Sweaty bodies. Boys with no shirts on. People dancing up in yo' grill. Boys kissing boys. Boys…read morekissing girls. Lasers beaming. This all equates to a standard night at Arq. Arq is a great place to come when you need a night off from the sleazy, drunk, why-are-you-still-in-my-face men who hit on you at every other bar, club or pub in Sydney. It is a prime place to take to the dance floor and move like no one is watching (they're not). Need a confidence boost? Compliments get thrown around here more than men up against the wall. My only complaint is the entry ($20). Are places in Sydney really still insisting that it is privilege to be on their premises? Get with the times people, not even the hottest clubs in New York City charge an entry fee! If you are a boy looking for a boy, you will be found at Arq. If you are a girl needing a night off from boys, you will be found at Arq. If you are a boy looking for a girl, you probably shouldn't but most likely will still be found at Arq. No judgement here. Everybody is out wanting to have a good time.

I'll be the first to admit that gay bars and clubs are not always the best. They are not the most…read morechill places out there and I tend to miss seeing live bands and hearing my favorite rock or indie songs. Having said that if you want to have a wild night out with some of the biggest party people in Sydney then this is the place to go. Arq is a multilevel club in the gayberhood of Oxford street. It's mainly for gay guys (sorry girls) but there are always plenty of friends and supporters here too. I've been a number of times with straight mates who had just as much fun (maybe more so) than me - it's definitely a welcoming place for all types. On the bottom level there is a darker night club style room that to me always seems a bit too small. The smokers alley adjacent to this room is great for chatting to people though. Upstairs there is a huge dance hall with a balcony. Drinks are pretty standard, prices are night club standard. Just remember to check Sydney's current lock out laws and drink laws or you might get stranded outside or not allowed certain drinks at certain times.

Away from the grime of Oxford Street, Lo-Fi provides a safe haven of trendy people, slick drinks…read moreand smooth tunes. The balcony is probably the highlight, with 80% of the patrons drinking, talking and hitting on each other out here. Inside there are lounges running along a significant length of room and allow for a more chilled out lounge session. I usually come on a Sunday when it is less busy but no less enjoyable. The Ginger Ninja cocktail jug is an incredible explosion of lychee and ginger beer. Winner! Upstairs at Lo-Fi Collective there are lowbrow art exhibitions promoted every so often. Checkout their Facebook page (http://facebook.com/pages/Lo-fi-collective/140757972621366) and get yourself to one of the opening nights. Just sit back, have a beer and experience this creative space.

I was blindly led to Darlinghurst on Saturday night after having a couple of drinks. Not knowing…read morewhere I was, my friends and I exited the taxi and went straight up to Lo-Fi, which is located above Kinselas. With no expectations, I was quite impressed with the hip atmosphere and the artsy crowd of attractive 20-somethings. Like a warehouse that skipped on its electricity bill, the place is dark and spacious, but certainly not empty. The bar is clustered, yet colorful, and the blackboard on the wall is scribbled to the brim with food and drink items. They offer a multitude of retro and inventive cocktails, and the hipster bar staff appeared capable in executing these drinks to perfection. There's a large balcony that offers views of Taylor Square, allowing you to spy on the sloppy messes trying to navigate Oxford Street. I felt lucky to be up here. From what I remember, the music was primarily 90s and RnB, all coming from a pretty decent speaker system. I kinda shrugged of confusion when I heard 'errybody in the club getting tipsy,' reminded briefly of when that song was played at my high school dances of yesteryear. So I just busted out my high school moves. Up the stairs from the main bar, there's a whole other room with a large dance floor and high ceilings, decor in the same vein as below. Except that there are ping-pong tables behind the bar! Great thinking.

Used to be amazing. Unfortunately it's no longer the gritty, underground club it once was and is…read moreinstead a sterile bar that happens to have a dancefloor. The primary cause of these issues is staffing and security, which the venue unfortunately hugely struggles with. Security are all externally provided and they are inconsistent in ability and approach. They don't understand the vibe of the venue or its clientele, and don't have the chance to build up a rapport with locals and regulars. I recommend avoiding this place, and would warn against pre-purchasing tickets: you just don't know who is going to be on shift that night and therefore what the vibe is going to be.

The bouncer did not let us in providing no legitimate reason except "I don't want you in here and I…read moredon't need a reason." Literally, no reason, we were sober, polite, well-dressed young professionals. It was pure discrimination and profiling. If I could give 0 stars, I would.

Just another loud and dark club, although the atmosphere is full, loud, and cosy, you'd think that…read moreit would be fun and interesting. The dance floor is a little too big for the crowd, and the odd columns around the venue make it feel disjointed and dancing feel forced. The strange stairwell makes you feel that you're walking into an awesome venue, and cover charge must imply that something great is happening downstairs. But, unfortunately, all that is just buzz, it's not that great, it's a bit of a try-hard club. I wouldn't only recommend this place to someone whose interesting in dub, or interested in drugs, or not interested in talking to people. It's not my scene, but it may be yours - no judgement.

If you like your clubs hot, dirty, dingy, loud and underground, you'll like Candy's. Step down into…read morethe cave-like club, the loud music and energetic dancing crowd immediately engulf you. Candy's is a real underground club, it provides a unique offering of both live music and dance music. It's also quite an unpretentious club, in terms of decor and clientele, the atmosphere is pretty relaxed, with a fun and friendly vibe. The music is pretty loud though so don't expect to have many in depth conversations. The low cave-like ceilings, and a variety of nooks and curtained off areas, central dance floor and overall bunker style gives the club character and adds to the experience. Worth a visit, Candy's has great staying power, managing to hold its ground on the Cross night scene for years.

I went last weekend the first time to this location and have to say that's an amazing place to go…read morecrazy! Very nice people and friendly staff in this location and I find they have a awesome show for their guest's. I really loved this night with my friends. We tried the different dance floors but unfortunately we found the pool area at last. :( Next time we will go first to the pool floor... They play house, dance, black and RnB but not sure which type of music they play on the pool floor. Big minus for the entry prices what is $40 but you can buy tickets only for $35. Price for drinks are still okay between $5 to $8 but I tried just Beer and Bourbon. All in all a very awesome location which I can just suggest. For me a place you must see in Sydney.

Most pretentious, dirty and overpriced club in Sydney. Honestly don't understand how they can…read morecharge over $30 for entry, $12 for spirits & then not have a working toilet in the whole establishment. Security is everywhere, yet still doesn't manage to weed out all the girls and guys that can't stand up straight, and the guys who think sexual harassment is a norm when a girl has a drink in hand. To add, the Music is below average. Definitely not worth a single dollar to get into that place- if I could rate less than one star I would. You'd have a better time going to a pub in Penrith and sinking beers with the boys than going here- and you'll still have a full bank account afterwards.

Don't go! Manager is on a hair trigger to create trouble!…read more Security forcibly manhandled us out of the club, because the manager thought we were high on drugs or heavily drunk. (I had a lemon lime and bitters, other 2 had a cyder. No other alcohol prior to visiting the club. And aren't the drug-taking type!) Even after explaining we were perfectly sober to the security guard, the manager said no to re-entry, and decided to change his story to "erratic" dancing endangering other people! We are in our early 60s! Our dance was hip-hop moves! It's a dance club! How do you determine what dances are acceptable and others not?? Manager just decided to target us for some unknown, and nonsensical reason. We are owed an apology and what we got back was nasty responses from a manager who is very vindictive. Other recent reviews are also showing similar stories of bad judgment calls, making stuff up out of thin air - All part of Michael the manager!

Went out to enjoy this establishment with some friends but we weren't let in because of our race…read moreand nationality. They said we don't do big groups and security showed me their policy and I read it and no where there said anything about big groups. Moreover, we were not even that large. When I went to ask as question the security guard refused to talk to me and brushed us off. While another group behind us was let in. I would not recommend going.

So I was pretty smashed on a Saturday evening at some seedy-underground art event in Chippendale…read morewhen my cohort sent me a text to come out to Chinese Laundry. I'm not one for clubbing, but being as inebriated as I was, I replied with an expletive followed by way too many exclamation marks - it looked something like "F*CK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Upon arriving at the corner of Sussex and King street, we had to carefully maneuver or way down a flight of stairs before falling into one of two (2) lines: "Guestlist" and "You're Paying Cover Dumbass"... unfortunately for us, we queued in the latter. $25 dollars later, we're walking into this grimy, balls-sweating, dark-as-night room with the loudest bass your ear drums can endure.. IT WAS AWESOME!!! Whoever the DJ was that night, he was laying down some pretty sick electro-house remixes. I made my way down the hallway to the toilets and guess what I found? Another room! A smaller room with a decent bar setup. The music was more down-tempo trance - a dungeon for druggies to chill out on whatever they're tripping on. Upstairs in the smoking patio, they had a DJ spinning Hip Hop & Top 40. Lighting is a lot better and there's a tiny dancefloor by the DJ booth if you're up to getting your groove on. Definitely a more relaxed area to chit chat with your friends and cool off before you head back down to break your neck in the main room. $25 is pretty steep for a club and this was definitely more fun because I was intoxicated. So fellas, bring your ladies here if you want to dance, not to have a romantic night out. Be sure to bring shoes you don't mind getting dirty and PLEASE WEAR SOME DEODORANT!!!!!!!!!!!!

No other venue in Sydney seems to cater to so many different genres…read more The downstairs area really does feel like a real club. Low ceilings, great speakers and loud music. While outdoors there's a fantastic beer garden which is big enough to let you breathe but filled with enough people to give it a buzz. Not to mention the cool air as you walk out from the hot inside area. Upstairs (when I was there last) had some RnB playing and so pertained to a bit more sleaziness on the D-floor. But it really does offer so many different alternatives for many different types of people so you can easily slip off and find some much nicer people to talk to! The drinks are quite expensive, but you'll be guaranteed a good night.

Home got me pretty divided at the first impression. Mainly because of the security which is rude…read moreand acting stupidly. The security which ask me : "you come to club and you don't have cash" with sarcasm when I ask if you can pay the entrance with card. They wanted me to go grab cash and do the queue again, fortunately one security guy let me enter and withdraw (inside bar or club you have a fee though...) Don't expect security to do their job properly they are rude and acting stupid. But once the security pass you will discover why they might act like this. The place is huge ! I come through Homebar and thought that I paid 15$ for this small place and finally discovered their was an other floor with deep house, then an other room with rnb, and then a huge room with house, commercial music (but it was a nice mix and good music). One waiter was arrogant and acting like a real ass*le when my friend ordered a drink. I decide to check the other bar and their were great. Smiling, friendly and automatically giving you a glass of water ! Be careful of the price my friend ordered whisky Coke and paid 20$ I asked for Jameson Coke and paid 10.... Had a lot of fun in this club and went back fews time for great night, the only problem is security, but once they know you they are more easy and friendly. Some advices: Be ready to dress elegant as they are not scared to refuse people (girls included) and be careful if you have a ticket, home bar entrance is on the left home club entrance is on the right. And go early before 10:30.

one star. no comment nothing, I mean sure the service was amazing and worth 5 stars but I never…read moreactually went there so I cant exactly comment on the service. but the bartenders were lowkey tuff and I loved the service from them. the food was brilliant and I ate well, enjoy ur good review with your bad stars to go with your amazing ambience.

THE WORST PLACE. went in for Mardi Gra party. was in line from 10-1am. No further measures were put…read morein place to accomodate afterthe official MG party closed. Rooms overcrowded and over boooked. security and safety hazards all round. trip carpets, having to use the fire escape stairs to access other areas of the club. I'm talking 5 flights. Was the worst night of my life. Ivy would put profit over having a safe event and that was clear. reaching out them for a refund for the night as the whole event was a catastrophe. there are many other clubs in Sydney to enjoy. just stay clear of this because you will not have a good time.

number 551 deserves a raise, looked after me the the whole night whole my bf was driving to pick me…read moreup. we talked about how hard maccas would rn!!!!!! ivy l needs to lower their drink prices but this security is so wholesome !!! #love noelle

You'll find Home Bar in Darling Harbour, right on the wharf, beside Home Nightclub. Although the…read morevenue is quite small for a bar in the CBD, the atmosphere is excellent. They have live music playing at around 9pm, which can get on the loud side, but never fear, there is outdoor seating, away from the noise! Although I caution against sitting there in winter, there are no heaters and harbourside can get bitterly cold. The drinks are fairly cheap, the crowd is friendly enough, and the ambience is pleasant. It's a nice bar to unwind at after a long day at work, or to wind up at before hitting up a more exciting venue.

Eh, I'm too old for this place. Went recently for a Christmas party and realised it wasn't my scene…read moreanymore. If you're into clubs, go nuts, it's not a bad one.