The Ritz Bar & Grill

This is NOW the venue to check out bands that play the new and improved metal/​rock/​heavy metal/​death/​goth music for the masses!!! Twelve months ago I was deeply disappointed by what i was subject to. Now, it’s a different venue! If you’re looking for a good time with a new band that rocks and are looking for fans, this is the venue to support. In the past couple weeks I have ventured out on a whim to see who is out there and saw Kissing Candace and have to say I was amazed at the sound and the performance (Kissing Candace are a band out of NY… WOW! Check out their latest CD).
Music is a hard thing to push in these days with all that is out there and I was thoroughly impressed with what I found here. I’m hoping a lot more local acts are invited here such as Screw, Boodline Riot, The Koffin Kats, Ghosts of August, and especially Threading (personal favorite local MI band). There are so many MI bands we need to support and so many venues to see them at but we all need to come back to a venue that has had a LONG history of hosting bands that have rose to the highest markets out there. Personally, as when The Ritz was at the Gratiot location I saw more bands than I could even begin to mention rise to notoriety (Pantera, Ratt, Rage Against the Machine, etc…). With the number of bands out there, it is a welcome site to see the D give birth and witness the great music we have always known and loved. Come to the Ritz and see more of your local bands and support them with a few drinks and gut wrenching screams as The Ritz has always seen in the years she has been here.

Great place to see new bands and get a cheap buzz! It’s no Machine Shop, but it’s a staple place for bands to cut their teeth. Venue has been improving their sound and the aesthetics of the bar.

I come here because a lot of local bands I like are booked here. It’s not too bad of a venue, the sound is pretty descent, for what it’s worth. My biggest problem is the service. Go in there on $ 1 taco night and you’ll be waiting 30 minutes for a taco. I’m currently writing this review while waiting for my pizza that I ordered 40 minutes ago.
Very limited parking, credit card minimum of $ 15, semi rude staff, the list goes on.
If you’re just coming for the music, not a bad place, but I wouldn’t plan on eating anything or getting exceptional service when you walk through the front door.

Pretty cool place to come and get a few drinks and enjoy local music, been going to this place forever just a local dive bar nothing more nothing less

Typical venue

Whoa they charge a dollar for water and in order to use debit (which is the same as cash) the minimum is 15.00. This place nickles and dimes for everything! WTF!!!

This «Bar» is located just around the corner from me and I’ve wanted to give it a try for quite some time. Due to how rundown and trashy it looks on the outside, I’ve always decided against it.
Last night I wanted to go out and try something different, and figured I would give it a go. BAD IDEA. Upon entering I found out there was a band playing, and there was a $ 5 cover charge. I thought maybe it would be worth it after all. Heh, it wasn’t. After taking a seat on the main floor fairly close to the band and looking around, I couldn’t help but notice that about 99.9% of the clientele were either on some type of drugs, or just plain trashy. I felt uncomfortable from the second I took a seat. I was then approached by what seemed to be one of their waitresses, which fit in perfectly with my description of the clientele. She smelled like she hadn’t bathed in weeks, and was obviously drunk. After turning her away I decided to take a sit at the bar away from the horrible sound of the attempts of making music from the «Band».
This is where my visit went from bad, to TERRIBLE. I was approached by one of the bartenders, and when I asked if they had a list of available drinks, she laughed as if I was joking as she said to her friend, «He asked for a drink menu, isn’t he cute!»
I stood up and walked out faster than it took the waitresses to get shitfaced after starting their shift. I will never. EVER return to this sad attempt at a bar, and if you’re reading this, do yourself a favor and run the other way, and thank me later.

Five dollar cover for a shitty dive bar… Place is empty and they expect customers to pay to get in. Rediculous

$ 5 cover on a Saturday night. We were probably 3 out if the 10 people in this place. The band suckeddddd. There was 1 waitress out of the 3 here that was actually normal and nice. We went and sat at the bar after I couldn’t stand sitting by the stage anymore due to the terrible sound of the «band» they had playing. We asked for a bar menu. She laughed in my boyfriends face and told him they don’t have a bar menu. Also, was pretty much making fun of him by telling her coworker that he was «so cute» for asking for a bar menu.
After the way that bartender treated us and scoping out the clientele which is trashy, we will not be back.

I love dive bars.
This is a dive bar on the highest order of dive bars. This is what other dive bars aspire to be. When someone says «I want to open a dive bar», they need to come here, check it out, and either steal all of the ideas or expect to go divier.
Drinks: cheap. Well, unless you want a soda… because those are $ 2. But if you’re in a dive bar and drinking soda… well, you shouldn’t be in a dive bar now, should you?
Food? Meh. Had the pizza… and while there is no such thing as «bad» pizza (it’s like sex… even when it’s not GREAT… it’s still good), this pizza is a super cheesy greasebomb of the highest order. Middle aged white guys (read: «me»), load up on your Zantac-150’s before scarfing down a slice.
I wish I could upload a photo here, because the chalkboard behind the bar with all caps letters asking:
1. Do you want a body shot?
2. DTF?
Really set the tone nicely for what you should be expecting here, I think.
Oh, and here’s the best tip I can give you: if you’re going to try starting up a conversation with a girl who has tattoos, never… EVER…try to start off by saying «Nice tats».
It won’t come out of your mouth right, trust me on this one.
You’re welcome.
A buddy and I were there for the wrestling… which, let’s all be honest with each other, has more cheese than even the pizza does. Not that there’s anything wrong with that — it’s a good time, especially if you like to watch people pretend to beat the heck out of each other… and accidentally actually catch someone with a kick to the face from time to time.
Good times… good times.

If you’re a forty something nobody who’s clinging on to your youth for dear life, wearing the same clothes and listening to same music from when you were 18, you might have to give this place a try.
If you’re looking to get laid by someone who has been marinating in a vat of over priced Miller Lite and chain smoking case after case of cigarettes, this might be the place for you.
If you enjoy bathrooms with peeling toilet seats (how the hell is that even possible?), cigarette burns in toilet paper dispensers, and stains on toilet seats that don’t wipe away, this could be your haven.
Also, if you enjoy paying double the price of an advertised cover, definitely come to see a show! If you like large, middle aged bartenders with cantaloupe breasts falling out of their shirts, this could be your home base.
If you live in a trailer park, this is a must see destination!!!

Went here to see the Super Happy Funtime Burlesque and I have to say, it’s one of the worst bars I’ve ever been to. I think it’s always a bad sign when you ask «what kind of beer do you have» and they say «anything you can think of!». This inevitably results in an awkward guessing game in which the customer names a snobby (or not so snobby i.e. Sam Adams) beer, and the waitress says «Nope, don’t have that». I gave up quickly and went for the PBR on tap. My friend asked for, in this order: Oberon, Blue Moon, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, and they had none of these. She ended up getting tap water and was charged $ 1 for it.
Still, I can handle limited beer selection. What really got me was the excessively loud music. Because there was a performance on the stage, there was no dancing, just people sitting and attempting to talk prior to the show. My throat was sore from screaming over Kid Rock (same song played twice w/​in 20 minutes) in about half an hour. I enjoy loud rock concerts and I am willing to abuse my ear drums for good music, but I was literally sticking my fingers in my ears and casting dirty looks to the a-​hole DJ the entire time the horrible, horrible music was playing.
Bottom line: This place is a dive. And not the cute, homey, diamond in the rough kind of dive. It’s a crappy place with crappy drinks, worse service, and horrific music. I would not come back here even if my favorite band was playing.

It’s back again! Sort of…
The Ritz used to be located on the corner of Frazho and Gratiot in Roseville back in the day, right next to Liberty Bowl. It was a premier venue, hosting a lot of the grunge wave in the 1990s. In essence, it was the East side Blind Pig.
After a few name changes, it closed down apparently for good. (a giant Kmart now stands in its place…)
However, someone got the bright idea to reopen it in the same building that the Hot Rock was located!
And it’s just as grimy as the old Ritz was. They do a lot of metal and hardcore shows here, all for pretty cheap. It’s like the prices were frozen to mid 1990s prices, because you’d be hard-​pressed to find a show here over $ 15.
Another thing I absolutely adore about this place (which simultaneously shows that I might be a lush, but that’s a whole other story) is that they have killer lunch specials, including $ 1 pints! The food is passable, but washing lunch down with dollar pints always makes the rest of my day go… quicker.
I’d suggest checking out one of their pudding wrestling matches. Not to sound like a man-​pig, but they’re nothing short of hot.
And say hello to Maria if you’re there. She works her butt off promoting this place!