaōke system and stage. According to KJ Lamont, they dropped a load of cash on a first rate sound/​mike system. The two times I was on stage it was nice. But takes a few songs to tweak the reverb. Still a bit hard to hear yourself.
Cons: — long wait for songs. This evening I guess the KJ is multitasking b/​c they let one singer go up then play 2 regular songs.
— they split the bar acoustics into 2 sections. Sometimes the other side bleeds over into the Karaōke.
Overall a fine karaōke venue. And they do it every night around 2200.

Great place! Good drink prices and karaōke is a ton of fun!