The Rose, Pasadena

This is a concert venue that I am going to warn you about. I went recently to see Sinbad who is still very funny. However, the management insists that you arrive 2 hours before the show to spend $25 or more per person on food and drinks. Stuck with appetizers, a shrimp cocktail which seemed to be made from recently defrosted shrimp, and an artichoke dip and chips which was decent. They don’t have enough servers so the service is spotty and slow at best. They don’t have a drink menu. They have no beer on tap, only in cans.
Most significantly, they have nearly no air conditioning. So far as I could tell they have 2 portable units set up on opposite sides of the club.
That’s it. I was told a third unit is coming. Yes, and so is winter. Three of these units will not do the job.
If you don’'t mind seeing a concert or show in a sauna, this is your meat. Otherwise, avoid.

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Bikram entertainment… I see a (smelly) trend here.

Same experience tho we skipped the dinner routine, as they have the same at the Canyon Club…food there is mediocre at best. Here’s from my yelp review a few weeks ago- we went to see Kim Wilson and Fabulous Thunderbirds.
The Rose on the other hand still hasn’t really gotten their act together, tho they are finally open. There is no AC so for all the attempts at snazzy decor, it’s still just a stuffy rave hall with a relatively good sound system and seating. Same layout as Canyon Club. Only one bar was open with a line of 25+ people - what is up with that? Makes no sense at all. The place was only a 1/3 occupied. Music good, the venue not-so-much. There are other places we’ll go before returning here that have the equation figured out right- good music, sound, and a barkeep that is ready to serve you and knows what they’re doing.

LofuckingL! I am stealing that expression

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Local, from a temperature standpoint you were lucky it was only one-third full. It was nearly full for Sinbad and he was sweating too.

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Wow. Just wow. Good to know!

We’ve gone to see comics at Flappers n Burbank and while you do have to buy drinks and or eats - to our happy surprise they have decent choices. Even things that are not (gasp!) deep fried.

And to keep it Food Talk, here’s one of the comics we saw there, talking about gluten. Go to 1:45 -

i was at the paseo this evening and one of the rose staff was handing free tickets for the spasmatics concert tomorrow night. she acknowledged that the AC was not up to snuff but that the 3rd unit would remedy the situation. i then volunteered the intelligence i had gleaned here and her response was not to believe everything i heard and that she was speaking as the pastry chef. she was kinda cute but i still gave my free ticket away.

I favor cute, but a third unit is not the answer. They need central A/C. Alas.

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That must have been miserable. Kim Wilson commented on the temp onstage…the mgmt. just redirected fans towards him…the band was not impressed by their effort. Imho, the only thing that keeps this guy in business is he’s got a niche market of baby boomers and gen-Xers into the 80’s and 90’s bands/performers…otherwise his operations (Canyon Club, Saban, and Rose) all have the same #whocareswehaveyourmoney approach. I feel like a sucker having ever paid full price for any ticket there tho generally we have either had tickets comped or via Goldstar.

We were going to one of the first shows – Judy Collins? Can’t remember – but couldn’t, and were grateful to the other couple for taking the hit for us. They were still spitting fireballs about it a week later.

What a bloody waste of a perfectly good Gelson’s!

hmmm.

i trust mcmichael’s account.

What’s crazy is that the problems could be solved. They could get real A/C. They could hire more servers. They could get a cocktail menu. They could get draft beer. Maybe someday.