Club Reports: John Lennon Room @ HRL, The Green Room, Taco Kat, The Corner, Aero Bar, Alfie’s HiFi

By in Club Reports

Located atop Hard Rock Live at Universal CityWalk, the John Lennon Room was our first stop last night. Entry is free and they’re only open on Friday and Saturday nights. The hours say 7PM to 10PM but in September they will switch back to 7PM to midnight with a DJ playing from 8PM to 11PM.
The all-white John Lennon Room event space is up here and you’re welcome to visit it. Please don’t spill your drink.
The piano is autographed by numerous musicians that have played at Hard Rock Live downstairs.
And John Lennon (GB) memorabilia abounds.
It wasn’t particularly crowded but more guests than during our first visit earlier this summer. There’s a DJ tent over in the far corner.
Here we found DJ Stephen Berry (USA) playing mostly 80’s.
We heard songs such as “Into The Groove”, “Love Come Down”, “I Just Called to Say I Love You” and “Somebody’s Watching Me”. Fun mix.
While parking in the CityWalk garages is currently free, Halloween Horror Nights inside Universal Studios begins next weekend and they will begin charging to park until 1AM. A visit to this terrace will thus only be practical if you’re out here anyway or have a Universal Orlando annual pass.
Full liquor bar is available within those doors.
Great views of the CityWalk bar, restaurant and club complex.
By the way, while Disney no longer allows guests to use their bus and boat transportation from Disney Springs to their resorts unless you’re staying there or have an ADR, that’s not the case at Universal. They welcome your patronage.
Being gone on trips so much this summer, we were actually waxing nostalgic for downtown Orlando. That’s where we headed next. First stop Monkey Bar, located in Wall Street Plaza. In a Hip Hop ocean that is WSP, Monkey Bar was an island paradise of House music. But the sign now said The Green Room, not Monkey Bar, huh? WTF. We climbed the stairs cautiously.
Oh no! Say it ain’t so. Monkey Bar is gone and it’s now called The Green Room.
And resident DJ Dity (USA) wasn’t here, just a prerecorded tape playing Indie and Hip Hop.
The doors to their famous dance balcony were closed, no one dancing, just a handful here. This is sad.
We next headed over to Taco Kat. Did you know Taco Kat spelled backwards is Tako Cat? Anyways…..
You come into the taco restaurant and the host or hostess brings you to this soda machine. And it opens to reveal a tunnel into the club.
The view from inside the club towards the tunnel entrance.
Upon arrival we found DJ Saul MJ (USA) had just taken over from DJ Sachin Talikot (USA).
House music all night long.
Full liquor bar.
Hard to get photos in here because of the darkness and fog but they do have pretty impressive lighting effects.
We haven’t visited The Corner in awhile so we dropped by. It’s located in the space formerly occupied by Independent Bar/Barbarella before they moved out to the burbs.
DJ Zeno (USA) in the perch playing Hip Hop and Top 40 classics.
Which is kind of what they play in The Patio in the adjoining club. Nonetheless, dance floor was jamming.
We heard classic songs such as “Shots” and “Hotel Motel Holiday Inn” during our brief pass-through!
You can never go wrong with Go Go girls. And it was Dawn from club Motion.
Our actual destination though was upstairs to Aero Bar.
Rumors of the demise of downtown Orlando clubbing are premature. We climbed the stairs and walked into this.
Across the dance floor, we spotted the DJ.
DJ Dominick Morrison (USA)
The music a mix of House, Latin House, EDM and EDM remixes of Top 40 songs.
Dance floor was packed.
Because the peeps want electronic dance music.
The lasers were flying.
Since Aero is a rooftop bar, you’re literally “dancing with the stars”.
You can find Dominick Morrison playing here every Friday and Saturday night! Admission is free.
Although it was getting late, my body is still on Hawaii Standard Time which is 6 hours earlier. So we next departed DTO and headed to the Mills/50 District, home to Alfie’s HiFi.
Where we walked into this. Their bar is located in the front room.
While their DJ booth and dance floor are located aft.
In the booth we found guest DJ Darren Simonson (USA) and resident DJ Frankmatik (USA).
They would each play 2-3 songs and then switch-off.
From Frankmatik, we heard some Soul House, some Daft Punk (F) House and some Disco.
Darren Simonson was the guest DJ last night and is based in West Palm Beach.
He was pretty animated last night, having a good time, during his House and Latin House segments.
Mostly 20-somethings, the crowd was amazed how these guys were squeezing music out of those round black things.
Everything at Alfie’s is played off vinyl.
The club has its own assortment of albums available on the shelves but the DJ’s typically bring their own crates too, old school style.
Club was absolutely packed last night. Women had free admission but there was a $10 cover charge for the guys. It’s always so fun in here!
This is a generation raised on electronic dance music and that’s what they want to hear.
Passing thru!
Alfie’s has been the darling of Orlando nightlife since they opened in January, 2025. It gets like this here every Wednesday-Sunday night with Friday & Saturdays particularly crowded.
A good time was had by all.