Rassela’s Jazz Club & Restaurant

Nice place. Vegetarian combination is really enough for two persons if you are not starving. Though it’s not for sure something that everybody’d like. Costs almost 15 dollars. A bottle of wine costs 35 dollars.

Fun place, with a nice lounge. Good Jazz in a casual setting. The Ethiopian food is also reasonably good, although not outstanding.

A jazz club of the seedy-​trying-​to-​look-​classy variety, where the furnishings don’t look so bad in the dark – until the lights come on, and the people seem well-​dressed and cultured – until they start getting into drunk screaming matches with the drunk people next to them. Yeah, it’s that kind of the place.
My friend and I came here after dinner, so unfortunately, we did not get to try the Ethiopian food. We just had drinks – a glass of wine and a cosmo – which were both okay for $ 10. Definitely plan on trying the food next time – and there will be a next time. This place is too fun not to return to.

love this place for the music and the funky crowd. bartenders make great cocktails.
food is so so — not my type of food, but it’s not bad.

Good music every time I’m there. Haven’t tried the food but the drinks are always made very well. I recommend an Old Fashioned with Bullet Rye.

I came here one night to watch a live jazz band play. Unfortunately, they cancelled and we weren’t able to hear music nor eat Ethiopian food as the kitchen had closed. So what do we end up doing? We hang out with the patrons and shoot the breeze with the bartenders. It was a fun night, and we all had a great time. The place is nice and might be a place to bring a date. It was a guys night out and it still worthy of a repeat. I will try to come for the food and music next time.

Came to hear the soul mechanics. Unfortunately, this place was a pure let down. There was absolutely no energy. Just a bunch of lifeless people sitting around not even snapping their fingers or nodding their heads to the music. The music was fantastic, but we had to high tale it out of there — we are a dancing bunch!

This place is great for a drink and some music, not great music but a nice ambiance and it’s not so loud that you can’t talk. But food and service seriously lacked in this place. The waitress was never there when we needed her, we had to flag her down, the service was slow and not like this food was worth the wait, it was quite bad. The lamb dish we got was sour, the meat was not tender at all, it was just not well made. I’d like to think that true Ethiopian food is much better.

This review is for the Saturday night entertainment only. The Robert Stewart Experience is as good as it gets for live entertainment. Went with a group of friends and we partied like it was «1999». The songs rendered were of various genres which endeared me all the more: modern jazz, classical jazz, pop, rock, r&b, a little bit of country. Though all of the musicians were great, the lead vocalist was the best. His voice was Amazing. Whether performing rock, r&b, or pop, he delivered. An added plus, he also played keyboards and guitar. I’ll be his groupie any day!!! Space is limited. Parking can be too. Get there early. Fun times.

I am a VERY picky eater and have never had Ethiopian food before and for the first time in a long time I cleared my plate!
We started off with the crab sambussas, which were like Ethiopian eggrolls. It had amazing flavor and the sauce was a litle spicy but delicious! I ordered the sauteed catfish that came with tumeric rice, salad and other veggies. My boyfriend ordered the drunken chicken which he liked as well. Taste, flavor and ambience was amazing!
Despite amazing food and décor, service was TERRIBLE!!! We were the first ones in the restaurant on a Saturday night and you would think that there would be a waitress or hostess working, but I guess the bartender was doing everyone’s jobs that day. There must have been a couple people at the bar, which meant that we were quickly forgotten about. When our food came out, the rice was missing and when it was cooked the lady moved stuff on our plates to accomodate the rice instead of just putting the plate of rice down — rude! After we were done eating we sat for a while for our plates to be cleared and then waited even longer for the check. Like I said, our waiter was the bartender. For a restaurant, that wasn’t even busy, you would think that service would have been half way decent — especially when you have the manager walking around with his nose in the air!

Fun Jazz Club with tasty Ethiopian food.
As an Ethiopian-​virgin, I must say it was pretty tasty. I do have to get used to the whole let’s-share-a-plate-with-our-fingers-type-of-concept (not really my style).
Had the veggie sampler, all of the dishes were tasty, especially the lentil one.
Drinks were nice and strong.
Accommodating staff, nice live music and great atmosphere.
I’ll be back.

Stopped in on Saturday Night — Saturday June 9^th, 2012 after leaving Safeway and saw that Manny Pacqiao vs Bradley Fight was on for FREE! Stopped in — and grabbed a beer for $ 5 — and watched it.
Place seemed relax — and it was a good place to enjoy an evening. Will be back!

Rassela’s is near Japantown, but nearing a semi-​shady neighborhood, so we parked as close to the Japantown side as possible, on the street. This late in the evening, it was fairly easy to find an ample amount of parking spaces…
When we walked in, the musicians were blaring some great tunes– people were smiling. this place had a great vibe about it. I’m pretty sure the kitchen was closed– because it was after 11pm… So we didn’t happen to try any food this time around. The interior was very spacious with high ceilings – and the entire place sat a lot of people. with tables, booths, bar seats, and high tops tables as well as a full on bar. There was a small dance floor and plenty of room to move and b r e a t h e. while you enjoy the music.

Worst. experience. EVER.
My party of 6 had originally planned to have dinner at Fat Angel down the street, but the 40 minute wait turned into 85 minutes, and we were starving. So we came to this place thinking we’d be able to eat by the time we would’ve sat down at the other place. Wrong! We first sat at a high table until our table was ready, and we weren’t shown a menu or asked if we wanted drinks or anything. We were seated within 5 minutes though, so I thought it would pick up from there. Wrong again. The service was SO RIDICULOUSLY SLOW. It took at least 10 minutes to get our orders in, and AT LEAST 30 minutes to get our food, and I am sure I am being generous here. Our waitress never came back to fill our waters or ask if we wanted another round of drinks either. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have gone to our table at all the entire night if we didn’t flag her down. A friend and I also shared the burger, which turned out to be tiny (thanks for the warning. NOT.) and then we had to wait another 5 – 10 minutes for her to bring us another plate and a knife to cut it in half.
To top off this grand experience, when we got the bill, we saw that she had added in 19% gratuity to it. Wrong on so many levels. 1) What an arbitrary number. Why 19? 2) Do you really think you deserve that much tip? For the shitty service you provided? 3) Nowhere on the menu does it say that gratuity is included for parties of a certain size. So, we ended up paying maybe $ 5 over the total (minus gratuity) and bounced. We even went out of our way to pay with cash so that we wouldn’t have to wait another 20 minutes for her to process the cards.
Food was okay, but definitely not worth that wait or poor service, and neither of the 2 in my party who ordered Ethiopian dishes finished their plates which tells me those dishes weren’t that great. (Both have had Ethiopian before too, so it wasn’t because they didn’t like the cuisine.)

Final decision: great jazz okay food
So a couple of my friends and I decided to head to the Bay to hang out with a long time buddy that had just moved up for a new gig, he wanted to check the Jazz club for one of the activities for his birthday. This would be my first club. It was a cool rainy night, so we were glad to rush from the parking lot into the restaurant/​club.
Got sat in front of the stage where the band was playing. The music was solid, and pretty popping. So after about 20 minutes of playing, and solo’s, the head of the band shows up, warming up his tenor saxophone. The atmosphere was kicking and so was my stomach, got hungry and decided to order some food. Keeping in mind that the restaurant is primarily an Ethiopian restaurant, they also served some bar-​food like appetizers. Got some sliders, but were not too memorable. Got some cocktails as well, the bartenders definitely had some heavy hands, props to them.
So for a good change of pace on a saturday night, check this spot out for some drinks and entertainment, not sure about the food, didn’t have any Ethiopian food, but the bar food items were not remarkable.

This was my first ever Ethiopian dining experience ten years ago and nothing has compared to it since. Visiting this place is a must on my to-​do list every time I am in SF. My favorite is to go with a friend or two and share the Doro Wat and the vegetarian sampler plate. The sauce and the spices are out of this world. Great with cabernet, though I know a lot of people like the honey wine. (It’s a little sweet for me – maybe good as a dessert wine?)
The atmosphere is warm and cozy. It’s got sort of an upscale African-American/R&B dinner club vibe I suppose. The music is always pretty good and really fun. I always feel welcome there. Plus, they have a fireplace!

Live jazz music??? I’m sold. Came to the Fillmore for a friends birthday, and we were walking around looking for a Karaōke bar, and we then stumbled upon Rassela’s. We ended up forgetting the Karaōke bar, and just danced the night away to covers of Earth Wind & Fire. Jazz and funk, man o man, love this music. Something to move to, something to groove too… Gootta love it!!!
Minus 1 star: Dance floor?! The entry way, or right in front of the band (which I kind of felt bad, for people who just want to watch.)

Review for Rassela’s Nightclub behind the Jazz Restaurant area.
Pros: Good size crowd, party atmosphere, not too crowded and DJ did a good job.
Cons: $ 20 cover.
Overall: There aren’t too many dance clubs on lower Fillmore so if you’re in that area and want a place to tap your toes, Rassela’s will fit the bill.

We came here on Thursday for their Latin jazz night. I have an obsession with Ethiopian food, and my man has a similar obsession for Latin jazz, so we’ve been dying to come here for a while. We’ve dropped in for a drink a few times but finally made it there for dinner.
There were a few negatives — for almost the entire evening there was only one server for both the restaurant and the bar, which meant that we occasionally had to go to the bar to get drink and water refills. Even when we asked her to come by she was so busy that she forgot. It’s hard to blame her considering that the place was pretty hopping by 9:30. For what it’s worth I have been there on a Friday evening for drinks and there were two bartenders plus at least one server.
The food was slightly more expensive than other Ethiopian places in the city and not quite as good, though still a solid meal and worth the extra dollars just for the pleasure of having great live music while we eat. The honey wine was really awful, I think there was something off about that particular bottle. I didn’t complain because our server was really busy, and besides I’d already had most of a bottle of Tempranillo so I had no business drinking any more.
The music was not too loud, and all night we noticed people stopping by the windows to listen to the band, only to eventually come in and order a drink. Additionally they always have the Giants game or ESPN news on, and they were showing the NBA game when we were there.
I still feel inclined to give it four stars because the evening was so positive overall. If you go there with the right attitude and cut the server a little slack you should have a great time. Ethiopian food, live jazz, and sports on the TV is a brilliant combination that I wish I would have come up with myself.

I came here on Fat Tuesday which was fitting because this place was PHAT. (Yes, with a «P». gottaproblemwithdat?) While I didn’t have the food, Rassela’s definitely «gras’ed» up my «mardi» with both a live jazz band and an amazing DJ that played old school 70’s, 80’s and 90’s jams.
And as further indication of a good time, I spent all of Wednesday hungover.

Robert Stewart experience, YES it is an experience. I love the vibe of this place. Great jam session even having two members of well known funk groups The Gap Band and confunction, Hello!
The food well that’s another story, yes their pita plate was great. Their chicken and burger over priced but the music just lets me forget about the food issue. Grab a drink (non-​alcoholic is available) and just enjoy great local music. Yes, not the typical music venue with the same old genre of music. Great local flavor as usually only found in the Fillmore; don’t try to find it somewhere else; honey can’t find that kind of funk only in the City by the Bay.
Cheers, to our server who was great even finding a bottle of champagne for my group to celebrate my friends birthday on a busy but wonderful night at Rassela’s.

A well done burger does not mean the bun too! I enjoyed a great live show at Rassela’s, but the bartender was rude and the service was super slow. My friend ordered a burger and the bun was literally burned on top. There was absolutely no way a chef/​cook in the kitchen should have let any food depart the kitchen looking like that. Apparently quality control is not a priority.
When you enter there is a bar, tables, and an area in the corner where the bands set up. In the rear of the club is where they have a sort of concert room. The rear area is an intimate setting with an additional bar; only problem with this area is that when the door is opened you can hear the music coming from the front part of the club. Major distraction! If you want to check out good live music I would still encourage trying Rassela’s, but you may want to eat before you arrive.

(See pics)
This is 3.4 stars but 4 will be overrated on the star scale here.
Came here for a friend’s birthday. Lemon drop was good. They put a bunch of tables together as we had a pretty big group that we occupied like half of the dining area.
Ethiopian food choices were ample and they also have a bar menu if you want more conventional food. Overall it tasted good. Service was very nice but a bit slow.
They have loud live jazz music. They play very mainstream all time pop Jazz hits rather than more Jazzy style music. The band tried very hard to please the crowd but I do think playing less popular music would have more benefits. Still, we had a pretty good time there.

Salsa?
Did someone say salsa?
So I use to come to Rassela’s for dates and listening to jazz with my circle of friends back in the day. Dating a man who played the saxophone meant that we would usually be hanging out around other such musicians and groups. But what I recently found out, via Los Boleros (also here on Unilocal:
) were the Friday evening salsa nights.
The fellow had never done it before and I’m all about encouraging such interests. Why? Because you live only once and I’ve done enough salsa when it first seduced me at a session at Cocomo’s years ago and since then, my hips and high heeled calves have been hooked.
So this event utilizes the back events room at Rassela’s. Just walk through the front entrance and then meander around the dining tables and booths towards the back. By arriving right on the dot (8 pm) after paying the $ 10 fee, we were fully immersed in the dancing lesson. Great instruction by the two dancers for the basic steps and I have to say, due to the large space and lack of a crowd, I was able to hone some of the steps. See Eddie H. who led the instruction: clean, basic structure to salsa dancing, perfect for first-​timers as well as intermediate to clean up existing form. I’d recommend him as well as this list he provided (
). Once the group session was over, we switched partners, circle style.
Now, given the fact that most of my experience came not from these lessons but afterward, during the dancing/​band playing when the wallflowers were fodder for the men there to dance. So I learned how to salsa by dancing with many partners through the night. In addition, once you find that one partner you match well with in regards to movement and leading, you have a tendency to dance with them often throughout the evening.
After the dance lesson we were let loose to mingle and dance to our own devices. The good thing about going with someone who has never done salsa before is that the dancing is less frenetic and one can take their time perfecting the more basic steps. In addition, going with someone close to you makes for easier leading and coordination of the feet and arms because one does not have to worry about courtesies and space. My fave part, was teaching him how to do the basic merengue. Talk about another sexy dance.
The band that played that night was not Los Boleros, but still good nonetheless. When we were not dancing, we were still tapping our foot away to the beat on the various couches and chairs arranged perfectly around the dance floor. For others, there is an upstairs in the event you’d like the formality of tables and chairs.
What a perfect way to fire up a Friday evening!