Babylon's! Live music with belly dancers on Fridays and Saturdays 6:30 to 9:30. Sometimes after 10 they've got a DJs.

Great food and a better bar....:-)

gothookah.com
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We have at least two pubs in Riverside that are decent. Riverside Brewing Co is kinda meh, but I liked the Falconer and its got some fun ambiance. There is some sort of other icky 80's club night.

otherwise, its LA for me. The OC is not a bad drive on week nights.

Best coffeehouses in my opinion are Back to the Grind and The Coffee Depot in Riverside. Both have live music,... Back to the Grind on its mezzanine and The Coffee Depot on its stage. In Redlands, I used to like Jazz & Java in the old Santa Fe Depot. But, I am curious about the new Gaslamp place on State Street.

Nearby, just off State Street, is The Royal Falconer, a great British pub that my British friends actually really like.

I have had mixed results at Babylon, too. The best Mediterranean food in the Inland Empire is actually at a tiny take-out place, Phoenicia, on Barton Road. Best Indian is at Ravi's in Colton and Taj Mahal in University Village in Riverside.

Some of my other favorite restaurants are Citrone, The Farm, and Joe Greensleeve's in Redlands, as well as Sevilla and Mario's Place in Riverside, and Napa 29 in Corona. Sevilla also happens to be a supper club, so you can get tapas with wine with dancing with full meals. And, floor shows are presented on the weekends. The Mission Inn also has a few top-notch restaurants.

Outdoor activities are excellent here, too. Some of my favorite parks and gardens include California Citrus State Historic Park in Riverside and Prospect Park/Kimberly Crest in Redlands. Smiley Park in Redlands is worthwhile, too, but is most notable for its free concerts performed by the Redlands Symphony in the summer at the Redlands Bowl and for the A.K. Smiley Library and the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Shrine. There are other symphony orchestras in San Bernardino, Claremont, and Riverside.

The U.C.R. Botanical Gardens are enormous and offer something a little more wild and informal. And, you can always visit the San Bernardino National Forest; Lake Arrowhead; Big Bear; Mt. Baldy; etc. If you would like a drive in the country, one of my favorites is through San Timoteo Canyon, also in Redlands. Temecula in Riverside County is also nice since it is the premier wine-growing region in the southern part of the state.

Victoria Gardens just opened last year in Rancho Cucamonga and it does a fairly good job of ridding itself of the mall-feel. The developers wanted an "instant Westwood", but I do not think the place achieves that goal. Still, it's an admirable effort. I just wish that they would have included more local businesses and fewer chains.

Redlands and Claremont have the university town feel that makes their downtowns great to explore on foot.

I also think that the new Casino San Manuel is worth visiting. It has a vague California Craftsman Bungalow design that houses a small, but nice lounge with nightly entertainment and an huge events center on the upper floor that has been fairly busy. The competing Morongo resort, in Cabazon, is promoting its clubs as being the equal of anything in L.A. or Vegas, but I haven't actually gone there for the nightlife, yet.

Glen Helen Pavillion in San Bernardino is the largest amphitheatre in the United States and used to host big-name acts all the time, but, lately, I have not been aware of much going on there.