FAQ

The 443 is an eclectic, intimate, live music venue with a full bar and a carefully curated selection of wine, craft beer, and specialty cocktails. We are only open for scheduled live music performances and other events.

Our room is a mix of regular height and bar tables set up cabaret-style, and the sightlines are excellent. Our friendly staff will visit your table to take your order, and we have a $15 per person minimum food/beverage purchase requirement. You are expected to limit conversation during the performance and focus on the artist gracing our stage.

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We are a tiny room, with just 75 seats, so there is not a bad seat in the house. Our tickets are divided up into three Tiers:

We have 3 tiers of ticket options:

Tier 1 – (YELLOW) – Most expensive tickets. Regular height tables for two around the stage and single barstools at the bar.

Tier 2 – (BLUE) – Mid-priced tickets. High and low tables for two with excellent sight lines – particularly the high tables.

Tier 3 – (LAVENDER) – Least expensive tickets. Two low tables for two (15 & 16), plus (potentially shared) high tables for single attendees (25, 26, 27)

Green squares/circles on the floor plan are bar-height tables, orange squares are regular-height tables.

When you purchase your tickets on EventBrite, you can choose the corresponding Tier based on the area you want to sit. Our VIP Patrons are able to request a specific table. If that sounds good to you, you can visit VIP Patrons HERE for more information.

Our official capacity is 88 indoors but we can only seat up to 75 people.

We appreciate the enthusiastic presence of everyone who buys a ticket or pays a cover charge to attend our shows. But we keep very little (if any) of that money – the majority goes to the artist gracing our stage. We keep ourselves in business by selling food and drink. We do not allow guests to bring in food or drink of any kind. 

Our average guest spends about $30 (and often more) when they visit us for an event. If you attend a show and don’t make a purchase, you are occupying valuable real estate and costing us money.

If you’re not a drinker, we have a mocktail menu and 5 kinds of N/A beer. If you truly don’t want anything at all, we will present you with a bill for $15. 

We sure do!

We carry a variety of NA beers plus a full mocktail menu, coffee, tea, and assorted bottled options. You can find the full menu HERE.

PLEASE NOTE:

Some of our mocktails contain flavored bitters containing trace amounts of alcohol.

If you prefer a 100% alcohol-free beverage, avoid those drinks or ask your server to leave out the bitters. 

We do! Our servers will visit your table to take your order so you can relax and enjoy the show.

We strive to say “YES” to our guests as often as possible, but we are just not able to manage convoluted split-check arrangements for larger parties without negatively impacting everyone else in the room.

If you have 5 people or more in your group, please have a plan when you arrive, let your server know BEFORE you order if you want anything other than a single check, and learn how to use Venmo, PayPal, or CashApp.

For Monday through Saturday shows our doors open at 5:30pm and showtime is 7pm. On Sundays doors open at 4:30pm and showtime is 6pm.

Our musical contracts require one 90-minute set plus possible encore or two 45-50 minute sets with a break. That said, it’s ultimately up to the artist how long they will play for.

Please make every effort to arrive well before the band begins. It’s distracting to other guests and difficult for our staff to take your order once the music starts.

Before you contact us about booking a show, please consider whether we are a good fit for each other. We do not generally book cover bands. We focus on original, Americana, and roots-style singer-songwriters and blues artists. Our capacity for seated shows is about 75. Our stage usually holds a max of 4-5 performers, depending on what instruments they are playing.

We are looking for artists who are charismatic storytellers, compelling performers, and good human beings. We will bend over backward to make sure you have an excellent experience at the 443; in return, we expect you to be polite and respectful to our waitstaff, door person, sound tech, and the guests who have paid to see you play.

You need a customer base in the Syracuse area willing to pay a minimum of $20 per person to see you perform. We require a minimum of 25-30 pre-sale tickets in order to proceed with a show.

Our shows are “Listening room” style – talking is discouraged.

Once you’re booked, you can find additional Artist Info HERE, and our tech specs HERE.

Tickets for all shows are sold on EventBrite. You can check out our roster of upcoming events on the EVENTS page of this website, and if you click on the green “BUY TICKETS” button, it will take you directly to EventBrite. You do not need to print out your EventBrite tickets – just give the name you used to buy your tickets at the door.

We do not sell tickets for our shows anywhere else. Do not purchase tickets from anyone on Facebook unless you know them personally – the number of ticket scams is on the rise.

Definitely! We almost always have a few cancellations, so there is a good chance you might still be able to go. Cancellations usually come in the day of the show, so if you can be flexible with your plans, you might get a text message letting you know we have a seat for you.

If we have a long waitlist and you don’t happen to get in, it’s still a good idea to add your name and contact info. When we rebook them for their next date, we’ll send a notification to everyone who missed out.

If we have any seats available when the pre-sale closes, we’ll have them available at the door. Please be aware that the day-of-sale ticket prices are $5 more than the pre-sale.

Once a show goes on sale, ticket sales are reported weekly to the booking agency/management. If we refund your ticket, we still have to pay the artist/agency for the reported sale – so it would cost us twice to issue a refund. We will take refund requests on EventBrite up to 30 days before the show because it allows us enough time to make up the reported ticket sale.

If a show is sold out, we have a waiting list, and you give us enough notice, we may be able to resell your ticket. The earlier you let us know, the better. We don’t usually have extra staff on a show day to have someone stop what they are doing and start running through the waitlist.

You must be 18 or over to be in the bar after 4pm.

Our space was designed for adults and we do not have a children’s menu. For a more detailed explanation of why we created this policy, head over to our blog:

“Kids in the Bar: Part 2”

If you’re planning to visit the 443, we respectfully request that you leave the kids at home.

We didn’t think it would be necessary to have an official dress code at The 443… but somehow, here we are.

You cannot wear pajama pants in our establishment.

No problem, but please, PLEASE make sure you have your flash off – it’s distracting for the band and other guests.

If you are planning on bringing in anything more elaborate than a cell phone, please give us a heads-up so we can clear it with the artist, particularly if you plan to videotape. Also, please be mindful of other guests while you are shooting.

Unfortunately, our room is not accessible to wheelchairs.

We inherited a pair of restrooms in our 80+-year-old building that could charitably be described as “quirky”. We investigated several scenarios, but unfortunately, we are not able to make the rooms accessible without gutting both of them completely and moving walls, which comes with a hefty price tag. We simply couldn’t manage it along with the other expenses involved in opening the venue.

Our long-term plan is to convert our teeny-tiny men’s room and oddly arranged ladies room into two unisex wheelchair-accessible restrooms, as well as add a ramp to our front entrance

Service animals are welcome, as long you give us advance notice that you’re bringing one in.

Our tables are very close together and some are bar height. We’ll need to be sure you’re seated at a regular height table and remove the table and chairs next to you so the animal has a place to sit. SERVICE ANIMALS MUST BE TETHERED and cannot be allowed to wander around or interact with other guests.

When you purchase your tickets on Eventbrite you’ll see a place on the order form to indicate any special seating accommodations you require.

Parking is plentiful, free, and easy on Burnet Avenue. There is no odd/even parking or meters; you can park on both sides of the street. If it’s important for you to park close to our front door, we suggest you arrive early.

BUT – Be considerate of our neighbors. Do not block driveways, garage doors, or other entrances. Please park with your fellow attendees in mind and conserve parking for other guests. Leaving half a car length or more between vehicles wastes valuable parking space.