I haven't been to Thee Stork Club in over 15 years, when did they get rid of all the Barbie dolls? I came here with my friend when KEXP/KEXC was in town and they were broadcasting the Vinelands show live. The bands sounded great, the place was packed to the gills, and the bartenders were trying to keep up with the steady flow of revelers. I didn't make it into the back room with stage and dance floor but heard it was a good time with lots of dancing and vibing. The front room was barely standing room and we were lucky enough to snag seats along the wall that is to Cheryl being there already! Drinks were strong and beer was fresh, I couldn't ask for more. I'm glad these East Bay institutions are still around. read more

Thee Stork Club - KEXP Vinelands LIVE lineup on 4/25/2026. - Dive Bars Near Me - Oakland, California

I'm a big fan strictly on the hours alone. On a Monday night there is no better place - compare to the Cafe Van Kleef or The Legionnaire Disease Saloon - the alternatives are closed Monday and closed an hour early on weekdays and that stinks. I like this place so much because of the hours - sure, they could probably close a little early when its not so profitable on any given weekday but they don't = and I like that - I like that a lot. Beyond what I sense as not strictly focusing on profits I also like the friendly service and space. Its unique and inviting and comfortable. Anybody could find a little space that they are comfortable in here. The location is also perfect - its near other bars and points of interest and late night food options. On a weekend you can blindly head out to this general area but on a weeknight there is only one good place to be and that is here. read more

Holy smokes the taco stand in the back of the stork club goes OFF and one of the owners is celiac so gluten free girlies: you're safe in her hands. read more

Jamie W. and I may have a new favorite dive bar in Oakland, and it's one we've walked by many times bouncing between The Double Standard (review: https://yelp.to/mypEjxHiH5) and Telegraph Beer Garden (review: https://yelp.to/-Jz2MGFUcx). We just erroneously assumed it was just for tattoo-covered bikers and related urban dwellers, but it turned out to be a funky, century-old spot full of mid-century verve and an extra 'e' in the name. It's on Telegraph Avenue in the chill Koreatown/Northgate neighborhood where art and music appear to be thriving between the libations to be had here. We were particularly pleased by the adventurous spirit of the friendly, knowledgeable bartenders holding fort. Jamie and I bellied up to the bar and wanted something like a pina colada and received a pair of the $11 Garfields (photo: https://yelp.to/U85of8_t4y). A Garfield here has vodka, amaretto, whiskey, sour, and orange juice. Tasty. Another bartender made us another off-menu creation, the $12 Bootleg Mai Tais (photo: https://yelp.to/xULs58D8vR). We weren't sure what made them bootleg, but we enjoyed the extra mule kick. There's a separate room with a stage for live music and comedy shows, as well as a red back room with a pool table (photo: https://yelp.to/EB6GYs4gFe). A very chill space. COCKTAILS - 4 stars...creative libations that really worked AMBIANCE - 4 stars...a dive with mid-century flair SERVICE - 4 stars...animated bartenders willing to experiment TOTAL - 4 stars...it's Thee with the extra 'e' RELATED - Exploring Oakland? Here's a collection of places I've patronized and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2ObVcpQ read more

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I love Thee Stork Club! Kudos to their booking team for consistently bringing in great live music and events. Good size space in the main stage area, separate bar area on the side, pool table and booths in the back, plus outdoor seating. The only drawbacks are just 2 bathroom stalls and a stage that is low enough to the ground to make it hard for shorter people like me to see the action unless up front (more of a me problem). Check their listings to catch some great music! read more

This club and venue has several different rooms, a bar area with seating, a dance floor room with plenty of space for shows to take place, and a quieter lounge area in the back with a bit of seating, a pool table, reddish lighting and a furry ceiling! There's even a door off this room leading to a few outdoor tables (though not in use on this rainy day). It was a bit crowded in the bar area this past weekend, but we found ourselves some seats at one of the tables to have a couple drinks. Things I liked about the place... The exterior of the building was inviting, with a mural including some of my favorite characters like Betty Boop and Felix the Cat. The interior created a gothic atmosphere with appealing decor, like a bebe vampire poster and artwork such as the last supper and growling panthers glowing to a black light effect on the wall. The music was lively, with dance pop and songs like Tainted Love filling the air. And staff was helpful and provided sufficient service, while we were able to mingle and meet lots of friendly people. Things I did NOT like so much... $5 cover on a Saturday night (we came after a couple shows earlier in the evening), many of my drink preferences they did not have, ie. no grey goose vodka, and the cocktails we did end up getting were quite sour. There was also a leak from the ceiling on this rainy night, dripping directly onto the booth seating (on people's heads). At least we were able to avoid this. All of that being said, without there being too many great options in Oakland for decent nightlife, I can't complain too much about this spot. It was worth checking out. read more

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A coworker friend's band performed here. It is a cool venue with responsive service and a quiet and powerful HVAC system - it was an odorfree place. The performance area was spacious cozy and had interesting dioramas as decor. Would definitely encourage folks to use the space as a performance venue or mid-week as a unique professional Mixer venue. read more

Dive bar with fun events, a pool table, patio, and sneaky good cocktails. I've tried the whole cocktail menu and I will say it's an upscale, high end cocktail bar in an unassuming atmosphere. They make all the classic cocktails as well, equally good. Retro, dive vibe with silly posters on the wall, shag carpet on the ceiling, and comfy booths to lounge in. Music, drag shows, dating shows, comedy, and more! Bartenders are very chill and serving up the drinks the way I like them. What's not to like? read more

This is a good venue for those who enjoy live music. And actually, however, I don't go there for the music. I go for the good bar. Good drinks. Nice atmosphere. Prices are reasonable. And a shout out to excellent, friendly bartender, Joe. read more

The staff must've made the beer delivery guy angry or something because they don't have clean beer lines. The Racer 5 tasted foggy, muddy, and with a hint of mold. JFC you think a bar would tend to its revenue maker read more

It's been a while since I've been to Thee Stork Club but can see that I will be coming here a lot more frequently. They've been getting lots of great band coming through; most recently I was there for Oakland Weekender and had a great time. What I really like about Stork Club is the dedicate area for the shows and bar/seating area on the left. It helps prioritise everyone's needs--if you want a drink or to sit down and chat with a friend, it's easy to pull away from the stage area. Stork Club is definitely more of a cocktail-oriented bar, but there are some good draft selections available like Ghost Town. Other than that, keep an eye on their calendar and stop by when your next favourite band comes through. read more

Well, it's an honor to write the first review for Eater San Francisco's newly minted Bar of the Year. I remember always being wary of The Stork Club when I lived across the street for a few years, before I finally walked in for a birthday shot and realized punks are nice and the outside was actually a great filter against the tech bros who occasionally come to Uptown to try to seem edgy on First Fridays. I could always rely on a cheap drink from friendly bartenders and interesting conversation with others on the bar stools, so I was actually quite sad to find out that they closed in covid. Thank goodness John Waters and the team behind Eli's revived and transformed the bar into Thee Stork Club. You're immediately hit with a crazy sexy cool vibe upon walking in, facing a beautifully but not garishly lit bar, comfy seating, and superb spooky miniature art installations in the back room. The cocktail list is short and sweet - and some of the drinks are also short and a tad too sweet. Once I landed on the Benjamino, I stuck with it because it was the most balanced - and if you have the tolerance for it, the bartender would very graciously add an extra shot of gin to it and it tastes even better in my opinion. I heard talk of food eventually happening, and cannot wait since I love the (mostly vegetarian friendly!) stuff I've had at Eli's. I haven't been to a show yet, but the music/djs on random occasions I have been in have been great. For now, pool tables are free and overall people have been cool, for a fun but chill time whether it's grabbing a drink with friends during the daytime or on a later, rowdier night out. Most impressive of all has been the staff. The bartender handled an overly drunk guy with the utmost professionalism, making sure I was safe (he was aiming to get handsy), not escalating into a conflict, and moving the guy out without incident. Security at the front was still somehow cheerful and welcoming in the madness of First Friday, and accommodating of dogs (including mine) but making sure everyone was behaving. I'm excited to go back to being a regular. read more

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Walls all covered with art, tagging, talking about liberation and decolonizing spaces... They want punk aesthetics but from the comments and our own experiences they are just another gentrifying, policing space. I was not kicked out, but told my behavior was "disrespectful" because I had pens out while drawing on the walls?? I was truly confused as they continued with "if they [the pens] were in your pocket it would be okay... but you have them all out like some project and that's disrespectful to my bar [truly do not think they are the owner]" proceeded to blow smoke in my face and when I told them I didn't mean to disrespect them and if they feel it's disrespectful, that I can leave they back tracked by telling me I was not kicked out, but that I was being disrespectful and to keep that in mind. If they flat out told me that it was not allowed to draw on the walls and this was an ongoing issue they've had- I'd totally understand. I've been here before- staff have given me and others pens to draw with- I've been complimented by staff and others in the past for drawing. The truly confusing part was the focus on having pens on the tables- telling me I am being disrespectful for something that is normal in the space- and to blow smoke in my face. Power tripping cop behavior- you want a punky dive bar but you get butthurt over something that people actually appreciate about your space? Also does not surprise me that in a group of people participating- including people not in our group- they decide to target the only non white person. Keep cosplaying radical- loser behavior. read more

This is a great place to hang out. Went here for the first time in 2011 for a show. Me and my friends had a great time and there wasn't a lot of pressure to be around other people. I stop in here from time to time. There's various parts of the bar and its possible to smoke in the back area. Great location near other stuff in Downtown Oakland. read more

Came here on an early Thursday evening. It was just 3 other folks at the bar beside myself and a friend. Love the decor inside and it's pretty well taken care of for a dive bar. Music playing at the time was 70s soul (definitely heard a Fatboy Slim sample). Aside from the bar area, there's the main area/dancefloor where shows are held, a pool table, and an outdoor patio area. Pool table was nice and the house cue sticks were in great condition. Be aware that sometimes the cue ball gets stuck but the bartender was nice enough to help when asked. It's a nice bar to have a chill conversation with, at least around early evening time. read more

Beware with your credit card. They charged a total of $190.56 on a $67.25 tab. I visited Thee Stork Club on October 12 to celebrate a friends birthday and was super excited to check this place out! I was the one who recommended we all come here when they first opened. When I want to close out my tab, they could not find my credit card as they had switched over bartenders. When they finally found it, they asked me if I was "x" name and I said I was not. They handed me my card with a receipt wrapped around it with "x" name and I told them again that was not my name. A man at the bar raised his hand and said it was him. I did not realize at the time that they had charged my card to his tab. It was an Asian name and maybe they thought it was mine because I am Asian? They ran my card after I told them my name and I paid my tab. When I went home a week later I realized there was a second charge for $106.50. I always keep my receipts and I provided the staff with my original receipt and an explanation of what happened. I have contacted them on multiple times on multiple platforms. I arrived around 6:30pm and left the bar around 10:30pm (when I closed my tab) but the second tab they claimed belonged to me was closed around 9:00pm. They are claiming I had two simultaneous tabs open. I asked them to check their POS system for when the first drink on the second tab was opened or to check their cameras as I am confident the timing would not line up. I mean, don't they have an original name on the second tab and isn't it clearly not Tiffany? I don't want to write this review. I really just want the incorrect charge canceled. I think it is really unfair to treat their community members like this when we are just trying to support a local business. read more

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Best place for music, meeting cool people and most importantly the staff are the most incredible people. They even answer their phones too!!!! WOW!! Bravo!! read more

No food. Just a grand ol time. Service is cool. Some sick shows. It's dark and grungy inside. Cheap beer. Free game of 8 balls. Beach-like cabanas outside for your smoking pleasure, it's where the cool kids hang out. You wanna be cool? It's fun lining up for the toilet, I call it the flirt zone. The End. PS: Mondays are the best. read more

Thee Stork Club - a band performing on stage - Dive Bars Near Me - Oakland, California

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Usually love coming here for the variety of events but a bartender yelled at me and my friends for having water outside the bar. She told us to go back in after I asked when the drag show was starting and refused to talk to us like humans. read more

Good service, tasty orange flavored drink, and a neat aesthetic! Fun spot that was recommended to us when we were visiting. read more

Thee Stork Club - Dive Bars Near Me - Oakland, California

Drinks were great but the DJ had no chill. I asked "do you do requests?" He said "no bitch!" and gave me the middle finger. He continued with "if you see a DJ spinning wax don't ever ask for requests." The turntable near me wasn't spinning so I didn't realize he was actually using vinyls. Instead of just giving me a normal "nah, I can't," he decided to get aggro. I know some DJ's are touchy when it comes to requests so I made sure to come off as humble as possible and not demanding. EDIT: After the set, I talked to the DJ and he gave me props for recognizing that he played a lot of Justice. Also he wore cat ears. So I raised the review from 2 to 3 stars. read more

Maddie, the best bartender for two reasons... 1. She delivered a better drink than she promised. 2. She is beautiful inside and out (not sure which wins), but she also happens to be quite beautiful and flirty with chubby middle aged Mexican. Just waiting for her ring size. read more

Thee Stork Club - Maddie the baddie - Dive Bars Near Me - Oakland, California

Huge yikes. The staff are rude as hell and the vibe is RANCID because of it. Will not be returning.

Black people who often come here tend to face racist experiences such as drunk yt women pulling their hair/beard in rage, and then the bar staff refusing to kick out the attacker. Or, drunken yt women being mad when a group of young 20-something year old black men decide to ignore her unwanted advances, and decides that cornering them while yelling and calling them rude and imbeciles is appropriate.... Also, have had repeated occasions of the hard R being dropped, including some guy saying "I HATE (slur here) THAT MAKE ME PAY THEIR RENT" or something along those lines, but it had a bunch of the people who witnessed in awe, but mainly the group of nonblack people they were with who were in the bar all laughed it off, and no one reprimanded him, not even staff. Very strange vibe. A lot of my mutual friends attend this place but its very known in the area to be racist. Plus, out front there's people snorting coke and pissing on their neighbor's homes or in the street. It's disgusting. read more

Rude employees and terrible service. I was here to see a band and went to go get some water and a woman who was sitting at the bar eating a full meal starts yelling at me telling me I better not get her food wet while getting a glass of water. She said that people are always letting the water dispenser make a mess and that she knows this because she works there. I had not spilled a drop of water and yet she felt it was okay to be aggressive and mean. She was pissed that people were getting water around her while she was eating her giant meal at the bar. And no she was not on a break. It was rude and unprofessional. I left my card there and call to make sure they have it. The person that answers at 6:00 on a weekday responds with "you will have come here to talk to the bartender" and hangs up on me. It wasn't busy and they could have just checked but instead I have to drive back there to find out. The other awful thing is that the bathroom situation is terrible here. Bars aren't known for their great bathrooms but they are constantly out of service or just so gross you wouldn't use them. They do have a porta potty available in the yard. read more

Lovely decor with some black velvet paintings and a trippy backbar. Friendly service. Pool. Live music. Great spot for drinks after seeing a movie at the New Parkway. read more

This place is dope AF. Very cool "dive bar" that kinda feels like a trashy cousin of the "Madonna Inn" in SLO. They DO appear to have a rule of "NO CREEPS", but considering John Water's involvement with this business, I'm guessing that isn't enforced. Also a great place to catch concerts! read more

One of the best places to see live music in the universe, and they treat musicians well. Plus the staff is incredible and work their butts off. Even when it's slammed on a Saturday the service is great. The bartender Brock specifically makes wonderful cocktails, and their cat also almost saved my life once. read more

Brilliant, incredible, amazing, show-stopping, totally, unique, completely never been done before. Nostalgic retro vibes. Live music. Great sound. Good prices. Nice staff. read more

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The stork is currently my favorite dive bar in Oakland. I worked in West Oakland AutoZone and would drop in for a drink after work for a while before I took a break from life to be an alcoholic, the local town drunk. The stork I feel is much more a comedy club above anything else and I attend the venue primarily for the atmosphere. Shout outs to bar staff Joe, Zoey, Brock, Jazzy, Jay, Courtney, Sylvie, Lu... CHEERS! \m/ \m/ read more

Seen some great bands with lots of really good production, sound and visuals. Not every show is amazing but I am very pleased with the three shows I have seen. They serve pretty inexpensive drinks. I definitely have gotten my money's worth, feeling no pain. Pleasantly weird experience. Very impressive creepy dollhouse. Billiards in the backroom. Generally weird and creepy. read more

My friends and I came here on a whim after celebrating a new job and someone's birthday. Unknowingly it was goth night! (I'm a goth girl at heart even though I don't dress as extreme as I did in my youth. I was still in all black though) My mostly crew were definitely outliers. Despite the fact... from the crowd at the bar, bartenders, and the dance floor everyone was just super chill and welcoming. Such a great experience for sure and I got to dance to music I haven't heard played at a club in a long while. I love you Thee Stork Club. read more

This bar is pretty chill. Came here on a Friday. The weird thing was they only had one bar tender serving the whole bar in the front. Seems like an odd setup for one of the busiest days of the week. Other than that, if you need an small place to just chill with your friends, this spot will fit that bill. read more

Bartender was so rude. Made me cry my eyes out on the way home. Promise will never come back because of my anxiety. Btw I spent more than $100 to drink there. Their name was Brock and they were standoffish to me all night. read more

Oh yeah! Weird hostile vibe from staff. Check. Bartender who makes drinks without alcohol because they don't like you. Check. The worst bathroom situation known to man. Check. At least a real dive bar the staff are usually real ones. The staff here are pretentious hipsters who only care about folks who they perceive as cool. Nightmare of a place really. read more

Honestly a bummer I liked this place but the staff was weird and rude. Came here with some freinds to drink and draw outside on the wall. Literally last time we were here the staff let us borrow sharpies to draw with and the whole outdoor if like floor to ceiling drawings and tags poems random boob and dicks kinda vibe. We brought some markers and were sitting at a table and some guy just calls, "You, hey you, blondie," (referring to me, I'm trans by the way and this felt hella gendered) and proceeds to tell me where not to draw... which was not in fact anywhere I was drawing, and also like literally to tall for me to even reach? Idk he just seems like he wanted to assert some weird ass power play. I just showed him where I was drawing and he left. Then like 10 minutes later the (I assume bar tender comes out) asks us if we are having fun. I give her a nice yeah! And then she like lingers I thought it just watch, and randomly starts at my partner and says that it is disrespectful to have markers out on the table. We had like maybe 10 markers? And on a table we were sitting at. Also it was dead like lots of open tables. Then we were really confused, and she went on to say that if we had them in our pockets it would be fine but "I can't let you disrespect my bar by having this out on the table" like we were just so confused. We said it's fine we would just go and she tried to tell us no that we can stay just wanted us to understand why it was disrespectful. Again felt like some weird powertrio where she wanted us to like apologize and take being scolded? Also my partner is the only non white person in the group and she like only spoke to them that way even though I was the first to speak with her so that's a fucking red flag. Also we are all legit artist and we're making cool shit, being respectful of the space and only drawing in small gaps that hadn't been filled? It was so weird and gross felt like some cop behavior. Won't go back. read more

Classic spot reimagined. Solid cocktail programs and Joe was awesome behind the bar. I'm really glad they brought life back into this space. I need to come check out a show read more

The owners a good dude from what I've witnessed, and I've been several times. I'm not happy that I paid $12 tonight, for a cover, to stand in a line and not get a beer. Left and went down the street. Not giving a 0 bcz I'm sure the owner would have made things right if he'd been there, even though I feel like I was robbed tonight... read more

black girls have to wait, but white girls can go in whenever they want!! showed my ID at the bar but was still harassed by security... who wasn't doing his job. bartender was sick though! true baddie read more

Thee Stork Club - the crappy security guard will remember me :) - Dive Bars Near Me - Oakland, California

Courtney literally made me had the best night in so long. I'm so appreciative for her excellent service and fantastic drinks. Fun vibe overall well! Thanks !!! read more