Best dance bar in burlington, plenty of indoor and outdoor hang space that doens't make you feel like you're stuck in a club. Lots of bar options. I realize it's not for everybody but this place has been solidly delivering a great dance and meetup spot for years and hopefully will for years to come. Live music outside is always worth checking out.
Review Source:Went here late night after a wedding. It was wall to wall people, asses to elbows all up in my grill. And yet the service was remarkably speedy and attentive and the bathroom lines never got out of control. We escaped to the patio and had a great time. There was a solid DJ spinning inside and the dance floor was bumping. My crowd was just all danced out.
Review Source:I have been here twice. Â This place looks interesting and fun from outside, but once your inside it's incredibly loud, the waitstaff is rude, drinks are overpriced, and it's cramped (we had to weave through the band to get to a seat.). We left after 20 minutes. Â
Ps- don't play with the annoying red lights that hang down in your face...they will threaten to kick you out (though that might be to your advantage.)
This place is incredibly bizarre. Â One moment you're on Church St. in Burlington, and the next you are inside some crazy techno dance party. Â There is a cover charge, though I'm not sure what they could possibly be charging for besides the watered down drinks and techno music. Â I'd stay away, there are better places to get a drink.
Review Source:I came here to dance on a Saturday night:
Too crowded. Â It was uncomfortable. Â There's no room to dance. Â Everyone bumps into you. Â
A fight broke out while I was there.
Music was ok. Â They played a mix of 90s and r&b and house music. Â I don't think I found one song that I really enjoyed. It was all just okay.
I also found that there were too many creepers. Â (Trying to talk to me, touch me, and dance with me etc.)
Cover charge $5
coat check $1.50
Glenlivet 12 yr $5
Not sure if that's the standard or not, but I figured I post the $ details.
I am a new resident of the Burlington area after relocating here from Virginia and my experiences with other bars and clubs in the area is limited. Â But I will say Red Square has some good potential, its kind of a weird place with a eclectic mix of people. Â I got there a little earlier on Saturday night around 10pm and the dance floor in the back was empty and they kept playing the same techno beat over and over. Â No pop songs, no rap songs, no nothing just the same techno beat. Â Kind of strange, but their were a good amount of girls and as the night went on the place really started to get crowded and packed. Â They must have let too many people in. The drinks are around $7, but the main reason I am giving this place two stars is the fact that they altered my bill. Â I saw someone else had mentioned this in their review, but I payed with my credit card and my bill was $15, but the next morning I checked it online and it was not the same amount. Â It had been raised a couple of dollars, kind of shady and I would advise anyone to only pay with cash when you go there. Â Other than that for my first weekend in Burlington, it was a nice place to go dancing and to meet new people.
Review Source:Looking at other reviews for Red Square, I am surprised at some of the lower rated ones. Â This bar is great! Â Seriously, where else are you going to go out in Burlington?
Apparently, a few years ago, the bar had clientele quality issues and was on a decline but they put in another room where they play house music, invested in outdoor seating, filtered out the troublemakers that now inhabit other bars down the street...and hired a more attractive staff. The result is that it's where you want to end up during your night out in Burlington. Â Live music every night, followed by two different DJs is something that only exists here in VT. Â The staff is pretty friendly and the one time I witnessed security throw someone out was awesome. Â I don't want to be drinking in the same place as the scumbags that frequent some of the other bars in the area. Â I have a suspicion that some of the negative reviewers didn't fare so well meeting people if that was their intent. Â I did notice that there was a high ratio of attractive women, ESPECIALLY in the Blue Room. Â That surprised me as I don't always find that when I am in Vermont. Â This is where I will always go out when I am in VT!
Red Square is a very hip and popular bar. Dark ambiance, Good live music, lots of people.
I enjoyed drinks here with my boss and another coworker, who swear by this place.
I enjoyed a few glasses of Veuve and my partners enjoyed microbrews.
This is a great place for dates or business cocktails. Â The staff was friendly and accommodating.
I'll admit, I had previously thought it was primarily a meat market, but kudos to management and staff for changing this place around!
I got here early & it was a fun band with a fun crowd. My waitress was very nice.
Later when the DJ started it was different. The DJ was good, but it gets so crowded it's uncomfortable.
The door staff was very rude to patrons. I went outside to have a smoke by the 1 ashtray they have for the establishment & was lectured about where I should blow my smoke by the door staff. I later witnessed them kicking people out. It was a bad scene, so I left. I think they let way too many people in that night.
If you're not into grinding with total strangers, stay away. Red Square seems to cycle between crazy dance party turned hook-up fest on weekends and awkwardly-empty-for-such-a-big-place dive bar on weekdays.
I have to agree with a previous review that the place is basically a lot of wasted potential. You could do great things with this place, but so far nobody has.
Overpriced, watery drinks, nasty bathrooms, nastier bartenders. You can do so much better at so many other places around town. My advice: Don't waste your time here.
I've been to Red Square quite a few times since I've been in Burlington and I have to say that this place is just a ton of wasted potential. The vibe in here is pretty cool, and it's got a pretty good setup. The music is usually pretty good, and there are always two types of music going. There's techno in the Blue Room and then usually something else out in the main bar.
However, getting in there is an absolute chore. The bouncers are horrendously rude and pick on those coming into the bar. On many occasions, I've had bartenders laugh at my ID, try to mess with me about my birthday, etc. Also, the drinks can be pretty weak depending on the bartender, and I've never been charged for what I drank, unfortunately it's usually an overcharge.
Red Square is the most popular club/bar in Burlington. Â If you've never been, they have three separate sound systems with your choice of a live band, a hip-hop DJ and a house DJ. Â There's something for everyone.
Every weekend I DJ the best house music in town, for updates check out: <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FDJStavros.com&s=f0ae1087de30f00aaaf61fd5b8f3a808806610dbf401614bd32e23bc7dd2e71c" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://DJStavros.com</a>
We attempted to make our way into Red Square, which is supposedly a trendier spot in Burlington (whatever that means), DJs, extensive selection of beer, wine and spirits, but a look at their photos online indicates that everyone drinks PBRs. Â I say attempted because they were charging a cover, and we had no cash.
If they don't want our debit cards, we don't want them! Â Besides the place next door looked more laid back and less date-rapey.
But, I'll give it three stars because it looked like everyone inside was having a good time, and it came highly recommended by everyone we talked to.
Another place my girl friend took me during our first night together and my first visit to Vermont. It was after Metro nome and as much as i did have a decent time at Metro Nome i was hoping for a more lively crowd and boy did i get it. We walked in and this place was jam packed, i mean it was obviously some college night in the summer and the place was just packed packed, people everywhere but some good looking people though. Made our way through the front bar and got all the way to the back, outside/patio area where they were bumping house music. I thought that was phat in each section of the bar there was a diff type of music genre being played, good move! The service at the bar was pretty good even though there was a ton of people and not that many bartenders but i give them props for trying to be as quick as possible. For a bar in Vermont i'm gonna say it's pretty good, reminded me of a midtown bar in NYC without the pretentiousness. Also another day when i went to Sweetwaters with my girlfriend on the wknd, they had a live band and live show going on outside and it basically provided the music for the night on church st. it was that loud and i loved it!
Review Source:Decent scene and live music ***HOWEVER*** they are notorious for altering credit card bills at the end of the night!!! THIS IS FRAUD!!! IF YOU WENT TO RED SQUARE--- CHECK YOUR RECEIPT TO YOUR CC STATEMENT THE NEXT DAY!!! If they are brazenly engaging in fraud I can only imagine what else they are clandestinely doing (i.e. watering down drinks, swapping top shelf for well alcohol, recycling food!) My only advice would be to ***AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE***
Review Source:This place tries so hard to be cool yet fails to live up to all the hype. Due for a bit of a reality check, the prices are more in line with what you'd find in Midtown, not in Burlington. I'll admit the layout, interior design, and lighting are pretty decent, but this place fills up fast and bottlenecks at places it shouldn't. It also has an inopportunely placed dance floor blocking the path to the lounge in the back. Toting itself as "the best place to hear live music in Burlington," all I got for a $3 cover was some college bro "DJing" his iTunes library. The drinks are very sub par. Unless you like jäger bombs and vodka red bulls (strangely 90% of this place's business) the rest are over priced and poorly mixed. On the few occasions I've been dragged in, my drinks have nearly always been botched. Ranging from a syrupy hot mess claiming to be a manhattan and a dark & stormy made with some kind of terrible fruit punch concoction, the mixology leaves some to be desired. Overall, this place is a waste of time and money. I think I'd rather go to "What Ales" and catch hepatitis than go to back to Red Square.
Review Source:Awesome place! I really loved that they had three separate rooms that played different music (good music at that)! The only thing that I did not like about the place was that all the dance floors were pretty small, so you didn't have a lot of room to dance. Other than that it was perfect!
Review Source:I'm just not impressed with Red Square. Â It tries so hard to be the "cool" bar in town, but just like the poseurs in high-school, the minute you TRY to be cool is the minute you A'INT.
The band on Friday (Strength in Numbers) was good. Â I'd seen 'em at Nectars last winter and I still wanna get with the singer (she's cute as a button). Â So, yeah, music was the highlight.
Cons include: Â
bouncers that let in WAY too many people;
overpriced drinks (this is Btown not BeanTown);
pretentious clientele.
I'm not gonna shit on Red Square any more than I have to though. Â I'll save that for Rasputin's aka worst bar in Vermont. Â Review to come soon.
Ahhhhh Red Square. I've been coming to Red Square for as long as I've been visiting Vermont and it just keeps getting better. I'm used to the party scene in Atlanta and NYC but I really appreciate the low key feel of my fave Burlington haunt. THe drinks are pretty decent and I can't recall ever having to pay $3 to get in. The security guys remember you as well as the bartenders and the DJs. Cool place with tons of college kids, if you're ever in Burlington do make sure to check it out.
Review Source:Disclaimer: I'm a little drunk.
Or a lot drunk.
It's going to take me 20 minutes to write this short review, just because I don't want any typos.
Anyway, I returned to Red Square for the third time on my short trip to Vermont and had a sensational time. There was an incredible band playing in the alley and we had the opportunity to dance and dance in the rain, which I don't think I'll ever forget. I mean, I let my hair go from straight to natural and was in a dress that cost half of my paycheck, but I had the most fun. There was a dancefloor inside that a DJ manned after th band ended their set which was also a lot of fun. Drink prices continued to be good and staff was friendly, if a little slow.
Still, my most favorite of places in Burlington.
I moved to Los Angeles from Burlington, VT just over two years ago. Â This used to be a great bar--in my opinion the greatest bar in Burlington. Â Consensus is that it's become a caricature of itself. Â At any rate, my review may be a bit out of date. Â
First off, the Red Square is a bit on the expensive side. Â I'd recommend that you pre-game elsewhere and slow your drinking pace while within its walls. Â
What I like best about 'the Square is the creative design of each of the five distinct rooms that exist. Â There's the front room, which comes off as a trendy and rousing bar. Â As you progress toward the back you pass the indoor stage which is tiny and tucked into the corner. Â Up a couple of stairs is an open area which has long served as the dance floor. Â Progressing through the next doorway a smaller room with it's own small bar and several booths. Â Even further back is another room with a couple of booths, a private "back room" which is highly coveted, and swank large square table area for large groups. Â From this room, you can continue out to the back patio which is a quiet place to "get away" from the crowd inside, or you can go out to the side alley which is home to a number of tables and nasty smokers. Â
The Red Square has established itself in Burlington as being one of THE spots for live music and DJs. Â I remember the lineup and style being as eclectic as Burlington itself, featuring reggae, bluegrass, hip-hop, rock, Latino, and even some rock-infused country.
An interesting place. Â It was not really what I expected to see in Burlington (I'm from New York State). Â We went there on a Friday night in February 2007 and ended up coming back the next night as well. It's probably a good place to meet single women. Â The drinks are okay priced. If you tip good the bartenders will remember you and make them nice and strong.
Like Matthew S. said, same DJ each night, kind of the same crowd each night also, so I could see how it could get old if I was a local. Â We ended up finding a different bar later in the night (can't remember the name offhand). Â Actually, someone at Red Square recommended it as better place to go.
Used to be a great bar. Â Then it became the scene, and so now it is an ok bar. Â Drinks are overpriced. Â It's a good spot to see live music, but the standard same-DJ-same-night-every-week thing gets old and the crowd is stagnant.
The cocktail waitresses are usually mediocre and rely on looks for tips, although there are new ones every week, so I can't be sure what it's like right now. Â The bartenders are usually pretty good. Â Good spot on Church St.