I just recently experianced the Raindbow Room, and to be honest it was one of the best nights I've had at a bar in a really long time. Â The bartender was amazing, I even scored free beads, he danced with me, was super friendly. Â I met the owner who was just enjoying the night, but thought I had been waiting to long so went and got me a drink. Â My girlfriend and I are a lesbian couple, and was able to be affectionate with no issues at all which is pretty much a first for us. So I don't understand how people think its not gay friendly.
Review Source:I don't know anything about the previous ownership or the transition, My boyfriend and I checked it out after moving to the area about 2 years ago. We checked out several bars and didn't feel truly comfortable and "at home" as we had in our old standbys in Modesto. Though we aren't gay, we are an unusual couple in that we are of different races and have a 23 yr age gap. We have frequented gay bars because we tend to enjoy the vibe and the different people you get to meet and it's pretty rare for anyone to stare or to be overly accommodating to our differences (which is more annoying than intolerance in my opinion). We went here, not knowing if it was a gay bar or not, and not particularly caring either way. We have met great people there, gay and hetro, and have always felt welcome. We love CJ. Our gay friends there are open and all of the couples there show affection openly and CJ has never showed any problem with any of it. In fact he's jokingly joined in on affectionate play with us (both as individuals and a couple) and other couples. I highly recommend the rainbow club and am actually going to have my birthday party there.
Review Source:Yelp needs to re class this BAR. Â No longer a Gay Bar ,, Fact is as people have posted - Gays are not welcome here. The staff is rude and Its odd how the new owners plan to make money, Â
Once a nice bar gay or not ,, Is now a hateful place. Â
so sad ,, Â
Please Yelp - re class this Bar
Thanks
and Please ignore this location ,, Â V
I used to go here back in the days. Even then, It wasn't the most exciting bar out there but it was cool..... back then. Now it's just sad! I went there about 3 months ago and it was all bad! I had my girls from L.A. in town and took them to this sorry ass bar. We walked in and only saw 2 people at the bar. No music was playing and the bartenders were a couple of smart asses! Someone should just take a match and pour some gasoline and take this place out of its misery!
Review Source:This bar used to be gay friendly for several years when Elena owned it and Susie bought it about eight years after. Since then the new owner Tina and her smarmy boyfriend CJ took over it has steadily gone down hill! They have had the PG and E turned off because they didnt  pay the bill. Same with the phone bill. They ran out of liquor and mixers ALL the time. Tina also built an illegal room inside her bar that she has yet to tear down after the city told her hse had to. Tjhis is not including how they began to slowly eliminate ALL gay bartenders and alienating the gay clientele. Tina stated in front of 9 or more people that she "does not like gay people" and if they dont like what she says they can go to the "Turf Club" ...Guess what we have! Now there business is sucking eggs and they are kissing the few customers asses they have to get the community to come back. Well, I for one am not that stupid! I hope that Tinas comments, like she doesnt want old faces in the bar, dont go unheeded by the community at large. Stop supporting this bar and go to a club that is safe for all people. The Rainbow Room is not a safe haven for the gay community anymore! Now delete me again and see what I do! I will not stop spreading the truth about Tina and CJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review Source:Yelp deleted my previous one star review because I didn't follow the "first-hand experience" guideline.
I had to delete my "first-hand experience" review because I didn't feel that the Rainbow Room deserved my 3 star review, which was based on how it was BEFORE they started discriminating against the gay community.
I used to frequent the Rainbow Room on a monthly basis. The gay bartenders were friendly and sweet, the older patrons digged our musical taste on the juke box, and the bloody mary's were top notch. The Rainbow Room felt like the Gay Cheers and then all that changed . . . . .
Here is a repost of the deleted review.
It's a horrible shame this place has gone down the discriminate, prejudice, bigot, shit hole.
The owners are now gay bashers. Their homophobic actions are simliar to the actions of some Religious organizations anti-gay politicians and supporters of Prop 8.
l admit that the Rainbow Room wasn't the coolest or hippest gay bar back when it was gay friendly, but ya know what, atleast it was actually a place for the LGBT community to go to and feel welcome.
Myself, my wife, my friends, my straights, my queers, my money will NEVER EVER set foot in this place again!!
As someone who frequented the Rainbow Room on an almost  daily basis it's sad to see what the place has become.  As a bar operator friend of mine in San Francisco recently told me, there are bar owners and then there are bar OPERATORS. BIG difference. Operators come into their bars and take time to get to know their customer base, something Tina rarely did. Her absence for months on end after she bought the place did not go unnoticed by the regulars, myself included. Operators make sure the bar is fully stocked. (No excuses for empty bottles.) And they keep an open mind when approached about new money making activities from those in the know, like her former senior bartender Bob.  In short, her flushing of the gay customer base out was fueled by her absolute lack of business savvy and frustration.  And then she had the nerve to throw stones at us and blame gay folks for not supporting her bar while she was off for months in her homeland of Korea!  Can you say, "CLUELESS?" The bar business is a TOUGH business. News Flash Tina: You can't phone it in! She made upgrades to the bar ONLY when she knew she was going to show us the door around the first of the year. As others have said here, "Don't go in." Meanwhile, take comfort in knowing that karma is a very exacting thing. You get back what you put out. She has a boat load of bad karma coming her way. As you read these posts here by those who use to go into Rainbow Room, do the community a public service and  tell a friend or two who may not have immediate access to a computer. "Rainbow Room (now Rainbow Club) is no longer gay friendly and should be avoided."
Review Source:This bar totally sucks ass now..it used to be fun, friendly and a overall good time - now, don't even bother. The bathrooms are disgusting and its sad to watch what used to be a really fun place to go - go so quickly downhill. As a straight person with many close friends in the gay community, it's sad to watch the discrimination and just overall bullshit going on with the new owners. Bathrooms are disgusting, "management" is a joke and good luck getting good service or finding your liquor of choice in stock. Even if they brought the standards up I would no longer patronize them with the level of unprofessional behavior...who screams at their employee's in front of customers ? who 86's loyal, well behaved patrons for politely, quietly  trying to talk reason? This place doesn't deserve your business or mine...I'll gladly spend my money elsewhere.
Review Source:Oops! This place now sucks, or rather, no longer exists. The Rainbow Room in Hayward is no more. It has become a straight "bar" called the Rainbow Club. Seems like a recent, new owner has gone bonkers and started telling customers to fuck off, etc. This place is not long for this world, let alone the Gay community. Best of luck Hayward. Off to the Turf Club we go!
Review Source:"Best Nights: Tue, Thu, Fri"? Not anymore. There are no best nights.
Had not been there in a couple of years and -- damn! -- when did Fred Phelps take over? It's totally changed -- no longer gay-friendly, not even gay-tolerant. Is there really a niche market for Homophobia Bars? Very sad. It used to be a very straight-friendly gay bar, but now I can't imagine anyone going for this new, negative vibe...
Stopped by here after dinner last night because we saw some old buddies from B Street playing on the dart league. Â The place is pretty big. Â It's got 2 pool tables, a couple of arcade game machines, 2 dart boards, and an area in the corner with a dj booth and dance floor. Â The bartender was nice and everyone looked to be having a good time. Â The bartender told us theres shows on the weekends so maybe we'd have to check it out some day!
Review Source:Didn't intentionally seek out to find this bar. My buddies and I just saw it across the parking lot from the Korean karaoke joint on our bar crawl. It's super discreet just having a small lamp to illuminate a door in the back. Add the fact that the parking lot and this area of Hayward looks sketchy, I was thinking that this could be a gem of a dive and yes it was.
While it's definitely not the Blue Oyster Bar from Policy Academy movies, the other patrons and bartender just kinda looked at us while we ordered a round of beers and played pool. My buddy said he could feel the eyes on him like a magnifying glass whenever it was his turn to shoot. If people stared any harder, they probably would've burnt a hole through his pants. I guess that's what it feels like when women wear miniskirts and bend over to pick something up.
After a couple more games of pool we became invisible and left unnoticed. Not a bad little place.
It's true what they say, you really should check out a place at least twice before you give your opinion on a particular location, and in the case of the Rainbow Room, I'm glad that I did. Let me start off first by saying that I'm not gay. But I'll give any location at least one shot if they're selling booze. The first time I went here was about a year ago with a good looking lesbian couple. There were nothing but females in the bar, and although the couple received a lot of positive attention, I continued to receive the "stink-eye" from the staff and the patrons. Really? Is that necessary? I'm just trying to get my drink-on like anybody else, and if this place is called the "Rainbow Room," shouldn't everyone be happy and excited? The combination of the dirty looks and the weak pours ensured that I didn't stay past the second drink.
Now three months ago, the couple begged me to give this spot another try. Mainly due to the lack of cool bars in Hayward. I must admit that my second experience was completely different and way more enjoyable! This time we opted to sit at the bar, and not only were the pours solid, the patrons and the staff engaged us in conversation. We didn't get plastered (It's Hayward, I had to watch my back), but we had more than a couple of rounds. If you're in the area, this place is worth stopping in.
i've never been to this "Rainbow Room" but I'm gay-friendly so I was excited to go! This place is dive-ish, but those happen to be my bar of choice. their drinks were great and priced fairly, about $4-$6 for each drink. they have funny bubblegum machines in the bathroom, so I highly recommend you bring quarters. they have karaoke on thursday and sunday nights. however, they have karaoke across the plaza, which you can rent private rooms to belt out your favorite Kelly Clarkson song. the bartenders were nice and the whole crowd was straight-friendly (yay for me and fellow straights). Â I met a bunch of nice gays and lesbians, except for the two mean ones smoking outside that made fun of us for dressing nice. if you see two heavy-set blondes with frizzy hair wearing ugly clothes and scowls on their faces, avoid at all costs.
Final Verdict: It's a known fact that I love the gays and the gays love me,
but what better place to love each other while we karaoke? The drinks were awesome but the lesbians were not, if they pick on me again somebody's gonna get shot.
The rainbow room ,A.K.A.-The bearded clam shack at least thats what i've been calling the Haystacks long time mecca of all things lesbian, gay, etc.............I started coming here about 10 years ago because i lived 2 blocks away and the woman i was seeing happened to enjoy both men and women, being a typical macho as fuck , blue collar hayward,i hate the gays because i secretly envy your lifestyle type male i was reluctant to go inside but whaddya know , the place has a great vibe , great bar staff, attractive patrons and by the end of the night i was sold on this place.Regardless of the way you swing, all are welcome here. If your looking to expand your horizons and meet people of different sexual orientations, people from different cultures,just plain good people, the rainbow room is a great place to start, oh yeah, i personally was just looking for a place to get shit faced...............mission accomplished.
Review Source:So, you know what happened one night, approximately one year ago? My friend told us about this really great kareoke place in Hayward that had a bar. I was like ... "Sweet. Kareoke while drinking? Awesome."
Only when I arrived there, I found that kareoke while sober was very, very ... loud. It was entertaining, but it needed that extra kick of something. So a friend and I decided to visit the kareoke bar, only to find an empty room with a huge screen TV. It was all flashy inside as well, and we waited a couple of minutes until the person up at the desk wondered why we were in there.
"I'm sorry, the person who runs the bar called out sick today. Did you guys want something?"
I reply, "What do you have?"
"Oh. Just beer."
We took a moment, then walked out. We walked out of the Kareoke place, in which my friend offered to drive to a liquor store. I said fine, but then I remembered all the laughter and music I heard across the parking lot. As we were driving, we decided to flip a u over to the Rainbow Room, the laughter and music still booming as we walked over to enter through the door.
And let me tell you ... as we walked in, it was something out of film, due to the fact that two straight people had suddenly walked into a bar and everyone inside turned their heads to look at the two straight people walking into a bar, almost as if their straight-dar had gone off. Â They immediately turned back to what they were doing, and we both gave each other looks, shrugged, and walked over to the bar.
This is where the rest of the part goes fuzzy, because I remember us saying just one drink, and let's just say one drink turns into more than one (probably five). While there, we had a great time, due to everyone being super nice and friendly, and the bartender was really nice as well. She felt bad because she didn't know how to make a chocolate cake shot (I guess us big city kids get spoiled, perhaps), so she instead made us this drink called a sweet tart ... and it was FREE! She also made too much and gave us the rest of it, and she also took shots with other bar patrons. She was awesome in my book. She also gave us some popcorn, which was lovely. The music they played was great, but it seemed like nobody was into dancing, as the pretty spacey floor was empty. A good time was had a year ago, and my friend and I vowed that we would visit once again.
FLASH TO LAST FRIDAY ...
We somehow find ourselves with anything to do, and it was still early, so someone suggested kareoke. We say ... "HAYWARD!!!" So, we get there, I get to do my favorite kareoke version of "Jessie's Girl," and my friend and I take off, hoping to get back to the place where everybody probably never knew our name. Once we walk in, we get sort of the same reaction, but we walk up to the bar none the less, and we order.
Only this time, the bartender was different. The music was still there (and empty! Come on ... it's so huge for a place like that, and nobody was on it), and people were kind of just sticking to themselves over at the pool table or around the bar. It's not your typical place in the City, granted it's not super crowded. But that's what I found really charming and cool about the place. Also super cool: they give you a lot of alcohol in your hennessy and coke. I swear ... it was like a glass of hennessy with a smidgen of coke. It was wonderful. I wish that there was popcorn, but the machine was turned off.
All in all, the Rainbow Room is a great place. I figure a life of nothing but kareoke might drive you a little crazy, so why not take a page from this twenty-something's book and get your butt over there. You'll have a good time. It kind of makes me wonder what this place is like on other nights, but I have to say that Saturday was a good day last year. Friday was an "ehh" night. But I say that because it was Cinco de Mayo, and aren't people usually totally blotto by 12am?
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