Michelle M.
Yelp
FOR THE TOURISTS: If you are taking a cab here, tell the driver to drop you at 1 Raffles Place. You can also get out at the Raffles Place MRT and it's a short walk from there.
Typical rooftop bar experience: hostesses in tight dresses & high heels greet you, give you a once over to make sure you're following dress code, charge you a stupid cover charge ($25 per person on Friday evening), then direct you like cattle to the elevator that'll whisk you up to the trendy rooftop full of tourists and high maintenance expat chicks.
Note that I'm not complaining, I'm just telling it like it is!
With the views that Altitude provides, it's understandable why they charge so much cover. If I'm not mistaken, you're standing on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in Singapore, so the views up here are probably unparalleled by any other rooftop in the country. On a good day, you can see Indonesia! And of course, it's a lot of fun trying to see if you can locate your house or apartment building, and noticing how small the Art Science Museum and the Singapore Flyer looks from up top.
Your cover charge includes one drink, which you have to order on ground level at the time you pay your cover charge. They also emphasize how you can't change your order once it's put on the receipt. Restrictive, much? Since I wasn't expecting mind blowing mixology at the bar, I just stuck to a glass of red wine which was served, again in typical rooftop bar fashion, in a plastic wine glass and tasted simply a-ok.
I didn't like how all sections with seating were for reservations only, and how the cocktail tables that didn't require a reservation had no stools. If you come without a reservation, be prepared to stand.
However, I must give Altitude credit for the live band that was performing early in the evening. They played my favorite acoustic version of The Eagles' "Hotel California", which made us stay at the bar a little longer even though our drinks were finished and I was done snapping 2983 pictures of the amazing view on my iPhone. (Gotta get my money's worth!)
Bottom line, nice place to go once, just to say you've been, and a good place to bring tourists to start the night out in CBD.