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Houston's Best Lounges?


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Good Day HAIF.

 

I've been looking around for some new places to haunt. I really like cocktail bars that have a relaxed atmosphere. I enjoy Davenport off of Richmond, Boheme in Montrose, and Winetopia on San Felipe (sometimes the music gets too loud). Not necessarily a place that has a dance floor, just a place to enjoy a couple of drinks with friends.

 

Ayone have any good suggestions? Is Up in Highland Village any good? 

 

I know this is a long shot but any bars/lounges that play lounge/jazz/blues/exotica music?

 

I do enjoy beer occasionally but Wine & Vodka are my poison of choice.

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Wish I could help. My favorite back in the mid-1990's was the Rhino Room (R.I.P.) on Richmond (Shepherd Square). It was dark, cool, and quite inside - totally no nonsense. It was a great place to enjoy a couple at the end of the workday.

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Lei low on n main

leilowhtx.com

Tiki bar and the owners strive to be authentic. Expensive drinks...but a great place. And...nothing but exotica music there.

Can't wait to go back. In fact, what time is it???

Put Martin Denny on your Pandora, and get in the mood. See you there.

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Naviguessor's comment reminded me of this.  It's been gone for years, but you would have liked the old Cocktail Lounge on Allen Parkway.  Very mellow, but the kind of place you wouldn't go wearing jeans.  The jukebox was this odd combination of classic country and lounge - think early Johnny Cash and Martin Denny.  An acquaintance at the time who hung out there always claimed it was the best unknown bar in Houston. 

 

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Thank you all for your help! I've never heard of these places. I googled "the best cocktail bar in Houston", and the first place that pops up is the anvil. Couldn't gather much from the website, other than is was voted best cocktails in Houston. So we get there and this place is tiny, and full of the same crowd on Washington. They mostly served beer, ordered a simple Cosmo (don't laugh), and he said "I'll see what I can do".

Most basic bars have the simple ingredients to make this. He hands me something yellow. It was grapefruit juice and vodka. That's it. That's Houston's best cocktail.

Sorry for the back story but I've found word of mouth (HAIF), seems to be more reliable to find local places than google or bing.

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An apt comment from an older topic:

 

It used to be the site of the Allen Park Inn. The API was a great place. It didn't look like much from the outside but once you got inside it was beautifully landscaped, with a great pool and palapa bar. The bar at the API was like walking into 1965 -- and they served Prime Rib until 2 a.m. Anyway...
 

 


Sounds like my kind of room. Where was this place on Allen?

 

It was attached to the old Allen Park Inn but had an exterior entrance.  It would have been closed after the flood in 2001.  This was the kind of place that always has its own crowd but flies under the popularity radar.  It wasn't knowingly retro; I think they had just decorated and stocked the jukebox in 1966 and never messed with things again.  Not to my taste, but there was also a lot of Sinatra songs.  It always seemed so sophisticated to say to people "Tonight we're going to Cocktail Lounge."  

 

 

 

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I like the jukebox at La Carafe but no hard liquor. Great place to be in early afternoon/evening hours...not so much when busy. Juke has Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Etta, Bob Marley, Patsy Cline....

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You may enjoy the Black Labrador on Montrose! Great restaurant and food and huge chess board/pieces out front, and a cool jazz/piano bar upstairs! Plus it's right next door to Eatsie Boys...another great place to eat and hang out! Love that little plaza.

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SubDude.  Thanks for the description.  I lived so close...never went.  My Loss.  Sounds interesting.

 

Montrose1100 - VooDoo Queen, at 322 Milby (In the shadow of Maximus Coffee) is a very interesting place to hang/drink.  Interesting Mix of characters, great cocktails!, good specials and friendly staff.  Has an old New Orleans Port bar feel to it, but, heavy on the hipsters.   Suggest ordering off their interesting Drink menu, rather than going with the cosmo.  Warning...you can quickly become "over-served" here.   

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SubDude.  Thanks for the description.  I lived so close...never went.  My Loss.  Sounds interesting.

 

Montrose1100 - VooDoo Queen, at 322 Milby (In the shadow of Maximus Coffee) is a very interesting place to hang/drink.  Interesting Mix of characters, great cocktails!, good specials and friendly staff.  Has an old New Orleans Port bar feel to it, but, heavy on the hipsters.   Suggest ordering off their interesting Drink menu, rather than going with the cosmo.  Warning...you can quickly become "over-served" here.   

yikes! Hipsters are a no no for me. Every bar that I have been to that is predominately hipster, I always have had a bad time. (Poison Girl comes ringing to my mind), It's a curse! I actually prefer the D-Bag bars over hipster bars. There are some good reviews on yelp about Voodoo Queen, So I think I might go and give it the benefit of the doubt. 

 

I'm not snobbish at all, even places that are +25 and have a dress-code can also be awful, like Roosevelt on Washington, Reign, and Hughes Hangar. I would rather go to #'s than those places again. 

 

Anyways, thanks for the suggestion.

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It's a curse! I actually prefer the D-Bag bars over hipster bars. 

 

The guy in the next office over just asked what I was laughing about.  For the record, I agree with you.  

 

As far as a non-hipster, non-D-bag place to quietly enjoy a strong adult beverage, Warren's on Market Square is just around the corner from La Carafe and does have spirits.  The 300 block of Main (immediately behind Warren's) has something for just about every taste.

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yikes! Hipsters are a no no for me. Every bar that I have been to that is predominately hipster, I always have had a bad time. (Poison Girl comes ringing to my mind), It's a curse! I actually prefer the D-Bag bars over hipster bars. There are some good reviews on yelp about Voodoo Queen, So I think I might go and give it the benefit of the doubt. 

 

I'm not snobbish at all, even places that are +25 and have a dress-code can also be awful, like Roosevelt on Washington, Reign, and Hughes Hangar. I would rather go to #'s than those places again. 

 

Anyways, thanks for the suggestion.

 

There's not one in particular I can recommend, but have you given any thought to hotel bars?  

 

 

In college I had a friend who hung out at hotel bars.  I thought it was peculiar, but he maintained that they drew more interesting drinkers and kept out the riff-raff besides.  Eventually I realized that was right.  We actually used to go to the bar at the Hyatt fairly regularly.  Laid back, not crowded, and good people watching.

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There's not one in particular I can recommend, but have you given any thought to hotel bars?

In college I had a friend who hung out at hotel bars. I thought it was peculiar, but he maintained that they drew more interesting drinkers and kept out the riff-raff besides. Eventually I realized that was right. We actually used to go to the bar at the Hyatt fairly regularly. Laid back, not crowded, and good people watching.

I was actually going to ask about Hotel bars, but I was afraid someone would tell me only escorts and one night stand seekers would go to a hotel bar. Would it be of if I went with some friends? Do Hotel bars stay open till 2? Or do they close to only guests after a certain time? I bet it would be easier to call a cab too.
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I was actually going to ask about Hotel bars, but I was afraid someone would tell me only escorts and one night stand seekers would go to a hotel bar. 

 

Well, do you consider that a good thing or a bad thing?  

 

Seriously, not that I've never seen a hooker pass through, but it's really mainly just guests and normal people who want a place to hang out that is more subdued than your typical bar.  At Cocktail Lounge I mentioned above, along with the guests there seemed to be a fairly steady contingent of neighborhood people.  I suppose it would depend on the individual hotel, but bigger hotels are likely to be better.  

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Funny you should mention that Hotel. I went to a birthday there a couple years ago. The entire floor smelled like marijuana and you could hear things as you walked pass some doors.

I've never been back... Seems like a dirty free for all.

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Don't go to anvil and order a cosmo. It's like hearing underbelly has great food and ordering pizza. I am not judging you for liking Cosmos, that is just not what you get at a place like that.

Well like I said it was voted Houston's best cocktail bar (via google). I would assume it would be quite simple to make one if you label yourself as a cocktail bar. Even Chilli's can make one! Not that I would order one at Chilli's.

Anyways it was after the grapefruit and vodka that I quickly realized it was more of a beer on tap kind of place, and thus prompted me to start this thread.

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I forgot to mention Shanghai River on westheimer (East of Kirby), has a very large cocktail menu. I've tried most of them and have not been disappointed. Even on Friday & Saturday nights the place is a ghost town. I think there is some history there, it's quite charming (Happy Family Marvin Zindler).

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Well like I said it was voted Houston's best cocktail bar (via google). I would assume it would be quite simple to make one if you label yourself as a cocktail bar. Even Chilli's can make one! Not that I would order one at Chilli's.

Anyways it was after the grapefruit and vodka that I quickly realized it was more of a beer on tap kind of place, and thus prompted me to start this thread.

 

Anvil may be a lot of things, but it is definitely not a beer on tap kind of place. They pride themselves on being a "craft cocktail" bar. Not defending the attitude you got there, as I think it was unwarranted, but their target audience is people who geek out on obscure varieties of gin, homemade tonic (and other ingredients), and cocktails that are as far removed from well drinks at the average bar as it's possible to be. 

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Anvil may be a lot of things, but it is definitely not a beer on tap kind of place. They pride themselves on being a "craft cocktail" bar. Not defending the attitude you got there, as I think it was unwarranted, but their target audience is people who geek out on obscure varieties of gin, homemade tonic (and other ingredients), and cocktails that are as far removed from well drinks at the average bar as it's possible to be.

I did have a bad expierence. As I stated I didn't do much homework before going there, just a quick google search of cocktails bars in Houston in the cab. When I got there it was packed, which is fine, I am patient. I didn't get to look at the menu, nor did I see one. When the bartender finally alnowledged our existence (always go out with pretty girls), our window of ordering seemed small as he was starting to roll his eyes when we didn't immediately know what to order. So I quickly told my girlfriend to order cosmos for us all. 15 minutes pass until the grapefruit drinks appeared and I always check out my surroundings. It looked like everyone was drinking beer. So it made sense in my mind that we were the oddballs. We left, with a sour taste in our mouths (literally and figuratively).

I read some reviews on yelp and it looks like we were unlucky enough to be in the same boat as the 1-3 star reviewers. Except we didn't have to wait outside, we walked right in. I return to places that I've had a bad expierence with to give it a second chance, and this is probably one of the very few I wouldn't.

I was completely sober entering the anvil, and I had no idea until I did some more searching that it was a cocktail bar. Perhaps just the right ingredients for a poor expierence.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I took Subdude's suggestion and went to a hotel bar. We had dinner at the Pappasitos in the Hilton Americas. It was stunning inside. It felt like we weren't in Houston. The service was top drawer. The food, well I have never been disappointed at any pappasitos.

So the Lobby bar is kinda cool. Unfortunately it was super packed because there was a wedding. So we decided to try Hearsay Gastro Pub and Lounge.

First of all, this place is fabulous. 3 story ceilings, amazing light fixtures, brick walls, really classy wall art with wood behind the bar. Low lighting, music that isn't at a deafening volume.

The tiny champagne flute sized drinks were $13.50. Which I would totally delicate flower about but the peach whatever I had was absolute heaven. Not too sweet, it didn't even taste like alcohol. But then again I was drunk at this point.

Then we asked her for some shots and told her to surprise us. And did she! It was amazing. Black Berry and I don't know. It was delicious.

The service was great. The atmosphere was really what I was looking for. Classy, not a D-Bag in sight (or hipster), I really want to go back and try the food.

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  • 1 month later...

Has anyone been to Monarch in the Hotel ZaZa? How is the lounge after they stop serving food? I blame Subdude for this. I now feel like I must try every Hotel Bar & Restaurant in the city.

 

I happened to go to a few D-Bag hot spots on my birthday. Celtic Gardens was like Denton on steroids. Proof was like I stepped into a portal to Los Angeles. Maybe I'm getting older and don't go out to dance clubs as much. Starting to like the lounge experience more and more. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Went to the Hotel ZaZa last night. Really impressed with the hotel itself, the lobby is really cool, the views from Monarch are probably the best in the city. You see nothing but the oaks and the MFAH.

The drinks at Monarch were great. The food was actually pretty terrible. Two of my friends got the peppercorn pork chop and it was 80% raw. I asked if that's the way it's supposed to be served and he said "yes, med-well", and then we showed him how the entire inside was raw and he said "yeah that's medium".

I've never busted out laughing so hard in my life. I ordered the tenderloin and it tasted like dirt. I would really like to go back just for drinks, I would probably never eat there again.

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As a Midtowner, Leon's Lounge has a soft spot in my heart since the renovation. After work, it's awesome to have such a quaint spot right off the train platform, on the walk home. From the regulars that show up after 5 to all the lady bartenders that have come and gone ...It's become the "Cheers" bar of my life.

I forgot to mention Shanghai River on westheimer (East of Kirby), has a very large cocktail menu. I've tried most of them and have not been disappointed. Even on Friday & Saturday nights the place is a ghost town. I think there is some history there, it's quite charming (Happy Family Marvin Zindler).

Seconded. Shanghai River holds a lot of memories for me and my family. And the Pu Pu Platter (despite the name) makes for a great appetizer with its presentation.

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