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Aj's Restaurant & Bar
Categories: Restaurants Nightlife Bars Nightlife Adult Entertainment Restaurants, Bars, Adult Entertainment [Edit]
393 Lincoln AveSan Jose, CA 95126
(408) 292-3445
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Street, Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Late Night
- Music:
- DJ
- Best Nights:
- Fri, Thu, Sat
- Happy Hour:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- Outdoor Area/ Patio Only
- Coat Check:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Good For Dancing:
- Yes
- Has TV:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
22 reviews for Aj's Restaurant & Bar
22 reviews in English
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Review from Max O.
Bay Area
7/16/2011
I believe the Porky's trilogy is one of America's last greatest cinematic achievements. Okay, most underrated. You have John Hughes movies about teen angst yadda yadda yadda, but Porky's captured most of the... sexual tension of teens. There was a long, dry spell before American Pie came close to it's class. AJ's was my Porky's when I was a teen who just got his driver's license and first car.
Yes, when I trace back all my debauchery and explorations into adult entertainment venues, this has to be my adulthood Archaeology wet dream. My bachelor holy grail. I was on light rail recently, on the way to check out the Bascom shopping area for work ideas. But when I realized I was in the area I rang the bell, uh, prematurely to get off on Race St.
There's only other 2 "adult" clubs in the south bay, also open back then. One made me feel like even I was disgusting, and the other (Poodle) was known for crime and I steered clear from that back then. Now I go headlong to the eye of a hurricane for a story. I may go there again sometime. There's an innocence in AJ's that I still saw and experienced when I went.
AJ's is a bikini (/lingerie) bar, there aren't any lap dances. Women dance, shake and jiggle cleavage at you, close up when you tip. Guys expecting a Mitchell Brothers tug and tissue in a back VIP room are going to be disappointed. And I suspect the average woman that complains about this place hasn't made the easiest $5 by offering to shake their bra covered cleavage at a guy. You could really clean up at a house party, you know.
Years before there was Coyote Ugly or Hooters and all those bars with lady bartenders wearing vests or tank tops with nothing underneath, there was AJ's. We guys had to settle for the hot teller at the bank for a thrill back then, without making the voyage to San Francisco strip clubs.
I sat at the bar, same bar stools mounted to the floor, eh. They could use a change after all these years. There are familiar bar ad posters all over the place, but AJ's has posters of the girls from back in the day. Looks like they haven't made a poster of newer girls since the last one I bought. I had many of those posters and wondered what the hell happened to them! (Uh, both posters and girls.) The girls used to sign them and I had one filled with signatures, so now I suspect theft. Hmph. What an artifact, to have my poster back.
When I started going that magical summer twixt high school and college, they featured Marilyn and Barbi (Doll). They used to hand out little photo business cards in envelopes as a bonus when you tipped them repeatedly, this was before you could print a million of them on home computers. I found some of Marilyn in my things, but couldn't find any of Barbi?!?! Marilyn was a blonde with huge boobs and got away with just arching her heels up a lot. A CSI could send the kiss prints to trace for DNA work. Barbi Doll was a brunette known for being one of the best dancers there. I imagined her being a jazz dance instructor somewhere as her "day job."
Unfortunately it was slow when I went in. It was in the afternoon, before the girls came in. It was also after the kitchen closed, was it still even there? I remember getting the best lunches there. This used to be a working man's bar in the day time, there were a lot of industrial factories in the neighborhood.
Walking around now, a lot of them are closed, replaced with high tech offices, or are janky old buildings with local businesses on their last legs that can't offer competitive prices without taking a loss on their inventory. Thank you, internet. AJ's even had overflow from the neighboring country dance hall, Saddle Rack. It's now an apartment complex and the relocated club is now out of my transpo range.
Andy, the manager, still was there! I think he was the first person to welcome me on my first visits. Was he an assistant back then? We're about the same age. Cool, kickback environment. When I went with my friends, we always felt like we were going to a friend's house to hang out all night to catch glimpses of his hot sister and her friends having slumber party games. Ah, innocence. I think it's why I enjoy burlesque over a strip club, now. Burlesque is a dry well in the south bay :(
You know, this place could pick up again with some live (girl?) bands.
Thanks for the beer and the memories, AJ's.
Come to think of it, the first head shop I went to is also in the area... -
Review from Tina D.
San Jose, CA
2/19/2012
first of all they don't take plastic, which is ironic....
Second, the mc has no sense of humor and clearly hates his job. I seem to remember a different mc who was much better at the job and actually engaged the crowd. I, a female no less, tried to give him my five dollars and asked why he couldn't smile and he said, "Leave me alone. Can't you leave me alone?" Exact words. I thought he was joking. I have never in my years been treated that way. I guess he was annoyed that I had tried to make conversation with the guy because I am a nice person.
let's get this straight, I was trying to give money and he was rude. Flat out rude. I cut my husbands dance off (sorry for the girl-nothing against you). I brought a group of six and didn't want to give them anymore money.
Appreciate your patrons. Customer service 101. Times are tough and we are spending our hard earned money. Don't forget how you get paid.
I wasn't very dignified in my exit. That wasn't my style. I stooped to his level. For that I regret.
I never yelp, but this experience deserved it. -
Review from Justine C.
San Jose, CA
3/30/2011 1 Check-in Here
I've come here on many occasions with my beau and this time around I was downright dissappointed. A girlfriend and I came here the other night after we had already been bar hopping. I was pretty tipsy so I decided to just order water. Five minutes into the night, one of the dancers came up to us to let us know, "the guy with the handle bar mustache just bought you two dances." Perfect.
She dances a lil shimmy but my girl and I show her how its really done. We got down and had the place on there feet (well maybe). I would have enjoyed myself more but the girls just aren't that hot. -
Review from Jeff B.
Santa Clara, CA
1/20/2008
Place was OK... Here is a break down:
OK First parking sucks... And its in a somewhat ghetto area. There is a lot of street parking, but man-o-man, it's a dark scary walk to the bar from the section of street parking we parked at. Lots of dark alleys and hiding spots...
Right when I walked in... Five dollar cover charge. I came with two girls. You think they would have hooked up the girls? No it was 15 for us to get in... Not a huge deal, but still...
The dance format was different than I was use to. I'm use to the couple stage shop with girls all over the place, some dancing on stage, some serving drinks, and some doing privet lap dances. At AJ's there is a dance floor in the middle of one big room, with chairs, and to get a lap dance, you go on stage in front of everyone, and get your dance. Other then that, the girls won't get any where near you. Even if you leave money on the rail, they come over shake it a little bit, and take your money. Then they bug you to come get a lap dance. I'm too much of a privet guy myself to want to go on stage and get the lap dance. Oh well...
The girls were OK.... Most of them had nice body's with not so hot faces... In fact, some had terrible looking faces... A few of the girls there, were just bad looking all around, head to toe. And there were two girls there that were 100% awesome in my book. Problem was if they weren't on stage doing lap dances, you never saw them. What a bummer...
Drinks were way over priced. I think the drink girl flunked math because every time we ordered and paid the total was different. We didn't make a fuss about it because she was hotter then the dancers, and we could sit and talk with her off stage.
Another real let down was the fact that they use girls that come into the club as dancers. While it is hot and funny to see, I personally don't think it's right. You paid five dollars to come in, tips, plus crazy priced drinks to go up on stage for a lap dance, then you are dancing for the stripper? Not in my book... Glad I'm not a sexy girl. Not to mention the two girls I went with were for me, not all the guys in the club. Witch brings me to my next point...
I went with two girls. Two nice looking girls. Everyone in the club was staring at them all night. Because of the odd shape of the place, and how confined it was, guys kept bumping into them all night long. Made things uncomfortable for them, and me...
One last thing that rubbed me the wrong way, and this one I take personally... While we were in the club, we met up with some friends, three other hot girls, plus one other guy. So there were 5 hot girls, 2 guys... Towards the end of the night, we got board of this place, and went to leave. As we were walking out, the security guard was sitting with the door guy, and they made rude comments at us (as a group) while walking out. I was the last one out, so I heard a lot of what they said. They were making fun of us (two guys) to the girls we went with. And said why are you leaving with them. Damn should be us... WTF? I'm not going back any time soon.
So that was my night at this club. I think next time around I'm going to the hip hugger, brass rail, kit kat, or something other then this place. -
Review from Bernard L.
San Jose, CA
9/19/2011
Definitely not my scene. I came here with some co-workers for a going away party so I was obligated to go. Some of the girls were overweight and one of them even had prison-style tattoos. The bartender was an extremely nice lady, so I'll give the place extra stars for her. She made my drinks extra stiff, which helped make my experience here more tolerable. I didn't get to try the food so I can't comment on that. Overall, I'd give a high rating to the bartender and a low rating to the dancers, which averages out to 2.5 stars.
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Review from Michael H.
Campbell, CA
4/27/2010 1 Check-in Here
Blundered in here with JZ the other month.
I was a bit tipsy after a heavy night on the brew.
Knowing this, we should have just got a cab home, but we didn't...
I had no idea this place even existed!
Needless to say we had a fun night.
I was a bit surprised to find out the owner and JZ knew each other.
He even persuaded her to get up on the dancefloor for a 'freebie'.
Everyone loved that, I can tell you...
All that aside, it's a really cool dive bar.
Very quick service from the staff - especially Andrea who was awesome.
Everybody's drinks were nice and cheap too.
Now read first letters downwards...
:)
Woohoo! -
Review from jenn w.
7/18/2009
If you want to waste some money, AJ's will definitely help you out. $5 dollars cover, even if you are a female. And $7 dollar beers on tap. And there were only 2 choices on tap, Sierra Nevada or Hef.
The set up is extremely strange. There were no poles anywhere. Just a stage with about 5 chairs. If you want a dance from the girls, you have to do it up on stage in full sight of everyone. Kind of creepy and less enjoyable. Also, it is not even a real lap dance. They make the guys straddle the chairs the reverse way, so all you really get is a girl dancing near you. And, one of the girls ended all her dances with a weird shoulder massage. Also, I am not sure how they determine the length of the dances since you don't even get a full song. But either way, out of all the girls, there were like 2-3 that were pretty good looking. The rest were butter faces but I think the uglier girls gave the best dances.
Anyways, this place is pretty dumpy but it was a good time. I probably wouldn't come here again since Brass Rail is a way better deal since there is no cover for females and they serve beer by the pitcher that isn't ridiciously overpriced. -
Review from Quynh L.
San Jose, CA
1/2/2009
This is a dive bar.
My friend and I wanted to get drinks and this happened to be closest to the house. The parking lot was filled, we parked on the street...it wasn't that scary..geesh it's WILLOW GLENN! We heard bumpn music and thought it was bar/club...lo and behold, walked in and saw the girls dancing..ah I'm game it's always fun to go to dive bars anyways. It was pretty packed for a school night (Tuesday)
$5 cover charge SUCKS and I'm a girl..no luck there. My guy friend was pissed about that too..all night!! :-) All we wanted were drinks..overpriced for a dive bar. But we entertained ourselves by watching the other patrons. As we all know..dive bars are good for character building :-)
There was one guy that stood out..we'll call him Rennaissance man..had a feather in his cap and kilt! Fair enough, we can wear what we want to a bar like this. I asked the bartender if he was part of the bar entertainment, no he was just a friend of the bar. He wasn't so rennaissance like as he paid for 3-4 lap dances and was wootn and hollern..but entertained us!!
Girls were all natural (no boob jobs) except for one. None of them were hot or anything and for the tips they were getting...I don't know why they were dancing for those cheap bastards!
Fun to go once just to have a story to tell. Oh yeah, they have the "kitchen" back there...but hells no I ain't gonna try it.
So if you make it there, say hello to the rennaissance man, he just might pay for you to get a lap dance :-) he did for me! hahaha And he's Scottish no Irish :-) -
Review from Feyd N.
San Jose, CA
10/25/2010
Strip bars in the Bay Area are non-existant, outside of Cheetah's in Sunnyvale and Hanky Panky's in Palo Alto. If you want to get your beer n' cocktails on in an environment where women clad in bikini tops n' bottoms gyrate some 3' away from you, there are a good number of those joints around.
Ever since the untimely demise of the elegantly decadent T's Cabaret in the early 'oughts, I've found myself drawn more to AJ's Restaurant & Bar when it came to hunkering down in a dive bar that also happens to have a couple of lovely, friendly ladies dance about within a confined single-center stage. The owner Andy and his delightful Mrs. Susan can often be seen hanging out to the right of the center stage on any given night, gabbing away with anyone game, to discuss just about anything interesting under the sun. The dancers are friendly and not about some sort of hardsell [esp. since lapdances or any sort of private entertainment are a no-no here]. The bartenders are swift, efficient and just as pleasant to deal with. The food is actually very good.
If I had to give it a single knock, it'd be the fact that it's a cash-only establishment and has been for many years. Despite that, it's still a lot of fun to drop by random,ly and hang out in-between venues.Listed in: Me Fave Pubs
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Review from Justin G.
Los Angeles, CA
1/7/2011
First off, if you want to see Grandpa getting his dying wish nightly, and watch the beautiful angels in bikinis (aka Santa Clara University freshmen) carry him over HP Pavilion as he crosses into the light with crumpled one dollar bills and tic tacs falling from his pockets to the Earth below, AJs should be your first stop when visiting Man Jose!
Smack dab in between an abandonded sheet metal factory and well, another abanonded sheet metal factory, on a street so dimly lit it's hard to believe not every current serial killer in California is playing dice in the alleyway, AJs puts the blue in blue collar.
For a measley $5, cheaper than even parking your car at a strip club or bikini bar in L.A., the world of AJs is at one's fingertips.
Take a seat at the wrap around bar, and revel in the cheap, Elks-club recreation room, 1975-issue, shit-brown metal chairs lined up along the dance floor, where the bikini dancers sit gentlemen down and make them fold their arms behind their backs like they are about to get water boarded by a terrorist cell, yet the only thing getting interrogated is their wallets.
"Where is he!," a dancer in thigh high leg warmers and a tiny silver bikini exclaims to a drunken IT support specialst.
"Who?," the drunken IT support specialist answers, his hands wound tighter behind his back.
"Ben Franklin!," states the dancer, her ass so close to his face he doesn't know whether to bury his face in it or pray for forgiveness. "He's here, in my pocket, left hand pocket" admits the drunken IT support specialist as a $100 bill hits the floor.
It's exchanges like these that fuel the fire at AJs, along with an E.T.-like costume designer peaking out from behind a rack of costumes out of a crease in the door near the back of the club, an original-issue color tv set resting on a card table which appears to be getting a rabbit ear feed of the Superbowl from 1985, and a house MC that looks like he has been spending one too many nights MCing at a bikini bar full of horny dudes text messaging their wives as more and more cars circle the stack parking lot outside like evil buzzards waiting to land on a fresh carcass. Oh wait, that's every night! Just make sure you tell em' "AJ sent you" at the door. I did, and guess what, he doesn't exist. 5 stars. -
Review from Christy M.
San Jose, CA
5/20/2011
Came her on a girls night and the cover charge was slightly discounted because we were a group of 6 girls, but was sort of surprised we still had to pay as much as we did...Anyway we go in and inside they have girls dancing and some games on the side, which I liked! We ordered some drinks and the owner, Aj came by to thank us for coming in! Thought that was nice he even gave one of the girls a free lap dance! Interesting place, we had an alright time here...the crowd here was mostly gentleman..that was a given. The girls bought my coworker and I each a lapdance so..that was pretty fun! My girl was good so 4 stars for her, 3 stars for the place.
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Review from douglas b.
Oakland, CA
3/6/2010
I am from the Eastbay and came to San Jose for a friend of a friends birthday party.
Some wasted dude in our group was like..."lets go AJ's"
This place is something like a 80's movie a la "Porky's"
Not so much as in smut but more like the spirit of a good time.
This place is more class than trash.
Staff was hella chill and everyone in our party had a great time.
And Mercedes ***if that her real name**** is amazing.
Not to mention they have a full kitchen/dinner deal going on!
Cant not go wrong -
Review from Dinara O.
San Jose, CA
5/9/2011
Went there with my friends and had lots fun and lots of drinks. going there again this week ... woohooo
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Review from samantha m.
San Leandro, CA
10/25/2010
Your typical local dive bar with a bunch of TVs all around. Chicks in skimpy attire that don't really dance just kinda wiggle around waiting for a guy to sit on a folding chair to dance in front of them for $5 a minute. Woo hoo. I'd save my money for a real club.
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Review from O T.
San Jose, CA
8/24/2008
Aj's is pretty dumpy, the dancers are "fair to partly cloudy" and on a Saturday night, around 10PM, it was completely dead, but a handful of quiet, depressed looking men.
If you want to watch cute-to-mediocre go-go girls and drink a couple of $6 beers for a $5 cover charge, Aj's is your place.
If you want a fun bar to hang out, go somewhere else. -
Review from kevin b.
Santa Clara, CA
12/17/2010
Do not go if you want to waste your money!
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Review from Rick M.
San Jose, CA
11/6/2010
This is not a place you want to take your girlfriend (unless she wants to bring another girl home). This is place you come with your boys for a guys night out. Come see some girls dance around in their small bikini's for $5 a solo dance in front of everyone in the middle of the stage. We usually sit at the bar or at the tables. Sitting around the stage could be annoying at times because the girls can be a little snobby if you don't tip them. They need to get rid of that $5 cover charge.
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Review from Charlie M.
Los Gatos, CA
1/14/2010
I see a lot of potential in this place. Could use a facelift.
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Review from Eegnam A.
Union City, CA
8/7/2009
$5 cover for guys and girls. "Lap" dances are given on stage. Manly girls in bikini wear. eh....
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Review from Thirty-Cen T.
Los Gatos, CA
8/17/2009
Absolute garbage. $5 cover for all, including females. Drinks are $7 minimum, even for beer. There is no dancing going on, just lazy wandering around and asking for tips. If you want to have a great time, make the trip to the Brass Rail. Never again will I go here, and neither should you. This place is a scam.
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Review from Macie g.
San Jose, CA
2/3/2011
Don't listen to haters- they just need to get laid! Aj's is part of San Jose nightlife! Always a good night to be had!!!!
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Review from Nacho C.
San Diego, CA
4/8/2008
awesome, just awesome. taco shop hooked on the front made it complete for me.
