by Chase S. on Oh, Rusty's....how the times have changed. Used to be the greatest fun place to go for gringocized enormous portions of actually quite yummy food. I've been coming here for so long I have now met the grandchildren of some of the servers that took care of me and my crew back in the days, when it seemed like we were all just barely old enough to enter the bar area. I'm an old school long term neighborhoodie (ohhhh, but I'm South of Victory!) but still - Rusty's, how the times have changed. They still pour one of the most delicious pure margaritas - tasty and strong - at the bar. You'll get an eye roll and a sigh at the bar if you ask for anything blended here, it's just not that kind of place. I guess it's OK at a table - but still, this is not that kind of place. And if you are so pesky as to say 'sin sal' and you get 'sal' and pipe up about it, don't be surprised if the bartender just wipes the sal off with a napkin and makes a "better now?" face at you. Shut up and drink your delicious margarita con sal! Even two hundred years down the road, it's great to see that they have kept the original baked spaghetti on the menu. It's the classic Rusty's thing and a part of what an awful lot of us from the neighborhood remember from our childhoods. So, what's changed is the annex/addition of the dance club and how they treat anyone coming in for dinner after a certain time (like an hour before the kitchen closes or a few hours after sundown) who is, uh geez how to say this, a little on the white side of things? It's so weird now to have to hassle with the parking lot (I don't want to valet park, I'm having dinner) and "door men" (I'm not paying a cover charge, I'm having dinner - and stop waving that metal detector in my face, you should be waving it about my potential-weapon carrying areas...I don't have a gun in my mouth or behind the ear of my shaved head...) We've even had them give us crap about walking up - "Where did you park? Where is your car?" What??? I don't get that at all. It's sub-par TSA stuff, like going through some deranged airport security training thing. It was always so great to know Rusty's was open late up here in our neck of NoHo but now it's just a big gross hassle. We've walked away in groups of two or ten or pulled out of the parking lot and waved friends following us in caravans to go back down the road at least a dozen times in the past year. Ernie's Taco House was always the mocking point between my friends and I growing up about 'where you were from' - but I'll tell ya what, I'm signing off on Rusty's with a one-finger salute and finding my way into the Ernie's group.
by Deandra Suszynski on Maybe this place was hot a few years ago, but those days are long gone. Bartenders are OK. Bouncers are disgustingly rude. Crowd depends on which promotion company got a hold of the place. Beds near the tables+dance floor are only a tad better than the beds in front of the bar (maybe because of lighting or the extra posts/canopy style. I've only come here twice and that's more than enough to put this on my "do not go. EVER" list.
by Edward Holubar on Ended up here after a great night at Madame X's Reggae night and it just wasn't up to standards of a good night club. I found that the majority of the women in here were on the childish side, the prices were not right and this place obviously caters to a second tier of celebrity that has to pay to be somebody, instead of getting paid to be somebody. I have heard better things about Cielo, but I don't think i would go back anytime soon, one of the only good things about the night was the people that I went with and we were able to create our own party within the club. A couple attractions that may be helpful, they have a smoking area that is outside, the bathrooms as well as the staff and service is A+ and the music is decent, especially the live sets.
