The Rockbox

This place closed in 2010 and was purchased by venture partners Benjamin Lurie and Benjamin Pritzker, who will open it as a new high end bar called The Barrelhouse Flat, slated to open in October, 2011.

Wow I remember this place in its hayday when it was Deja Vu, I don't know what happened but this place is terrible now! The bar service is terrible, the bartenders look like junkies, and the management only cares about bringing the people in so they can make a buck on their door charge!

I'm not one to bash but seriously if you are looking for a good time PASS THIS PLACE UP. I went there last night for a friends bday, the bartender saw me order one beer and then later 2 shots and one 1 more beer.. tell me why did my tab come out to $41??? I right away looked at the bartender and she's like that's not right is it? And I'm like no! She went and got the manager and this guy comes at me with an attitude says he remembers me buying a round of shots for him and like 4 people. I said I don't even know you dude what are you talking about. Before I even looked at the tab again in my hand, the bouncer grabbed me and they kicked me out! Real classy Rockbox! Never go there, that place is a ripoff and don't even open a tab if you do cuz they will put charges for drinks you never had! There are tons of better bars with better service and better prices and better music just up Lincoln Ave! Learn from my mistake and hit up a classy joint! This place is not worth your money!

AND LAST THING: some of you might say oh well you were drunk and don't remember.. wrong! Not only was I not drunk from my 2 beers but I'm a GUY, a straight guy, why would I buy a guy bartender and his random guy friends shots??? That's the most dumbest thing I ever heard!

Not a fan of Rockbox! At all!

What the heck happened to Déjà vu. Even towards the end when they had open mic nights and bands played, it was still better than today. I think so at least.

Why was I there? To see my pal Kris spin the latest in dance and hip hop, a good DJ but I think he was limited to playing what the group wanted. The event group he was with that night had the second floor space to themselves. Management told them the space hadn't been used in over a decade. My ass. I was up there just a couple years previous for a singles thing. It stunk of toes and they had every window open. It looked a lot better this way, open and airy. Back to that evening, some complained it smelled of ass or farts in the lounging space, so, many stuck to the tiny bar area. Too many bodies in that small space and it became sweltering hot. Thank goodness for the wall hanging Dayton fans (shop fans); which is what kept some areas cool. Beers were expensive like back when it was DV.

Mixed crowd, those that only salsa dance, those that want hip hop & rap and then some that just wanted to dance. The group should have figured out what one genre of music they wanted and stuck to it. Can't stand it when a DJ starts out in hip hop then jumps to salsa because some audience members want that. One or the other please, grow a backbone. There were a few old skool console televisions which played some weird girl on girl wrestling from the 80's and what looked like S & M videos from the 70's. I'm not quite sure who requested that shite to be played.

It was weird and I can't say I'm looking forward to going back. Now if we talked about going back to see a band on the first floor.. then yes, maybe I'd check it out again.
Some advice: change up the beer selections, get some decent booze specials, for goodness sake change the fucking carpet on the second floor and get some ventilation going. It'll be a lot better then.