photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Karl R. Josker | all galleries >> Buffalo >> The Bars Of Buffalo > Rendezvous
previous | next
08-MAR-2005 Karl R. Josker

Rendezvous

520 Niagara St. Buffalo

This place has been the Rendezvous for over 50 years.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/250s f/4.0 at 14.4mm full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
comment | share
Guest 01-Nov-2018 15:22
Drank there in the early 50s.......John and pat made the best drinks ever.......ran a strict bar. Great times and wonderful memories....bud
Guest 28-Jan-2016 14:56
Music was all Frank Sinatra!
cosmo 31-Dec-2014 18:36
used to go in the sixties...my name is carved in almost every booth....Johnny always had Hamm's beer and Mary made these huge sandwiches...
Sherral 22-Mar-2014 01:03
What a shame to hear it is closed. Went there while dating my husband in the 70's. Something made me think of the place and I couldn't remember the name. Thankfully I found this site. It was a very cool place to go.
Dave 04-Mar-2014 16:54
I used to go to the Rendezvous Room in the seventies and Johnny would make you a drink depending on what he thought you would like... damn that's a long time ago. Was there a few years ago, but last time I went it was closed down.
Diane 31-May-2012 19:55
I loved this place while I attended buffalo State. People thought it was awful becuase they limited you to 2 drinks but these were the size of milkshakes. You also couldn't go in an order a strawberry dacquiri or other drink. Jonny would ask you what you felt like... what flavors you craved and created on drink based on that. I think my favorite times were at the Rendezvou and Anchor Bar just because of the atmosphere. It is one of a kind
Gene 08-Feb-2011 15:53
my wife and i went here around '90 and johnny was still there, sounding like he just gargled boiling hot bacon grease. telling us about their superior jamaican brown rum. the couple sitting in the next booth had never been there before and asked us about the drinks. when they found out how much they cost . . . they left the place without ordering anything. my wife and i had tutti fruity drinks for about $8 each.
damaris diaz 07-Feb-2011 22:36
i remeber this bar i useto live right behind it in a yellow little cottage...How amazing how the years go by and i miss the old buffalo ...When i go to buffalo i always walk by and it brings sadness to my heart..But this Bar has my mane craved
The DA 18-Oct-2010 23:42
I am so happy I found this! I had been trying to remember the name of this spot! It was a cool date night stop. Cozy old school booths with carved initials and you could add yours, graffiti ambiance. Re: Brain freeze warnings: Johnny would also say along with "be sure to drink the frozen drink slowly", don't let the straw be on the bottom!! He would tell you the temperature of the ice like dry ice was involved. It was like getting a frozen drink from a mysterious chemistry lab. It was a memorable, unique experience!
Guest 08-Jul-2010 23:19
Anybody else remember the waiter here who, when an underage guy like me ordered a "rum and coke," would in a grizzled voice recite a rapid-fire list of the dozens of kinds of rum there are in the world? This guy must have been about 70 in the early '70s. He was a character. His spiel alone was worth a visit.
CGB 25-Apr-2010 21:56
In the 70s, I was one of my favorite places. My initials are in the booths, if the originals are still there.
Eileen G. 30-Mar-2010 14:22
I loved that place! It was an evening long experience to go there and the drinks were great (expensive, but great), with Johnny telling you to sip through the straw and drink slowly - so you wouldn't get brain freeze. Thanks for including the Rendezvous!
Guest 01-Sep-2009 15:34
Didnt this place serve cajun food in the 90s - kind of a hip joint - but then I heard it closed up and they left. Used to be a relatively "hip" place back in the day...
nick 31-May-2009 14:49
I grew up in this neighborhood from the early 60s to the early 80s and never got into this place, even with fake ID. Definitely remember the door "buzzer" issue as well as you could only order fruity "girlie" drinks - supposedly some of the best concoctions in the city. Regret not ever getting in...
Guest 01-Sep-2007 17:47
Despite living on Plymouth near Pennsylvania for a while, I have never been to Rendezvous. I do recall my mom mentioning Johnny's Rendezvous, but she been gone for almost two years and dad's been gone 10 so I can't ask about it now!
Mike Meyer23-May-2007 04:43
Even back in the '50s, Johnny's voice wasn't just gruff, it was a frog-like croak. If you ordered beer instead of one of his signature, high priced drinks (light on alcohol, heavy on Grenadine), he would ask whether you wanted one of the more expensive premium beers (Bud or Schlitz, in those days), or the lower priced "local low proof" brews, thereby shaming you into buying the more costly beer. Reflecting their underage but high class clientele, wife Pat kept a bulletin board in their grimy bar in a grimy neighborhood filled with clippings from the society pages of the Buffalo Evening News noting each and every coming out party of his teen-age "Sem Girl" patrons. Wonderful memories!
Guest 06-Oct-2006 23:37
I would go there in the early 1970's for Johnny's famous drink, "The Hari Kari Bloodclot". To this day, the Rendezvous brings back great memories.
steve whelan 30-May-2006 21:19
My father was a Buffalo cop for 42 years & said that it had been a speakeasy in prohibition, hence the "buzzing in". I remember in the late '60's early 70's they had an old guy with a gruff voice there that claimed their drinks were made using the same recipes & ingrediants as then & thus were the best in Buffalo.
clay pasternack 17-Sep-2005 21:14
This was known also as Johnny's Rendezvous in the 60's. I was from Amherst High School and it was one of the places, along with Cole's on Elmwood that fake ID's worked and I got in there as an underage 17 year old. Also had go go dancers with not very much clothing on!
Guest 14-Jul-2005 19:35
Only bar I was comfortable in. Can't forget the sandwiches on Johnny's wife's homemade bread.
Amir FaSaad 24-Apr-2005 13:11
Karl,
Back in the day, you had to get buzzed in, to get in. Kinda like a speakeasy. One of the first "cheater" bars.