A new bar is coming to downtown Lodi after Q25 Arcade Lounge closed. Carlos Villapudua confirmed to What Now Sacramento that he is taking over the space at 114 N. Sacramento St. to open an upscale cocktail bar, with a goal of opening in February or March 2027.
The new bar doesn’t have a name or a final concept yet. Villapudua said it will be geared toward an older, more upscale crowd than the younger-skewing bars downtown, and that it won’t be an arcade. “The arcade stuff is going to go,” he said. It will be his first bar.
Q25 opened in early 2025 as an arcade bar, with about 35 vintage machines including classic Atari games, Skee-Ball and pinball. Villapudua plans to use roughly three months to renovate and redesign the space. He has hired an architect and designer, a Lodi native, and he is talking with a second designer.
He is especially interested in vinyl bars, where music plays at a lower volume so guests can talk or even hold a meeting. “It’s not going to just be loud music where you can’t have a conversation,” he told What Now Sacramento.
Villapudua, who has previously run a restaurant and owns other businesses, said he had wanted to open a bar for a long time. He applied for a liquor license last year and spent months looking for the right location, including areas outside downtown, before settling on this space. Other bar owners he spoke with encouraged him to open downtown if he had the chance.
He said he has researched the industry carefully, including reports that younger customers are drinking less and spending more time at home. His answer is to make the bar a destination. “Whatever I decide to do, it has to be an experience, from the cocktail to the decor to the first step you walk in, and that experience has to grab you,” Villapudua told What Now Sacramento. “I want to give people an experience and keep them lingering. It’s not so much about the alcohol. It’s about coming here, having a good experience and having fun.”
