Dean B.
Covent Garden
46 reviews
Not overly impressive
27 May 08, 16:05
Below expectations
Risa is ok for cheap drinks and a cheap night out but overall it isnt very classy and comes off with a bit of a cheap vibe. Tends to be full of slaggy students - drinks promotions are good value for money but you won't find anything special going on here...
Groups: Ocean fm and Power fm
Its ok
26 May 08, 21:43
Below expectations
Its ok but thats it, they play a decent selection of music which is good, but the actual place isnt really my kind of thing. There are alot of young people in here and its known for being a bit of a meat market. You would need to be heavily drunk to stay in here very long. The best room in here is the one with the stairs, leading out onto the street.
Groups: horizon
Risa, Broad Street
12 Apr 08, 11:43
Above expectations
This is a good place of you have a group of people with varying tastes in music and you can't agree on a place to go. It's got several bars and different styles of music so there's enough to please everyone but it does get very busy towards the end of the night. You also get the use of the main dance floor area after the Jongleurs comedy club closes and there's a chill out area too so it's a good settlement to a place to please everyone.
Groups: BeaconRadio
Aysha A.
Stechford
75 reviews
Risa
10 Oct 07, 19:14
Well below expectations
One word and one word only could fully explain 'Risa' to a new visitor- dive. This place is possibly one of the worst places I have ever had the misfortune to visit in Birmingham. It is situated on Broad Street, but it might as well be in Mordor, given the amount of grossness that seems to emanate from the place. I have been here on a couple of drunken occasions, at the end of a night when there seems to be nowhere else to go. I will tell you now, if there is nowhere else to go other than here, GO HOME. Both times I have been to Risa I have been groped, fiddled out of change from buying drinks, groped again, pushed, started on by groups of lairy girls and generally had a horrendous time. The place is made up of five different rooms, each of which has a different 'theme', so there's the chill out room, dance room and so on. In theory it's a great place- lots of variety and lots of space means there should be plenty of room, right? Wrong. For some reason, the bouncers seem to let an obscene amount of people in, all of whom seem to want to either fondle you or fight you, and as a result, it all starts getting a bit messy. I will say something for Risa though, if you're on a stag night or a hen night, it's probably great fun. The drinks are relatively cheap (about £2.50 for a pint) and there's plenty of bars so you shouldn't be waiting for too long. I personally just find it a bit too 'cattle market' for my taste, and too 'street' too. It is also another venue which insists on employing a lady to hand out hand towels. Not necessary, and rather unfortunate for the lady in question, as she seems to get a lot of abuse of drunken teenagers who take delight in mocking her. I would only recommend Risa to a group of people who have literally no qualms about where they want to go and who don't mind being pushed around by drunken students on pub crawls. If this isn't your bag, avoid like the plague.
