Music Box SD Review

The bathroom is a little small for all the people that fit in the venue

Really cool venue. It was nice to sit on the couch on the third level and enjoy the show.

The staff was competent and professional - the space was great - they could do with more public and less private space. The entire balcony and all the booths sat empty for the whole of our show. Otherwise, all good

Has very poor viewing angles, I wouldn't go back unless it was a must see artist. Venue is small so that's nice.

3 floors of front row seats. Great small plates of yummy food and specialty drinks. Great location.

Quite stylish, with three floors of seating all open to the main dance floor. The lighting and sound definitely work well for house music and other electronica.

Music Box SD has a great atmosphere and vibe. I hate to say it in response to other comments but, no venue, at all, can (really) control the artists' start times and endings. Also. Majority of venues have a service fee of sorts. Looking forward to Mos Def on 5/27. Please go catch a show at the Music Box if you have a chance, you will not be disappointed.

It had nothing to do with the drinks or anything like that. It was 100% the sound system was exceptionally below-par. Not real sure if I want to ever go back.

Decent venue but terrible drinks and super expensive. Owner was there with obnoxious load guests

Came here on a Sunday night but ended up parking across the street in a lot for $10. Venue is a little small but the show was great. That night was extra if you wanted to grab a table on the 2nd floor. Would come back again next time.

Absolutely spectacular venue, small enough to make you feel like you're right there with the artist but big enough so that all your friends fit too. We did the dinner and a concert pass which was surprisingly inexpensive for what we got. I highly recommend booking a concert here if you are in the San Diego area

The venue is decent but too small, it gets too crowded, there's a restroom attendant that clutters the entire hand wash area, otherwise restrooms look clean, the entire venue is modern displaying abstract black and white decor, 3 levels that include a VIP section this is the only seating available.Appetizer style menu is offered to all there're a few tables where you can rest your drinks or food but very limited quantities 3-4 the 2 bar tenders I order from 1 male the other female, where NOT tip worthy it appeared to have upset them to prepare a margarita and pour a draft beer for a whopping total of $19.00 (I still left them a tip) over all it was ok but NOT GREAT.

Very nice venue. Lots of room. Security was exceptional. I felt a little queazy then security brought me water and kept checking on me.

Bar is pricey, but good drinks. Have seen some excellent shows here the past couple of years and would more often if more touring rock bands were booked.

We saw the Cavetown show at the Music Box last night. After reading the other reviews, I had mixed feelings about what to expect.

Reasons for my 5-star rating...

VIP Table:
1. The cost was a $75 minimum food and beverage order, plus 20% gratuity which is automatically added. I figured we would drop $50 in Little Italy either way, so what's another $25?
2. We got to skip the line, which was 3 blocks long! We were the first ones in the door.
3. The food was really good! I didn't think it would be based on some others reviews, and I was fine with that. But the shrimp street tacos were awesome! Seriously delish. And my daughter got the vegan sliders, and she loved them! The wine was also very decent (again, surprisingly).
4. When we were ready to close the tab, we hadn't used up all $75, and our server, David, let us know. So we ordered more vegan sliders. Today's lunch was done :)
5. SEATS! Unless you are lucky to be one of the first in line to sit on their long couch, you stand. All night. And then stand some more. So well worth it.

Our Server: David was awesome. He was very attentive the entire night, without being intrusive. If I even looked his way, he was sure to pop over and check in.

But the BEST part was Thomas, who is part of their security team. He noticed right away that a gentleman who was sharing our table was just slightly impeding our view of the stage. He very nicely asked the gentleman to move back a bit, and problem solved. We didn't bring it to his attention, Thomas just saw that it was happening and stepped in - in a very polite and kind way. In fact, I saw the two of them fist bump several times throughout the night after that. Thomas also noticed that my daughter was trying to take some pictures closer to the stage...he very kindly came over and asked that she position herself between tables, and not in front of other so she wouldn't impede their views. No problem. But then he mentioned he would make sure she could get a good view later on. About two minutes before the main act came on, he asked her to come with him - so she could be right in front of the stage! To the right so she didn't step in front of others that had already congregated, but still an awesome place to be. WOW!!! She was SO EXCITED and didn't budge all night. THANK YOU THOMAS!! I was so grateful I gave him a big hug - and made it a little weird :) But he was just so gracious.
Dear Management - if you are reading this, please give Thomas a huge raise. And a promotion. He made our night.

We will definitely be back.

Wonderful place to be!
Enjoyed every minute of it!

This place is really small but I kind of like that because if you could come here to see an artist and want to feel the energy really close to you this is a really good place amazing the only problem that I would say is the acoustic, it is really bad at least the day I went to Billie Elish concert, I couldn't really hear much of her boys even though I was extremely close but anyways it was a good place and at the end of the day I had the chance to meet her so that was even so much better security is also really good.

What a great spot! Only complaint is that it is a little cramped if you get Prole tickets. VIP tickets buys you a table. May consider doing that if it's a show a do not care about dancing along with the music. Some of the patrons kept bumping into me as they tried to dance/dry hump to an Amy Winehouse cover band. All this aside, I'd do it again in a heartbeat

Its a good venue for music, not too big but not small either. Had lots of fun dancing on Bollywood night event.

Staff is so friendly!! Sounds engineers are so sweet and easy going. Place is huge and beautiful!

Great venue. Definitely gonna come back and get a VIP booth on the 2nd floor. Like the option to order food

The owners need more seating, working monitors so everybody can see if we gotta stand up. The artist need to NOT start late and finish before a hour. The Musiq Soulchild concert sucked and wish I could get a free refund. The place will not be getting my business anytime soon.

Really expensive. $15/drink. Minimum of two. Tickets get an additional $3 "processing fee" at the door. 2nd floor tables $450.00 each with 1st bottle included. A bottle of Red Breast Irish Whiskey will set you back $325.00. I can get that at BevMo for $52. 3rd floor arbitrarily closed. Minimal seating on 1st floor. View of stage impeded by everyone else standing around. No monitors. Bass was dialed way up. Lyrics and guitars are drowned out, and of course, you can't talk to your date. Band starts late and it's 2 cover bands before the headliner gets on. Not worth the money by a long shot.

Nice venue with good sound. Limited stage viewing, but they have monitors all over. There are bars both downstairs and up. There's also a non-smoking patio upstairs and a smoking patio down. No ins and outs.

Great concert venue. Sound system good..ready for the next show.. enjoy..

Love this venue. We saw Tom Gun Live here and laughed until our faces hurt. If you know what's good for you, you'll check out the show when it comes back to San Diego in May.

Excellent music venue, really good sound system, three levels, drinks are a little pricey but typical of downtown, really great selection of craft beer on tap and in can, available seating if you get there early for an otherwise standing only event, reserved seating is also available.

Security is a wee bit too much. Relax guys we are paying customers! I've heard the same from other friends, I appreciate your detail to safety but calm down no need to push people to get to a guy with a vape pen! Not that serious!

Yeah
Yeah
Rs

Went to see nipsey hussle... first time there kinda small but it's a cool place

Great venue with terrific sound quality and excellent service!

Nice venue. Three floors. Couches on the top floor.

They get good acts which is the most important thing. Bar service was mediocre and mixed drinks were disappointing.

Don t waste your money paid to see someone, and waited the entire night listening to unknown artist and random background music. It s not as good as you would expect for the money spent. Very unorganized.

Great staff. Good food. Good beer selection. Fantastic venue. Multiple levels give you options for viewing. Very intimate show.

Went for the mile concert. The food smell amazing and their hibiscus drink was delicious! Good choices with the menu and I love the venue.

A great place to go listen to excellent bands, private boxes, light bar menu. Craft cocktails!

A great venue let down by a staff that doesn't seem to know what there purpose is. While trying to enjoy my wife's birthday we were pushed around by some miscreants. The staff asked us to move. WTF? Friends of their's, we later learned. We ended up missing the headlining band after being wrongfully relegated to the back of the house. We contacted management the next day. 3 weeks later, still no response.

Revised 3/26/2019. I'd like to revise my review of Music Box, because it really is a great venue, but unfortunately I can not. The GM, Joe Rinaldi, responded as you can see, and I reached out to him via email. I heard nothing back for 2 weeks, I emailed again explaining at length the horrible experience we had at his establishment. His response? "Cool lets get on a call this week" No number. No apology for his staffs' lack of professionalism or customer service. Three more weeks have passed and nothing has been done. As an industry professional for nearly 3 decades, I have never encountered such disregard for the customer. In my professional opinion, I suggest you skip this venue. I'm not suggesting your experience would be as awful as mine, just that if it was, nothing would be done to remedy the problem.

Conclusion 4/3/2019
I finally got the opportunity to speak with Joe Rinaldi. He preferred to speak on the phone as opposed to email communication. Perhaps no record of interaction is how he operates. Joe comes from the idea that the customer is not always right. While there is some truth to that, his definitive response that I was wrong in my assessment of my experience, is way off base. He concluded before our conversation that his staff and he were not to blame in any way. I disagreed and his solution was for my wife and I not to return to Music Box. So next time you think of going yourself, stop and think, "Is this the type of business I want to support?"
Good luck.

THANK YOU MUSIC BOX FOR BRINGING MYA TO SAN DIEGO! wow!

Very good place for concerts, has vip and general section. It has bar service.
It does not have its own station, but there are several nearby public or there are parking meters.
The stage is not very big, but enough so that small bands can put together their show.

1st time here, enjoyed Mya & the atmosphere. Nice set up. Lounge style!

DJ on the lower level was fire...nice mix of today's music plus 90's jams...will be coming back with my girls!

Nice mid-sized venue with table seating on multiple levels. Particularly liked that you could see the stage from the bar area, but that it had its own speakers which allowed for easy conversation.

This place is great! Reasonably priced beer and great music, what else can you ask for?! Intimate spot, perfect for concerts. Space can fit alot of people, there are a couple levels, but it didn't feel empty with a small crowd. Love this place!

Always a great venue for live music. The drinks are a bit pricey though.

Really nice looking Club prices are elevated as you would expect. I had a minor issue with one of the security guards inside the club the little divider between regular and VIP section came undone and it actually hit me as it rolled back up and one of the security guards thought I had on done it which I had not and said if I did it again I would have to leave I didn't argue with him it was too noisy to have a conversation and explained what happened but there could be a little Improvement in this area. Also the reggae concert I went to was super super loud even with earplugs in so keep that in mind.

Stage is not easy to see from the different levels. It's nice inside and bars are easy to get to but the venue is a bit narrow.

Amazing food, drinks and artists'. The security is amazing and helpful just like the waiters and waitresses!!!

Small intimate venue. They brought one of my favorite indie bands from Korea here and it was awesome! Security was friendly and the concert was enjoyable. It looked like there was a second tier where you could have special seats but not sure how to reserve those.
There is a parking lot around the corner that is a flat $5 after 6pm on weekdays. It was fairly empty and made parking cheaper and easier than expected.

This venue is absolutely beautiful. It was my first time here and I was blown away with how nice and clean it was, even the ceiling looked brand new. I recommend the Golden Monkey, very good wheat beer.

Did not like this place..no type of crowd control it became too packed with people, the artist came on way too late will never go here again for a concert

Very friendly staff. A little small but has a large balcony.

Great venue with great atmosphere and acoustics! It's a must go