I visited Brown Sugar because I was drawn to the idea of live jazz and missing the wonderful jazz bars I went to in Prague. So I mentioned it to one of my hostel mates and we headed out, early, in the hopes of getting good seats and being able to get dinner before it got packed and before they stopped serving it. But I really overestimated how much anyone else enjoyed Jazz or that people would arrive early. When we arrived there was no one there. The whole restaurant was empty, the cafe, everything. There were movies playing on the tv’s and music in the background and a disco ball spinning and sending lights everywhere. It was like being extremely early or really late to a school dance, everything is ready, all up still and just absolutely no other living soul but the people working who really don’t want to talk to you. We ordered their curry and an appetizer set to split.
We asked if the curry was spicy and were answered with a sort of riddle that we first took as “we can make it not spicy if you want” but ended up with something neither of us could stomach. Plus it was watery and I just do not like soupy-watery curry. Our appetizer was fries, mozzarella sticks and spring rolls and the spring rolls were really good. A lot of things we asked about they didn’t have, even though we were there before the menu said they stopped serving it. Overall the food wasn’t enjoyable.
We were there long enough to listen to some jazz. Or at least some of the opening act. A few more people came in, but still not a lot. It was mostly couples. The music was good, we were just a bit disappointed with everything and ended up leaving before it got even close to having a decent sized crowd.
My suggestion is to go with a lot of friends, get drinks and maybe an appetizer if there’s some you want to split and just enjoy the music. The drinks are pricy and the service isn’t great but the music’s pretty good. They stop serving dinner and that’s one of the reasons we went so early. Eat before you go, nurse one drink the whole night, maybe try some absinthe if you really want to, but don’t hope for great food and don’t go too early if you want to enjoy Jazz. Most of the days of the week the live Jazz doesn’t start till 8:30pm. A bit earlier on Fridays and Saturdays.
The Brown Sugar restaurant opens with a cafe and the cafe looks a lot more enjoyable to me then the bar I went to. It was still open when we left but we didn’t try anything, but there’s terrace seating and a more relaxed atmosphere with Thai coffee and cakes.