by Sarah E. on I thought I had reviewed this place already, but apparently not. The beer selection at Taco Mac is PHENOMENAL. I'm assuming that people pretty much already know that by now, though, since they are almost as ubiquitous here as Waffle Houses. The food is also not bad. I have had chicken wings and nachos at Taco Mac on several occasions, and they are always nom-worthy. I don't remember if I've ever actually had a Taco (or a Mac?) here. Other than that, all I can say about Taco Mac is that sometime the atmosphere here (not just at this location, but at any that I've visited) can be a little on the douchey side. I attribute that to the large beer selection and number of TV screens. But for some reason, I still sort of love this place.
by Corey S. on Well, "The Koko"... what can I say? You're a year-old now, and you're growing up, and you have personality and great drinks to boot. You've ditched your seedy past as an "Asian taxi bar", and have become one of the best bars in the city. And you did it all on your own, without fancy DJ parties, advertising, or partnerships with other bars. Basically, you got where you are by being a damn good bar. The staff is great, as are the owners, and whether you arrive at 4pm on a Tuesday, or 11pm on a Friday, chances are they'll chat with you for a bit (if they're not too slammed, of course). The bar itself is nothing special, they have low reddish-whitish lighting throughout without much decor pretension. The bar itself is lined with a healthy selection of liquors and a small selection of draft beers for the lush, or for the thirsty. It is certainly a liquor drinking bar, in my opinion, and you won't find crazy beer specials, though there is usually a drink special of the night, usually quite good and around $5-7 a drink. You'll even find a number of Koko-created drinks there. If you're feeling brave, ask for a "Tenderloin Shoot-Out" from the bartender Chardmo. The drinks are stiff, and done right. There are several theme nights (jazz, motown, electronica) at the Koko, every open day of the week. Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays are particularly good nights. Most nights have some sort of DJ, or occasionally live music. The Koko is small, so you can't really pack too many people in, but it is a great spot for birthday parties, or after-work drinks with friends. In fact, I went to two birthday parties this month at the Koko (like I said, we're fans). Dancing usually breaks out at some point, though there is no designated dancing area per se. People just seem to start dancing. I guess the only bad thing about the Koko is the bathroom, which must be remodeled at some point. And, also, I guess, if you wander too far in the wrong direction from the Koko, you can end up in the deep Tenderloin. Luckily though, the Koko is close to Geary and Van Ness, in a nice, well-populated area of the TL, so you never have to feel sketchy heading to the Koko for drinks, even late at night. Overall, The Koko is a great bar, and I recommend it as a place to hang your hat while sipping on a cocktail.
by Malvina Stuer on "dance with me into the ocean, roll with me into the sea. don't tell me the world is in trouble. do. you. want. to. dance. with. me. do. you. want. to. daance with meeeee." Huh? What? Oh... sorry. I'm still thinking about the Old 97's show I saw a couple weeks back. Should I...ah, no...wait...yes, I will write up a review to commemorate my experience! I visited the Crash Mansion for the first time, on June 19th, so that I could watch one of my favorite bands play. I want to give a review of the performance, but this is supposed to be about the venue, so I'll just offer up a brief synopsis of what it was like to see the band live. After waiting longer than we were supposed to for the band to take the stage, the first 1/3 of their set was kind of blah. However, it picked up big time! The sound set-up wasn't the best, but the caliber of the show was intense. They played a healthy sized set, and Rhett Miller even played two of his songs -- "Terrible Vision" (my favorite) and "Come Around" -- from his solo albums. They closed with "Time Bomb," and had one of their opening bands join them on stage, making it a big jam. Some favorites of mine that they played were "Oppenheimer" "Rollerskate Skinny" "Question" "Victoria's Heart" "Time Bomb" "Dance With Me" a couple others from their new album, Blame it On Gravity. And, well, I can't remember the rest, since it's been close to two weeks ago now. All-in-all, I walked away impressed and definitely got my money's worth. Back to the Crash Mansion. I'm not a big fan of venues that look like converted warehouses. It's just a stage, and lots of open space. It doesn't sound that bad, but when you go to a venue like The Orpheum, in Los Angeles, you become spoiled. Still, I guess I can't really hold it against the venue. It's just not as up close and personal as, say, The Troubador. If you're watching the band in the back, at first, and you want to move up, then you're going to have to slide up against a lot of sweaty pits -- which comes in handy if you'd like to literally slip and slide through cracks of human openings. The lobby is fair-sized. Again, not as big as another L.A. venue, The Orpheum. They do have seats for you to sit in and lounge, if you're just feeling lazy, out of it, or just want to talk away from the music. There is a balcony for the club, which is great, but it was blocked off for VIP, apparently. The stairs were blocked off with a velvet rope, and a security guard to lift it up when people came up and down. Boo! I would've loved to have had a bird's eye view of the Old 97's performance. My friend was more than happy to keep pushing drinks on me, so I don't know what the drink prices were, unfortunately. But, yet, fortunately, as well, for I didn't pay a cent to get liquored up. Lastly, there is a full bar, behind the lobby too! And it was pumping out music. I guess the place doubles as a pub and a club, at the same time. Interesting. My review is coming in full rank at 3 stars. To me, 3 stars is average, and this place is pretty much average to me.
