The Showbox

More popularly known as Hawaii Events Center. Here is the dirty on this joint, I didn’t know until my friend called out the bartender. Their «policy» (no joke), only ½ shot per drink. I don’t drink much and I instantly knew there was something wrong. They tell you first you have to have a minimum of $ 30 to close out your tab. Wait so if your driving and only want one drink you can’t get that at $ 7 a drink. And who has heard the owner only allows half of an oz per $ 7 drink? That’s robbery. Never experienced this kind of bar service.
I thought this place must be misunderstood for such low ratings. It has potential but it’s being wasted. Besides the lying bar which I will never return to again, is the parking situation. There isn’t any? The streets are full, no lot, no valet. So what’s a girl to do? The security guard tells me he has «heard through the grapevine», insert super sketchy directions down an alley no women should go, then at subway give your keys to some guy and he parks it. Mmmmm no thanks. We bought some food at Zippy’s and left the receipt on the dash.
The venue has a large outdoor section that was the parking lot during the day. Outside was for under 21, which actually has better music and more dancing. Inside is a large 2 story venue with the terrible bar. Upstairs had several makeshift couches with reserved signs with no one at it ($ 1200, for 6 friends). The balcony made for great people watching on the dance floor.
Which brings me to the price of this places admission. Thank goodness I was blessed with Unilocal tix, much mahalo Emi! My friends paid $ 132 for 2 tickets. The party inside was rather dead. The bulk of the people were under 21 and obviously can’t get in to this kind of scene somewhere else where they provide parking, legit alcohol, and no cover. If the owner was smart and business oriented she needs to drop the price of admission and obviously address the drinks situation. If they were charging $ 10 cover, they could pack this place and have a really fun club. The potential is there but currently squandered.

Attended a concert there 9÷20÷14. IT WAS THE WORST EXPERIENCE! APPALLING!
I don’t even know where to begin! The owner who dresses like the black widow and who is also the only bartender is outrageously rude, unprofessional, belligerent and beyond bipolar. She exploded at the band in the midst of their performance… approaching the center stage, standing on the dance floor waving her hands up in the air like she’s trying to flag down a helicopter… ranting and raving that patrons were not buying enough alcohol. The band shrugged to finish their song! The six-​foot speaker she stood next to was no match for this petite Asian nutcase! Without a mic she was louder than the band thru out their performance. She interrupted their performance nearly 4 times! Another time, she walked up on stage and ranted at the drummer during a song. The drummer was distracted and fought to concentrate on his drumming. Apparently, the black widow was unsatisfied with the drummer’s reaction, she storms back off the stage and start slamming what sounded like glass and common things behind the bar and again ranting at the top of her lungs! As if she took 10 to 15 minutes breaks, she would reappear again with another episode of ranting. She later storms from table to table removing water bottles and such… she exploded at patrons saying, «you only buy water» and in a rude physical manner snatch water bottles from the table. The problem with this is some patrons were not finished with their $ 4 water bottles that they paid for! Like why would that even matter… beer is $ 4 and soda is $ 4. This behavior continued all night as I heard. I could only tolerate it for 3 hours and nor was I going to stay and buy anything from an establishment that conducted themselves like idiots. Speaking of idiots… her husband who sat like a live-​human-​display planted in a telephone booth-​like box at the entrance of door did exactly what I just described. He sat there in this lit box staring out thru a plexiglas! The whole night! I think it would have made sense for me if there was a coin slot on the box… perhaps a mechanical hand will pick him up and slide him under as a prize. Bottom line people, I don’t care what promoter or gigs invites you here, they cannot control this nutcase behavior. The venue is architecturally suitable for events but no money is worth having to deal with an owner who’s gonna ruin the whole event!
SHOWBOX IS NOT WORTHY OF ANY STARS but i have to rate in order to submit review.

fuck this place! price fucked up! AC fucked up! look dirty when the lights comes on and all the workers never finish high school! even the owner cant read. the guys by the door told me my arizona state ID fake but he let my girlfriend when in but she got the same state ID so she came back out because I could’nt go in! fucken dump ass! fuck u nigga I remember ur ugly face! wait and see if I see u crying for one safty check mother fucker.

Attempted to work with the owner of this place some time ago and all I can say is, if you’re thinking about putting on ANY type of event here, seek a different venue. The space itself is great, but the management and ownership is very bad.

PLEASE take your money somewhere else! I am reporting them to the BBB and OSHA.
Came here on a Saturday night, You have to hop over a chain link fence to enter the parking lot, then walk to the end of the building to find this place. Don’t understand why we are not allowed to park in the empty parking lot in front of the building? They charge $ 10 for cover. Drinks are way over priced and watered down. There’s only one bartender, who is also the owner. Immediately I noticed there was no air ventilation at all in this place. No a/​c, no fans, windows, no nothing! it really is a Box.
I asked the guy who was collecting the cover charge about the air issue and he brushed me off and said talk to the owner. So I lined up at the bar to speak with the owner. While I was waiting, I asked one of the bouncers why was there no a/​c in this place? the bouncer said «there is a/​c, the owner is just greedy and doesn’t want to turn it on» at this point I was pissed. When I get to the bar, I asked the bartender/​owner why is there no a/​c? she told me that she just turned it on… I said that’s impossible and she just waved her hand at me and told me to «get away from here» I said to her that I am going to report this place and she just kept waving her hand telling me to get away.
I couldn’t believe it. She was the worst! I went back to my table and told my girls what happen and they said the owners don’t care about customers. Later on that night, my sister and cousin told me when they asked for napkins at the bar, she (the owner) threw it at them! YES SHE THREW IT AT THEM!!! This is the Owner? of a business? Truly unprofessional. This is a racist establishment and I will never support this business again.

«You can fill your glass up in the bathroom.» Next to the backed up toilets, with only one toilet in the mens bathroom overflowing and only 2 working in the women’s. For the amount of money I poured into this place last night, I was sorely disappointed with how the place was kept. The only reason this place got any stars is because BEATS ANTIQUE rocked the venue. They made it ok. This venue has good lights and stage, but what is going on behind the scenes far outweighs the positive. I was disgusted to say the least.
$ 7 a shot for wells and $ 4 for bottled water, unless you wanna drink from the tap in the bathroom. NO FREE WATER. They only accept cash and its $ 5 to get it out of the ATM. Nasty, nasty business running! The band was screwed over because they wanted to charge 30% of proceeds to use the VIP section upstairs. Sad. When I told the bartenders that the mens toilet (the ONLY toilet) was backed up, they told the little Chinese lady in the back of the bar and she shrugged and did nothing. So I told them that the toilet in the women’s was backed up. The lady’s reply «We just checked them, they not backed up.» and «Cant do anything now.» If I had a plunger, I would have been back there fixing it because that is just WRONG. We had to go to the little bar down the street, Crocodiles, (so my poor boyfriend could use the restroom) where the drinks were more reasonably priced and they let us use their working bathroom. We explained the situation to the bartender at Crocodile’s and she said «OH thats why people are always coming in the use our bathroom. And I lettem because thats just wrong to turn em away!»
Yah. No parking in this venue either. Gotta park down the street by the 7 – 11. But whatevas. COULD be cool. Because its BIG with tables, and a great stage. BUT the people running the show are in the business to shake every last coin out of your pocket and turn you to the street. My advice if you go, COMPLAIN. You will be disappointed and you must complain until they fix their ways! IT WAS AWFUL!!!

The place it’s self is nice despite it’s location but the owner is totally crazy and impossible to deal with, if you want to put on an event there yourself, beware, you will have a headache with every communication with this woman and will have to be really careful because she could decide at the last minute to pull things you will need. She could destroy your event totally. Oahu is desperate for large venues, please someone open something, this lady is to much.

Clean and new, this venue has the potential to feature shows and other events with a feeling of intimacy that Pipeline lacked. The bar is clean, well lit and well staffed. The high ceilings are perfect in creating the optimal auditory experience for show goers, the VIP section truly does feel like a separate area for those willing to shell out more money for better seating and bar service. The warehouse feel is tempered with small touches of contemporary design making Showbox a serious up and coming venue that is an alternative to the Chinatown scene. As for parking, the lot is a bit small but the area offers street parking and another lot a few doors down and is hardly any different and if not safer than some of the streets of Chinatown. Three stars because there is still room for growth especially with the venue being in Dillingham which is different to say the least.

As an event space, I’m a fan. It’s nice and roomy thanks to the zillion-​foot ceilings and there is plenty of room in front of the stage. My favorite part is everyone can see from the VIP area unlike Pipeline where, even if you pay $ 100 for VIP tickets to a show you are shit out of luck if you’re not in that front row by the railing.
Missing a star because there is minimal parking for such a big venue. With a legal capacity of 434 (twice that of Nextdoor) there is probably 50 stalls and nowhere close that seems safe. I’m thinking valet service will be the norm for big shows.
Concert promoters please get on this. It’s 21+ only but open until 4am. Come on! I’m excited to see some good acts play here!