I came here for a bday party. I liked that they have a "smoking" section out front. The backroom is nicely decorated. Not like some cheap bar.
Looks like a cool place to meet up with friends. Lots of room and chairs and different rooms to be in. I think you have fun here depends on who you come with. I would totally come here more often if I lived closer.
This review is for the FOOD ONLY. I ordered the Buffalo Chicken sandwich w/ steamed brown rice. The sandwich was mediocre at best. A tiny amount of chicken, almost no buffalo sauce, and mayo (not listed on menu and not wanted!). The worse part was the brown rice. The rice had obviously been microwaved and was dry and rubbery. I might be back for a Ranger IPA but I'd never eat here again... ever.
Review Source:I keep ending up here for some odd reason, and I don't know why... There isn't anything special about the place, but different friends come here because it's a chill sports bar. Drinks are overpriced and not very strong or tasty. Come with a group of friends, otherwise I can't see another way to enjoy it :/
Review Source:You could starve to death here at lunchtime. Â Our waitress was Jeannie, who was taking car of five tables. Â The menus came immediately, the orders finally taken 20 minutes later, and the food arrived almost an hour after we sat down. Â Jeannie was very busy chatting to her friends at one table while she ignored everyone else.
Review Source:I've been here a couple of times. It's a pretty standard bar and grill but the seating is really great. It's a nice place to watch the game for sure...
The bartender I had the last time I was here was comically bad. He took five minutes to get my drink order because he was "slammed" (his words not mine). There were only five other people at the bar. It was all downhill from there...
While I was there he somehow managed to give the wrong credit card to two separate parties. Pretty funny really.
Is it really that hard to find good help in Santa Monica?
Busby's is great. The bar has an excellent, friendly staff that makes you feel like a regular from the moment that you enter Busby's.
There is a pretty good Monday through Friday  happy hour from 4pm to 8pm, when you can get $3 drafts. But it does get crowded. The $2.50 pint nights from 10pm to 2am on Tuesdays are a better deal and tend to have a better crowd. There are also $1 tacos available on Tuesdays from 6pm to 1am. The tacos are pretty good. I like the bbq rib ones. Sundays are trivia nights if you're into that sort of thing, and even if you aren't the bartenders will place you on a team. It's fun but I'm not into trivia nights.
Busby's also has some of the best bar food I've had. I love the fried fish sandwich($14), which is an actual piece of fish, and not a processed fish patty on a bun with a good tartar sauce, and a side of steak fries. The burger($12) is also good.
Busby's is just a nice neighborhood bar. It's friendly, easy going, and offers quality service, drinks, and food at a decent enough of a price.
Overpriced drinks, but fair prices for beers. No cover.
Drinks vary from good to horrible.
They can't make a good AMF.. And I've ordered it numerous times.
Parking is either street or valet ($4?). I hate valet so street it was.
Can get excessively crowded.
Music is good (some parts too loud but that's not a negative aspect).
Crowded seems to be heavily Caucasian with a mix of other ethnicities; cool people with the occasionally crazy drunks
Would never come here by choice.
Fun place, gets very busy. Can be hit or miss depending on the patrons, which is to be expected with the college crowd. Parking is convenient - cheap valet. It's a bit of a wait to get a drink when it's busy, but the bartenders are very nice. Not a bad place, but I'd prefer going down the street to Mom's.
Review Source:It's really hard to find a decent sports bar out here.
I have come here for several games with my friends and every time is definitely an experience. Not in a good way necessarily.
During football season this place get packed. The environment can be really fun with everyone cheering for different teams, but the set up of the place is rather strange.
I'm not a big fan of the table clothes on pool tables and cramming as many people into a bar as possible. I get it from a revenue stand point- but it isn't really a desirable place to spend time.
The food is less than mediocre bar food. I wouldn't order anything from here again. Not worth it.
The bartenders were friendly and fairly quick - even with the large crowds. Â At times we did have I wait a bit, but when you overload the place with people they physically can't be much faster.
The car situation is super weird. They hire valet for the mornings during games, but the valet doesn't even stay through the second game. I had to figure out who had my car keys at the end of the day- it was awkward.
Busby's is a sports bar. If you want to watch a game with friends, fellow fans, grab a drink, and a bite to eat this is a good option. Â For partying, meeting new people, etc. I can't really speak to that. Â Don't really come too often, esp on the weekends. Â
Most recently I came to catch the Michigan games during the Final Four. Â Quite a few Michigan fans so it added to the pleasurable experience. Â
Food
- It's a sports bar so don't expect culinary miracles. I was here the other day and we ordered the chicken pizza, hot wings, chipotle something wings, and onion rings. All pretty standard for bar food, although the chipotle wings were good. Â They stood out among the others. Â
Service
- There were a decent number of people there for happy hour on Friday and our waitress did her best to come by and take our orders/check up on us. Â She was friendly and got our orders right. Â It did take awhile to get her the first time. Thinking they might have been a bit under-staffed. Â
Atmosphere
- It's a pretty big sports bar with TVs seemingly everywhere. Â There is a ping pong table in a room near the back and a back room that has more of lounge set up. Â Haven't sat there yet but interested to check it out one day. Â
One thing we noticed and liked, when watching a big game there and it's a commercial they will cut to a DJ they hire and play music instead of the sound from the commercial. Â A nice little touch. Â
If you're looking to watch a game and grab a drink Busby's a decent option.
Love coming here with a big group of friends for drinks and games! If you don't know what to do but want to do something, go to busbys! It's spacious, awesome, entertaining, and local! Weekend nights are really packed so its pretty hard to get around and good luck getting in on any of the games but hey, the more the merrier!
Review Source:Though I was completely inebriated last saturday when I went, I have to say that the place is pretty good! It's a sports bar/lounge/board games/arcade/dance club mix of a place. Rofl. Nevertheless, I did have fun! Ratio of men to women are 1:2 (atleast last saturday) so guys, if you're looking on that side of the story it's a go. Drinks are decently priced, since you are on Santa Monica after all. My drink's alcohol ratio was pretty good so that made me an instant fan.
Review Source:Bros.
No cover.
Weak but very cheap drinks.
It's like walking into Narnia, so much space and rooms that lead into rooms and passageways. I would hiiiiighly advise calling or texting friends to see where they are inside before attempting to just go in on your own and find them. That, my friends, will take forever.
Came on a Saturday and the DJ was playing generic music...a little lack luster of bangers that make people want to dance and more of a background noise kind of thing.
Pool tables.
Arcade games.
Lots of sitting room, that is available for all to sit at and not roped off like pretentious Hollywood clubs. Which is nice.
I went here once during college and I remember that my AMF cost 14 bucks. Â Still the most expensive AMF I have ever encountered. Â I bought a Stella this time.
I never realized how huge the place is... there are like 6 rooms. Â Unfortunately we arrived around 12:30 and the place was slowly dying. Â They turned on the lights at 1:20AM! Â On a Saturday!
The DJ was playing music videos, which I always love to watch. Â The dance area is super tiny though. Â
Might be fun to come back here and play some games next time.
I was trying to decide if I should give West a 3 or a 4... my reasoning is this... I have been a long time patron of Busby's East, (same owner) but because of a change in my schedule find it hard to get there as often as I would like to, so I decided to start going to West... At East, Pool is free, the bartenders are extremely friendly and it's just a great place to go... I started going to West and although yes there are way more games here, you have to pay for them all... it kind of takes away from the fun. Â
But my PRO and most certainly the most important reasoning for anything... While East has great bartenders... West has AMAZING Servers!!!! I took a friend who had never been to a Busby's, it was still early maybe around 5pm... so the place was pretty empty except a few people at the bar watching some college basketball... Â stopped by the bar and the bartender Matt (super awesome) informed us that there is a server and we can sit wherever we want and he would send her over... so we went and got a seat... A few minutes later the amazing BRIDGET came over! Let me just say... as a former Server I understand servers differently than regular customers... Bridget was AMAZING... She is one of the sweetest most attentive servers I've had the pleasure of encountering. Â And Matt went Far and beyond to make us some pretty amazing beverages! The caramel apple martini... TO DIE FOR!!!!
So this is my reasoning for choosing a 4 :-)
a couple requests though...
Could you please have more karaoke nights?!?! As far as I know you only do it one night a week...
Happy Hour... maybe a better selection of drink specials... like maybe a 2-1 drink special day or putting more than just beer and wine on the happy hour menu...
just some suggestions.
Thanks for remaining a cool bar over all!
~Christian~
This is a super late review, but my buddy was out here for his bday last week so it reminded me that I hadn't reviewed the CAL bar. Â I came here during college football season and it was fun. Â I ran into a lot of CAL alumni and people that I hadn't seen since college. Â You can play beer pong and people seem to get super hammered here before heading out to their evening plans. Â Can't wait for football season to start again!! Â Go Bears!!!
Review Source:While bar hopping in Santa Monica, I found my way to Busby's West, making it our last stop for the night. This was my first time here since I used would go to the East side location, no longer prefer that spot any longer. It's a different dynamic.
Sports bar, which is what Busby's is all about. I'd definitely prefer the West versus the East. I feel like the East has become this "wanabe club" scene that charges for entry and people dresssing up like they're in Hollywood.
Anyhow, cool casual bar with a dance floor. Not very big, but has good vibes.
Cheers!
I prefer this Busby's location to the 'east' location. The layout/floorplan is much better in my opinion, better atmosphere and it's always nice being in Santa Monica.
The bar is a great place to watch a game here (Lakers games in particular) but there's also several other sections of the bar that host beer pong, pool tables, and dj's.
Their menu has a lot of good food as well. All types of salads, they make a mean burger, soups, pizzas, wings, the list goes on and on. Always a good time and always good food.
Came here with a bunch of friends to watch the All-Star NBA 2013 game. Service was good in the beginning, albeit it became slow after the bar became doggone packed for Trivia Night (which is apparently on Sundays??).
The nachos here are good, and they definitely serve them to you in a hefty portion. I ordered the Blue Coconut cocktail for myself, and it was a delicious little beach refresher. This bar attracts a lot of young people and basically has a frat-house atmosphere. I'd come back.
Overall rating  (1/5):
Come on guys, alcohol is alcohol. They have a decent selection, good waitressing  and bartendars, but horrible bouncers, and even worst managers.
Paul, MIke Hamilton is no good for you business. Business is about keeping high value customers. If you run a check on me, you'll know that I've never walked out of your establishment spending anything less than 200 bucks. That being said, your manager and your bouncers treated me with such disrespect last night, that I can not bear myself to possibly even think about the Busby name in the same light anymore.
I'm pretty sure I bought a bottle of Maker's Mark last night (2/15/13) Â shot by shot, and I was there since 7, ordering non-stop the whole night. I had a great time with friends and newly met friends. Bought myself drinks, bought everyone else food and drinks, but on my way out, I wasn't too sure I've cleared my tab, and I wanted to double check with the waitress that I've tipped appropriately and that I've cleared my tab (responsible thing to do), and that's when it all went down hill.
These guys not only ushered me off like some sort of pissant. They also claimed that I was in no state to drive, and threaten to call the cops on me. I told them I'm perfectly fine, and I could've walked the line, and done all those test, and I challenged them to call the cops, but if I got cleared, then I wanted recompense from their manager. Your bouncers not only would not call the manager, they wouldn't even give me their name, but when the manager came, he only made things worst! Acting like your ENTIRE establishment doesn't give a crap about their customers. You can argue that they cared more because they didn't want me to get a DUI, but there are less rude and demeaning ways to go about it. Give me a little face here, and let me step off the stage with a little respect, maybe?
Treating your customers like they're lower scummy life-forms is not the way to keep them. I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure your bouncers and managers are not going to want me back, but at the same time. I'm not sure I'd want to return. If there's even another party we're going to host it elsewhere.
No better place to get smashed in the face. Â I love a bar where plasma tv's are actually plastering the walls like an endless mosaic; not some drunken illusion. Â This makes it infinitely better coupled with blurry double-vision from being super trashed: it seems like you're in a funhouse of Niners and Lakers games.
Reasonable prices for a plethora of bubbly inebriations. Â There are tons of seats/places to pee on, but man when it's game time everything is bloody crowded and some guido bastard is getting all angry you pissed on their girlfriend's skirt. Â Chill out budday!
Random little gameroom in the back with classic games that no one plays anymore like skee ball, foosball, table hockey, and random atari games that will give you flashbacks to when you took that bad acid.
Overall schweet place. Â Definitely recommended if you support a team in California. Â Otherwise get the hell out.
TL;DR: Â RAVENS FAN WHAT? GET THE F*CK OUT.
Came here for my sisters 27th birthday & had a great time.
Good music all around, good vibes, fun people, lots of rooms to party in.
Only thing was that it got really crowded ... especially on the dance floor.
We could hardly move around at one point in the night.
The waitress attending our table was really sweet &
brought us all drinks promptly ... which were delicious btw.
Had some shots ... cranberry vodka ... midori sour ... & wasn't disappointed
in the least.
This place definitely looks more sports bar like but I still had a lot of fun
& would recommend it to anyone!
Mmm $7 bottled Strong Bow Apple Cider imported from England. Cheerios, mate.
Also, Sunday nights are trivia nights but get there on the early side, as it ends shortly after 10 PM.
In short, Busby's West is more divey and casual compared to Busby's East, whichever you prefer (cue Dashboard).
Perfectly fine divey sports bar. Not much else to say.
On a recent night, I came here for a girls' night out on a night when they have the pub quiz. I don't think many folks cared about the pub quiz, because there were only a few competitors, and we won 2nd prize (which was a $20 food/ drink credit!) Bonus!
The service was very good, which impressed me. And the food was better than expected, though all I tried were the jalapeno poppers and fried shrimp (which were probably purchased frozen in bulk, and reheated in a deep fryer).
I ordered the chocotini cocktail, which was mediocre but not terrible. Definitely a chick drink (but since I'm a chick, it's all good!)
Kudos for a large venue with many nooks and crannies for you and your posse to carve out your own little space. Extra kudos for a relatively large free parking lot in back.
Good watering hole for sports fans.
Ample seating for a place that can get a bit crowded. There's the regular bar area, the middle section feels more like a sit down restaurant, and the far section that looks like a P-diddy style lounge area. I didn't wander that far in, but that was the first thought that sprung to mind as I glanced in there. Seemed out of place from the rest of the interior.
During my time here the staff attempted to serve us some buffalo wings and cheese pizza, which we never ordered. Guess they really wanted us to eat something. What they failed to do as we sat there was ask if we needed anything. Not one person stopped to inquire. What kind of place is this? We probably would've drank more had they been more attentive and helpful, but we were too engrossed in conversation to really notice at the time. Good thing we ordered our original drinks at the bar. And good thing we just came from lunch elsewhere. Don't look for it because service does not come with a smile.
Caramel Apple-tini is too sweet.
Crowd: Hmmm, kind of yuppie. Not that there's anything wrong with that. However, if you are a yuppie and you are going to chase a girl outside don't let your pick up line be: "Did you know this place shows the games here like this?" Umm, yeah, it's sort of called Busby's SPORTS bar. Kind of questions my intelligence there buddy. Especially after I just exited the place and witnessed a dozen or so blaring games showing on flat screens all around the establishment. I almost thought it was a trick question.
Parking: Street (2 hours free down a side street or metered out front). Valet (says $4 on the sign, but the guy was asking $4.50). Unless the .50 was so tiny I couldn't see it. And why the hell did the attendant say "By the way there are no refunds." I wish I could say he wasn't serous. WTF does that mean? Of course it's non-refundable. Lol
This place was like the land of weird comments and questions.
Update: The first incorrect $200+ charge has disappeared from my account, however the $85.18 charge remains. This means that THE MANAGER took the liberity to add a tip to our bill (correct billed amount was $71.18) that we did not authorize. This issue will now be taken up with my bank and a formal complaint has been filed.
Use Caution when going to Busby's and watch your bill very closely.
We will NEVER return. If I could rate them Zero Stars I would have because they don't deserve even 1 star.
I'm mixed about this bar cause:
1) I live really close to busby's and ever since they opened, my area quickly went from pretty quiet at night to drunks just wandering the streets and popping out of nowhere when I'm driving
2) THEY HOST THE CAL LOS ANGELES ALUM FOOTBALL VIEWING PARTIES.
Since I am a Cal alum, I'll focus on #2.
This place is a great place to catch a football game on Saturdays, namely if you are a Cal alum in Los Angeles. Â They have a special menu for the football days, which include Top Dog. Â yes you heard right. Â Probably the only people that will truly appreciate how awesome this is are the people from NorCal, but it's definitely something I look forward to. Â That floorspace is actually pretty big inside, and it's just awesome to see a bunch of people dressed in blue and gold cheering on the Golden bears in the land of the bruins and the Condoms.
The beer selection is pretty good as well! Â My friend had his birthday here, and it's definitely a great venue for groups. Â The type of people that come here are from all over
We went here last night to catch the 1st game of the World Series - GO GIANTS! It was not our first choice, but it really ended up being a fantastic night. We called ahead and they saved the 4 of us a great booth.
Our server was friendly and efficient (our table was guys and girls). Happy hour was a total deal and the house cab wine was pretty tasty - especially for $4! I got the standard burger and it was cooked perfectly and added cheese and bacon - delish! I polished off every last curly fry - double yum! (Someone was HUNGRY!) They did screw up my friend's fry order - brought her sweet potato instead of curly - and they resolved it quickly.
There was plenty of space around the place, not too crazy or loud and you could see the game from anywhere in the space. Â We'd heard about Busby's being a Buffalo Bills bar too and had hoped to go there to see if that's the case... glad we finally checked it out. I'll definitely go back for more sports bar action.
Bro, I'll never forget the lil' chit-chat I had with my Dad about dating:
"Marriage sucks, son... but dating bites. Being single is too much work. Every weekend you're buying dinner and drinks for someone new and pretending to like 'em just so you can bang the hell out of 'em. As a husband, I don't have to hide the fact that I'm a cold, selfish prick and I can STILL bang the hell out of your mother. She'll even cook me dinner after."
"I dunno, Pop," I said, "I think I'd be happier being single than bangin' Mom."
"I'm not talking about you and MY wife, you jackass! I'm talking about when you get your OWN wife!"
"Oh snap."
I wasn't too bright in those days. I mean, we're talking one, almost two years ago that we had that sex talk. But I've grown up since then... a lot... and I've learned quite a bit about the female sexy ladies with the vaginas.
For instance, I learned that when you really wanna impress a girl, you gotta dress up in your tightest V-neck and loudest jeans and bring that piece to the luxurious Busby's in San-Mo. That's how ballaz ball and rollaz roll so let's get the ball rollin'! I just made that shit up, yo. I'm gonna tweet it later. You never know. It might blow up and go viral, then I'm set for life!
Anyway, pimp -- Busby's. Shit is tight, bro. I like to plow my way up to the bar and get brain-fucked on Monster vodkas. Then I plow my way through the club and practically rape my date on the trancefloor. After that, I do stripes in the bathroom until I vomit uncontrollably. Epic-sauce for the win. No fail, bro. Win, epic.
Only complaint is that it gets pretty loud in this place, what with the club knockaz and all the game room and banger noise. At one point my lucky date tried to yip-yap some shit to me and I was like "Twat did you say? I cunt hear you! Tit's okay, we'll finger it out later!" Haha! I'm so fuckin' rad! I LOVE being a grown up!
Buzzzzby's!!
LOVED it. So much fun.
Came here with a gal I was trying to get with and we had a great time playing the arcade games.
Also, met up with some drunkies and did a bunch of shots.
GREAT for both.
PROS: Arcade games
-Dance floor
-Like 30 bars
-Bathroom butler with great gum selection
-Bongo drums in the bathroom
-Cheap (LA cheap)
-Great staff
-Hilarious bouncers
-Great location on Santa Monica blvd.
CONS: Douchey bar patrons - an LA staple.
I would give this place a 5 if it was closer to my place. LOVE Busby's.
Check it!
Best,
Sean
My server Brittany or Bethany or Bridget was the worse server I've ever had. She seemed to give amazing service to all the people around us, which coincidentally happened to be male so... discrimination much? We didn't tip here badly because she was incompetent... We tipped her badly because  she was rude.
Bartender was nice and we received our drinks quickly. Food wasn't bad. But I probably won't be back unless someone drags me.
Was stuck on the 405 heading home from a meeting on a weeknight. Â Dropped in here for a feed and a beer and to wait the traffic out. Â The place itself is fairly nice with big screen TV's and open plan windows bringing a breeze in off Santa Monica.
The food is very average and the service even worse. Â There was one waitress on for about 60 patrons in the section of the bar I was sitting in. Â Wouldn't return unless if it was for drinks only.
Worst service ever!!!! I feel like this has been the case recently. You just can't get good service anymore. Our office went here for lunch and it was awful. It took over 40 minutes to receive our food, our waitress didn't bring us waters or the drinks that we ordered. It came down to each of us having to request our drinks a second time. When she didn't bring them the second time, we finally decided to ask the bartender himself.
Once two of the five of us finished our food, she started clearing our plates! I was dipping a fry in some sauce and she literally took it from me. If someone is still eating, do you think it is a good idea to just take their plate? Probably not? Probably a good indication that I am still eating. The other two of our party needed boxes. She never came back with them. Again, we had to ask the bartender.
In the ultimate end, she never gave us waters, our drinks, boxes, or service. I get it, it is a dive, but come on. I get 100x better service at a McDonald's! I'll never come back here again unless someone drags my lifeless body back!
Everyone's favorite local watering hole. Â Even though I'm from Hawaii, I always make at least one visit to Busby's while in town. Â And for some reason, I always run into other Hawaii people!
Inexpensive drinks, ample street parking, karaoke, pool tables, and tons of screens. Â The waitresses are friendly. Â If you want to chill and relax, avoid weekends. Â If you feel like shouting your drink orders, body heat, and constantly getting bumped into, then by all means come out on Friday and Saturday nights. Â Regardless, it's always good times at Busby's.
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