I'm upgrading! Â This place is consistently good, and affordable. Â Taco Tuesday....be there or be square! Â The wonton tacos are the best, and when you can order them for a $1.00 each, you can't go wrong. Â In the summer, you can sit outside on Tuesday and enjoy the live music at the Bankhead. Â Our new favorite is the Steak and Frites. Â OMG....you can't get a more affordable steak anywhere that is this tasty! Â All of the servers are awesome!
Review Source:This lounge is good. I went here for a late birthday celebration for my mom, great food (at least what I had) but service was pretty slow. Parking is kind of hard to find since they have only a small private lot that is frequently filled, I assume. Check takes awhile to get as well. My family and I waited what seemed to be 20-30 minutes for our drinks and food.
The women's bathroom looks nice though lol, they put a couch in there.
If you are looking for a place with quick customer service, this isn't your place. If you're looking for a decent American style food place in downtown Livermore try it out.
10/10 service and food every single time! Both the owners and waitstaff are amazing, and each dish has Its own special twist! Also, their cocktails are always on point! I would recommend this place for ANYONE looking for a kid free environment with great hospitality and even better food/drinks!
Review Source:I would like to highly recommend Sanctuary Catering and Events to anyone
planning their wedding or social event! Â The food is amazing as well as their
presentation. Â The Owner Gianni works with you in the planning process to make
sure your event will be a success! Â They also have an amazing staff and great service!
Carol Jones
Events to Impress
I was not impressed! I wanted to like this place because I've heard good things and it looks cute from the outside. I was there with a group and it was hard to get the attention of our server and when we asked about the menu, she didn't have the knowledge to answer our questions. The food was lukewarm at best while the drinks were not mixed very well. The garlic fried calamari had no garlic flavor and was completely cold in under 5 minutes. The side Caesar salad was also lukewarm which grossed me out. Warm lettuce and dressing doesn't look very appetizing and two bites in, I was done with it. Didn't even want to send it back because I didn't feel like searching for our waitress to do so. Â I tried some of the other food that my friends had and it all tasted the same. No flavor and the wrong temperatures turned me off. Â Salad should be cold and calamari should be hot. How hard is that? I wouldn't come back. Too expensive for the crap their serving. Not worth it!!! Â I wish it was better because the location is prime.
Review Source:Came here for a friends birthday celebration. We were seated in the back room as we were a larger party. Seemed like a quieter location than the normal dining area and we could all chat at dinner which was nice.
The service was good, but the waitress didn't really seem to know much about the menu. I ordered the Maple-Cayenne Tri-tip and asked the waitress if it was very spicy and she looked at me like I was asking a weird question and said it was not spicy. I take it she doesn't know the menu and/or that cayenne pepper is rather spicy. From her answer i was expecting it to be very mildly spiced but it was spicier than I thought. Don't get me wrong, it was quite delicious, but I may have chosen a different plate had I realized how spicy it was. I was fearing heartburn halfway though eating my plate.
Overall, he food was good. I really enjoyed the flavor of the maple/cayenne on the tri-tip. My husband and another guest got the N'Orleans burger and they were a little disappointed with the flavor. I think it had a lot to do with how much the menu hyped it up, calling it the best burger you will ever have. Not really. They were pretty disappointed.
After dinner the back room turns into a dance floor. The music was okay, but they kept playing the same songs. We heard the same songs over and over and even heard one song played three times that night! C'mon DJ's! There's so much music to choose from!
All in all, Sanctuary has decent food and a fun atmosphere but could use a little improvement. I would come back for a night in downtown Livermore for sure.
This place was the last stop of the evening during our 18-hour bachelorette extravaganza. It wasn't very crowded at all for a Friday night, we arrived about 10pm-ish. We immediately made our way to the dance floor, located in a small room in the back, to peep the scene. There were three girls just sort of standing around, swaying rhythmically as they watched the music videos on the TV screen. We didn't mind because we knew we were about to set it off with just the four of us, so we quickly proceeded to the bar to order our first round of drinks. I read a review that the lemon drops were bomb dot com so we took in a round and went back to the dance floor. Seven bad songs into the evening we realized we were going to need something a little stronger to get the party started. Even though we had just got there, we decided it was time to say "ADIOS"! I would love to say the bartender did his thing and mixed the best adios' ever, but seriously, they are almost impossible to mess up. I will say it was one of the strongest adios' I've ever consumed, though. That's all it took because five sips into the blue, intoxicating nectar and we were on the floor shining like superstars (or so we thought, lol)! The rest of the place must have been feeling our vibe because within minutes, the place was jumpin'. Adios is clutch and always saves the day, especially if you happen upon a dead scene. Needless to say, this was an extremely fun night for the bride-to-be. As far as the rating goes, we did have a blast but I'm sure most of that was attributed to our drink of choice. I would definitely return as the setup was actually quite quaint and the bathrooms were remarkably clean and tidy. The crowd seemed to be predominately 30+ with sprinkles of twenty somethings. the staff was super friendly and thoroughly greeted us as we entered. I'm sure the bride-to-be's veil and sash had a little something to do with all the added attention. All in all this place proved to be a worthy hang out spot. I'm sure we'll return at some point.
Review Source:I reserved the back room for a friend's bachelorette party, and everyone (especially our server Dane) was very accommodating to our large group. Staffers even helped recruit willing participants and sometimes volunteered themselves for our bachelorette party games. Good wonton tacos & wings, too!
Review Source:No idea how the food is since we waited 35 minutes seated without placing an order. Took 20 just to get three flat draft beers. After another 15 minutes trying to get someone to take a food order, it was splitsville.
P.S. Â I see there is a Groupon deal right now (7/22/13). Â Do not be fooled by a "bargain" if you can't order anything while the staff shuck and jive with each other....
Came here on a Friday night for a birthday and the dancefloor was empty and it was already midnight. Since we were the only group there, I figure the DJ might at least cater to what we want to dance to right? NOT. He kept playing super old school stuff, some of which were cool, but we were looking for some dance/club music. And like I said, we were THE ONLY PEOPLE THERE. Needless to say, we left after one drink. Great job DJ, we would have stayed if we had some decent music to dance to. The bar just lost a group of seven people that night who would have bought a ton of drinks.
Review Source:OMG!! had my 50th birthday party on May 11th 2013, I would definitely recommend this place if you are thinking about having an event. My family and friends had a BLAST at my event, they love the food the DJ and not to forget Gianni the manager who gave us great service. If you are planning to have an event go to SANCUARY ULTRA LOUNGE. The great thing about this place is that all I had to do is order tapas and appetizer for 40 people and the price was just right. Also what it was recommended to me is to buy one hundred ticket for drinks, wish it was better than just having wine. That way my guest had a better selection of 3 different kind of drinks. They gave us the back room from 6:30 to 9:30 wish it was perfect because I had 40 to 45 guest and right after that the DJ started at 10:00 and then we all dance the night away!! by the way the restaurant has their on DJ.
Thanks,
Gianni:)
We got a $20 Groupon (worth $40 of food) for this place, and tried it out on a Wednesday night. Â The atmosphere is not exactly fine dining, but the food itself was awesome. Â We got the garlic calamari to start, then my husband got the tamale, and I had the french onion chicken. Â I was very impressed. Â The only reason I'm taking a star off is for the bar atmosphere....otherwise we will be back if we have another Groupon. Â :)
Review Source:One of my girlfriends and I went here last night, it's so nice in there! I quite like the atmosphere although everyone seemed to be at LEAST 10 years older than us (we are 21).
Cool bar and seating area. Can't wait to check it out at a later time, we just went around 7:30 to grab drinks before a movie across the street. We had a yummy pizza and she had a mojito and I had a caramel choclatini. It was pretty strong (for me at least) but had a good taste of chocolate and caramel. so I am guessing that is a good drink. My friend really liked her mojito (she's a cosmopolitan and appletini girl). We will definitley we back to check it out later at night and to explore more of the drinks menu and open mic night.
Not so good here. My cousin had his 40th bday party in the back, it started at 5:15 pm, so why did the place start to set up at 5:14 pm? Â Simple, grease food, orders taken were filled 2.5 hours later in this large group and some people just didn't eat. Maybe best to stop by for a drink or a light snack for under 4 people?
Review Source:Livermore is starting to grow on me. Â Their down town area has gone through major renovation over the last 3-5 years and everything looks great! Â There's plenty great restaurants and bars in the area and is a great place to meet friends for drinks.
I came to Sanctuary over the weekend to catch a game and to attend a friends birthday celebration. Â The lounge/bar area had plenty of TVs and the servers are great. Â Very attentive, really nice and provided great service. Â I had a cocktail that was good but a friend of mine said his drink wasn't strong enough.
Location is great as your in the heart of the Down Town area with other bars and restaurants nearby. Â Street parking can be tricky but I park in the structure and walked a block over. Â Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area!
After wandering downtown Livermore in the rain, we ended up here, asked the hostess if they served food - her response was "Absolutely, and great food at that!" - good enough for us!
Most of the seating in the front was taken, so we were led to a table in the back room which was getting set for some live music. Â It worked out well that they had 1 tv back there showing college games, so far so good.
I checked in on yelp and FourSquare and found out that there was a deal for $1 draft beer with the order of a menu item...perfect. Â The drafts weren't super expensive to start with, but this was a nice touch.
Hubs had a burger with fries, ate the entire thing and cleared the plate of fries, so it must have been good. Â I wasn't super hungry so went with the Caprese Salad.
Our waiter was very friendly - knew his regulars and greeted them asking if they would like their usual choices of beverage.
Pretty good food, fairly priced drinks, cool atmosphere, karaokee Thursday nights.
I'll have to come back and try something that I can't make at home!
Cozy lounge and cheap cocktails.
A friend and I were doing a bar tour of Livermore and stopped by at Sanctuary because their couches looked so comfy. Â We tried the lemon drop and the cosmo which were great and only $4. We were also a little bit hungry, so decided to try the lemon ricotta pine nut ravioli. We both felt the dish was overpriced at $12, as the portion was quite small. Â
Food, drinks, and couches are a winning combination. Next time I'm in town I'll try some of their other dishes.
Love this place. I moved to Livermore about a year ago, I've checked out most of the restaurants and bars in downtown and this is by far the best.
People that work here are awesome and food is very good. Little on the expensive side but I don't mind because it keeps the riff raff out.
This rating is for the service; I would give the food 3.5 stars.
I went here on a Sunday for lunch. Â There were 3 tables occupied outside and one inside so I thought we would get pretty good service. Wrong! We were seated and weren't even given menus. After about ten mins, I finally got up and grabbed the menus myself. The hostess came by a couple mins later and said the waiter forgot to give us the most important menu (the drink menu) but he didn't give us the menus in the first place.
The waiter was completely obnoxious. He thought he was hysterical and kept saying everything was "cray cray." After getting our waters, he came back and said he was there to do what we told him...umm how do you respond to that? I said we were hungry so could we order food and I'll give him props for remembering without writing down but that's where it stops.
Our drinks were totally empty and he came by twice to say he forgot the water inside for my sister and then still didn't go get it! I tried asking for more iced tea and in the middle of me asking he yells at a girl on the street that I guess worked there and he started talking with her. Â The hostess came by finally and filled my sisters water and I had to ask her for a refill on my drink. When the food came he didn't bring out my sisters salad because he said he couldn't carry it but then it wasn't brought out for another 10 mins! And again, he didn't bring it out, the hostess did.
The food was pretty good, I had the mushroom ravioli and I ate it all. After we were done eating, he brought us the bill and never came back to get it. We had to have been waiting for like 10-15 mins so finally my mom WALKED IT INSIDE to him. He was inside talking to a table about Bloody Mary's the whole time. When he brought us back out the final receipt he said if we wanted to watch, someone inside was about to drink a 50 oz Martini. Ummm, no thanks, we've spent enough time in that hell hole. Â
We all decided we would never go here again. It's too bad they lost customers on their service because the food was good but there is no way I would go there again after having an hour and a half long lunch with only 5 tables occupied!
Delicious ahi tuna burger and Caprese hamburgers. The ahi comes with pickle spears instead of fries, so nice and healthy. Relatively small menu- it is a bar that serves food, not a restaurant with a bar in it- so it isn't always the best choice for a meal when you want a big selection, but my hubby and I enjoy it. Keep in mind that you can't be served (even food) if your party includes anyone under 21, which we found out after we were seated during one visit.
The pub tables and outdoor seating are nice. The low lounge-type seating is ridiculous for anyone over 40- - Â I wouldn't be able to get up without assistance!
A couple of decent sized tv's, so if you want to relax and watch the game it is a good spot. Service is typically pretty good, but we've had a couple of slow days, too. Mixed drinks are okay, not perfect, but fine.
Overall, we like this place.
As our ten-year HS reunion was approaching, our Class President mentioned she was unable to fulfill her duties 2 months before the assigned date, and of course, I relunctantly rose my hand to help plan a reunion I was 7 hours away from.
After calling around to a few spots, I talked to Eric and Gianni - both who were quick to accommodate anything they could in order to help me pull this off. My only qualm is that when you call you cant leave a voice message - so make sure to get all your details in order and CONFIRM when you have someone live on the phone.
And (drum roll please) the event went off without a hitch - no private room fee, food was fantastic (bleu cheese carmelized onlion pizza and calamari were a hit in my stomach), and... drinks and dancing were non-stop all night (and some photographs I had to bribe to keep hidden).
I would recommend this place to anyone needing a venue for a party or event. And make sure you tell Gianni and Eric that Heather from LA sent you. They may make you that special "LA" shot I had all night...
Our misadventure at Sanctuary Ultra Lounge began when I read online that they offer Salsa dancing lessons and events on Sunday night. Not wanting to drive half an hour out of the way for nothing, I called to confirm that they were indeed offering classes that evening. "Yes, absolutely," said the waitress on the phone, "the lessons start at 8 if not earlier."
My posse arrived at this hell-hole at around 8:30, and found we were the only people in the whole place. We looked in the back room to see if there was a second part to this "lounge" where the Salsa dancing was going on, but the back room (the "dance floor"? So sad.) looked disheveled and abandoned, like the community room in a dorm.
About three minutes after we arrived, the waitress emerged from the kitchen, and immediately demanded our drink order. We asked when the Salsa lessons might be starting, were they expecting other dancers to show up, etc., and the waitress reassured us that the teacher should show up any minute, she'd just been on the phone with him, and again she pushily demanded our order (we hadn't even seen the menu at this point).
The cocktails are outrageously expensive for Livermore ($10 for teeny glasses), and the waitress forgot my order and had to check with me TWICE to reiterate my drink. Then, she brought me the wrong drink, some raspberry crap. At this point it was 9 p.m., there were maybe three other people in the whole bar, and it was obvious that there wasn't going to be any dancing. Nonetheless, the waitress (who appeared to be under the affects of more than alcohol), kept reassuring us that the Salsa teacher would show up momentarily, and pushing us to order another round of drinks.
At this point, the whole experience reminded me of the "I Love Lucy" episode where Lucy and the gang are traveling to California and get trapped in a crappy shack where they're served rubber cheese sandwiches despite the signs advertising steak and pie, and then sleep in warped beds right next to the train tracks, and the hotel owner steals their steering wheel in the morning. I'm sorry no one wants to go to this crappy place in the middle of Livermore, but that's no reason to mislead customers.
When we ask for the check, the waitress manages to mix up our check with that of the only other people in the bar, double charges us, then demands we pay again for our own bill. The difference in the two bills was less than $2, yet we're still waiting for the double charge to be refunded to our account.
As we left the "Ultra" lounge an hour after arriving, the waitress asked in a huffy tone if something was wrong. Well, yes, honey:
1. The Ultra Lounge misleads customers about events, there was never any Salsa dancing that evening.
2. She gave me the wrong drink after asking for my order twice.
3. The bill was screwed up.
Stopped in here while walking home from a very interesting date night with my husband. We loved it! We had one drink each and a bounty of great conversation with some super cool people we had just meet out on the Lounge Area. Friendly fun environment.
We will be coming back to try a sampling of the menu. The taco's that were ordered by our new friends looked delicious!
Sanctuary was a nice stop for a sunny Sunday afternoon. The bar inside is pretty cool. We decided to enjoy the "lounge" area outside since it was so nice out. Service was prompt and friendly. We chose to share the won ton pork tacos and the pork tamale. The tacos were really nice, with a good balance of flavor between the shredded pork, and the slaw on top. I wish there were just a smidgen more pork on each though. The pork tamale was just as good, with a nice salsa on the side of the dish, to add. The tamale is larger than you might expect, and between splitting four won ton tacos, and splitting the tamale, we were both done with lunch.
There are a lot of options on First Street, and Sanctuary unfortunately is just that one additional block away from the core, so some people might not notice they are there. So, it was pretty quiet sitting out on the street.
Calling anything an Ultra Lounge is slightly pretentious. In Livermore it's downright ridiculous. Thankfully, Sanctuary is a decent enough place to hang out that I can forgive the unoriginal name. I wasn't sure what to expect from this place. Thankfully I just so happen to know the Duchess who told me what's in store.
This place can get busy on weekends but the lounge part of the bar is well laid out. They have a decent drink menu as well as some specials. I'm mostly a beer and a shot guy so I'll leave reviews of the girly drinks to the girly girls.
The dance floor in the back may be the darkest dance floor I've ever seen. Either that or the lighting machine took a dump the first night I was there. I was gonna get on the dance floor to display some of my dance skillz but didn't wanna show everybody up so I just stuck to the sidelines.
A bar like this in Podunk Livermore is much appreciated when you don't wanna make the trip to a real city to have a few drinks.
As far as Livermore bars go this place is pretty legit. Has a nice open seating area to hang out and have a drink. The food is pretty good from what i remember.
Biggest complaint that makes this place a 3 star review for me is the guy poured me a weak ass crown and 7 last night. It was all 7up and i had to send it back and he put like a drop more into the drink.
They do live music during the weekends and also have a DJ there sometimes as well. Cool little dancing area in the back.
Good happy hour too. People are friendly and the bar tenders are too, they just need to pour with a heavier hand.
Just stopped by here on the way to the vine cinema for some tapas and drinks. Derek was awesome. Interior was nice and the seats were very comfortable. The food and drinks were surprisingly good. I recommend the Caipirinha and the Mojito for drinks, and the seafood martini and ahi Tuna for food. The flash fried calamari is a gem because they also throw in shrimp and fried lemon wedges. The bartender makes the drinks fast and the prices will make your wallet happy.
We didn't stay for the dancing but I took a peek and the back room could potentially  be poppin'.
$5 cover was not ideal, but we wanted to see the live band Saturday night so i was content. Â We only had cocktails here which was fine but the food menu looked quite enticing.
The Spazmatics were playing that night and was recommended to us by friends...they are an 80's cover band and they rocked it, not gonna lie. Â The venue itself, however, was less then ideal considering all the fans that turned out. Â However, even though it was a wee cramped at times, and since the venue is small the volume was quite loud, we still had an excellent time.
I went here once a few months ago for a friend's birthday. Â First off, I have to say I'm not exactly the lounge type, I prefer a dirty dive bar, but it was her birthday so what are you going to do?
The service was definitely good. Â Not only was it prompt despite the quickly growing crowd, but the staff was also very friendly, especially the bartender and our waittress. Â There was nothing fake about their personalities and that's definitely appreciated.
The drinks were also very good, at least from what my friends thought. Â I stuck with beer on tap. Â So the bartender knows what he's doing. Â The food was pretty good, too. Â I shared an order of garlic fries (bad breath FTW!!!) Â and a couple of my friends shared some oysters. Â I didn't try any, but they said they were a bit bland but still good.
The atmosphere was a little exciting, but I would not recommend going by yourself. Â It's a good place to bring a group of people, but it's not a very social place. Â In other words, it's good for couples to go to, but not singles.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this place for either a couple's hangout or a girly-girls' night out. Â I'd go back with a group of friends.
Came here on a friday night with a friend. We got there earlyish (I guess), probably around 7. We managed to grab a couch-table, which was cool.
The service gets five stars, the food gets five stars, and ambiance gets four stars.
The service was impecable. Our server was attentive (throughout the meal) without being annoying or making us feel rushed when we were being really indecisive about food and wine. She gave us helpful answers about the food and she gave us the perfect wine recommendation (my date works at a winery and we have pretty high standards). After our meal, she told us there was going to be a band performing in a way that made us feel welcome to linger and see the band.
As we were leaving, the bouncer was friendly and generally made us want to stay for the band.
The food was amazing. We ended up splitting the portobello pizza and the citrus salad. The salad came out promptly, and it had lots of fresh orange and grapefruit slices and blue cheese and a good amount of onions and dressing so that they didn't overpower the rest. It looked like it was meant to be shared.
The pizza came out just as we finished our first plate of salad, which was perfect for me because I like the Italian way (salad after the main course). There were four big slices of pizza, which had abundant portobello mushrooms, caramelized onions, and blue cheese and the dough was really good. The pizza seemed like it was cooked with actual fire, either in a pizza oven or on a grill (which is how it's meant to be cooked) and it had a great flavor.
Also, they gave a good serving for the "glass" of wine. It wasn't a goblet or anything, but we didn't feel like we were getting ripped off.
I really did like the ambiance here. It's classy and modern without being pretentious and snobby. The couch area is intimate, but I had to deduct one star because the couches were not practical for eating. I'm tall and all limbs, and I had to eat all hunched over the table and perched on the edge of the couch. Perhaps a more graceful individual could relax comfortably and hold their plate, but I didn't want to risk making a mess. (Maybe if we'd just done pizza and wine that would have worked, actually.) I also sort of felt like we were on display a bit sitting at the center.
I'll be back to do a wine flight and maybe a pizza or something. They seem to have a lot of good local wines, and it does seem like the perfect environment to relax and enjoy some wine tasting.
The final piece to the most interesting night!
I had a gift certificate from <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> but we soon realized after walking in that the kitchen was closed. All was well - we decided to go ahead and have a drink or two instead.
Our bartender Laura was a doll! Dimly lit, swanky little joint with best of the 90's and now playing. I had two stirred dirty vodka martini's while my companions sipped on their choice of poison.
I have a $50 certificate still, so I'll be back in two weeks.. see you then Sanctuary!
I went with a friend from New York to Sanctuary this weekend. Â It used to be an old firehouse that has been renovated into an ultra-hip tapas bar in downtown Livermore. Â We arrived at 7:30 PM; I was actually able to get a pretty good parking spot. Â By the time 9:00 PM rolled around the place was in full swing. Â You'll see a varied crowd - twenty-somethings and up. The food was delightful. Â We ordered several plates and there wasn't one thing that I didn't enjoy thoroughly. My favorites would have to been the spicy meatballs made with pine nuts, the fried calamari, and the chicken kabobs with couscous. Â We shared a slice of lemon cheesecake drizzled with raspberry sauce. Â It was light, delicate and made a great complement to the food choices we made that night.
I will definitely return. Â Livermore...who knew?
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