Skybar Los Angeles — Restaurant in West Hollywood

Dear Skybar LA Management,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to formally request a partial refund for what was an extremely disappointing and unacceptable experience at your venue during the recent event advertised as the “Official BET Awards After Party.”

Upon arrival at 12:15 AM, despite having purchased “skip the line” access, my party of two were left waiting over an hour before being seated at a table—not until 1:15 AM despite how extremely empty it was At that point, the venue was nearly empty, with maybe 40 people present. This was shocking, considering the way the event was marketed.

Once seated, we were told that none of the bottles we wanted were available. Then, 20 minutes later, the server returned and stated that some of the items were suddenly available again and agreed to switch them out. By the time the bottles arrived (1:38 AM), the music was turned off and we were immediately told to leave.

To make matters worse, your staff had my credit card and ID in their possession and would not return them unless I signed a receipt for almost $1,400, which I was pressured to do just to retrieve my property. We were served only one drink and were escorted out before we could even consume it.

This experience felt deliberately deceptive and unprofessional. Despite having already paid a $100 deposit and for skip-the-line tickets, we received virtually no service. The venue was advertised as the “Official BET Awards After Party,” which turned out to be false advertising—there was no affiliation with BET, and no celebrities were in attendance as the flyer implied.

While I will excuse the $100 deposit and the skip-the-line fee, what is completely unacceptable is charging $1,400 for one drink, making us wait an hour, and then forcing us out of the club minutes after being served. That is exploitative, misleading, and unethical.

Please understand: I have the money, time, and resources to escalate this to the absolute maximum. I am not limited to civil court or small claims. I am fully prepared to:

File complaints with the California Attorney General,

Submit evidence to the Department of Consumer Affairs,

Involve the Better Business Bureau,

And publicly expose this experience via social media, press, and legal networks if this is not resolved.

I am respectfully requesting a refund of $1,400, given the circumstances and your staff’s conduct.

Please respond with the appropriate contact for refund processing. I hope this can be resolved quickly and...

Let me first start by saying that this place is pushy, and I absolutely don't recommend it. I went here with a bunch of friends after being enticed by the pictures of the bar with cubana seating and pool right in the middle of the bar. While the ambience does live up the expectation I don't recommend the place for the staff and service. The hostess first told us that we need to take table service ( mandatory ) to get a seat. On asking her that why is this mandatory when we see a lot of other groups sitting there without bottle service , they said you can take the spot but if we get someone else who is willing to take bottle service you will need to get up. We concurred with this arrangement. She then told us that we need to move to a different section even with this arrangement, which was fine. We got one round of drinks and some nibbles. Soon after the hostess walked up to our table letting us know that the place is starting to get crowded ( which is absolutely not true , since we could see so many vacant tables ), we will 'have to' take bottle service to continue sitting there. Let me also add that the table to our left and right both did not have bottle service, and were peacefully sitting there with no botheration from the staff. We were the only group that 'had to' take bottle service to continue sitting there. She didn't bother asking us either if we were willing to take another round of drinks or for how long will we be there for. We then told the hostess that we will take the cheque, and leave instead and were not interested in the bottle service. I think this caught her off guard, since she was probably expecting that she would coax us into getting bottle service. However, she agreed and got us the cheque. We left to notice that at least 60 percent of the bar still had open seats with not even a single person queing up at the entrance either. Now I don't know if this was just a manipulative trick to force us into getting bottle service or just a bar policy that they did not know how to enforce and turn down guests who don't want bottle service but I definitely haven't felt this unwelcomed at any other bar. I know that I am not going there again and would like to give this heads up to any other person planning to...

Only come here for Hollywood parties but losing interest. Fast. Entrance was 100 dollars for myself and 2 others. One would think this covers some drinks but no. Not only does it not cover the drinks but around 30 dollars per drink to which they automatically add gratuity. This might be acceptable for a party that is actually worth it but I've been coming to these events for years and this was not one of the better ones. I didn't know anyone. So it wasn't much of a "mixer" and I usually know a lot of people at these. At least, no one relevant. I can't really justify spending $200+ just for the view. Plenty of other places. Oh and I almost forgot. The old fashioned was a pre made mix. Wasn't even handmade. I distinctly saw the bartender smirk like she just got away with a heist when she handed me the bill. Which she practically did. In spite of this, I added 10 bucks to the tip which she probably was telling herself I was being cheap thinking I didn't know they automatically add gratuity. But I knew. I just didn't want my guests to think I was cheap but what really is cheap if they are completely railroading guests and basically getting away with robbery? But hey, who am I to knock their hustle? I just figured a high class (supposedly) place wouldn't need to hustle that hard. P.S. Old fashioned was weak. Probably half the alcohol it's supposed to have, if that. They can hustle but I can no longer be hustled so hard pass. P.S.S. What makes them think I will trust these schemers to valet my car? So, if you don't get valet, parking is slim to none so most times you have to park at the bottom of a hill. I won't be attending anymore events here so I hope London finds a new place. I'm sure I'm not the only one. In fact, I spoke with several of my friends in the industry. None of them interested in...