Attention 21-24 year olds. You're the target audience. Don't waste your time time or money. If there's an artist you really wanna see ok, great. Pregame hard. That's it. Plenty of places in San Diego/ North County to dance and have a great time. This place isn't it. Go to OB or PB. Thrusters. Fat fish. Duck dive. Rip tide. Bubs. Whiskey girl. The observatory. Etc. There's so many places to celebrate your bdays, graduations, etc. Look at the other reviews warning you of the same situations. Anyone older than than 24 that still goes here deserves to get ripped off. It's not necessary. Learn on your own the hard way. Lastly, management can eat multiple bags of dicks. Be well. read more

Don't come here they will try to gouge you & when you ask questions the men are condescending. Tyler in the front was the worst vibe I have experienced in San Diego. Even after trying to spend more money on bringing more ppl after buying a table. They made it so difficult & were so rude they made us not want to support this place ever again. PLEASE BEWARE! I would never recommend this place to ppl. $100 for ga with no performer gtfoh read more

Andrew G The Executive manager Is A Scam Artist, Fake Manager wasted weeks of my time. Offered me a unpaid 2 week trail as a employee when I have more experience then him & all his new hires put together. Like I said Nova please watch out for this inexperienced Manager. He will run you dry. I have over ten years of Promotions & marketing experience. The Manager had no clue about anything during the interview. So sad to see clubs loose money and close because of lack of infrastructure. The club and dj line up has massive potential & honestly may not need Promoters any way.. good luck insomniac and nova sd . read more

We got bottle service for Mau P for a birthday. I inquired online about a table and Paz was quick to give me a call and breakdown of the price. He was so helpful and me and my friends had a great time. All the servers/staff were amazing. read more

Overall summary: Security treats customers as if they were animals. Customer service is okay when walking in but once inside make the experience very unpleasant. Pricey drinks and too crowded which is source of hectic chaos. I don't like giving negative reviews however after reading other comments my experience was not situational and is very common for Nova SD. I attended to see my favorite DJ i waited for this event for two months and the night was ruined by their security. I went with my boyfriend and another friend(female). The first hour was nice on a Thursday the rooftop is closed but we were able to walk up for fresh air. Once the main DJ started playing we tried getting close to the front when a man started being very inappropriate with my friend and I. The moment my boyfriend stepped infront to speak to the guy (it seemed like they were going to fight but my boyfriend defending us telling the guy to back away) Within a second a huge over weight security man came up to my boyfriend got him in a lock and dragged him through stairs and outside. I had to run behind my boyfriend just to make sure i didn't lose sigh of which exit they were taking him. That was the end of our night as he got kicked out and I walked out so there is no entering again unless you buy another ticket. As you may imagine terrible night will never come back might as well just go to any other club playing EDM and watch my favorite artists at an actual insomniac festival. There are plenty other EDM clubs around so there really isn't much to miss by not coming here. I do suggest better training of customers service in order to handle these situations correctly. read more

My friends had a table at Nova last Saturday night so I went last minute and had the best time. The music was awesome, I danced so much and our server Francis was so nice and attentive. She was amazing! We will definitely be coming back again and requesting Fran read more

MY FAVORITE PLACE TO PARTY AT!!!!!! Drinks are amazing and music is great!! And the rooftop terrace is even better

Bad vibes & false advertising! Was so excited to see Phantogram, and they posted ads of them performing live music, singing, playing guitar etc. My friend travelled here to see it with me. We were super disappointed because it ended up being completely opposite-- just playing rap music over a speaker. The advertisements gave us a false impression of what we were coming here for and paying for. read more

Worst club I ever been in the state! This club has really rude an unprofessional staff. Went hear for Kaskcade. The drinks wore made poorly with little to no strength and were over priced. Towards the end of the night I saw someone getting kicked out, I asked what for. They said " WHAT? DO YOU WANNA JOIN THEM!" it's just a question come on. I never dealt with stuff like this in LA, Vegas or up north. Get new staff that know how to make real recipes for drinks read more

Y'all can't seriously afford awnings for events for charging over $100 for? Very trash. Very bad. Not good service. ruined the night. Artists don't book here it wasn't worth waiting in a torrential rainstorm for. read more

Most sub par venue I have ever been to. We went to see a DJ and it was overcrowded from the start after tickets were advertised as sold out online. They continued to sell tickets at the door even though there was no place to stand and hardly any room to walk anywhere. The sound system was designed where you could only hear the music clearly if you were in the center of a sardine mosh pit. The only way you could possibly enjoy this venue is if you get a table which are insanely overpriced. I would not recommend this venue to a friend and would be perfectly okay not going again. They could care less about your experience and enjoyment, they just want to make as much money as humanly possible. read more

I broke my leg in February and received great service from the security team as they allowed my girlfriend and I access to the rooftop and VIP area. They were super accommodating and the only negative thing I have to say is that they don't allow shorts in the venue but gave me a pass bc I wouldn't have been able to fit in to pants considering my leg was still healing. read more

this place is trash. went to see kayzo to celebrate my 30th birthday. waste of time if you don't have bottle service because they oversell tickets and don't have enough standing room for the regular peasants. i paid in advance for my ticket and don't appreciate having a flashlight in my face and being told to move every five seconds. especially when all the bottle service tables on the second floor are empty and they won't even let people stand in the space behind those tables. there is a third floor but there's a different dj playing and you can't even hear the set you came to see. my friend wanted to look out over the enclosed patio on the top level and security even flashed their lights and made him move away even though there's plexiglass paneling way over the railing. bouncers taking their jobs way too damn seriously. even watched a bouncer follow a girl out and down two blocks. he was using his phone camera to zoom in and follow her until she walked far enough away. save your money and see the dj at an actual venue. read more

This place is absolutely terrible. I bought a ticket for a DJ a few weeks ago and was told I had to have pants on to be let in. Luckily I had some in my car. I brought my poi and asked if I was good to bring them in, if not I would leave them in my car that I was already going back to a few blocks down. They said it was fine. I came back with pants on and then was told I could not bring my poi in and they had to be checked if I did not want to go back to my car. I then see people let in with space whips and other flow toys. Fast forward to this last Friday for Excision. I recently had to have foot surgery and have to be in a boot and have to use a scooter to get around. I was almost kicked out because any place I stood a bouncer told me I was blocking something and I needed to move. Finally a bouncer told me that I needed to "move that shit out of the way" and said that I needed to go to the 2nd floor. I told him there was no room for me to stand up there and luckily a group of ppl said they would make room for me in another area. This is not a Plur venue what so ever and I will never come back. It was over a 100 degrees in that place and guys must wear pants!! bring a hand fan!. Fare warning if you choose to make the mistake of trying to see an awesome artist at this venue! You will regret it. read more

Best club in SD hands down!! Amazing DJs and great environment with accommodating staff. VIP bottle service is the way to go but either way you will have an amazing time! read more

I had been meaning to go since it first opened and finally was able to go during the long weekend. I got a table with some friends to see what the hype was all about and ended up having a better time than I could've bargain for. Not only was the energy and the quality of crowd good but my server Francis ( A.K.A. Franny) was the absolute best. She really made me feel so welcome with her attention to detail to my needs that just made my night flow smoothly. Definitely recommend this place to anybody and highly recommend you to request my server of that night Francis for an amazing night. read more

A bachelorette party refused to enter Barleymash after the non-binary member of their party was refused entry. It was a very humiliating episode and our party decided we didn't want to go in either. We tagged along to the next venue, Nova. Same thing happened again only this time the doormen never admitted it was because of the dress, they were just very, and unnecessarily rude. What is wrong with these clubs?! Do they know what year it is?! The girls vowed never to go back to San Diego and who can blame them! I hope their weekend wasn't ruined. read more

this was my first time at nova to see my favorite dj/ edm artist, blanke on 3/29. immediately after getting my id checked, i was forced to talk to security gaurds that were claiming i had too much to drink. i was waiting in line for over 10 minutes in a rave outfit in the wind and they accuse me of drinking a "forloko" gross btw. so girls can't shake and be cold while waiting in life for your extremely poor and slow service? there has been times where i was younger where i shouldn't have been out, BUT this night i was NOT STUMBLING AROUND OR SLURRING MY WORDS AT ALL. these pathetic bouncers wanted to be cops so bad and were being extremely rude and talking down to me. i had always been really excited to experience nova but the fact that this happened the first time i ever showed, is disappointing. will never come back unless an artist i really love is playing there read more

One of the worst experiences of my life. I'm 100% sure I was drugged here. I don't know if it was the bartenders or someone in the club. I've seen videos of people dropping stuff in drinks, so I know with sleight of hand it's nearly impossible to catch. I came to the club sober and ordered a drink at the bar. All good. I got another drink and that's when things started getting fuzzy, really fuzzy. There's no way anyone can black out off of two drinks and I know my body. Everything went black and then all I remember is security kicking me out, but I have no idea why. I felt sick and scared and they were not helpful at all and just threatened to call the cops on me because I told them I needed to tell my friends I wasn't coming back in and they wouldn't even let me. Maybe I did something when I was all messed up but honestly I have no idea what happened to me/what I could've possibly done wrong. I'm never coming back here and I recommend girls be careful here because the crew doesn't seem to want to help you/care about you at all. It seems like a lot of people have had trouble with security as well from other reviews. In their defense, they probably just thought I was super drunk, but nope! They kicked me out on the street by myself and didn't even let me wait around so my friends could come out. At that point, I think it was just pure terror that I realized I was so intoxicated and had no idea why and that I was getting kicked out by myself that the adrenaline like "woke me up" for a second. After that everything about that night is gone. Anything could have happened to me out there that night so thanks a lot nova. I've never had such a horrible/dangerous experience at a club before and I really hope you guys do better or just shut down. read more

It was my birthday last night and I decided to celebrate at Nova, what a terrible mistake. This is the absolute worst establishment that exists. I was kicked out for being "too drunk" after buying ONE DRINK.... ON MY F*CKING BIRTHDAY!! How is that even possible? Just a bunch of unprofessional people who work here who were picked up and hired on off the street. There is absolutely NO customer service. I have disputed the charges with my credit card company and I dare Nova to make it an issue so that I can sue them for everything they got. A place like this does not deserve to be running and scamming everybody relentlessly every weekend. Just give me an excuse, I beg you. I will also be visiting the BBB and reporting this place. read more

This is the first time I'm writing a yelp review and I'm gonna be as detailed as I can so bear with me. Came here last night 7/8/22 along with my friends (around 20 of us). We have 5 bottles ordered. It was my first time going here and I was told it was an upscale night club. The place looked really nice. The crowd, meh. The DJs, pretty good. The servers are wonderful, the guy we had cleaning up our table... Arrogant as heck. So the night started awesome. Drinks are flowing. Everyone is having fun until this guy started picking up our drinks (they're all full), and took them away. Why would you take drinks from people's table when they're obviously drinking it? I informed my friends and some other staff. They said they talked to this guy and that he will not do it again. 30 minutes later this dude comes over to me and starts confronting me like he wants to fight saying "if you have a problem with me come say it". Who tf says that. So i start explaining why we're being upset about what happened and his best response is "you're lucky i didnt get you kicked out". Kicked out for what Mr. Tough guy who thinks he owns the place? For calling you out for taking drinks that were paid for? Drinks that were poured from 600 dollar bottles, mind you. This guy kept coming back and pestering me trying to prove a point that he only took the drinks because no one was drinking them. Which he was proved wrong because when he asked my other friends if he can take their drinks away, everyone said no because they're still drinking it. But wait thats not even the best part. One of my friends got held up and interrogated for "drugging" my other friend. So they held him for the rest of the night and accused him of drugging somebody. Even though her boyfriend and her friends already said she was just really drunk. No footage or any evidence was presented even though we asked for them. So basically they're all baseless accusations. So yeah, if you wanna spend good money and get the worst experience. Come to nova. read more

I have been to Nova a few times now and it just really depends on the artist and how crowed it gets. The most recent dj I went to see was Kaskade. This was a very crowded night compared to other times. Luckily my bf got me and our friends a table. We were sat on the rooftop early on but was lucky to be able to move to balcony for the set! Selena our bottle girl was so sweet and her team helped us with whatever drinks we needed. Having done no table service before I am convinced it's the only way to go. The dance floor is smaller than other places I have been to but honestly when big name artists come, expect it to be packed. Nova is a great club and the music is always on point! I will keep coming back for sure! Keep those amazing shows coming Nova! read more

They should pay their bouncers more so they don't have to steal things from guests to make ends meet.

By far the best club I've been to! The music and energy was the best I've seen in a while. The ticket was also included on my Gaslamp Mardi Gras ticket which was a huge bonus! I definitely recommend looking into Gaslamp bar crawls, it's a great bang for your buck. read more

Paid to have my hat held and an employee stole it. I had my receipt but no signs of my hat. Manager did nothing

Came here for a friends birthday and Audien was the main headliner. We got a table on the balcony level and our bottle server Itzayana was amazing! She was so attentive and sweet! The club does get pretty packed especially on the dance floor. It was definitely one of my favorite nights. I can't thank Brittany enough from coat check who had my phone since I lost it at one point. Haha oops! Nova is an amazing experience! Trust me get a table if you are with a few friends! It will be far better than ordering from just the bar! read more

Had the best night at Nova SD- great service start to finish!! Awesome DJ and atmosphere. We worked with Paz and he went above and beyond to make sure we had an amazing night for our friends bachelorette party! Highly recommend NOVA for a night out or for any celebration!! If you want the best experience and accommodations ask for Paz (619) 721-8777 read more

Went here last night, It was a Vibe. Mark was my host and did a great job making me feel special on my birthday. Bottle girls are all 10s and also wished me a happy Birthday 10/10 read more

I normally do not leave reviews, however I was very upset by our experience here. I typically love insomniac events, but this venue was way oversold capacity wise. There was not enough room to stand, we were constantly told to move when there was no room on the dance floor. The bar tenders were nice, however all other staff were incredibly rude, security touching us for no reason, security doing cocaine. Ultimately, we had to leave before the headliner started which was incredibly upsetting. I do not recommend coming here. read more

Shelby @shelbialyssa is the best bottle server in very so sweet and so kind. Check in on us constantly is we need anything!love her 10/10

Great staff, great drinks, and great entertainment. Staff is super chill and really knows how to throw a party.

Awesome! Always great service from the staff and bartenders are professional and friendly. Will be back again!

I came to Nova to see Illenium and it did not disappoint! The sound, lights, fog machine, and confetti created an amazing atmosphere in the venue. All the staff were super friendly :) I had a great time and I cant wait to come back for the next show! read more

Nova is definitely the place to party. Threw my best friends bachelor party. Mark was our VIP Host and did an exceptional job at taking care of group. Ever in town and want great nightlife experience Mark take care of your every need. read more

The staff was so kind and accommodating. They made my birthday really special. We had a blast! Vibes are really great too.

My group & I had a great experience at Nova! Mark was our coordinator and he went above and beyond to accommodate us for bottle service and did an excellent job! Our bottle girls and other staff were all friendly and professional. We felt safe and welcomed in this nice and clean club. Can't wait to visit again! read more

Worst place ever. They tried to scam me at the front door by taking my Id and claiming it was fake, and they'd only give it back if I paid them money. They said since it's fake that they'll call the cops and I told them to, since I'm 32 years old and there's no reason for me to have a fake ID. When we went inside, they kept pushing us to move even though we weren't in the way of anything. This place was an absolute shit show and super shady. read more

We love Nova! From the first drink we ever ordered we were greeted with kindness, Bryan is our favorite bartender and 100% the reason we keep coming back. Marco is the shit too! Lawrence is an amazing and kind hearted security guard. Even on the nights where Nova is a madhouse, the staff and team are always on top of it and take care of you. Ali & Jay are always so kind and accommodating. Can't wait to come back for our next show! read more

Just went to Nova San Diego for the first time since Insomniac took over the venue. Had an amazing time and of course we went big for Memorial Day Weekend and saw International Superstar DJ Benny Benassi so we booked a table to party in style! Their VIP Table Service was top notch from beginning to end! Be sure to ask for VIP Cocktail Hostess Taylor Ashley she was a Diamond all night and delivered the best party experience ever! read more

Nova SD is an amazing venue. It's beautiful inside and very clean. We did bottle service Mark and his team were very attentive and very sweet. The girls that served us were super fun and sweet. I highly recommend Nova SD. read more