The Soda Factory — Restaurant in Sydney

I went here on a packed night over the weekend with a group of friends. We enjoyed the music and atmosphere for about 30 minutes until everything took a turn. We had finished our first drinks and were calmly nodding our heads and dancing in our little circle to ourselves. Two of the people from our group went back to the bar area when a strange looking man wearing a tom cruise top gun looking jump suit with long dark greasy hair approached me and leaned in to tell me to "follow him to a private room". I was clearly taken back and just took him as some creep and replied "no I'm good". He then said "no you need to come with me". It was very loud and crowded and I had no idea what was going on. I replied "what are you talking about?". He then decided to mention that he was security and he needed to take me outside. At this point I was most interested in the safety of myself, and began to think that this sketchy looking man was trying to separate me from my group to take me outside to try to mug me or something. I am from the states, and so are all of the friends I was with and was not willing to separate from them, as we had no phone service, so no way to communicate. I attempted to look for some sort of patch or identification that would prove he was security, but it was very dark and crowded and as I did this he aggressively grabbed me by the arm and pushed me towards the door. I broke free and tried to make my way to the a man who was clearly a security guard (as he had matching clothes to the security outside) standing on the stage but it was too crowded and the man just grabbed me by the back of the arm and pushed me in the back towards the door (while this was happening I was trying to yell over his shoulder to my sister who was the only other person from my group with me at the time that I was getting shoved out). I broke free again and made a run for the door to find the security out front to ask if that man chasing me was really security. They told me he was and I promptly turned back to him as he gave me an aggressive shove to the sidewalk while saying "you're kicked out". I turned back and asked him why he pulled me out. He told me I was "approaching intoxication" and turned his back and went the other way. My sister made it out and the two of us began to argue with the security outside about what just happened. I was doing nothing in the bar to signify any sort of signs of this, and there were plenty of people around me who were completely wasted falling all over each other. As we eventually gave up talking to the unhelpful, rude staff I began to connect some dots. I'm fairly confident that we got kicked out because the bar was at capacity, and they saw us as a group with no alcohol in our hands, meaning we were not bringing anymore revenue to their sad excuse for a bar and decided we were the perfect target to kick out to bring more paying people in. I'm really glad I wasted $10 to get in, $20 on a drink, and another $10 on a drink I never got because he kicked me out before my friend got it to me. If you read all that DO NOT GO HERE. There are very strange vibes and they care far more about the money they're bringing in than the safety...

A small and intimate bar in Surry Hills filled with lots of pop culture paraphernalia mostly adorning it's walls. Seeing the likes of soul singing Powerhouse 'Fats Domino', screen beauty & Hollywood siren 'Marilyn Monroe' & even a wall dedicated to the 50s Diva and singing sensation, 'Diana Ross' and scanning your gaze across the bar with its plush leather seating, pendant industrial lights and hanging signs like the 'Diner' and the old 'Soda factory' plaque on the stage... it makes for a very unique dining experience... whimsical and nostalgic, almost - as if you have been transported back in time - to the golden days of Hollywood, when showbizz was rich, glitzy and glamorous, and the music? Soul-filled, from the heart and forever.

I came for a dance but i think i'd rather dine, pick one of the many options for Sodas topped with cream and cherry on top & imagine a time when films and music moved me to the core - like no other. Yes, i will definitely come back!!!

Update - visited on a Tuesday night & this place earned itself another star!!! the $1dollar dogs were surprisingly good. Me and my mates got in early - 5:15pm so we could indulge & get a feel for the place & take our time enjoying different choices of mini hotdogs. For a dollar each - not bad at all. We also had a few Mimosa's and chucked down some good old Millers beer - 1 Mimosa and Beer costing under $10 respectively.

We chatted and laughed into the evening & decided to hang around for the musical Bingo session at 7pm. It went 'OFF' and it was brilliant. I haven't sung and/or laughed so hard in such a long time!!!

TFS is shy of 5 stars because - it felt like there was no air in our corner & one does feel claustrophic after some time. I mean, when you're in the corner in the presence of the Greatest boxer alive who has a killer smile to boot... temperature's are gonna rise ;) no doubt!

The place could certainly do with some light. I mean, I understand that maybe it's meant to have an urban, underground, boot-legging vibe... but for those birds who aren't partial to feeling cooped in - this place prob won't fare positively with them... so, perhaps have some air circulating with more fans and/or air con?

Watch this...

Since Soda Factory manager wasn't available for call the phone (my mum tried to call them a few times a few days following the incident and they wouldn't pick up or the manager was away) I guess I'll post here. I used to be a big fan of soda factory - I went to their Movie Mondays as it was a good deal. I went to their Halloween event on the 27th of October and was having a decent night dancing with my friend when a security guard (a man with long brown hair) came up behind myself and my friend, proceeded to grab my friend on the hips, and asked us to come to his "private room". We said we're not interested, subsequently walked/ran away and my friend told him not to touch her. I only realized once he walked past after this that he was a security guard (it was on his shirt) as he had not said before. The same security guard then went up to a girl, they both walked up to us and then asked us if we could talk to them outside. We followed as we trusted the girl. Then once we got outside they said "you are showing signs of intoxication so you need to leave", no questions or anything. Now I wouldn't be too mad and would still visit soda factory if we were actually drunk, or even if I was sober and they mistook my actions for signs of intoxication as I have my RSA so I know they have to protect themselves legally, but this is a clear abuse of power by the security guard as we wouldn't go to his "private room". I am posting this as I hope anyone who looks at this and wants go to somewhere safe takes this into consideration, as I tried to tell the girl that my friend had not touched any drinks the whole entire night and I tried to explain what happened but she just kept repeating at me "you are showing signs of intoxication" like a robot. I'd recommend going somewhere else where the staff will actually listen to you, it's a shame as I used to like soda factory but I like to go places where I actually feel like the staff look out for women and don't turn a blind eye to sexual harassment...