Don Hills

01/31/11

Rude

by deepred66

The worst, I am from out of town and was looking to have fun. Took a taxi to this dive and it wasn't open yet, waited around for an hour at a bar down the street . When they finally opened drinks are expensive and tasted horrible, staff was very rude and unwelcoming . Please don't waste your time here unless your an uptight jerk with a frown on you face and think you better than everyone!

02/23/10

Great new spot for reggae parties - 2nd Friday of each month

by Reggaeholics2010

Don Hill's came alive with the energy and infectious pulse of Reggae music when the REGGAEHOLICS dance parties started in July 2009. A multi-cultural and multi-racial crowd packs the place the 2nd Friday night of every month for the celebration. Everyone seems to have a great time. The show features jamming, high energy Reggae sets by renown underground turntable masters, and occasionally live performances by established and up and coming artists. Admission is reasonably priced, with frequent discount perks, drinks specials, groups and party offers. Don Hill's Rocks on Reggae nights!

• Pros: Great sound, great lighting, spacious, a decent sized stage.
• Cons: Not every night.

11/15/08

Way past it's prime and not worth the aggravation

by ktobiassen

When people say "New York just isn't cool anymore," Don Hill's is exactly the sort of place they are talking about. I went here recently for the first time in many years to hear a friend's band. They were the first band up, and we arrived 15 minutes before show time. Even though the doors allegedly open 1/2 hour before the first act, they made us stand outside for about an hour with no explanation except annoyed glares. Many people simply left and took their business elsewhere. When they finally let us in, the humorless a-hole of a doorman scanned our IDs and actually took photos of us. So uncool and lame, but apparently that is their policy -- treat everyone like a criminal. It really made me wistful for the old days when no one even checked IDs (sigh).... Everyone in this crowd was at least 35, by the way. Now, I expect drinks to be pricey at a club, so I was not shocked to learn that they charge $7 for their lousy selection of bottled beer. However, the beer was spoiled skunk water. If you're going to overcharge, at least don't have the cojones to serve something that is spoiled. Worst of all, they made the band guarantee a certain number of paying customers -- OR THE BAND PAYS. Yes, the band has to pay the club for the privilege of playing there. Which is the craziest, most messed up band policy I have every heard. The only bright note: the band sounded great and they do have a nice sound system, stage, and lights. Too bad I was too annoyed to enjoy it.

• Pros: good sound system, big stage
• Cons: staff is very rude, the beer is spoiled, they treat their bands very poorly

09/03/08

One of the things that are overpraised.

by rightguard18

I would say, this place is just an average club. Yes, I admit, the equipment is quite good and sound is cool, but let me regard people who work there: I would pretty much agree with the majority of people who went there with me - the staff is rude and really careless of their visitors/customers, so be aware of it if you plan to go.

• Pros: Equipment and club/bar environment
• Cons: Rude staff

07/25/08

BAD experience

by DonHillsSuxx

I am in a band and was very excited about the opportunity to play at this well known club. We had heard some bad things about the club prior to the show (the door guy has a reputation for being an a##hole) but we figured it didn't matter and tried to stay positive. When we arrived, we were impressed with the big stage and high-quality sound equipment. But...the people were rude. Drinks were overpriced, even for NYC - $9 for a Washington Apple with hardly any alcohol). They had the set times for the bands screwed up and we were told to go on suddenly, without warning. We didn't get a sound check or a line check, just some rude comments from the sound guy rushing us to play. We were treated poorly by the sound guy, who was rude, inattentive and did an inadequate job. We had to use their equipment, which malfunctioned during the show, and we received no help from the staff to fix it, which was very awkward and unprofessional. Their electricity was not grounded properly and I got shocked from the microphone. The sound guy did such a lackluster job that my friend approached him twice during the show and asked if he realized that obviously something was wrong, and the sound guy almost punched my friend! After our performance, we were rushed off the stage and we did not get paid, as the discourteous door guy informed us that we had to bring a minimum of 30 PEOPLE to the show to get paid, which is not true. We left immediately after we finished with a bad taste in our mouths from the awful experience. We will never play at Don Hill's again. Such a shame because the stage and venue were very impressive. They had enough lights and sound equipment for an arena in there, and when we first walked inside, we got very excited (they even had a fog machine). Too bad the sound guy did not pay attention and did not know how to use such an impressive setup the way it was meant to be used.

• Pros: Cool stage
• Cons: Incompetent and rude staff, inadequate use of impressive sound system, overpriced drinks