FIVE Nightclub — Restaurant in Madison

The bartender told me to leave a bad review, so.. I’ll do just that. I probably had about 3 one sentence conversations with this bartender, I was saying please and thank you and being a normal human ordering at a bar. At the end of the night I try to close my tab because my friends were leaving. I said hi sir may I please close my tab when you have a chance and he said yes. Then 5 min goes by and I just reminded him excuse me sir I need to close my tab (cuz my friends were waiting to go). Then he immediately snaps at me and is like “I’m done with you. I’m done. You need to close your tab at the front because I’m done. Leave a bad review I don’t care.” Ummm….. what??? I was honestly shocked. At first I thought he was just joking so I was laughing and stuff then when he actually wouldn’t close my tab I was shook. The bartender says “I’m actually going to help this person now” and points to the dude next to me… who i was with.. and leaving with. I go oh great, we’re both trying to close our tabs so if you could do mine too I would appreciate it. But he literally didn’t, and instead just closed my friends tab. So I went to the front and closed my tab in 2 seconds with no issue at all. So yeah, 1 star because some of the bartenders have some mental issues. Like I’m at a bar having fun and laughing having a good time not trying to be attacked for being nothing but polite. 1 star. I’ll be back tho cuz there’s only like 3 gay...

The bartenders here have refused to serve me drinks lately. I thought that I was finding community here, but two different bartenders that at least know me by face have blatantly served other people when I was clearly at the bar first. This place cares a lot more about taking care of the regulars that they’re friends with than about serving everybody else.

I don’t know for sure, but I think that they really resent pan/bi people. There’s certainly SOMETHING that I don’t experience in other queer spaces. Despite volleyball being their big warm weather draw, they never posted info on how to play or sign up… so if you aren’t in the know, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME.

I’m moving to the DC area, and EVERYONE raves about how much friendlier and more welcoming people are there. The sad thing is that I like the clientele at Five and the staff is the entire problem. Madison deserves a place where EVERYONE in the community feels welcome.

Five is less inclusive than most “straight” bars.💯

UPDATE: ok… I came here one last time before moving, and I received great service in an atmosphere with a great vibe. I guess that I have a love/hate relationship with Five, so we’ll land on 3...

This bar went to hell! It's Saturday night and the place is dead and whoever this DJ Ravyn is needs to learn to quit playing rap boo boo music that he likes and CATER TO YOUR CROWD, IT'S 12:40PM ON SATURDAY JUNE 29TH AND NOBODY IS DANCING! THE DANCEFLOOR IS EMPTY! The bar is a shell of what it used to be 10/20 years ago. The main bar is ridiculously oversized now, there's NO reason they needed to change it from being in the center to sucking up all the area it does now, not to mention it's UGLY! Owner Dave got rid of the old bar area off the dancefloor by the dj and has reconfigured the bar/stage layout about a dozen times over the last few years.

This place was about to close down a few years back because the owner Dave has a spending problem and keeps CONSTANTLY messing with the bar.....the community bailed him out and he just keeps spending on UNNECESSARY improvements yet the parking lot is FULL of potholes and the landscaping is overgrown and very unkept! The previous owner has got to be rolling in his grave looking down on the sh!itshow Dave has turned this bar into. I can't wait till it fails again. Will...