Monarch — Restaurant in San Francisco

RACISTS! Stay away I only bother writing a review in exceptional cases & this club is fitting of this criteria. This clubs security hosts unreasonable racist and power hungry bouncers. On reflection I noticed they were kicking Asian people out & make up false accusations for justification. My friend (who is American Chinese) used what she thought was the gender neutral bathroom. As the bouncer saw her in what he claims was actually the men’s, without questioning her he threw her out. As he was pushing my friend out I kept asking what was happening as she was my ride home but he kept ignoring me & pushing me back. He wouldn’t tell me what was going on and after much persistence aggressively turned around & said are you in or outside with her. I said I needed to at least go outside to speak to her to which he immediately responded with my snatching my full double g&t, handing it to a colleague and instructing them to throw it outside on the ground. I responded that this was a highly unreasonable response and asked where I’d find the manager. When I walked to the front he was already standing there with the manager looking very flustered. He’d clearly realized his actions were unreasonable for if they were not he’d not feel obligated to sheepishly attempt to defend them. When I complained to management the bouncer who had chucked her out in front of us kept nervously stating ‘what girl uses the “gender neutral bathroom” unless they’re taking coke’ and then changed his story claiming he’d in fact actually seen her snorting illegal substances which was a complete fabrication (I said he could literally test her). Whilst I was positing what had happened the manager kept looking at me & stating to his colleague over his shoulder ‘I’ve got your back man’. This is clearly something that happens here a lot & management had no interest in hearing the complaint. FYI it was 1.40am (we’d entered at 1.30) and the club shut at 2 - no one will be starting drugs with 20 minutes to go. The reason it appears they try close up promptly by chucking people out is that there literally were a line of 3 police cars & bouncers continuously throwing non-violent tipsy people out claiming they were all on drugs. We also met some Korean American girls outside who told us the same thing had happened to them on a previous night there. As we stood there we saw them kicking out a Chinese girl for 'doing lines of coke'. What is extremely ironic is that inside there were people gurning their faces off and none of whom were kicked out. I believe that it appears as though they’re more concerned by those who drank than those on drugs as the drunkards are the ones to usually be more unreasonable and messy.

Very disappointed as having just paid 20 we were in there for little over 10 minutes.

My suggestion to the owner: Invest in new non-racist security members & some more female loos as 1 toilet (as apparently gender neutral loos are off limits to us) is not sufficient. FYI if people are taking drugs they’ll try be inconspicuous, so guilty girls won’t be...

I'm a social butterfly. What can I say? As always, I handed myself the club card to go out for some dancing. Well, I deserved it after a stressful few weeks. Where else would I go? Nonetheless, SF.

Meandering the streets of SF and feeling obliterated to leave Supperclub, I had the urge to head to Monarch. Odds were 10 to 1. Gambled with my friends and my conscience of what I had left after a few drinks to figure out how the club scene would be. Since its only been open for a few weeks, I didn't want to make the poor choice. Well, why the hell not?!

I was taken aback! Monarch was a different vibe. Upstairs was more open. Fresh and lots of room, air to breathe and you can check out the crowd while tunes of rhythmic melodies streamed throughout the top floor. The place so far was inviting and so tasteful! Newly renovated and the color scheme of everything fell into place. I was loving every piece of it. The upstairs was definitely more of a lounge feel. Quiet yet elegant in such a casual setting. The upstairs DJ booth is tucked away in a window-like display before heading down to the rest of the venue below. My friends and I worked our way downstairs to their dancefloor. Downstairs was more packed yet still more room to get yourself to dance. They have the DJ set and stage nearby the downstairs entryway and bar area. Shocking they have stools and chairs to sit down if you care to rest a bit. Spectacular venue. Uptempo, mix crowd and the music is jumpin'!! Grade A in my book. You can't go wrong with the place.

Luckily, I found out they had Miguel Migs and Julius Papp spinnin' the evening we went. House music and $5 cover charge?! Not so bad. If you come in earlier before guestlist closes, FREE. Drinks are hit-or-miss depending who pours your drink but I won't complain. They do have one bar upstairs and the other downstairs. However, it's a CASH ONLY bar, but they do have an ATM machine. Unfortunately, the night we went it wasn't working. Love the place anyway, so that doesn't take away a star! Experience was fun! Security kept crowd control under wraps, so there was no problems whatsoever.

I was feeling exhilarated when I swayed my hips from left to right and my feet was dancing to the groove with everyone! Lots of eye candy! I may have found a new joint to dibble dabble my tush to and fro the next time I visit. Penciled into one of my...

I usually don’t write or share reviews but felt the need to, after last night’s treatment. The music was amazing, both the 2 back to back djs upstairs and the main act djs down in the basement, no issues / complaints there. Also the security guard older gentleman outside and the lovely and polite bartender at the upstairs bar were both great BUT some of the staff was extremely rude, bossy and condescending.

During entrance, after we paid the cover, I wanted to give my coat to coat check. But the lady at the checkin booth was extremely rude and even though I saw an empty hanger and politely pointed it out, she kept repeating “Coat check is full, I can’t take your coat!” almost semi-yelling a couple of times.

And later, I was still sipping away / finishing my drink past 2am and some manager type dude walked up to me while our whole crew was sitting with me at the couches, pulled the mason jar out of my hand and kept repeating super rudely “It’s past 2am, you can’t drink this” - instead of asking “Can I take it away?” or offering some sort of gift or money back for the drink I couldn’t finish. It really took me aback and I haven’t been treated this rudely at any SF nightclub before, ever! Don’t waste your money on Monarch. So many other amazing venues in the city with much...