Vinyl Room

Is this place even still open? Last time I was here, some chick was dancing on the bar, shirtless and fell off of the bar backwards and cracked her head open.

Then some off duty police officer gets stabbed here?

Too many thugs hang here when they are open. Not my cup of tea.

This place surprised me! I came in pretty early on a Friday night with a friend around 9 and the place was pretty empty but they played top 40 music and the bartenders were friendly and made awesome drinks so we stayed. More people came around 11 and the music just got better with the DJ. I loved how he played a variety of everything, we end up staying the entire night and dancing the night away. Its nice to have a little club like this in Burlingame where you can get loose and stay in your neighborhood!

I will say outright that this place gets an extra star simply for the fact that I've had more luck with the ladies here than any other bar on the peninsula, but the best days of this joint seem to be behind them.

Its been a while since I've been back here, and for good reason.  My first few experiences here were when Reggae Night was still happening, and the crowd was still pretty chill.  First time I came here I bought one full-priced beer, which I wouldn't complain about, and in light of that, the lovely lady running the bar that night was nice enough to hook me up with $1 Red-Stripe's the rest of the night (considering the special was already only $2/Beer), and a good Samaritan who was having a good day joined us and opened a tab so I didn't pay for a single drink the rest of the night, which was pretty sweet!  Also, she was super friendly and mixed a MEAN (awesome) White Russian, which is a deal-breaker for me when it comes to bars.

My later experiences however were less than savory.  The bartenders weren't as nice, they stopped having live music and started having DJ's only, which is pretty lame IMHO; I'm a sucker for live music!  I won't complain about guys running the bar instead of the ladies, but the ladies knew how to mix a White Russian! A white russian isn;t supposed to be brown!  Also, the crowd became less chill and started to resemble leftovers of poseurs who couldn't get into the clubs up in the city that night.  To accommodate that crowd though, they began to "block off" the booths which were usually my favorite seats in the house with velvet ropes; I hate the idea of sitting AT the bar all night to socialize with people, but I guess they needed to make the rejects from Infusion Lounge & The Grand feel special somehow.

In conclusion, Vinyl Room used to be a chill neighborhood joint to chill at with everything you;d normally love about a dive-bar without the judgements and general bullsh*t that you normally have to deal with at the clubs in the city; but the problem is they started trying to BE like the clubs in the city, and for me that's a major turn off.  Don't try to be something you're not.  Realize what works for you and who your clientele is.  Exclusion will only hinder your business, and for god sakes, how hard is it to make a White Russian properly!? Lol