Sodini's — Restaurant in Redwood City

I wanted to like this place, but after my experience this past weekend, I won’t be coming back—and I hope the owner takes notice.

My friend and I stopped by to play pool and have a few drinks. I ordered a few beer, and my friend had a gin cocktail. While we were at the bar, three different people we met generously bought us drinks. Specifically a few tequila shots—each ordering and paying for their round while we were all there together.

When it was time to close out, the bartender, Michelle, tried to charge me for those three shots, even though they had already been paid for. I calmly explained that I was happy to pay for what I personally ordered but wouldn’t cover drinks that others had already purchased. Instead of handling the situation professionally, she immediately got defensive, started yelling, and insisted she was right. She even said she’d check the cameras—something I welcomed—but rather than resolving the issue, she kept escalating and ultimately kicked us out.

Frankly, this felt intentional, as if she assumed we were too intoxicated to notice the extra charges. Owner, is this really how you want your bar to operate? A place where customers have to worry about being scammed by the staff?

After leaving, we went to another bar where multiple people mentioned they’d had similar experiences with this bartender. That says a lot.

Bottom line: Beware of shady business practices here, especially if you’re a woman. I...

My husband and I went for a night during our honey moon, (very special day) in which he (the owner/karaoke DJ of 25 years, announced on the mic that we got married, but he couldn’t with 45 minutes left allow me to sing one more song. He wouldn’t even let his lovely wife, Shannon, also an owner, give me her spot to sing. Like how are you going to trump your wife bro, she is the boss and he won’t even let me sing on a special occasion for my husband. How are you going to ask me to write a good review for you if you can’t even accommodate people on special occasions? 45 minutes left and you couldn’t fit me in, in your wife’s place, at her request….. that was something else. And it appalls me that no DJ wants to ever look something up on youtube. Every single karaoke night I go to in NJ, they let me get stuff from youtube. Is it because you don’t want to do extra work? If I were ever a business owner I would tweak my “rules” for certain people. Especially my wife if she asks me. They both were nice people especially Shannon but it’s disappointing when stuff like this happens. I don’t care how long you’ve been a DJ. You only get one first honey moon. 🥲 I went...

If you are looking for a dive with local color, this is the place for you. No gimmicks or nonsense, but that is what makes this place special. Friendly people, who will befriend you immediately, staff that seems grouchy, but are keeping an eye on you (in a good way), the drinks are budget friendly, and they have pool tables & karaoke. Love everything about this place. You get something new every time. One night a party bus full of drunk middle aged 1%er house wives will stop by for karaoke, another night there will be a Hawaiian themed birthday party for a regular you've never met, but they'll give you cake and a lei all the same, and the next night it ill be packed door to door with college kids after a concert all singing along to the hits of their youth. This place is so random and attracts so many different people...