First time visiting for a concern this past weekend. The space is intimate and has great acoustics…read more I liked how the sofas and other furniture were all mismatched - adds to the esthetic! Our event was 2 hours long, and it was BYOB. Towards the back there are high chairs with seating so if you come early could grab those and settle down with your drinks. It did get a little warm in the afternoon as they turn the fans off during the performance, which makes total sense, but overall enjoyed our time here and would come back for another performance. It's also close to a ton of restaurants and cafe's, and the BART station is just a few blocks away. There is a parking lot around the corner if you're driving.

Extremely rude manager, his name is sam. Saying at the beginning of the show "...you may dislike…read moresome of these songs... this show is not for famous people... I mean there's nobody here in the audience, but hey it's intimate" finding out he then SHAMED the artists before hand for only selling a handle of tickets. In the MIDDLE of a set he then interrupts up when two artists are about to sing into a mic together. I cannot believe that someone who runs a small business space for indie/small music artist to treat musicians with such disrespect

I've been taking classes (playing in bands) here for four years. Gotten me back on track in terms…read moreof my playing. It's also becoming a good place to hear concerts, hard to find any creative music venues these days.

A wonderful place to improve your playing skills. Great teachers and fellow musicians.read more

Love it! I've seen some amazing concerts here and been seated right by the musicians I joined the…read morefreight singers and really enjoy everything about this place!

We saw Keola Beamer and Henry Kapono recently. It was our first visit to the Freight since they…read moremoved ever so long ago. This is truly a nice venue to see music. The staff is friendly; parking is convenient next door in the garage; plenty of restaurants nearby. There were also a few snack items and drinks available for sale. I was bummed that perhaps customer service and management aren't completely in synch with their own policies. I had written and asked if photography would be allowed since this was a Hawaiian show. I wanted to bring in one camera with an attached lens, no flash to take photos for personal use only. I was told that the policy was no photography was allowed. On the night of the show, the last announcement before the show started, was that non-flash photography was welcome. Oh well.

We visit Sliver whenever we come to Berkeley and it never disappoints. The pizza is always hot and…read morefresh and the flavors are great! Previously I wouldn't have liked that you only have one pizza flavor to choose from, but they've all been great and with the green sauce, even better! The service is always fast and friendly, though I will say we tend to pop in during odd hours of the day (like mid afternoon) so it's never crowded when we go. The interior is clean enough and pretty spacious. A good place to hang out with friends and enjoy some pizza.

I am going to be honest here, and I am not a fan. I don't usually like pizza, but my standards are…read morehigh. The pizza is THIN and greasy, the flavor is completely overshadowed by the grease, you can't even taste the flavors of the pizza and toppings because of the sheer layer of GREASE on each slice. It is disappointing to say the least. The sauce they give you for their white pizza has random hints of spice but is, for the most part, flavorless. The pizza took a while to be ready (3 pizzas), and every drink option I attempted to order was out of stock. There are many seating options and the space is well decorated, but that cannot make up for the dish they served.

Ok, Starry Plough..I see you!…read more Recently one of my besties sent me a text and mentioned they were heading to the Starry Plough for an open mic night. Obvs, I attended! I hadn't been there in what seems like forever, and was pleasantly surprised to see such a cool presence of community show up. From stand up, to live music and spoken word, it was awesome to see such talented locals. There is also on the last Sunday of every month, Kid's Music. We recently attended this event and it was so fun. We ordered Cottage Pie, Homemade Chicken Strips with Fries/dipping sauces, and of course a Guinness. They had multi-color balloons to blow up, and two artists came and sang with instruments/passed out music shakers for the kiddos/and story time too. It was such a fun and interactive experience for the whole family to enjoy. Looks like they have programming everyday of the week too! From Irish dance, trivia, Grateful Dead Jam Sesh, and more..can't wait to come back again soon for their fresh taps, community vibes, and those yummy fries. Would love to try the House Mac & Cheese too.

I was looking for an excuse to patronize this Irish pub and thought I found one when I started…read moredeveloping a wintertime hankering for Irish coffee. Alas, when Jamie W and I popped over after our gym routine, we asked for one only to discover they don't have a full liquor license by choice. The owners want to keep the peace with their mostly residential neighbors. I get it, but I did miss my whiskey. Instead we got our $11 pints of Guinness and we most certainly weren't disappointed (Photo 6). In fact, it got us in such a Gaelic mood that we decided to have lunch here and ordered the $18 plate of Corned Beef & Cabbage. It was a welcome sight when it arrived, but I have to share that the four thick slices were on the tough side. The cabbage and braised carrots were gratefully better. The standout though was probably the mashed potatoes topped with green onions (Photo 8). That was because it reminded me of comfort food from the days of yore since my yore is further back than most. The vibe was certainly convivial enough, though we were here just after they opened on Saturday. I imagine it must get quite festive when there's live music and the community gathers. FOOD / DRINK - 3 stars...corned beef kinda tough, whiskey was missing AMBIANCE - 3 stars...definitely a pub but too early to enjoy SERVICE - 3.5 stars...the guys are nice here TOTAL - 3 stars...well check them out when musicians are in the house RELATED - Exploring Berkeley? Here's my collection of places l've patronized and reviewed: https://yelp.to/45MBYEe_XO

Hella Fitzgerald was a huge hit at our son's Bar Mitzvah. We wanted live music as opposed to a DJ…read moreand we couldn't have been happier with their performance! Every musician in the band was outstanding. They accommodated all of our requests, including an extra long hora. :) All of our guests loved them and it was so refreshing to have 'real' music at our daytime event. Their price was extremely reasonable to boot! We highly recommend Hella Fitzgerald - they were fantastic!

A musician's dream!…read more Per the recommendation of our wedding planner, we worked with Hella Fitzgerald for our wedding in Big Sur, CA in August 2023. One of the best decisions we made for our wedding. I am a musician myself and had a lot of specifications for what I wanted throughout our ceremony, first dance, and dancing portions of the evening. And I mean a LOT of specifications! Music is something I am very particular about. Lilan worked closely with me on everything from which 2nd singer to hire to match the feel we wanted (the band works with various singers) to learning new songs that we had requested to adjusting songs to specific BPMs!!! She never seemed to lose her patience with me and would text me randomly with ideas or singer leads. One time she even texted me a couple vocal riffs she sang into her phone to see what I would prefer. We wanted a fun, sexy, big band feel and a talented group of musicians who could perform soul, Latin, swing, R&B, and everything in between. That is exactly what we got. We never left the dance floor. Thank you HF!

We had the absolute pleasure of hosting Daniel Fries as our guest guitarist on January 31, 2026,…read moreand his performance exceeded all expectations. Daniel fully embraced our Spanish genre theme and delivered an outstanding four hours of beautiful, engaging music that our guests truly enjoyed. I've worked with several performers in the past, and Daniel met--and surpassed--every expectation I had, as well as those of our guests. His talent, professionalism, and ability to create the perfect atmosphere made the event a memorable success. We are very much looking forward to working with Daniel again in the near future for our upcoming events, and I would highly recommend him to anyone seeking a talented and reliable guitarist.

Absolutely amazing. Professional and entertaining. A great group of men who are extremely talented…read morewho love what they do. Highly recommend!

D-e-a-a-o, Daylight come and me want go home...at 80, Belafonte is tireless in his humanitarian…read moreefforts as an activist and was the recipient of the first Berkeley Jazz Icon award. And yes, the man graced us with a verse of the song he will eternally be equated with. This tribute was a real treat in the midst of a concert that brought out many artists that we have scarcely seen since the seventies. It was as if time stood still as Randy Crawford belted out 'Street Life', accompanied by Joe Sample. A wave of nostalgia washed over me as Roy Ayers, Jean Carne, Lonnie Liston Smith, Wayne Hendersen and one of my favorite singers, Jon Lucien performed, and still has an amazing rich and deep voice. It seems like yesterday, when we would bring the rice balls, chicken, potato salad, and fruit salad, feasting while we drank in the rich sounds of Grover, Donald Byrd, Pieces of a Dream, Miles, Stanley Clarke, and countless other jazz greats over a 3 day lineup sitting high up on the hill overlooking the tower, the San Francisco bay in the background and feelin' the 420 buzz...yes, those were the days...excuse me while I get out my vinyl and reminisce. update: we lost another great artist...Jon Lucien passed just a few days after this concert...bless you for your gift to us all...RIP

Was attending a A Film Festival at La Peña Cultural center. We saw "We Love here" and "Black Joy"…read moreand several other short films. The venue was sold out.

What a cool place! I've been to La Pena a couple of times for a few community shows…read more Parking: it's located somewhat in a neighborhood so it's all street parking. We were able to easily find one just a couple of blocks down. Just be prepared to walk a little bit to the center. The theater/main space is intimate but can hold a crowd. There's no bad seats in the house though. I've sat in the back and in the front and have always had a great view. They're connected to Los Cilantros restaurant (or maybe it's their restaurant) that offers delicious Mexican food and drinks. We were able to take anything we ordered into the main/theater space as well so we could enjoy it during the show. Love their lineup of shows and support for local community efforts. Looking forward to supporting more and more shows here to come!