University of Mixology

My name is Ricky and I have been apart of this University including NB staffing for three sessions now, and I have to say this is one of the most promising, well established, and well staffed learning universities for not only bartenders, but future bartenders as well. Paul, Jason, Shane, and Valerie are amazing instructors and I am more than privileged to call myself a student of these fine individuals. The establishment is very clean, organized, and well taken care of. I personally I’m honored to be working most of my time with Jason, and he has blown me away with the knowledge that he has accumulated over the years and years of experience in his craft. He is a joy to be around and is an excellent instructor, bartender, and friend. I could not have made a better decision to be a part of this family and I would recommend no other place if you are truly passionate about becoming a real, professional bartender. You get what you pay for, but honestly, I would pay three times the amount for experience I am getting from all these wonderful people. I would give this place 10 stars if Unilocal offered it as an option. Thank you UOM and NB Staffing!

My experience as a student here has been phenomenal. I received thorough, in-​depth training that was also fun and very hands-​on. In addition, I was provided ample opportunities to work as I learned and in the several months following. Once your training and certification are complete they continue to help you out every step of the way, in creating a strong resume, preparing for interviews, etc. I highly recommend this institution to anyone who wants to become a bartender.

I moved to California to work on a career in the entertainment industry, and previously had done a little bit of bartending. When I finally got settled in California, I was looking for a place to help me improve on my bartending skills so I could pick up a job at night that wouldn’t affect daytime castings and open calls.
Let me tell you, I had no idea what I was actually going to get when I signed up. After dedicating myself to the program, the work opportunities poured in. Working events is the perfect job that always caters to my schedule, and you get to meet a bunch of amazing people and get exposed to incredible networking opportunities. All of the instructors at the school, including the other students, are so awesome.

I came here about six months ago and signed up. Honestly I wasn’t super impressed with the school and just stopped coming. Hearing that it was under new ownership, I decided to give it another try and honestly I’m glad I did. The new owner Paul has really improved the curriculum from before, and the head instructor Jason is really knowledgeable with 10+ years bar experience. Within just a few weeks they’ve gotten me work through NBStaffing and Mr. Bartender. I’m very pleased this place has gotten where it needs to be and will continue coming to learn from them.

Having had a strong interest in bartending, I was glad to see a bartending school open in the Canyon Country area. Unfortunately the previous owners did not run the school so well. The company was recently purchased by a new owner, and he has done a great job turning the place around and running it in an efficient and professional manner. If you are interested in becoming certified as a bartender check out the new and improved University of Mixology.

This school is just awesome! I’d been looking for a great bartending school that would allow me to take classes or work whenever I had time in my busy school schedule. This place is under new management, and the owner is just fantastic. I’ve learned a great deal from the very patient and knowledgeable teachers in a really short period of time. The staff works tirelessly to get all students certified as quickly as possible. Even better, they then find most graduates work immediately. I cannot recommend this school any more — wonderful staff, wonderful students, amazing gigs!

As one of LA’s most exclusive bar tending services, we have to have talented staff with experience. Any time I need new staff I call Paul, he is always very prompt in setting me up with interviews.
As an event staffing company we look for people that know all the cocktails, beers, and wines. We also emphasis customer service skills. When I hire staff from University of Mixology I bring on staff that have personality, are beautiful and very versed in customer service and bar tending.
I recommend anyone looking for a bar tending school to go talk to Paul and get set up with classes. There are many different opportunities as a bartender, it is not just working in a bar anymore.

I have a friend who’s father owns two night clubs and was a bartender. Speaking to me highly of it, in retrospect, his life as a bartender summed up was unbelievable. So I decided to have a crack at it and took it upon myself to learn all there was and still is to working with liquor. Looked up some bartending schools and read a some reviews. That was when I found Richard G’s School of Mixology.
The abundance of devotion this facility brings people is top notch, effort the instructors/​dean puts in the students is genuine.
The first day of class my instructor was the Dean Valerie, and let me tell you she is no push over she is fierce and by the books which is something that sets her apart from the others. Then there’s Bobby he’s been a student there so he knows what we are going through and how to improve/​implement learning techniques. Lastly there is John… usually just a «happy hour» instructor for the most part he makes 3 hours seems like 1 hour because its very fast paced but an enjoyable class nonetheless. Hopefully my review has helped one finalize a decision in making University of Mixology your choice into becoming a certified bartender! :D

I attended University of Mixology back in the summer of 2008 while I was home from college. I thought it would be a good idea to get my bartending certification so that I could bartend and make some extra money while in college. I had a great experience in the learning environment and with all of the people I encountered at the school. Everyone was there to help each other succeed and get certified. The instructors knew I had a short amount of time to become certified, so they challenged me so that I would have my certification before returning to college. The instructors were extremely knowledgable and I was a pro at mixing drinks as well as telling the stories behind each drink by the time I graduated.
Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to use my certification because my college and work schedule did not permit the time, but I recently made a huge career change that once again puts me in school and in need of some kind of income. I thought bartending would be a great way to make money while I am in school again. I recently landed a bartending job and went to the University of Mixology to brush up on my skills. The instructors not only welcomed me in the school to practice free of charge, but they took the time to help me even though I’m not a current student there. I greatly appreciate all that they have done to help me prepare for my new job!
I look forward to taking the flair bartending class in the future!
Nothing in life comes easy and if you really want something in life you have to commit and really work for it. Don’t expect to have your hand held, but they will help you and guide you to get where you want to be as long as you put in the hard work.

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Ok, so Richard G is an immoral, slimy ass hat. Here is the story:
This place used to be owned by Scott Lundburgh’s (Who I strongly encourage you to sign up rather than this sorry excuse for a place – he moved a couple miles down Ventura to Tarzana since he was having issues with the landlord).
I came in here after taking a long furlough after I could not attend classes. Scott’s academy of bartending is a lifetime, so there is no rush. Anyways, I had failed to realize that it switched ownership. Apparently, like I said in the aforementioned, Scott had an issue with the landlord and moved and the landlord gave the place to Richard G who operated a failed business in Canyon Country.
Anyways, on the very first day, something was WAYYYY off. The atmosphere had changed completely. The décor had been repainted and the place was eerily empty with no sign of Scott present. I did not think much of it at the time though. I came in one evening to be taught by a young scrawny looking doofus (forget his name). For the most part, he was alright. He certainly new a lot about his alcohol trivia, etc. However, he would just go over the sheet without making the drinks. He would do one for each category, go on a tangent and move on. The thing that pissed me off, was he made a very racist comment about certain ethnic groups that tipped. Coming from one of those certain persuasions where you find it often stereotyped for unfair tips, I took immediate offense. To my complete astonishment, the other two ditzy girls that attended the class also partook in the ethnic tip bashing.
Fine, I overlooked this one part, but developed a great antipathy for my clueless peers.
On the fourth night, lo and behold, a strange little creepy man with the 70’s porn style mustache and outdated attire greeted me and explained he was the new owner. I was unaware of this. He told me to follow him to his office. I immediately inquired about the whereabouts of Scott. Although he did not downright slander him, his insinuation was pregnant with such. He told me that he is «Not at liberty to discuss it, but it’s public knowledge.»
The clueless teacher had, with great haste and no evidence conjectured that Scott had seduced one of his clients. Seemed way out of his character. He is a funny, old bartending wizard, that went out of his way to help me film a short at Van Nuys library (his wife is the assistant principal there). Scott also is a rules stickler. It just seemed not true.
I went back to the office of the weird looking owner and he told me that it’s under new management. I intended to pry what happened to Scott out from him, but he was pretty adamant that HE is not at liberty to say, implying that it was some sort of court order or something. You know what’s coming next, right?
He says as a courtesy to Scott’s students, he only is only going to charge me an extra $ 150.00 dollars to continue. Well, I’m pretty upset, but he assured me, this is the real deal. He said he normally charges over a thousand for tuition, and I should be grateful. I doubt that is true, but if he did, he would be immediately run out of business. Oh wait, he is! Scott’s class is less than 400. You mean to tell me he’s charging over twice that amount to his nearest competitor, who is literally 5 miles down Ventura. I don’t think so!
Now, I feel bad for the people that fell for the bait and switch and got fleeced. However, I felt something was not quite kosher, so I immediately got up and left.
Thirty minutes later, I check at the Sherman oaks public library that Scott moved to Tarzana. The owner tried to take advantage of me, when ethically should have told me he moved across town. How gullible am I, and how gullible are you LA? Don’t fall for this. He just wants more money in his pocket. Scott did nothing bad, he just moved! Shame on you Mr. G — nius!
Having experienced both places, the choice is clear. It’s worth the extra mile to go to the one in Tarzana. The atmosphere is more friendly and earthly!
–No more angry!

While this school may add an element of experience and knowledge, I unfortunately have to say it will not increase your chances of getting a job as a bartender. The classes are fun and ultimately prepares you for an extremely difficult test to get your certification, but will not help you get a job in bartending.
The bad part is that this certification is not worth the value they convince you of during the sales session. Are the classes fun? Yes. Do they teach you recipes? Yes. Will this help you get a job? Maybe. Will the school help you find a job? No.
I graduated this school with 6 other people and none of us were assisted with finding employment. When I graduated I was told it was a slow time for the industry and hiring would be difficult (a fact that was not told to me when i paid and signed up). Over the next few months I was referred to job listings on craigslist and other postings that I had run across myself. None of the employers recognized my certificate over any other applicant.
When myself and some of my other classmates started to complain about the false «job placement» that was advertised, the school threatened to revoke our certificates and refused to further assist us in our job search. Our choices were to go along with their system or forfeit the 500 dollars we had paid for the class.
Now, three years later, I can safely say that this class was a learning experience but far worth the money I paid at the time. If I could go back, I would have got a job as a barback (Which i had to do anyways) and saved myself the time and money.
Of the 6 people I graduated with, 4 of us eventually found work in the industry (without help from the school) and two of them gave up completely.
I hope this review saves some of you the false hope of taking this course to find employment. This course should be treated as an elective in college, nothing more.

The staff here have definitely gone above and beyond to ensure opportunity never passed me by. They are dedicated to their craft, the recipes are top knotch and knowing I can come back and practice whenever is readsurance that I will stay on top of my game.

Truly an amazing bartending school. I learned so much. But don’t go in thinking it is easy to graduate or pass the speed test. It is HARD WORK but once you’ve finished it is all worthwhile.
You will not find a better bartending school out there in the LA area and perhaps not in all of California.

This school is EXCELLENT! The educators were thorough, patient and understanding. I work 2 jobs and find it hard to make spare time to garner an education but with learning to be a bartender I graduated in about 4 months and was able to quit one of my jobs and now have an awesome second job as a bartender making more than I did at my old job. I’m recommending this school to all of my friends and to anyone interested. It’s a great investment and you’ll be glad you did!

Great school to start a new career with. Staff is extremely knowledgable and always willing to help. Very happy that I choose to go to this school

Best school