Moonshiners Whiskey & Gastro

Came here on a Saturday night for Moonshiners’ 1 year anniversary. Shoutout to Jcast and Lawdeezy!
–they play old school R&B with a mix of modern music
–the venue itself is pretty nice. A little on the small side, but still good
–decent sized outdoor patio
–bar service is relatively quick and easy
–drinks are between $ 9-​$ 12
–Saturday night crowd is a little older
–Bouncers aren’t jerks like other bars/​clubs I’ve been to before
Overall, Moonshiners is the place to go if you’re in the area and still wanna turn up. The only thing is that it gets SUPER HUMID inside because it gets very crowded at around 1230
Cover is $ 5 after 11pm usually.

So the hip hop music here is amazing but I feel like the people in the front are shady. I’ve been here a few times and there has never been a cover when I’ve been in the past. I went on Saturday and when we showed up we asked if there was a cover (wasn’t that we were trying to be cheap none of us had cash on us) and they said no cover. We wait in line about 10 minutes and when we get to the front the girl said $ 5 girls $ 10 for guys. We explained we had just asked and they said no cover and she was like we just started charging. So annoying!!! Not to mention when we got cash and went inside you could not move it was so packed and the crowd was very suspect. I was really excited to get a good hip hop club back in downtown long beach but am very annoyed with the staff at this establishment. Thought I would share my experience.

I usually go a couple times a month. Some Friday nights and some Saturday’s. This last Friday I showed up after 11 and expected to pay $ 5… No biggie. This time the security in the front tells me I can’t wear my hat and I need to leave it up front. Any other time it’s alright. When I walk in… Almost everybody in there has their hats on. So we walk back to security and he says it’s going to be an extra $ 5 to take my hat inside. He took the $ 5 and put it in his pocket.
Didn’t want anyone to take my hat… So it is what it is.

Music was good, enviroment was good, drinks were good, Bartender was an A**hole n he had attitude my first time at this place and id come back but next time ill try to avoid that bartender

This place is so lit! My go to place when I am in long beach. The music is good and the drinks are reasonable price. It is very crowded just a heads up.

I came here as an after party for my husband last Saturday. And I had a blast. I want to go back!!! If you are looking for a cool fresh hip nigh club to go to, this is the place to be. I didn’t have to pay for admission to get in because I got there early enough. But my cousin came and got bottle service and that made my first time there, even funner

Came here on a Friday for happy hour before hitting a couple other bars in the area, and we were the only people in the entire establishment… at happy hour… on a Friday. Right away I could tell something was wrong. We sat down at the bar, and the bartender took our drink order, took a solid 10 minutes to get us our drinks and then did not check on us for a good, long while. Let me remind you that we were the ONLY people in the entire place. The food was fine, but it seemed like everything was quickly prepared bar food without any real allure or character. You can’t put sriracha mayo on frozen tater tots and call yourself a «gastropub». The drinks were strong, but small and pricey. Overall, I’m glad we came at happy hour as I could never justify paying full price for the experience.

Came here on Friday night for da clubbbbb…
MUSIC — DJ playing mostly hip hop, some old school and new stuff. Nice
CROWD– Predominately latino with a mix of blacks and asians, and a sprinkle of whites
DRESS CODE– Very casual. The guys dress code appeared to be laid back. I recall guys wearing tennis shoes and jeans, but I’m not sure if t-​shirts, shorts, etc are allowed for the guys. My girls and I came here on a whim after happy hour hopping for most of the afternoon. We were not dressed for the club and all had on flats– one of my girls even had on flip flops. Overall casual vibe but if u want to get sexy on em and wear that freakem dress, do u booboo!
COCKTAILS– Standard club price. Anywhere from 11 – 13 bucks. I ordered three Hennessy’s on the rocks for a total of 36. Overpriced yet typical. There are a couple of «vip» booths for bottle service. There is also a patio with seating (nothing fancy btw) which is a plus, although i don’t think you can order drinks from there.
PARKING– I came here on foot, but parking garages are nearby ranging in price from 5 – 10 bucks.
OVERALL SCENE– This place packs it in! The dance floor was super CROWDED and HOT. Maybe i wasn’t drunk enough, but it was too much for me. Nothing personal to moonshiners tho, because this is standard at any popular club. Im just an old woman trapped n a young lady’s body.
Tip– pregame heavy before you get here.

Please go out of business so something better can come around.
I’ve been here once on a Thursday night during happy hour and there were zero people there. The outdoor signage says «Gastro» and we assumed there would be some great pub food. The menu was light and mostly snacks that were quick prep. No Gastro foods we hoped for.
The whiskey bar concept is good… if your bartender knows the difference between bourbon whiskey and Irish whiskey. I’ll stop there.
On top of that, we had a member of our group that preferred wine. We asked about a wine list. She knew the whole selection off hand. «Um. We have one red and one white wine. I think. Let me check.»
«Never mind». We’ll take a check please.

this review is solely for the management.
we decided to come here for bottle service promoted on Instagram $ 175 bottle. we were gonna spend $ 450 however, when we got there. complications happened with the speaker so we decided to not stay anymore.
I understand things happen, it can happen anywhere. it’s not their fault.
5 stars for the manager who personally came to our table and respectively apologized to us. He was very professional and very understanding. Because of this, I will definitely come back and want to thank them for being cool about it.

Pretty sure this place closed? I live right around the corner and have never seen it open…

I came here on a Thursday night with a Groupon I bought and it was expiring. The place was a ghost town. I didn’t mind it much thinking I would have better service.
The bartender saw that I had the Groupon and insisted that I could not use it on Happy Hour special. It wasn’t even happy hour to begin with. I even I asked if it was happy hour and he responded no. ???
Crispy Brussels Sprouts — soaked in a pile of oil. I was really turned off by this.
PAPA Burger — Bun was on the burnt side. Not enough blue cheese.
Their website states that they are «The Best Whiskey Bar In Town.» I would disagree. I did not find anything appealing on their whiskey menu. Pretty much standard stuff I could easily get at Bevmo.

My friends gifted us with a Groupon to this place for Christmas because it had decent reviews up to that point, and their friends said they liked it. We were excited because it offered appetizer and two entrees, no restrictions. I was already eyeing some of the fish dishes and my PIC had his heart set on the skirt steak.
First of all, this place is only open on Fri/​Sat, because they are fixing things up in there. We came in around 7 on a Friday. There was ZERO ambiance, as there were 0 people there. No one came up to us to seat us, we had to go find someone to help us out.
And when the waiter came to order our drinks, he told us off the bat that the top 3 apps are missing, the only entrees available are the fish and chips and ribs, as well as the Sammy’s. Nothing else. So that started things out on the wrong foot.
So we ordered the pork belly to start. The waiter came back to us and said «oh, sorry, we don’t have the salad that comes with it». Oh man. Fine, let’s just have it without the salad, I still love pork belly. «well, we don’t have the sauce that goes with it either». He gave us the option of ordering oyster sliders, which we did. It was like they didn’t put any effort except for throwing the oysters in the fryer! There were no sauces, the buns were cold, no flavor at all except for fried.
I was also disappointed when I found out that only a small portion of the menu was available because I was hoping to eat something healthy for dinner tonight, so that was a bust. For entrees, we ordered the pulled pork sandwich with mac and cheese and the ribs with fries. Waiter comes back, they don’t have mac and cheese either. Come ON! So he offered up these «bleu cheese tot’s», and we obliged.
It honestly came to the point where we dreaded each time the waiter came up to us, because we didn’t know if he was checking on us or if something wasn’t on the menu.
I LOVE ribs, pretty much all ribs, and these ribs just tasted… old. And drowned in sauce. I can usually tank a full rack of baby back ribs on my own, and I only ate one an a half. I was done. Pulled pork was drowned in bbq sauce as well, and I could barely taste pork between the overly thick ciabatta bread.
Tater tots were drowned in the bleu cheese sauce so it was WAY too heavy.
It just screamed to me that nothing here was fresh. As soon as I realized that, I didn’t want to eat any more. We usually finish our food when we go out to eat, but there were leftover ribs, pork, bread and about half the tots.
The only good things about the night was that I was full after the meal (matter of face, I didn’t WANT to eat until lunch the next day bc I felt so crappy after) and the mule was good!
If you are rebranding but still keep the restaurant open, you NEED to take pride in the entrees you have left. It’s just careless what they’re doing right now. They are wrecking their reputation before the updated location even opens.
The worst part about this is, despite the fact that they are closing a majority of the restaurant (and food), they still are selling the groupon! What a disappointment. I usually give 4’s and 5’s, but this was just a huge letdown. I hope others don’t get swindled into buying this groupon.

If there was a zero star option we would give it. Blown away by what just happened to us.
We each ordered a cocktail. My girlfriend ordered something off the menu. The bartender Cindy made me a drink that wasn’t on the menu, but one of her favorites. It was quite good.
When I finished, she poured the remaining bit from the mixing cup in my glass. Nice. The kind of move that usually earns an extra tip.
Except when we got the bill, she had charged us for 3 drinks. When I asked why, since we had only ordered 2, she said: «I poured you the second one. People always want 2 so I make extra.»
Stunned.
Normally I would have had that overturned in a second, but it had been a long day and wasn’t in the mood for more stress, so I let it go, already writing this review in my mind.
She could see my unhappiness on my face so she made me another drink, handing it to me with a «don’t tell anyone.» You didn’t give me a free drink. You gave me a drink I already paid for. You don’t get points for masking your attempt to rip me off.
Avoid this joint. From the sounds of it, she pulls this move on many male customers as the night goes on.
Sidenote: the green beans were quite good. But VERY spicy. If you like that, you’ll enjoy. But don’t let the staff tell you they «aren’t that spicy.»

This place is a joke and needs a major face lift. Food, décor, drinks and staff.
Drinks were just «alright»
Food was a major disappointment. Fried chicken was disgusting. Chicken had a fish taste, greens were crap and the mashed potatoes tasted like left overs from last week.
Herb chicken sandwich also had a fishy taste and was nothing special.
Final note:
I was eavesdropping on the table next to ours and the server asked a grown man (gray hair and all) for this ID and was serious about it. I get it you don’t want to serve someone under 21 alcohol, but come on us some common sense.
Will not come back.

Went in with high hopes but was sadly disappointed.
Ordered the Fried Chicken ($ 19) which turned out to just be a boneless chicken breast that was fried, then smothered in gravy. It was served with watery greens and mashed potatoes. The combination of watery greens and the gravy made for a soggy, sloppy «fried» piece of chicken.
Had a Manhattan ($ 10) that was just «meh». Seemed like the bar tender over did it with the bitters.
Went here on a Saturday night and it was mostly empty. That should have been a red flag from the jump. This place is in need of some serious «Bar Rescue». I’d be shocked if they made it through 2016 without some major changes to the menu and management team.
TL;DR
— soggy fried chicken
— mediocre cocktails
— over-​priced

Came here with a Groupon and mediocre expectations. Bartender /​waiter Bruno was really attentive and made great drinks. Loved the Irish Mule with cucumber. He recommended the mussels appetizer with lemon grass and coconut. We were not disappointed! Came with grilled bread for dipping and was exceptional.
For dinner I had the chicken, bacon mashed potatoes and collard greens. Moist, huge serving and delicious. My husband had salmon with pomegranate reduction and a crazy mixed salad featuring goat cheese, butternut squash and Pom sends. Another winning dish.
Had to Unilocal!Had a great experience and meal.

This review is for Cindy. She went beyond expectation to create a perfect dinning experience for us. Finally, this place hires someone who knows how to make a Manhattan and is knowledgable about whiskeys in general.
The food is decent at best. Nothing really amazing. Service, again, was exceptional.

Moonshiner’s is a new whiskey bar and restaurant that I discovered on livingsocial. The restaurant is bigger than we expected. They had happy hour and karaōke even on Sunday. Crispy Brussels were outstanding. Sea bass (daily special) on bed of wilted spinach was great. Skirt steak was tender and served with grilled asparagus. Bf order Suntory but neither of us was a fan. I ordered the happy hour Manhattan which was good the first couple sips but I’m not a big scotch/​whiskey fan. Service was great. It was a nice night so we sat on the patio, which we had to ourselves. Bf is a big whiskey drinker so we will be back frequently.

This place won’t last a year
Bar:
1. You ran out the beer that I ordered
2. Your bartenders need training on how to properly make an old fashioned, Manhattan, and simple Jameson w/​ginger. They were underpoured and way too sweet.
Food:
1. The green beans were smothered with god awful bar b q sauce. Even for 5 of us that were hungry after work, more than half of them remained on the plate
2. The grill cheese tasted like it was made in the microwave because the cheese was hard
3. The salmon chips had no taste
Customer service:
1. Waiter overcharged us $ 10
2. You can’t split checks?
Décor:
1. Are you a club, whiskey bar, bbq joint?
For all the money that was dropped into this place you need to train your staff on how to actually work with whiskey’s and bourbon’s. You did not have any bitters or garnishes with your cocktails, and did not even have Four Roses like you advertised! You focused on the presentation too much and couldn’t get good bartenders or chefs on staff. tsst tsst.
As I was leaving, Friday night at 10:30pm, it was empty. What made it look like an abyss was the huge empty dance floor and empty tables outside. Sevilla’s, Alegria’s, and Bo Beau were packed.

El lugar increíble, the beet salad deliciosa, una muy buena opción en down town Long Beach, excelente cambio felicidades