Rich's San Diego Bars & Clubs in San Diego – GayOut Guide
Gay Bars & Clubs LGBTQ+ Friendly

Rich's San Diego

GayOut (30) 4.3
Google (331) 3.5
Tripadvisor (16) 3.9
What reviewers say

Visitors often praise Rich's for its fun vibe, good music, and diverse crowd, with some enjoying the energetic atmosphere and even bringing family. However, a significant and recurring complaint involves security personnel, with multiple guests reporting issues like being unfairly denied entry, experiencing rude or unprofessional behavior, and even allegations of theft and inappropriate touching by staff.

79
/ 100
GayOut Score
4.3 G3.5 🦉3.9
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Address
1051 University Ave, Hillcrest, San Diego, CA 92103
📞
Phone
+1 619-295-2195
🌐
Website
richssandiego.com
💰
Price Range
$$
🟢
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About this place Rich's San Diego

Rich's San Diego is the gay dance club that Hillcrest needs to be a complete gay neighbourhood — the venue that offers a proper nightclub experience rather than a bar, where the dance floor is the purpose and the DJs are the product. Rich's has been operating on University Avenue long enough to have outlasted multiple waves of San Diego nightlife trends and to have earned the loyalty of the city's gay male community as the default answer for a proper night of dancing. The weekly programming covers the format range: circuit-oriented nights with high-energy electronic music, themed parties, underwear events, bear nights, and regular appearances by resident and visiting DJs. The crowd is predominantly gay male and younger, though the venue draws across age groups when the programming is right. Rich's is the correct answer for visitors asking "where do I dance?" in San Diego — the club with the track record, the clientele, and the DJ programme to support that recommendation. The University Avenue location puts it within easy walking distance of Urban Mo's, the Gossip Grill, and Flicks, making it the natural endpoint of a night that begins at one of Hillcrest's other bars.

Opening Hours

Monday Closed
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday Closed
Thursday 21:00-02:00
Friday 21:00-02:00
Saturday 21:00-02:00
Sunday 20:00-02:00

Features

Gay Bears Drag shows Live music Underwear Dancing Area Outdoor Patio Party Club After hours (after 4am)

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Community Reviews

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Google Reviews

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3.5
331 reviews

Based on 331 Google reviews.

Liz Toscano
Liz Toscano Jun 2026
Nicholas Rust
Nicholas Rust May 2026

SECURITY AT THIS CLUB WILL SCAM YOU. If you read previous reviews, other people also have this experience. STORY TIME: I went out with a few friends and was going through the ID check and paid my cover, when I looked back and saw that they stopped one of my friends for being “too drunk and underaged”. That is what the bouncer said to him and what the manager later told me as well. He was not underaged and the bouncer realized that when he saw his military ID, so his solution was to double down on my buddy being too drunk. He ran a “sobriety test” on him which was reciting his ABCs. He obviously passed but they had too much pride to let him in still (was probably looking for a bribe). On a separate note, once he wasn’t let in, I went into the bar to notify our other friends so that we could go elsewhere. The club was loud, we had called them with no answer so since I was cleared to go in, I did to get them. In and out in 2 minutes. With that in mind, I asked the manager for a refund on my cover since we were denied access but she told me that I went into the club on 2 separate occasions. At that point I told her to pull camera footage to prove it as she had clearly lied to save her pride and justify keeping my money. A measly $24. They also could not understand that we were not going to stay at that bar when they denied our friend access on baseless claims as they argued that “I could still go in” to justify the denial of a refund. The manager was a tall light-skin woman with overdone lip gloss (I didn’t get her name). If you see her, avoid talking to her. Your best bet is to just leave if you have any problems as she has no conflict resolution skills whatsoever as a manager and will lie to get her way. There are more disturbing details from that interaction but you can probably piece it together from the other reviews of similar interactions. Wild how this continues to happen and ownership does nothing about it.

Jayson Murphy
Jayson Murphy May 2026
Go Clunker
Go Clunker Apr 2026

Wed night ZOO

Shelby Jennings
Shelby Jennings Mar 2026
Cayley Payne
Cayley Payne Mar 2026

Phone stolen here. Two days later it was in LA. I’ve seen tons of reviews with the same story. They obviously have some kind of phone theft ring operating out of their club and are either a. doing nothing about it, or b. aiding the thieves. So which is it, Rich’s? Are you just incompetent or are you criminals? Not to mention a $50 cover is straight up robbery.

Melissa Rachel
Melissa Rachel Mar 2026

They assumed i was drunk and didnt let me in.

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Last updated on 3 August 2026

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