On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.
Categories: Lounges, Active Life
Neighborhoods: Financial District, North Beach/Telegraph HillMon-Fri. 5:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Sat-Sun. 6:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
"Why I love the Tonga Room: * Kitsch, but Original Kitsch I hate those comparisons to the Rain Forest Cafe. This place opened in 1945. So WHO…" read more »
Loading...
This place is a nice little spot to drop in on. I can't see myself staying in here all night because the environment was really rowdy, but it's a great spot to stop by and get that first drink in you and bring out that rowdy, havoc bringing, hell raiser that wants to come out and tear up broadway street on a friday night.
The place wasn't super busy when I came here but the people in there were having a ball. Dancing, blowing whistles, screaming at the top of their lungs. All the signs of excitement and rowdiness brought on by round after round of stiff drinks. The bartender made me one of the most stiff long islands I've ever had. It wasn't all that gross but it definitely kicked me in the face.
We didn't pay a cover (probably because it wasn't really busy), the doormen were really nice and funny. They made fun of us and our ID's and they were totally cool, just chillin. The bartenders put on a great show. They were making drinks and tossing around bottles and shakers, dropping them purposely, making funny faces and were down right entertaining.
Love this spot. I will be dropping in quite often. Cheers!
Giving them an extra star for putting on Grandma's Boy on tv! We have never watched the movie but it's hilarious even w/o sound! We can't wait to rent the movie and watch it from the beginning w/ sound!
I always wanted to check this place out. I expected it to be a cool neighborhood bar that's a bit hip. What we didn't expect was how small the bar area is and that it's more like a club with DJ spinning and a dance floor. We walked in about 10:30pm on a Friday and there were just a few at the bar and the DJ is just starting. Hubby opted for a beer and me a vodka tonic - this came to $14, which is a bit on the pricey side for a well drink and beer BUT since we had such a good time w/ the movie, it's all a wash.
The music is a decent mix of dance and pop, which hubby likes more than house. Not likely to return with my favorite bar just up the alley.
Its definitely not a go to destination, but when you are bar hopping this is a good pit stop. The bartenders always hook it up! The first time we went there some guest bartender from San Jose who did all kinds of ridiculous drink mixing and throwing bottles in the air...not to mention his drinks were extra tasty yet quite effective.
The crowd can be a bit sketch and would say its not always the most attractive crowd, but like I said you can definitely get great drinks.
Interesting little bar. There was a cover for the guys but not for the girls. The crowd was interesting collection of people. Bar was not busy but the bartender ignored us for awhile. Mixing the drinks an ice cube flew out at us. He was not to friendly. The music was not bad but the vibe of the place was okay.
I read that they had cheap drinks and a good DJ.
Wrong.
Typically, I wouldn't be out in the North Beach club life but my boyfriend and I thought we'd try something new and experience a different type of San Francisco.
The drinks were not cheap. $9.00 for a very small glass of vodka tonic?
The music was alright. The DJ would start to play a good song that everyone liked and then he'd mix it with some weird techno crap. I kept finding myself disappointed with the music selection (Kings of Lion with techno beats? Let's be real), but the crowd wasn't half bad. Actually, I take that back... the crowd was lame. This girl walked in with a penis balloon and told people it was her birthday. Cool, you look like an idiot and now you sound like one. I'm sorry, I just feel like having that balloon was enough attention, thus yelling it was your birthday was a little overboard. At one point the dance floor was packed with people not dancing. hmm...
I won't be going back unless I'm very drunk (highly unlikely).
On a lighter note- props to the bartender for his mad juggling skills.
I've been to this little joint a few times before back in the day years ago. Back then i don't think it was called fuse though. Well anyways, I went to this little joint on the weekend following my birthday with friends (March 19th baby!). The place was packed. Then it died out, then it got packed again. It was coming and going all night.
The bartenders; which were only two (guy and girl), were doing their best to make all the drinks for people. But with a big crowd and a small bar. It seemed to take forever to get a quick drink at first. The Music was good. The DJ played all the local favorites and some popular commercial MTV shit as well. However, the DJ trainwrecked a few times and some of his mixes didn't mesh to well with some of the songs he was mixing them with.
But anyways, I got my "bay fingers" dance on and danced with my lady friend and some other sleezy. I had a good time. I got free drinks all night and got slaughtered. I wan't trying to get into no club, club and dress all fancy for the night. I'm a t-shirt and jeans guy (most of the time). I give this 3 out of 5 stars! Check this place out if you haven't.
The bartender was on point. She was great.
They played Bon Jovi while I stuck on a 'My Little Pony' tattoo on my arm.
.....They don't sell My Little Pony tattoos, I just wanted everyone to know about it.
Cute place, strong drinks, hot bartender (the girl), good music and cool crowd of people. Not the best spot in North Beach but worth a visit.
Plus they don't try to charge you a lame $10 cover.
We went here on a Saturday for a friend's birthday and had ordered bottle service. The drinks were pretty expensive otherwise, and the place very small and kinda dirty. They did give us a plate of snacks though with our bottle, which was quite nice. I wouldn't recommend this place for a night out, but if you're planning an event like birthday, it' small enough that you party with just your group of friends without interruption from others.
Ok...so its not in the best area...but once you enter, everything will be alright =)
The bar tenders really hook it up on drinks...clientele can be a little sketch...but with a couple of drinks, that'll fade away
The music is pretty good here! Hip Hop of course...mixing in a little Mash Up and all that good stuff to shake your bootay too.
Space is cool too...big enough dance floor...distinctively separate area for those wanting to lounge around by the bar.
Great music and Strong Drinks...what more would you like on a Friday or Saturday Night?
I'll start with the bad... First, I hate hate hate paying a cover charge to get into a bar. Second, at times I felt like I walked into a gang banger's basement house party.
...and end with the good... Unfortunately there aren't many places in the city where you can dance, and this is one where you can. However, given the clientele, I was a bit surprised that I very well may have been the best dancer/rapper there.
So, the weekend bartender messaged me about Fuse and told me I should come in for a drink. Although that was nice of him, it just isn't going to happen.
The owners of this bar have no interest in making it something that compliments our neighborhood rather than catering to the people who come in and make life hell for us on the weekend. This used to be a good place to meet up with local friends but our money is not as important as the bridge and tunnel money they can make on the weekends.
So, I wish the new bartenders there the best and want to make it clear that it's nothing personal about them. If you worked anywhere else I would take you up on that offer.
I used to come here when Ray owned it. Back then this used to be a great place with a hip crowd,… Read more »
One star for the free cover for rolling with a group of girls haha.
No stars for the GHETTO guy to girl ratio; it's a sausage fest in there.
While at a strip club, my friend had a sudden desire to go dancing somewhere. After asking a very friendly and cute stripper, we walked on over a block to Fuse. Supposedly it's one of the few few places nearby where you can actually dance.
The inside looks like a tiny little basement with weird music and a strangely dark and blue atmosphere. My friend and I walked in, paused, looked around at the old men staringat us, laughed, and walked out.
Ummm.. Yeah. Then I remembered I was there before with another friend and we had done the same thing. Oh well. One star for the free entry.
Music was way too loud for such a small bar/lounge place.
I saw that they were charging cover, but I think maybe we got there early, so we didn't hv to pay cover. I don't think i would go in if there was a cover. Not worth it. But maybe it is if u want to chat up with this cute bartender there. He gave my friends the look and she got all hot! =)
friday night at 10pm i'm walking by ina group of 6 people and this place caught our eye. the bouncer tells us its $5 each for entrance. hells no! so he said he would cut in half and charge us $15 total because they had a live dj spinning top40/hip hop. for the good music, we took the bait but much to our dismay, as soon as we walked in, we found out we were the only suckers in that hellhole. but still trying to have a good time, we got a few drinks and enjoyed the DJ -- i must admit i thought the music was good.
but the reason i despise this place is because on our way out at 11pm we noticed that they were not charging cover. super for the people coming in now, but wtf were we charged? $15 is obviously not a huge deal, but it's the principle of it. so yea, we were probably just suckers and it's a lesson learned, but just goes to show you what kind of jerk asses work here and if you ever do want to go to this venue, DON'T PAY FOR COVER - if they ask you to pay, SPIT IN THEIR FACE. for me, please?
Terrible.
How are they gonna charge cover to enter a hole in the wall wannabe lounge dance club. My living room is bigger than this place! This place probably gets all the drunks that already got kicked out from a real club and use this place as a last resort. AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Unless you are already drunk. ENJOY.
This place would be worth a look. A good place to start the night or maybe pass thru on your way elsewhere. Drink prices are reasonable, bathrooms were clean. The bartender Jaime was great. Seemed actually happy whether there 2 people or 20 people at the bar.
I'd go back.
Came here sat. night. No cover. Small mini bar/dance floor. The bartender was cool for making the drinks generously strong. I got a nice buzz from the cocktail, danced to a few songs and moved on to the next bar.
The lady DJ was playing some old school hip hop which was alright. I just got this weird feeling that anything I touched in this place was filled with germs.
- Grace enters w/ friend.
- Grace stops abruptly at doorstep.
- Grace scans the room from said doorstep.
- Friend looks at Grace with questioning look on his face.
- Grace looks at friend.
"What the %^$^%^ is THIS?"
(Friend leads Grace right back out the door).
And the above scenario took place in exactly 1.57 seconds total.
Off several doors down to Dragon Bar.
So, the thing that stood out when I first walked into this establishment was the very large dildo stuck to the mirror behind the bar. Did I notice this before all of the pretty velvet curtians and lights because it was ginourmous or because there is a bit of dirty bird in me? Im not sure, but it is right there, right when you walk in, staring at you.
They had Holiday cookies and candy canes on the bar to go with your favorite tasty beverage, and everyone seemed pretty low key and friendly. Not a typical crazy North Beach vibe, but maybe its because I went on a Tuesday. Lots of reindeer antlers were donned by the patrons, I believe they were having a holiday celebration of some sort....a very low key, lets drink cocktails and chit chat, holiday celebration.
I understand, in talking to a friend of mine, who knows the owners, that they really mix up the music.....sometimes to appeal to the masses and sometimes to throw them for a loop (think funeral music, all night long....its been done here). The night I went it was holiday music, fitting of the theme that night. All in all not a bad spot to stop in for a mellow cocktail and listen to some background music on a weekday evening.
Surprised by so many negative comments. I've been here twice... once maybe 3 years ago (and I'm not sure if it was called Fuse back then) and again a month ago. Perhaps I've popped in a few times during my Broadway excursions as well. Anyway. This place is not bad at all. Unlike the crazy atmosphere and young bucks that crowd the rest of Broadway during the evenings, Fuse is more of a relaxing bar that plays decent music. The bartenders are super friendly, and it's just an overall awesome place to sit down and sip a few drinks. It hasn't been crowded during the times I've arrived, which makes it a plus b/c sometimes all I want to do is sit at the bar with a friend and sip on my tokyo tea without having to worry about a drunk person accidentally pushing me off my seat =)
A friend of mine was having a bachelorette party that night and this was one of the places that we stopped by... I was NOT impressed... But then again I guess it isn't Fuse's fault for a not so great night...
Anyhow, this is a very CASUAL, relaxing bar with a small dance floor and a dj. The DJ actually played good songs, so for that I will give it some due respect... The bartender actually made a great grey goose tonic.
They have a credit card minimum which basically means you need to purchase a certain dollar amount worth of alcohol in order to use your card...
It wasn't exactly your hip bar/club... So if you're looking for a crazy night I don't think this is your place. People were dressed in jeans,t-shirts, and sneakers.. For a Saturday night I also thought the place didn't have enough people... I probably won't be back unless I'm forced to. :P
I was introduced to this bar only recently when I got a message that a DJ was needed on a Sat. nite. Normally, I'm at Mezzanine regulating drunks and gatecrashers, but we happened to be dark that nite, so I happily got in touch with a gentleman named Eric, who offered me 100 bux cold hard cash (plus free drinks) to spin some tunes.
Ohhh, alll riiiight.
I went in and started off with some basic classic rock, keeping it fairly safe and trying to not blow my ears out too quickly with volume. I had to turn it up, though, because the speaker set up is such that if the volume is too low, the music can't be heard out the door to attract passerby. So, I cranked it, and dealt with it by consuming more beer. The 2 bartenders were cute and polite, but not terribly chatty at first.
A few people dropped in and out, including a local 540 Club regular who also apparently frequents Fuse (or perhaps works there also; not sure), but it was mostly slow.
Finally one of the girls walks up to me and asks if I've got any Turbonegro or something similar. That broke the ice. I immediately whipped out some of my more indie/modern rock stuff, including the aforementioned 'Negro. The drinks kept flowing and around 1:00am, it picked up to where it was pretty jumping. Sadly, we called last call at 1:30 when the crowd was just getting into it. A few people were bummed, but that's the way it goes in Cali--gotta pull the booze and get everyone out by 2. Oh well.
As it turned out, myself, the door guy and the Turbonegro girl went for some late-nite grub after some bonding/after-hours shots. I ended up having a blast, and picked up some much-needed cash as well.
Hopefully, I'll get to do another one of these soon...
What kind of DJ mixes britney spears into michael jackson into "push it" without ANY flow into each song whatsoever....
fucking ridiculous.
This place has great service and excellent bartenders that make perfect drinks. I've been to many bars and this is one of the great one's. You will love it here no problems with people in the bar it's really a great place.
This bar is nothing great. I used to come here a lot a couple of years ago and was my favorite on Broadway just because there was no cover. But on the down side it does get packed during the weekend and very hard to get drinks.
On the weekdays however is very different very laid back and chill... they play a lot of top 40s but from time to time they play house music.
Came here around 1am from Horizon across the street. My cousin was wayyy too drunk to be at Horizon and I had a feeling we were about to get kicked out. Since we still wanted to drink, I figured he would fit in here since the place basically looks gross inside. He went straight to the bathroom and puked his guts out. The bus boy or someone brought him water which was really nice. Then he offered us coke to mellow my cousin out and keep the party going.. Nice gesture, but kind of adds to the skeezyness of the place.
My hubby & I were dressed as porn stars for a themed theater event, and even with my crazy red boots borrowed from a friend, and an obvious wig of long red hair, everyone here was super cool to us.
The bartender was awesome and made me a couple great dirty martinis, and made my hubby some tasty mojitos. When it was still kind of slow, he chatted with us. Later another bartender came over and hung out with us. Good people.
The vibe here is fun and funky! The music playing was pre-DJ, since it was only about 9pm, and it was old school 80's... Oingo Boingo, Jane's Addiction, etc. Great stuff! I'd come here again anytime. It was a blast! The perfect precursor to our bawdy night at the Eureka Theatre!
So there seems to be a bunch of love and hate for FUSE...
I wanted to let everyone know that FUSE is the BEST place to kick back and relax to have a drink. So far i've met NICK and JAIME, the most awesome bartenders ever. Those mix masters know how to make a drink! The place is under new management so stop by.. enjoy great music and cool people and check it out for yourself.
FYI they get mad when you try and change up the ipod playing creed in the corner. I'm sorry i just couldn't take it!!!
Cheap drinks, and laid back atmosphere, certainly one of the better places on broadway.
Okay, here it goes....*sucks in air*
The music was average. A mixture of rock, hip hop, and other genres. Not bad. The downside? The night I went, they had no DJ and was prolly playing from an IPOD or something. The song would end, and we would have to wait like 2 seconds before the next song would come back on.
The drinks: pretty cheap. I bought an AMF, two screwdrivers, and a Jack and Coke, and it was like 21 bucks or something like that. Bad part? The drinks pretty much sucked. Not the worse drinks, but still very very weak in my opinion.
The crowd was pretty cool. A mixture of folks. I can see myself coming back again.
I would give this place a 3.5 stars if it was possible, but it's not, so it gets a 3
This has been another Mike Vuong PSA!!
Sorry, "been there, done that" with the whole North Beach/Broadway scene... There are so many other interesting places out there that I would rather give my money to.... Sadly, this isn't one of them.
just get there before people start lining up behind that dumb rope. Once you get in, you can't have a conversation without yelling, but the atmosphere is that 'blue light' cool. All of these lousy velvet rope places are tiny and if you're waiting, chances are you're not going to get in. I'm not a big fan of the new "$8 for a drink", velvet rope places that seem to be springing up all along Broadway, but if that's more like the crowd you're with, sorry.
Not a bad place, just a tough scene to please.
If you're one of the beautiful, you'll love it.
I can get served here fairly quickly due to some heavy tipping on previous visits, but is good for meeting people who you don't want to talk much to and do want to really see.
Nothing screams fun like having the 65 year old lady who owns the bar sit there and stare at you while you drink.
This place was always too small and fairly inconvenient, but it's now added total lameness and a loss of all the cool staff to it's otherwise complete lack of charm. Avoid at all costs... And the owners are crabby old weirdos who give off a gigantic fun-dampening field.
7/16/07 - I'm updating this review to 4 stars after going back this weekend. The crowd was much better, the bartenders much nicer, the dj played better music, and a good time was had by all.
6/13/07 - I'm just not sure how to describe this place I was with a fantastic group of people so of course I had fun but I doubt I would have even remotely liked this place had I been with a smaller crew.
It was small, kind of old (in about 5 years I'm sure it will be described as retro), kind of musty, and the lady who I can only assume is the manager completely flipped out at me when someone knocked a drink out of my hand.
The drinks were decently priced and they make a KILLER lemon drop. It was beyond delicious. If you go there for this reason alone it will be worth it.
The dj on Saturday night played a lot of 80's which is fun.....for about an hour. We ended up bouncing to Kell's and having a great time.
He fired the best part about this place. Now it is just another boring thump-bot, DJ crap bar. I used to stop by after work, never again.
This probably is not the most happening place, but it is convenient since it's the first place I see when I go to broadway and plus there is no cover. I had fun, because I was with good people. The place is small, so it's not really a dance club. But I like how chill it is.
a decent starting point for a good north beach adventure night. they make decent drinks, but seem to be more like a quick stop for most party-goers.
it's pretty easy to get into and the music can be tolerable at times. last few times it was really dark in there, so i would be careful who you talk to, especially if you've had a few!
$13 Off a 1-Day Rental!
Neighborhood: Fisherman's…
Try our classes for 1 week $20
Neighborhood: Mission
Neighborhood: Nob Hill
Category: Lounges
Neighborhood: SOMA
Category: Parking
Neighborhood: Financial District
Category: Lounges
Neighborhood: North Beach/Telegraph Hill
Category: Bars
Neighborhood: North Beach/Telegraph Hill
Category: American (New)
just how much trouble can two jackholes and their…
Things I liked, loved or hated about the 2nd…
My local dry cleaner, watering hole, deli, cafe,…
I'd have to be gagged and tied to go back to these…
Its so damn hard to find a spot in the city that…
All of the clubs listed either have no cover or a…
