Attended the Sip & Paint hosted by Kandycocktail events in the Life Arts building on the second…read morefloor. I was expecting an experience similar to the Purple Easel in Ontario where you an have instructor guide you on how to paint a disco ball and cocktails are provided. I left with what Cher from the film Clueless would describe as a "Monet" of a painting and feeling disappointed and scammed out of $50. DISCLAIMER: If you are not able bodied or if you have leg issues, back issues or buttocks issues, this event is not for you. This building is old and I didn't see an elevator. Also, you are sitting on the floor on a cheap throw pillow. I've seen cute charcuterie events at the beach and they provide better seats than this. The flyer does not mention any of these things. For the painting , we basically self taught ourselves how to paint these disco balls. I referred to the You Tube video provided by Art with Mrs. Hibbs called, "Learn how to paint a beautiful and sparkling disco ball." HOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT THE EVENT: I do not follow their social media, just went in blind because my sister and her friends were going and thought this would be a cute event on a Saturday afternoon. I did checkout their social media page after I attended and saw this is the setup for all the events, criss-cross apple sauce on the ground. THE EXPERIENCE: I climbed 2 flights of stairs and arrived to like a studio apartment from the 1920's and in my mind said, "OH HELL NO..." when I saw we were sitting on the ground for this. When I arrived there were thin wooden circles on the table and I asked how to do this and my sister started showing me kind of how to trace the lines on the wood. I asked her where the teacher was and she said she's making the drinks. Turns out everyone else was clueless as well because the party to the right of me were all questioning each other and looking around too. I found out later, that in the first 15 minutes I wasn't there, the girl put minimal effort into explaining how to paint and offered to air drop or text instructions to my sister and she just text her a photo of the finished product, not how to trace the lines or paint it. Thus, I looked up how to do this on YouTube , but then my phone died 15 minutes later. So we're all winging it and drawing lines every which way and all the while the two female hosts are making cocktails and chatting it up with each other like they're in the back of house at a busy restaurant, but they were literally feet away from us in a makeshift kitchen in a tiny studio apartment so we could hear them talking about nothing. Also, there were about 12 of us total and they prepped no drinks ahead of time and spent most of the time just making a batch of craft cocktails and not really mingling with the guests or guiding us on how to paint this disco ball. At some point they brought out popcorn as the appetizer? I mean, $50 and you're going to serve popcorn on a plate and that's the light snack? GIRL BYE! I could've just done this in my garage with sushi from Sam's Club, or charcuterie from Aldi and cool snacks from Trader Joe's. I don't even think they microwaved the popcorn on site?! What I learned from this experience is that this was about the sip and not the paint. I'm all about supporting small businesses and exploring different communities but this event lacked intention and thought and the vibe fell flat. It wasn't giving and also the hosts were too busy making cocktails, passing them out then sitting behind the makeshift counter and either talking to each other or being on their phones. One of the girls came out towards the end and asked how we were doing then proceeded to lie to us and say our paintings were beautiful. The interaction felt forced and insincere. I only liked one of the cocktails and I couldn't even tell you the name of it. It was the one without the pineapple foam. You're better off meeting your friends and new people at a bar in downtown. If you've been to any of the SlowJamz Vinyl & VIno events in downtown L.A., then you know what it's like to go somewhere and meet new people easily and vibe and a major part of that is having great hosts that encourage mingling and get the conversation going. No amount of alcohol, drugs or trendy decor can replace that.

Note: I am leaving this review under Kandy Cocktails because there is currently no Yelp page for…read moreRiverside Supper Club, even though the event is sold through the same website. We were really looking forward to our experience at Riverside Supper Club. My group of four close friends who are all proud Chicanas who love to support Latinx-owned spaces had been excited about this event for months. The social media presence set high expectations, and we were hopeful for a night of cultura, connection, and good food and drinks. Unfortunately, the overall experience left us pretty disappointed. We purchased our tickets back on 12/3/24 for the event held on 4/24/25. When we arrived, we learned (without any prior notice or explanation) that our reserved seats had been given to another party due to ADA accessibility needs. While two of us work in the disability services field and absolutely support accessibility, we were never asked if we would be willing to make that adjustment. Instead, we were just placed in a different spot, and it was not until we arrived that we realized our seats had been moved. One of our friends had a large brick positioned in front of her feet, which made it difficult to sit comfortably for the entire experience. The drink portion was also disappointing. The event is marketed as including mixed drinks, but both of the drinks we received were only filled about 1/3 of the way. The first was a small wine pour, and the second a cocktail, but both felt more like tastings than actual drinks. There was no clear explanation of when drinks would be served, and later they announced $15 cocktails for sale. Please note that those were poured to the rim. Ironically, two of us ended up getting drinks spilled on us during that part of the night. We also noticed that KandyCocktails, who promotes being present at these events, was not there. Not sure it would have made a difference, but it added to the feeling that what was marketed did not quite match the actual experience. The food was fine, though portions were small. It did not seem like there was an active kitchen on-site. There was no sizzling sounds and no fresh food aromas, which led us to believe much of the food had been prepared in advance. Also, no one facilitated a group conversation as suggested in their online videos. Our table often received what felt like the leftovers after other parties had already helped themselves. As a Riverside native, it was especially discouraging to see an event in my own community fall so short of what was promised. At $70 per person, we expected a thoughtful, engaging, and well executed experience. We showed up with good intentions and a lot of excitement to support a Chicano owned business, but it really fell short. As of today, I would not feel comfortable promoting this business to others based on our experience. I hope this feedback is taken seriously. Not to criticize, but to help improve the event for future guests. There is potential here, but it is going to take better communication, planning, and a more honest reflection of what is being offered.