Scullers Jazz Club — Restaurant in Boston

Shame on you, Scullers! My friends and I have attended many performances at Scullers. We even attended the FINAL performance at the "old" Scullers that featured my friend, Peter White. We were saddened to learn that Scullers would be moving to a new venue downstairs. Although it was not ready at the time for preview when we attended Peter White’s show, we were informed the NEW Scullers would be BETTER than the old with ALL seats facing the stage. It was described as a “stadium style theater.” We were also promised there would not be ANY obstructed views and the sound would be state-of-the-art. There would be plenty of room to move around. We signed the photo of the old Scullers venue and anticipated our first visit to the new venue downstairs. And, the time came. My friends and I went to see Mindi Abair and the Boneshakers. Suddenly, things had changed. The NEW Scullers venue is horrible! Our experience was not anything to rave about. First off, not all of the seats face the stage. The venue is NOT a stadium style theater. We would NOT like to be seated on the side wall sections. There are MANY obstructed sections. The sound is NOT state-of-the-art. The acoustics are sub-par. Regrettably, Mindi sounded horrible. The room has several potential hazards, including walkways that are not properly "caution" taped that could easily cause people to trip. The new venue looks "hurried," as if no time at all was spent for comfort and acoustic perfection. Gone is the beautiful Boston view. The room is like going into a closet. We arrived early. Yes, take an old car with you unless you do not mind the risk of a head-on collision. We were seated in the upper section only to have a very large couple sit directly in front of us and swing like pendulums the entire performance. I decided to read the menu because I could not see and I am over six feet tall. My friends and I would have had a much better time had we just stood up. I expressed my thoughts later to a Scullers representative who informed me that EVERYONE LOVES the new venue and there has not been any negative criticism. That may be true; however, that truth is very hard to swallow. Shame on you, Scullers!!! I also asked the employees who worked the Mindi show and ALL OF THEM said the former Scullers is the "Boss" venue. The odds of winning the lottery are better than receiving a reply from management. So, is the NEW Scullers...

I don't want to give Scullers Jazz club a bad review, but they left me no choice.

We purchased front row tickets for a very special performance. We purchased them the day they went on sale.

First, and honestly a forgiveable issue, they messed up the dates for the shows. Every show by this performer was listed a week early. They sent out emails and let us know. Forgiveable.

We arrived at 7:30p for an 8p show. The line was very long, and poorly managed. A good venue would have extra staff available to expedite the handling of the line.

Tl;Dr: My main issue is that we paid extra for front row tickets. When we were shown to our table, it was obvious that our table had been given away. The management weakly attempted to placate us. They never tried to get us our front row table. Basically attempted to place us in the second row and hoped we didn't complain.

Later we discovered that what probably happened was that people who bought their overpriced meal before the show were given our front table. ...

Sculler's Jazz Club is a very nice, upscale jazz club located on the lobby floor of the Doubletree Hotel.I went to see Simon Phillip's Protocol, who typically play larger venues, and so the place was packed for the first show. Even so, the sound was excellent, the wait staff were very friendly, there were no bad seats, and the overall experience was terrific. The only downside was the price of parking. The hotel is located in an isolated spot, so the only parking option is the proprietary garage, which - like all Boston hotels) was very expensive. Take an Uber! (To be fair, I left so late that I didn't find out if the parking ticket could be validated, but there was no indication that it could have been.) The menu is lean - appetizers and desserts, but there's a restaurant at the hotel if you intend to have dinner and a show, Keeping the menu light meant less noise and commotion during the show. Great music, friendly staff, and well managed, Scullers is a real winner...