Telegraph Room

Not worth it.
SO TOTALLY NOT WORTH IT!!!
Okay, just kidding. I don’t want more people to know about this gem. The Telegraph Room is an annex to the Fox Theatre and is open to Fox ticketholders for a nominal «upgrade» fee that you can purchase at the box office.
If you don’t like being in tightly packed concert crowds where your sight lines are blocked by tall people and by folks holding up their smartphone cameras, the Telegraph Room isn’t just a private bar. It’s also a private section of its own that’s elevated above the bulk of general-​admission concertgoers and therefore provides fabulous, unobstructed views of the stage. Even at the private bar, service is friendly and personal, and there’s a full variety of drinks to choose from. Moreover, there’s complimentary food, usually some yummy paella from Duende just down the street.
Getting an upgrade to the Telegraph Room can make all the difference between a crowded concert experience and an amazingly comfortable — even civilized — one. Worth every penny.

Amazing service, craft cocktails, incredible bartenders and staff, and quality VIP seating. Hands down the best way to see live music.

Did the Telegraph Room VIP option for the Miguel concert last night. Read mixed reviews about whether it’s worth it or not, so I decided to try it out myself. I thought it was definitely worth it, and I plan to do it again for any other concert I see at Fox Theater.
The venue in general is already nice, but this experience made it even better. Other than the fact that they only have a small two stall unisex bathroom (–1 star) for VIP guests, everything else was enjoyable. Its own entrance, greeted upon arrival, TVs with the concert playing, a private bar with their own cocktails, comfy couches and horderves that kept being refilled, and most importantly, a private concert viewing area with a few areas to sit. This alone made the experience completely worth it.
Like I said, I’d do it again, but I only figured this out by trying it myself. So if you’re on the fence like I was just try it out once for a concert you’re willing to drop a little extra on, and see for yourself if it’s worth it.

Best extra money ever spent. If you’re wondering wtf is that should I add it on? Yes, do it. Side entrance with coat check, you get a wrist band, and free run basically. Private bathrooms with no lines, no line bar with friendly servers who answer all of your dumb questions. Intimate setting. Lots of seating. Small plate appetizers and all the VIP Hershey’s nuggets you can eat.
Got a ginger ale for $ 3 and talked up one of the assistants who cued me in on a cover duet to expect later in the night. Also has a special plat form seating section within the theater. Offers a good view and a quiet space for those who prefer to peacefully observe a concert from a far.
I was able to break away from the show and watch the last two songs from the telegraph room, thus avoiding a heard flowing from the general section. Also, was able to use the bathroom, eat some brownies, drink some water, add some concert photos to Instagram and take my sweet time getting out of there. The employees answered any remaining questions on my way out.
tl:dr
do it, $ 50 well spent for a peaceful, classy VIP experience.

For an extra $ 50 (on top of a $ 35 ticket), you get early entry rather than waiting in line, a bar, some hor devourers, use of a nice 2 stall bathroom and a viewing area with some seats but mostly standing. The staff were all very friendly. I don’t know that it was worth the money but frankly (and stick with my logic here), it was $ 85 combined. I happily would’ve paid $ 50 to see Jason Isbell so I looked at it as $ 35 to not wait in line and have a closer bathroom. Truth be told, the wait at the Telegraph bar was longer than the line at the bars in the venue but the Telegraph bar was open after.
Long story short, it’s not quite a no-​brianer and may even require rationalization but it’s not a complete ripoff.

Splurged for the $ 50 upgrade to hang out prior to the Bill Maher show last Saturday.
The room itself is nice, several seating areas with comfortable sofas and plenty of room on coffee tables /​end tables for drinks and snack plates. The complementary appetizers were two trays of Paella (one vegan) that I was told were from Duende and a tray of croutons with hummus spread. We were there early and able to have a decent nosh, I did not check on status closer to show time.
The bar is well stocked, but at about 15 minutes before the show the line was about 12 people deep (I later saw that you could bring your drink into the theater.
Overall though I don’t think it’s worth the price. For $ 100 my friend and I could have had a nice meal at a spot around the corner and walked over to the Fox.

To VIP or not to VIP? That is the $ 50 question!
I had looked at the Unilocal reviews of the Telegraph Room prior to ordering my VIP tickets and decided to give it a shot. My expectations weren’t that high, I was just hoping that I would get an experience that would at least somewhat justify the entry fee.
My girlfriend and I arrived quite early, assuming we could get in the door and hang out. Right we were: The Telegraph Room usually opens around 6:30PM.
Upon entering, we were great by extremely friendly staff. They explained what was available to us: Free hors d’oeuvres, private restrooms (2 unisex), VIP bar area and VIP seating inside the Fox Theatre.
The Telegraph Room itself is very nice. Super comfortable couches and chairs everywhere, big TV that would switch between the NFL game and broadcasting the main stage. Again, staff was extremely friendly! Early on in the night we were told exact set times for the show. Huge bonus!
The bar itself was tended by two friendly and professional bartenders and stocked with top-​shelf spirits and bottled beer that costs $ 7/​beer — The bottled beer part is actually the reason I took off 1 star on my review. I’m actually kind of baffled by this. Why you ask? Because on the floor of the Fox Theatre is an awesome draft beer selection at every bar! So, draft beer fans beware.
The next niggle was the Hors d’oeuvres themselves. They’re put out when the Telegraph Room first opens and they are not replenished. So by the time the actual show starts, they’re gone and you’re left picking through a single tray of candy (Hershey’s, kitkats, common candy, etc). That was kind of disappointing, but at admittedly I didn’t go for the food.
A nice perk that came up in the earlier part of the evening was complimentary massages. That was really cool.
Prior to the show we grabbed our seats in the back of the VIP section. It was comfortable for the opener, but I can see why some people would complain about the positioning of the VIP area. If you’re sitting down, you’re not going to see over someone who is standing in front of you at the railing. However, if you are one of those people standing in the front of the VIP section at the railing, it’s a GREAT view!
Over the course of the night we were able to put the private restrooms to use without waiting in any lines. It turned out to be a truly useful perk.
After the show, we didn’t return to the Telegraph Room, we just headed home. My girlfriend asked «Why don’t we do VIP for every show?», so she certainly enjoyed it. I feel that $ 50/​person is just shy of justifying the price. If it was $ 40/​person, it would be a no-​brainer. The Telegraph Room could, however, step up just a couple elements of what they offer their VIP guests and the $ 50 price would be totally worth it.

Really nice place to hang out before a show. It would be nice if they offered more vegan items in the food bar and also nice if they had glasses of wine for less than $ 12. The cucumber water is delicious and also the restrooms are very nice. Friendly staff and nice proximity to the stage/​viewing area.

I average around 40 live shows a year at all of the major and minor venues. (Fillmore, GAMH, Bottom of the Hill, Slim’s, etc) I’ve only been to the Fox Theater twice since it reopened. Mostly because I think the sound is subpar. (see my separate review for that)
I wanted to see Empire of the Sun at Coachella but the Sahara tent was absurdly packed so we changed our plans and walked over to see Queens of the Stone Age instead. When I saw that the Fox Theater released more general admission seats for Friday’s Empire of the Sun show I jumped on it. I’m also going to more shows next month at the Fox and was curious about the Telegraph Room so I decided to give it a try. The main draw for me was «preferred seating». The other benefits sounded nice but not enough for me to pay for it.
We arrived at the Fox and my first thought walking into the separate Telegraph Room entrance was, «this is nice». I was excited to see what it was all about.
The design and style of the private room is nice. There was a small bar and the staff was very nice. There was also a person giving chair massages. There were 2 separate single person bathrooms that were pretty nice but probably aren’t all that much nicer than what’s in the venue. They also provided a coat check.
The free hors d’oeuvres were disappointing. 2 versions of paella (meat/​seafood and veggie) that was very dry and overcooked and was hard to get out of the pan. (It was burned on the bottom) There were also little bread/​cheese bites and a tray of brownies. I didn’t expect much but the quality could’ve been quite a bit better. My date didn’t even touch the paella because it didn’t look appetizing. It didn’t look like many others were digging in either.
All of the couches were taken (4 or 5 of them) and there wasn’t much going on in the Telegraph Room, and I was anxious to check out the «preferred seating», so we walked into the venue with our drinks.
I was rather disappointed to see that the special «preferred seating» area was on the 3^rd terrace back, of 4 floor terraces. (the back half of the venue) The only real redeeming thing about it was that it wasn’t crowded at all and they had seats. The seats would’ve been obstructed by standing patrons as soon as the music started and it didn’t look very crowded in the front half of the floor with the rest of the general admission crowd so we moved closer to explore further.
The first two terraces weren’t that packed (the GA floor was previously sold out until the day of the show) and it was considerably closer so we decided to stand a few feet back from the railing on the 2^nd terrace. I think to warrant charging $ 50 extra, per ticket, they need to move the «preferred seating» down to the 1^st or 2^nd level/​terrace somewhere. I was expecting it to be on the 2^nd one.
For $ 50, I wouldn’t recommend it and definitely wouldn’t do it again. The atmosphere in the Telegraph Room wasn’t all that special compared to the venue itself or the bar on the corner, The Den. The «preferred seating» was not only considerably worse than expected, it was further back than probably ¾th of the people with GA tickets on the floor. «I“m paying $ 50 extra for this?!»
I’m not trying to be harsh with my 2 star rating but the 3 star rating says, «A-​OK» and I really didn’t feel that it was worth the price at all. «Meh» feels accurate.

seperate entrance, private bar, bathrooms. food and preferred viewing section just above GA. Super chill vibe, well worth the extra $ 50 bucks. Do it again in a heartbeat

This was a nice surprise… was a bit anxious heading into Oakland on Sat night… but for Satriani-​you just gotta do it… while everyone was in line waiting for the doors to open, I got to slide right into the Telegraph Room for a very nice and cool vibe… sofas, and tables all around, private bar and restrooms (!), snacks and desserts, TV with the W Series-​then it shows the concert while it’s going on. the people could not have been any nicer or more accomidating… and when it was time time for the show, there were reserved tables with the best view in the house that we were able to use/​or opt for the seats that we already had… I stayed at the reserved tables all night and used the private bar and restrooms-​this is a great idea, the people were super nice and I will do it again for the Fox shows-​Nice Idea Guys!

Tons of couches. No line at the bar. Private bathroom. Separate area to watch the concert. Need I say more?
We upgraded our tickets to see the XX. The entrance is on Telegraph past the main entrance and opens into a large room with leather couches and chairs, a private bar and a separate bathroom. They have appetizers and water with slices of cucumber out for people as well. There is also a tv in the room where you can watch the act on stage if youd prefer to do it from a leather couch. Then, if you go into the venue itself, the mezzanine between the back bar and the floor itself is roped off if you’d rather have more room instead of getting as close to the stage as you could get. There are a few tables and chairs in this section but its mostly standing room. Everyone who works at the Fox Theater, as always, was very friendly and helpful. I wish every concert could be at the Fox but at least other venues make me more grateful for the Fox when i go back.