 In a review of The 20 / 20 Experience - 2 of 2, Craig Manning of website AbsolutePunk wrote that even thought the song features "a rapidfire" rap verse by Drake, both "Cabaret" and the lead single, "Take Back the Night", "feel somehow less impressive than a lot of the songs Timberlake was slinging last time around, if only because they don ’ t add up to an 'experience' greater than the sum of their parts." According to Brice Ezell of PopMatters, "for whatever reason [the song] never gets off of the ground." Lydia Jenkin of New Zealand Herald opined that the song would be a lot of sexier without the overpowering bass pulses in its production and "some odd lyrics".
