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New nightlife spots in Charlotte


ScottCLT

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Just a review of places that have opened up recently and the past few years:

Mez/Kazba- Great upscale atmosphere which gives you multiple atmospheres (Mez usually plays top 40's and Kazba usually plays house/techno), and a great patio with great view of uptown.

Phoenix- This is the old Forum space (they have crazy packed college nights on Thursdays and usually have big name European house DJs come every so often)

Suite- Usually busy and touristy-ish

Bubble Lounge- Coming soon at Epicentre

Dharma Lounge- This place is great, very eccletic and diverse....there is an event called "Global Fever" that is once a month there that highlights different nationalities and plays music from all over the world.

Butter- Upscale atmosphere mostly top 40's music....kind of snobby though

Marigny- Charlotte's best gay club (mostly house/techno/pop remixes)

Re:Public (Old Alley Cat spot, near Phoenix)

VBGB- Beer Garden at the Music Factory

Crave- Hookah Bar & Lounge

Istanbul Cafe & Hookah Lounge

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While I know many won't consider it "night life", i love what is going on over in the Latta Arcade. Hooligan's, The Belfast Mill, that new wine bar and Val Halla along that strip have really made that an area unique to Charlotte. Honestly, it's the only part of the city that makes me feel like I'm in a bar in Boston or Philadelphia. I like a place with a little grunge.

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  • 3 years later...

Automatic Slims (private pool club weird thing) at the music factory didn't last long at all. It's already rebranding and on its way to becoming something else. Looks like its gonna be the same concept just now called American POP, not sure why they're doing this but whatever, doubt this will last long.

 

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanPOPCharlotte

 

"Hey, new followers! Just so you know - American POP will have 3 areas: dance room, Betty's Sports Club with billiards, and an outdoor Tiki Surf Bar. We're also serving up 80+ types of craft beer!"

 

At least they're getting on the craft beer scene. I think they can survive if they don't make you sign up to even go in (Automatic Slim's did), and don't charge a cover.

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Automatic Slims (private pool club weird thing) at the music factory didn't last long at all. It's already rebranding and on its way to becoming something else. Looks like its gonna be the same concept just now called American POP, not sure why they're doing this but whatever, doubt this will last long.

 

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanPOPCharlotte

 

"Hey, new followers! Just so you know - American POP will have 3 areas: dance room, Betty's Sports Club with billiards, and an outdoor Tiki Surf Bar. We're also serving up 80+ types of craft beer!"

 

At least they're getting on the craft beer scene. I think they can survive if they don't make you sign up to even go in (Automatic Slim's did), and don't charge a cover.

 

The 'sign in' thing is a result of the license type per NCABC. I don't know when they added this, but it used to not be an option, otherwise if you didn't serve food you had to sign up as a Private Club. 

 

 

 

Retail Business

An establishment engaged in any retail business, regardless of whether food is sold on the premises.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Went to the Punch Room last night at the Ritz and gotta say it was pretty awesome. Exactly what Charlotte lacks in terms of a true cocktail bar, but it's not without its pain points.

 

The Good: Drinks were delicious, carefully crafted (all the juices squeezed by hand on the spot), and certainly not watered down. The space is nice (wish they didn't cover the windows so we could enjoy the view). The small plates look really good and are really reasonably price. Great feel of a 'speak-easy TYPE' place and will seem to have a different crowd than Urban Sip.

 

The Bad: I know I'm at the Ritz, in a swanky cocktail lounge but dang were they expensive (mine was $19, girlfriends was $17), and the acoustics did not seem right at all. Music was too faint and voices carried way too easily and echo-y. Service was SLOW, took about 10-15 minutes to get our drinks (4 total) and we were practically the only ones in there. But I will say that with a caveat, we we're kinda in a hurry so it made it seem longer, and I understand its all hand crafted.

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Went to the Punch Room last night at the Ritz and gotta say it was pretty awesome. Exactly what Charlotte lacks in terms of a true cocktail bar, but it's not without its pain points.

 

The Good: Drinks were delicious, carefully crafted (all the juices squeezed by hand on the spot), and certainly not watered down. The space is nice (wish they didn't cover the windows so we could enjoy the view). The small plates look really good and are really reasonably price. Great feel of a 'speak-easy TYPE' place and will seem to have a different crowd than Urban Sip.

 

The Bad: I know I'm at the Ritz, in a swanky cocktail lounge but dang were they expensive (mine was $19, girlfriends was $17), and the acoustics did not seem right at all. Music was too faint and voices carried way too easily and echo-y. Service was SLOW, took about 10-15 minutes to get our drinks (4 total) and we were practically the only ones in there. But I will say that with a caveat, we we're kinda in a hurry so it made it seem longer, and I understand its all hand crafted.

The wait for drinks seems normal. We go to the Experimental Cocktail Club in the Lower East Side, and drinks can take 10-15 min easily to receive. Now the price you spent on cocktails... is F$%&ing outrageous. I've never spent $19 for a cocktail anywhere but Las Vegas, most I've spent in NYC is $18 and that was at the rooftop at the Standard Hotel, where they have $100 pitchers. 

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The wait for drinks seems normal. We go to the Experimental Cocktail Club in the Lower East Side, and drinks can take 10-15 min easily to receive. Now the price you spent on cocktails... is F$%&ing outrageous. I've never spent $19 for a cocktail anywhere but Las Vegas, most I've spent in NYC is $18 and that was at the rooftop at the Standard Hotel, where they have $100 pitchers. 

I spent the equivalent of $27 on a Singapore Sling at the bar that invented it at the Raffles Hotel. I was very disappointed when the bartender pulled a jug of pre-mixed Sling out, threw some ice in a cup, and filled it up. Disappointing.

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I spent the equivalent of $27 on a Singapore Sling at the bar that invented it at the Raffles Hotel. I was very disappointed when the bartender pulled a jug of pre-mixed Sling out, threw some ice in a cup, and filled it up. Disappointing.

I'm going to Singapore later this year and have heard from a few other places to avoid that exact scenario like the plague. It can be the most expensive city ever or it can be very cheap depending on where you go. 

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I spent the equivalent of $27 on a Singapore Sling at the bar that invented it at the Raffles Hotel. I was very disappointed when the bartender pulled a jug of pre-mixed Sling out, threw some ice in a cup, and filled it up. Disappointing.

I would have walked up and punched the bartender in the face. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Originally posted it in the Misc Uptown thread, but I will review it here.

 

Checked out The Whiskey Room over the weekend and gotta say it was AWESOME. Perfect execution of a whiskey lounge.

 

The good: Crystal highball glasses. Reasonable prices (a glass was everywhere from $7-$65 a glass). Straight whiskey flights ($16 for 4 1oz pours). Cocktail flights (same price + the added mixers/whatever). Homemade aged cocktails. Boilermakers. Great whiskey selection. Great decor and seating.

 

The bad: relatively small (only a small part of the upstairs). Only until 10pm on weekends. After that it turns back into a normal upstairs at RiRa (in that they stop serving from the whiskey room menu, stop serving in nice glasses, charge $5 cover on saturdays, live band on saturdays). They said they make way too much money from the late night crowd to extend the Whiskey Room into the night.

 

Overall it was great, and while i wish the entire upstairs was dedicated to it from open to close 7 days a week, I will take what I can get, and I am sure all of you will like it.

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I tried to check out Whiskey Room on Tuesday evening, but the whole thing was rented out for a private event. Isn't that kind of bad form for a place that just opened and should be trying to get good word of mouth?

 

Went to Duckworth's uptown instead. The food was as good or maybe even slightly better than I've had at Park Rd. Beer list was excellent. They actually do an ipad in a case at every table for the beer list, which is a little cumbersome to look through vs. a large paper menu, but you get lots of additional info on each beer if you click into it, so a good move overall. However, as I suspected, I HATED all the TVs. It goes far beyond tacky to the point of mind-numbing. This was early in the evening when the place was not crowded and we were a party of 3, so with no other activity, it was very intrusive and distracting. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad on a busy Friday night with a large group, but I still think its ridiculous. How about not turning them all on unless there is a large crowd or big sports event that justifies it? I probably won't be back to this location for that reason, except for the Cellar when it opens. 

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I tried to check out Whiskey Room on Tuesday evening, but the whole thing was rented out for a private event. Isn't that kind of bad form for a place that just opened and should be trying to get good word of mouth?

 

Went to Duckworth's uptown instead. The food was as good or maybe even slightly better than I've had at Park Rd. Beer list was excellent. They actually do an ipad in a case at every table for the beer list, which is a little cumbersome to look through vs. a large paper menu, but you get lots of additional info on each beer if you click into it, so a good move overall. However, as I suspected, I HATED all the TVs. It goes far beyond tacky to the point of mind-numbing. This was early in the evening when the place was not crowded and we were a party of 3, so with no other activity, it was very intrusive and distracting. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad on a busy Friday night with a large group, but I still think its ridiculous. How about not turning them all on unless there is a large crowd or big sports event that justifies it? I probably won't be back to this location for that reason, except for the Cellar when it opens. 

As far as the word of mouth for Whiskey Room, yes thats bad form but they dont really need to drum up word of mouth, people will go to RiRa's regardless.

 

I don't mind the TVs at Duckworth's, I was just there for lunch and it didn't bother me at all. However, I do agree they should have some off unless there's a bunch of major events on, that's a good idea.

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The food was as good or maybe even slightly better than I've had at Park Rd.

 

I HATED all the TVs. It goes far beyond tacky to the point of mind-numbing.

 

I agree about the food and the TVs. Generally TVs don't bother me in bars but there are just so many _everywhere_ that I feel like my retinas are burning after my second beer. I have decided not to go in Duckworths a couple of times already because of the tvs.

 

Also agree that the ipads are cumbersome, but they do have the benefit of realtime updates for everyone when they kick kegs.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not sure if this carries any weight, but the Observer's writeup about The Whiskey Room includes weekend hours. It might be only a semantic difference though on the weekends Uptown as to whether its called Whiskey Room or Ri Ra's at the time. 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/restaurants/article19031151.html

Yeah, they only "operate" as The Whiskey Room on weekends until 10. The CO just lists RiRa's general house. Their reasoning for stopping at 10 on weekends (while it sucks) makes sense. Basically its:

1. we make too much money from having a band (no idea how), and the late night crowd and the money from the whiskey room wont over take that.

2. the crystal glasses they serve during Whiskey Room hours are very expensive, and they don't want a bunch of drunks breaking them.

3. some of the stuff on their menu's are time consuming to make and they don't want to slow down serving the crowds

4. the menus are expensive and they don't want them getting messed up

 

While I would love something like this to operate open to close, I will take what I can get in this city, and The Whiskey Room does what it does very well.

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1. we make too much money from having a band (no idea how),

It's easy. Most bands are cheap. $60 for a gig... Hey that's great money! Band brings friends, charge those friends to see the band. Most bands are also pretty good drinkers so they actually end up making money on the band. I think the only places my band made money at were Tremont (because everyone but me worked there) and the Armory in Lenoir (no alcohol).

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  • 1 month later...

Went to Piedmont Social House last night (down by Ayrsley Grand) and I gotta say, it was a fantastic time. I was worried that it would be a bad mix of Strike City and Dave & Busters but it's not at all. I effortlessly spent 5 hours there and was having a genuinely great time. The place is HUGE, 23k SF including the patio and there's just so much to do.

The patio is fantastic. Fully equipped bar, tons of tables, corn hole, ping pong, etc.

Food was excellent, fried chicken pimento cheese wrap was on point.

Bowling, pool, darts, arcade games, pub area and even a loungey area.

I definitely recommend everyone get down there and check it out. It was a great time and you could easily spend all day there. Out of 24 beer taps, 10 are local and the beer is priced great. $2.50 bud light, $5 local craft. Good cocktail menu but those were made a bit weak.

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  • 1 month later...

Went to Piedmont Social House on Saturday and I echo the previous statements on this place. Great addition to this city's growing entertainment scene. We spent 4-5 hours there and didn't even get to half of the offerings of things to do.

 

Quick notes:

1) As mentioned, food was on point. Fried chicken makes its way into most of the menu and it is up there with the greats I've had in my stay in Charlotte. 

2) The price is reasonable across the board from drinks, beer, and food to games and activities. The most expensive food item was $18 while the majority fell in the $8-11 range. My wife and I made out only spending $40 bucks on dinner and a few drinks, which is great for those on a budget. As far as games go, there are plenty of free things to do and if you choose to pay for the others, they are fair priced. 

3) The atmosphere was laid back and light. It truly is a place to relax with friends. No matter your mood, there is a place for everyone. When we went Saturday around 6pm it was packed, but there were plenty of quiet nooks with a more intimate setting. It all depends on what you want in your evening. 

4) I had a few, very minor, complaints.

      They were constantly out of taps. It could've been that it was Saturday and I understand it was busy, but still. 2 hours into our evening and 4 taps were already gone. Maybe it was a one off.

      The corn hole was around the corner near the garbage. It must of been a bad day because the stench was too nauseating to even attempt a game. I don't know what they could do to better it, relocate it or maybe add some fans? I dunno, but nobody was over there all evening from what I saw. 

      There are minor discrepancies with the pricing on a few of the games. Website has one price while some games have a different price on them.

Like I said it's minor issues that can be easily fixed. It will not keep me from coming to this place or recommending it to others. This place is amazing, y'all definitely need to add it to your lists of "places to go". Cheers

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  • 4 weeks later...

Obligatory chiming in to say that The Cellar is awesome, and long, long overdue for Charlotte. Frankly we could use 3 more of this type of concept scattered around town. You have no idea how refreshing it was to me that there was no standing (the room's capacity is the same as the number of seats), no tvs, and the music is tasteful and turned down low. 

My only complaint: I've still seen it done better in some other cities and it comes down to one thing: the bartenders. While skilled (every drink I tried was fantastic), they were not especially personable and having 3 rather than 2 working probably would have made a world of difference. Typically at these types of cocktail bars I like to sit at the bar and get a little education, watching the drinks being made and getting something custom recommended to me. Usually the bartenders react with enthusiasm when challenged to create something new, but when I tried to go off-menu here it was outright refused; not rudely, but with slight annoyance and apathy. So, while everything was objectively great and I will be back plenty, that interaction was enough to knock it down a notch below places like Raleigh's Fox Liquor Bar or Denson in DC. 

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Does anyone know or has anyone heard of any type of new LARGE gay club,not bar, but actual place to go and dance to good techno? Scorpio just doesnt do it for me anymore. It was such an awesome place to go in the mid-late 90s. Cathode is nice. I hate the steps at 316. So just wondering if anyone has heard any talk?

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