The Ritz — Restaurant in San Jose

It is with great disappointment that I have to update my review based on one slimy night BUT it must be called out when club owners pull some shady business.

Friends, I've been in the live entertainment business for 25 years as an event producer, talent booker & music marketer with the likes of MTV, Sirius XM, AMEX, Levi's, Microsoft & Olympics so I intimately understand the live business...

Long story short, went to see the English Beat (for the umpteenth​ time in the last few years...Ranking Full Stop...but I digress). Advertised door price was $21.50 but when we showed up they were charging $30 via hand-written sign in the box office window.

Why? Because they could. It was a Friday night show with a line down the block.

When I approached the 2 security guards to inquire about the last minute bait n switch, they both essentially swatted me away saying they were charging more because "it was a popular show" OR in other words, an opportunity to cash in, never you mind the advertised price.

Hey owner Corey O'Brien...what's up? Was it you or the band or both? I appreciate you've invested & risked to open SJ's premier​ live music club but don't be shady, treat your customers with respect.

And I know it's tough but pls get security guards up front that serve as your brand ambassadors and treat your paying...

UPDATE: Last night (11/17/18), I went for “Echo Flex” night and it was decently crowded with good music and good vibes but thanks to one of the bartenders, my night started off horrible. I went to the bar near the dance floor and literally got skipped over more than 5 times. After waiting for over ten or fifteen minutes, the bartender (Hayley) saw me, we made eye contact and she turned away from me and instead helped the guy next to me, who had literally just walked up to the bar. I waited patiently for her to come around again, thinking she was going to serve me this time, then she made eye contact with both my girlfriend and I and skipped both of us again. The gentleman beside me saw this happening and decided to flag her down. It took about 3-4 tries over another couple of minutes. Finally he got her attention, and she tried to serve him but he insisted on having her serve me instead. The drink came out super weak, it was almost completely soda. After this 15-20 minutes to receive. The bar was full so I didn’t want to lose my spot in front. For my next drink I went to the more crowded area of the bar and was served immediately by an older women bartender (Kate), she even made it strong! In the end, avoid Hayley, horrible bartender. She even went on her phone in the middle of making...

Played here last night, guy with dreads and glasses was really rude to us.

I pulled up to the front to load in, someone else tells me I can bring in my drums but I need to go through the back door ( that I couldn't see because there were tour buses in the way.) I asked Dread man for directions to the door. His response (in all caps because he yelled at me:) "THE DOOR IS RIGHT THERE" and points to the back of the room, at nothing. Preceded to be rude when telling me where to set up and how.

I'm all set up, about to play. We inform the sound guy our set is about 25 min long (no problem at the sold out GAMH show we played the night before with the same headliner.) Okay, first of all this guy is not even the sound guy, but he tells me "Your set is too short" that isn't your decision and doesn't change anything. I just found it rude and insulting.

I wasn't the only one, my whole band caught grief from him and I know for a fact people have complained about this guy before. I don't care if this guy is the owner, if you're a band and you want to play here just ignore this jerk and hope he'll get fired some day.

It sucks because you have other door guys that do such a good job, and this guy just ruins...