The Sewer - Sans Souci Cocktail Lounge — Restaurant in Ventura

It is Sans Souci and shall remain so. I am reviewing , for the Musicians out there , the Open Mic variation of Sans Souci`s classic Dive Bar offerings. Please note...the positive reviews fully cover the value of this Ventura Landmark. Now to business. The Open Mic. What a joy. I have been playing at and reviewing Open Mics from Santa Barbara to San Pedro for over 25 years. Sans Souci is currently doing it right. The atmosphere laid out for the Musician is all you can ask for...almost. Joe....Guitarist and Singer....Is hosting and keeps alive the notion of Showmanship. He and some players open the show to warm the room and take the heat offa going first. The setup and equipment on offer are top notch. As to the Process. Well this is a late one Chummers. The list goes out around 9p with the show not starting til 10. I signed up for 5th but no one signed up 1-4th until about 9:45 then someone put in for 4th. One person. ( I don't critique other players). On this evening I did three songs....This can vary with list numbers . You can go it alone or have house players join you ( highly recommend if you know what you are doing and how to communicate it) but they wanna get loud, so you just hafta ask for more atmosphere. This could be avoided with the use of a Stage Monitor ( Joe did turn in one of the house speakers towards me but the the feedback bubble was really close to the warm vocal Mic zone...so if I pressed in too closely, my acoustic/electric guitar wanted to let go.) All in all...This is the heart and soul of the Open Mic experience. It must be said...that none of this ...the energy....the opportunity. ..the moments ...none of it would be possible without the Audience. Sans Souci has people. Featherless bi-peds everywhere. All smiling and breathing life into the night. On A Wednesday !!! If they ever add a Monitor to the stage set I will happily give up the 5th Star. That's the only thing holding me back.

WARNING WARNING

I had to drop a Star due to Venue concerns. Although there is ample room out side in a very cool plaza area for smoking and vaping...the owner here has decided to flaunt the law by allowing certain customers to vape in the actual Bar. So if you thought you could escape the Toxic cloud by dashing inside.....you can forget it. I am pretty sure that the Criteria for being allowed to spew on others is Buy Beer ...or be a...

I come here on the weekends & have never had a bad thing to say about this place, until “Hannah” was our “bartender” last night. I stood there looking dumb for almost an hour trying to get a drink, I even had other patrons concerned/ wondering why I was being ignored- & even offered to order for me. I’m extremely patient & even told them it was fine since it was picking up and getting busier. But then it just became blatantly obvious she was ignoring ONLY us for some reason? I was just trying to celebrate my boyfriends birthday/st paddys day and she completely ruined our night, & ruined a place for me that I LOVED coming to with groups of friends. It really just made us uncomfortable and feel unwelcome, when the sewer has always been a go to. she made us feel like we did something wrong just for being there.. and when I finally did get a drink (that she purposely overcharged me for) i still tipped for her...

This is an awesome watering hole in the heart of Ventura. A fun perk is if you have a craving for pizza while tossing back drinks and socializing with friends, Jimmy slice will heat up a pie and send it on over. San Souci is located towards the West end of the downtown area surrounded by awesome shops and restaurants, and sits directly across from The Majestic Ventura Theater. Your ears will get a treat with live music performance every night, but the place can get crowded, so be sure to arrive a little early if you want to find a seat. There's a patio to enjoy some fresh air, and it's the perfect environment to sit back, relax, and enjoy the fresh ocean air. Be sure to say hi to the owners, Sande and Jim, as they're lovely people with...