Charlie's Phoenix

"We went for drag bingo, and had a lot of fun due to the prizes and the fact that the bar staff was so friendly! A lot of people orchestrating the bingo were amazing. The drinks weren’t great but considering it was happy hour and the fact that the staff was so amazing I can overlook that but the queens were not fun to interact with. There were two queens, Piper was definitely carrying it, Adriana was the other queen and even when I went on stage with them I was definitely giving them a lot to bounce off of and only Piper would manage to volley. I would definitely go back, I still had an overall great time due to the audience and bar staff but definitely not loving the entertainment."

"I came here with a few good friends while visiting town, and I had never been here before. I haven't been back to Tempe in 3 years, after spending 5 years here getting my master's. I usually have so much fun at gay bars. I love every other gay bar I've been to. I didn't expect to end up in tears by the time I left, despite only having two drinks beforehand. Before we even decided to come to the bar, I was aware that women are charged a cover at the door. I thought it was a cool change of pace, and I was all for it. Ready to pay $10 to get into a gay bar and hangout with my gay friends. I'm excited. I was going to order a round of drinks for me and a couple of my friends, so I went up to the bar. The bartender took a very long time to ask me what I wanted. I was standing at the bar for a while, there was a balloon in front of me, so I started poking it. I was bored. The bartender finally made eye contact with me, paused to allow me to tell him what I want, and I asked for the drinks. Immediately, he said, "I don't think I should serve you right now. I saw you playing with the balloon." I have no idea what that means. I told him, "I was bored. I have ADHD" because I do. I was peeved, a little upset, knowing that I didn't do anything wrong or disturb anyone. I get that my presence there is disturbing, but come on, I should be able to have a good time with my friends. I turned around and told my friends what happened, and they gladly supported me in not ordering from that area and moving on to another one. Everyone agreed that bartender did not deserve any tips. We moved to another area of the bar, and I was starting to feel better after the unfortunate encounter I'd just had. My friends walked up to this other bar, ordered their drinks, received them, and paid for them. I walked up to the exact same location, and the bartender paused and said, "The end of the line is back there," and pointed towards the back of the giant crowd in the area. Right after all my friends just got their drinks. I have no idea why I was treated so poorly. I was not there to pester anyone, I sent and received positive vibes to and from every other person in the crowd. I enjoyed the music; I was there to dance. I had been having a great time before speaking to the employees. I did not deserve to be treated the way I was. I turned away from the bar, and I couldn't help but let tears stream down my face. I told my friends what happened exactly, and we all came to the same conclusion: we don't want to purchase any more drinks. We left right after that. I have never experienced discrimination like this in my life, and I will never come here again. I would advise women to stay away. Men, if you like that type of vibe, the kind that excludes nice people who are simply trying to exist amongst friends/have a good time, then more power to you. I'll never support this establishment again. Coming here felt like moisturizing with sandpaper."

"It’s so fun with drag queen show, dancers and the drinks are good"

"One, if not the, best gay bars in the valley. Large dance floor inside, and an outdoor patio. On Friday nights they have gogo dancers, and the drinks are pretty reasonably priced."

"Went in on a quiet night with a friend. It was average but kinda dead when we went in. Looked to be quite large though so I can imagine it’s fun when busy. Had some personality but hard to say cause it wasn’t hopping. Only had a beer and left."