Ground Zero Nightclub

Fantastic place, well managed, polite entry staff, and really nice vibes. Cool events and on the third Friday of each month there's a special thing and I happened to attend on one of those!

Had many great evenings in this wonderful facility. Can't wait to go back at some point.

I can't remember the bartender's name but she was really nice and helped me by letting me taste test a few drinks since I recently turned 21 and made sure I was super hydrated.The music was ok, not my vibe but still had a few good songs on the playlist.

Not a goth, industrial, ebm or synth night here. BEWARE!

Everyone knows the truism about "the old guy at the bar", the middle-age guy ogling young girls while he pretends he's closer to 21yrs old than he is to 80yrs. With outdated clothes, poor attention to grooming, and plenty of awkward moments. Ground Zero is the "old guy at the bar" among all the bars in Minneapolis.When my wife wants to dance to 80's-90's "retro music", (that today's peeps correctly call "oldies", check 107.9 on the radio) she begs for us to go to Ground Zero and then I usually make a crack about seeing if they'll have 13 or maybe 15 customers that night because attendance sucks for so many reasons. So we go, (sigh) mostly because we both remember when GZ was packed, and fun, and edgy, and a great experience..... decades ago. But like revisiting a boarded up and neglected former high school with "homecoming 1991" posters peeling from the walls, your memories will far surpass the disappointing reality. The Exterior/Entrance - Unchanged over the decades. Great for historic landmarks and nostalgia, terrible for nightclubs that needs to attract younger people to constantly renew their patrons vs becoming a sad museum of what used to be trendy in the early 90's. If someone opened a photo developing store on one side of GZ and a bank of pay phones on the other side of it, that may give you a better idea of how far back in time you were venturing as you made the walk of shame down their hallway to their ID checker and the oldest bouncer in Mpls. Bar area - Remember the bar in Back To The Future 2 where Marty goes back to the old west? That bar from the movie looks more modern than GZ's beat up and sad bar. One similarity is that NEITHER bar takes credit cards nor any kind of digital money! The movie bar didn't take modern payment methods because it's set in the 1800's before they were invented. GZ's bar doesn't take modern payment methods nor host an ATM on site because it seems their business practice rhymes with "tacks elevation". So bring your greenbacks, gold doubloons, or goats to barter for your watered down drinks in shot glass sized cups.DJ/DJ area - First the good news, it's a live DJ who plays videos of the songs being played on two big screens. This DJ area has moved a few times, it was originally upstairs in a caged area. Now the bad news, the live DJ's mixing "ability" consists of fading out a song and jarringly hitting play on the next song. When the owner decided he would "play DJ" at GZ (he would DJ the Front next door, and literally not change his style at all) the DJ booth was moved to the actual dance floor because he needed notoriety? Some things people should never do because they lose all objectivity and credibility: operate surgically on yourself, be your own criminal defense attorney, and perform as your main source of entertainment at your own dance club.Dance floor -You can get a reprimand and a glaring eye shot your way by roving staff if you try to bring your shot sized drink onto the dance floor. Just like your Mom would do if you and your friends started dancing in her living room and didn't use a coaster for your solo cup and left water rings on her dark Cherry coffee table. Seriously, the badly dressed mannequins of dead celebrities have been done better by most high schools. You can make out some of who the mannequins are supposed to be IRL, but I guarantee you they ALL died of embarrassment at GZ. Bondage area upstairs - Decades ago it used to be a crowded and well run glimpse for Ken and Kathy from Wayzata to see what the kinky people do. Wax, leather straps, blindfolds. Etc were used on regulars or a brave volunteer. Then the bondage show shuttered down - though rumors say it may be trying to re-open decades later like an old guy trying to fit into his faded Members Only jacket from the corner of his closet. Bathrooms - Next to the ancient dingy bar downstairs, and it was last cleaned when GZ first opened in the early 90's. Some toilets work, most doors don't, and don't ask why your shoes stick to the floor harder if you stand still too long. Screw Covid, these bathrooms harbor more contagions per square inch.WiFi -Ah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Gotcha! They didn't have wifi in the early 90's and only government peeps used "the World Wide Web" back then so stop with your "future talk", McFly! There is NO wifi for your newfangled fancy cordless telephones! Overall atmosphere -Like a painful high school reunion where everyone who attended dressed up poorly as a fictitious version of who they thought they once were, GZ has long since passed its shelf life and moved beyond simply changing the expiration date on their packaging to just removing the label and hoping no one notices the discoloration and the smell and still buys it. There are many horror stories of dating your ex from decades ago, and stopping into GZ expecting it to end differently than any of those stories is simply a tragic lesson waiting to happen to you.

Here is my honest opinion with out all the flourishes1. Atmosphere is ok but the "dancers" bondage and Halloween mannequins are cliche and frankly gross.2. The drink selection is the absolute worst. They have zero tap beers and serve drinks in small Solo cups. Only beers selection are extremely generic bottles beers... New Castle, Budweiser, Heineken etc. 3. Cash only (tax evasion) bar policy without a cash machine on premises. I can understand not having tap beers... But you have them in the Front. You could at least have a stock of local tall boy beers in the can. Also the modern world uses things like square trade to accommodate digital currency. It's great it and charges a lower transaction percentage rate. This might come as a shocker but most folks are not interested in watching people get whipped in their undies. Infact it's uncomfortable and discourages repeat customers. I agree it has a niche and should have it's time and place but perhaps accommodating a wider audience would increase your customer base? I know crazy right. Just some food for thought you may want to consider. I know I'm not the only goth in the Twin cities that feels this way btw...

Racist bartender. Ordered a drink left a tip and the bartender threw it back at me not sure why? Older white lady was the bartender.

The bar tender who was a older woman was mean to me and my friends. I have no idea why . We were just getting drinks and she told just to grab our beers and leave. And we left a tip and threw it back at us

I wish I could rate them 0/5 stars because this place is the worst. I have been a couple times at this point. Every time without fail the doorman/bouncer is very rude as well as the bartender and general staff. In addition, at the end of the night they kick out performers and customers to the street to wait for their rides. Super unsafe that late at night to be doing that especially to your employees!

Great open minded dancing and thunderous rock technoOnly one of it's kind!!