The Alano Club Of San Jose

The only thing different from Starbucks is they have TVs and Sports when you ask the counter personal

This is a great group of people who live a life exhibiting experience, strength, and hope. There is no shame in seeking a new life and those who have are truly blessed with a new way of living!
The program is free for those who are given a get well card by the courts, are ill from doing negative things to their bodies, or just want to live a life free of alcohol or drugs!
There is a little restaurant inside which has pretty decent food you can eat during a meeting.
If you are ready to find the «how» (honesty, openness, willingness) of living this is the place to go!

They have a great morning meeting that is a super way to start the day. Everyone is so happy and loving and welcoming. the breakfast aint bad either. wish I could say the same for the coffee. :(

If you need to get sober this place has meetings around the clock and there are always people willing to show you the ropes.
Cheap eats at the grill.
Plenty of parking.

Wonderful purpose, goals, and people!

I go to AA here.
I went for my first meeting last night. It’s an hour long. Since I have to get a paper signed for each meeting I go to, I left the paper in the basket at the front of the room. That’s where the «secretary» of the AA meetings signs the papers. This being the first time I’ve been to a meeting, I’m not familiar with how the whole things works.
During the middle of the meeting (believe they were taking a «break» or something?), I saw somebody walk up to the desk and get a paper signed & handed back to him.
I figured I’d like to get my paper signed as well. So I went up and asked the secretary if she could sign mine as well. I thought I was polite about it but I guess she must not have felt the same way because she was snappy with me.
She told me that she usually waits until the end of the meetings to sign the papers & that the guy who just got his signed papers was under some special circumstances. That’s completely fine, I get it. however she still proceeded to sign mine. After she handed me the papers, I said «thank you.» She didn’t respond to my thank you. One thing that really irks me is when you say thank you & that person just doesn’t respond. It made me feel like she was just «dealing with me,» but not really giving a rat’s ass about me either way. My intentions were to stay the whole meeting, but since I felt like I wasn’t really wanted there, I decided to leave after getting the paper returned to me.
When I got to my car, I noticed she wrote everything down on the paper that was needed– except for the signature. I know she wasn’t trying to get me to stay at the meeting because she HANDED the paper back to me when she was done writing on it. I’m not sure why you would hand me a paper that wasn’t signed when the signature is the most important piece of the document. Without that, I’m pretty much screwed. So if you’re going to do that, keep the paper & tell me to wait until the end of the meeting (which I planned to). Don’t just tell me that you usually sign the papers at the end of the meeting, write on my paper, and then hand it back to me without a signature. I kind of felt like this was an act of hate.
I went here to get help, but instead I felt like I got kicked in the face by the person in the group who’s supposed to care the most.
When I first arrived to the club, the people were nice to me. and helpful. Helping me find the form to be signed & fining a pen for me to fill out my info since I forgot to bring one my own. I appreciate that.
But in the actual AA meeting, which is simply just hosted at the Alano Club, I felt like a total outsider & like nobody gave a shit. I’ll be going back next Wednesday night at 6:00 P.M. I hope I feel a little better about it this time. Otherwise I’ll have to find a new AA meeting location; one where I feel like I belong. Which is disappointing because I really like the setup of the AA meeting room at the Alano Club. It’s a big room with many chairs, and a desk with a podium at the front of the room. It looks like a room designed for speeches, which is nice because I don’t like the whole idea of a table in the middle of a room with a bunch of chairs around it. To me, it’s just awkward for everyone to be in everyone else’s face at this table. But I’m sure some meetings have this setup with the table, which sounds irritating to say the least.

I really like this place — been coming here a few times a week for AA/​NA meetings. I keep seeing the same people around, goes to show that this place and the fellowship has really improved their lives and is a sanctuary where alcoholics and addicts can come together for camaraderie. The food is reasonably priced, but it’s cash only. Members receive a discount.

I did my community service here recently, and the moment I walked into the building, I felt like I was apart of a family.