Studio/Alleycat is my favorite place to haunt the nightlife. Good vibes, good drinks, good staff- not to mention the experience of trying to out pinball your friend who got ONE really lucky run but refuses to acknowledge any score lower than that one. I'll beat you one of these days. read more

Unfortunately, this place is becoming less and less known for safety and consent due to one manager that the owner refuses to hold accountable. I have photos I will upload about how this manager is being warned about on social media to incoming students at the university on yik yak. Both anonymous STAFF!? and customers AND prior roomates saying she is creepy on yik yak threads that when shes drunk, she can verbally abusive,. A group of three claiming to have watched it happen and left because of it at Tequila Cowgirl last fall. Even someone claiming to be her roommate responded to the thread saying she was a thief. This has been going on for two semesters now and Jason refuses to uphold the concept that studio is a safe place where violence, walking on eggshells, and feeling unsafe is not allowed. This will continue to get worse. read more

Studio 13 - Gay Bars Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

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Disgusting ambience, the bartender was rude as hell, after I tipped him a 3rd of our order and requested to play a song on the jukebox that was not working , bartender gave me attitude and it really made me rethink doing to this bar that has been my go to for the last two years, there is no reason to be disrespectful to someone who you have already tipped you extra money than you deserved, deserves to be fired forever, has no reason being in a place of power has no compassion and no work life balance fire this person, disgusting that you would allow this behavior while talking to a paying and tipping kind customer , so gross , never going to frequent this bar again!! Disgusting! read more

Watch before you sit on the toilet it might be covered with shit. The Bathroom smelled like Calcutta in July. The drinks tasted like crap and the bartender could have used a shower and some after dick mints. lmfao read more

Studio 13 - bartender lol - Gay Bars Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

Absolutely... LOVE this place. My only con is that people start to come around 10pm- 12am. Great staff. Drinks are cheap in price.. and STRONG! read more

I had a wonderful night at studio playing darts with my friends!! The best service from miss lily, we will be back!!! she deserves a raise :) read more

First of all, the place itself is hard to find - don't look for it ON Linn St - it is in the alley behind Confluence. Secondly, the atmosphere and layout are fairly decent for a 'small-town-gay-bar', and the patrons seemed genuinely happy and were having a great time. Drinks are cheap and strong, (an ideal combination). Definitely an oasis in what seemed to me quite a closeted city, which was surprising for a college town. read more

Studio 13 - a group of people dancing in the dark - Gay Bars Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

After a year I'm updating to 3 stars. I'm still annoyed by all the attitudes, but on Saturdays I find myself drunkenly gravitating to Studio 13's dance floor, because honestly, where else am I going to dance and find someone to dance upon? Primary complaint: If I have to pay $5 to get into this place, why can't you at least offer up some good drink specials? Never have I walked into Studio and said, "Wow, great drink special!" read more

Seems the bar has undergone a little remodeling here and there over the years, could use a few more updates but over all it's good for Iowa City. The bartenders are nice and mix decently strong drinks. The crowd could use a little nudge here and there, I get that it's a college town but there's no need for the attitude, it is just Iowa City not Chicago, NYC or some large city where you'd expect that. read more

Whoa! Definitely something to experience! Careful in the restroom, you never know... :-) read more

I stood in line tonight for a half hour only to be told there was a $20 cash only cover since I was only 21. I didn't have that and even if I did, a $20 dollar cover on pridefest night is ridiculous. If anything it should be cheaper on pride night. read more

This gay bar seems to not have the pretentiousness and attitudes that the gay bars in the big cities have which is refreshing and nice to experience. Alcoholic drinks are reasonably priced and everyone seems friendly. Anyone that might thinks this bar is pretentious should go to the gay bars in Denver! LOL! Fun music to dance to as well! read more

Friendly staff. I go here quite often and everyone is real nice that works there. The crowd can be a little testy but this bar is in a college town, so the crowd is def. younger, with a mix of a few local. Drag shows on Wednesday (open stage), Friday and Sunday (FREE Pizza!). Daily specials and theme nights as well. Recently underwent renovations and has totally changed the look and feel of establishment. read more

Yesterday on Halloween 2016 . The "Dj" they had was very disrespectful. I asked when my song was coming up next for karaoke. (My neck, My Back) and this pathetic excuse of a DJ answered, and said "maybe if you stop bitching, it'll come on sooner" I didn't even ask a lot of times. I grabbed my friends and we all left so quick. HE IS THE REASON THAT CLUB LOST MONEY. Unacceptable! The only reason I'm giving this place one extra star is because the bartender did a good job. I'll give this place a another chance, but if I see that clown at the Dj booth We walking out and never coming back. POINT BLANK read more

Great staff and fun environment. Yelp is a trash website so reviews are either by people who have an axe to grind or who work at businesses or are friends with people who do so just go for yourself and don't hide behind the internet and be a jerk. I wish I could review yelp, lol. Funny how they don't allow that read more

It's unfathomable how one could seriously enjoy this place, especially if you're over 23. 1) It's so dark that you cannot see your hand in front of your face. 2) The music is so loud that even screaming is inaudible, and your ears will be ringing for hours after leaving. 3) $5 cover every night....IN IOWA CITY????? 4) A mostly-under-25 crowd oozing with attitude and having no idea how to conduct themselves in a bar setting (people don't say 'excuse me' here, they shove and elbow you out of the way) 5) Almost exclusively twinks and faux-wannabe-athletic-frat types and a handful of blootto-drunk over-40 guys pawing at the college boys 6) Often so crowded that you cannot move It's sad that a town that has such a large gay community can't open and sustain a gay bar that caters to people over 25. I never thought I'd say this, but The 620 (IC's gay bar from ???-'98) was a gay bar Mecca compared to the Studio. read more

After being in the bar for over an hour, buying drinks, I was informed that I would need to pay a cover for my partner and myself. I asked the "manager" if that was corect - yes it was. I told the "manager" that I could take my friends and I elsewhere to spend my money. The manager's" reply? "ok. Bye." I strongly encourage readers of this review, gay, bi, tr8 or otherwise NOT to patronize this establishment - PERIOD!!!! I assure you that no one will EVER see me in this place again! read more

The IC Kings are amazing! They are funny, fun and talented show people who challenge gender roles and stereotypes. They perform the last Thursday of each month and its truly a show worth seeing! read more

the environment here could not be more fun. absolutely would recommend, especially on a drag show night!

Cheapish drinks, kind people. There was a bartender at yacht club that would rather speak to his friends than tend the bar, but other than that, it's great. read more

This bar has everything a town like Iowa City needs to remain the liberal community that it is!! I salute the owner and his staff for making this little bar the hub of excitement and entertainment that IS NOT mainstream. From the decor, security, drink specials to entertainment and the crowd it attracts... the studio has it together!! One suggestion, though, how about allowing gay bands or singers to perform their orginal pieces of music? That will most definitely set you apart from the rest. read more

I had a GREAT experience at studio! As a bi-girl there were plenty of LGBT girls there to party with, staff is friendly, drinks are good. I had a rum and coke, a cherry bomb, a vodka soda, a vodka cranberry, a drink i gave him the ingredients to and shots. ALL of those were mixed in nice proportions. It was a BIT crowded but to me that's a good thing, I wouldn't wanna go if it was dead! I had no experience with people being snobby rude or aggressive, it sounds like a lot of these bad reviews are from picky pretentious snobs they claim to hate. The dj was nice when i spoke with him to request a song during a PARTY night and he played it :) The gay guys there were nice the straight guys there with their girlfriends kept to themselves and it was overall a good time. I will definitely return and recommend to others. Note to those who thought the gays were snobby, get over yourselves, I met many new people that I'm still talking to 2 months later. Maybe its not the people in the clubs attitude but your own! Try going to a bar in NYC or LA or Dallas or Tampa or the keys, you'll see what REAL snobby gay people look like. read more

My main issue with Studio 13 is that certain customers get preferential treatment. For example, underage customers don't pay cover. Also, the bartender I dealt with the last time I was there wouldn't honor the special. I didn't complain because it was a matter of a few dollars, but I later meet three twenty year-olds who told me the bartender gave them the special deal, and that they never have to pay cover, which made it seem like this place has a bias toward young (i.e. attractive) underage drinkers. Furthermore, there's this insufferable dick who works there named Brett. He goes out of his way to insult me even though I've never formally met him. The other employees excuse his behavior (although they openly call him an asshole). There have been other shady things that have happened (I go here on a regular basis because it's the only gay bar in IC), but I've gone on long enough. read more

I feel like the truth of this place is somewhat in the middle of these reviews. $5 cover isn't that high in my opinion and the drag shows are usually worth it. I have never payed cover if I've come in the last hour of the bar closing. I've never received attitudes from the higher staff members like the owner or most of security. I do see one bouncers being an asshole sometimes and one of the bartenders is shit at mixing and seems to be a shitty person in general. The best bartender mixing wise is an asshole as well, very twink stereotype. That being said, they have 5 nice bartenders that are good at mixing. The drinks they make taste great and still get you drunk if you want to be. The place can get very crowded and that's when you usually see the pushing described but for the most part people will say excuse me and if you don't here them they may push past you and apologize. The drag queens are all nice and good at what they do except one... and that one is pretty vulgar to the point of borderline sexual harassment. I have seen staff call them out on it, though I don't really understand how they haven't been fired. The people there are great and I don't get the attitude from patrons described so much in these reviews which leads me to believe its the reviewers at fault on that topic. Everyone seems to just want to have fun. Age wise there are a lot of college age people in a college town, weird... but there are also plenty of 30-50 year olds that are just quiet until you talk to them. TLDR; 80% of the staff are nice friendly great people who are good at what they do. Cover is $5 for 21+ and you have a 1 in 6 chance to get a weak or poorly mixed drink. Which then you can just avoid that bartender. Mixed age range that leans towards the college majority slightly. Don't be an idiot and you won't get kicked out. read more

I was looking forward to dancing at this bar for my birthday all week. When my nine friends and I have been frequenting this bar ever since we were 19. When we finished our first drink, we were told to leave. We were not being disruptive or causing problems with anyone. We got no explanation from the extremely rude guy, but headed toward the door anyway. We did not want any trouble. Some of us were physically pushed out of the building even though we all were 100% compliant with the request. The guy was not only yelling at us, but also antagonizing his customers by saying, "Let's go outside and settle this". We did not get our cover back even though we were only there for about half an hour. I have never been treated like this in my entire life. Not only did this person ruin my birthday, but he has successfully lost the business 10 loyal customers of several years. I will spread this story to anyone who will listen because no one deserves to be treated so horribly. read more

We went to his bar to have a good time, and were accosted by an obviously over inebriated owner. He was overly touchy feely, and did not take rejection well. The bar owner and his staff kicked us out and called us derogatory names as we were trying to leave. We will not be back. read more

What fun!! My granddaughter wanted her parents, their friends, and my husband and me to experience the bar on homecoming weekend at Iowa. The show was rather nice. The music was a bit too loud for old ears, but the attitude was fun. The drinks were reasonable in price. The entertainers were wonderful and for the most part beautiful. I loved that smoking was allowed outside and not in the bar! I have no idea if my granddaughter is lesbian or not, I have had my suspicions, but as long as she is happy I will have no complaints. Thanks for a good time!! read more