Kayla B.
Yelp
Accessibility: There's a full flight of stairs (into a basement) to get into Nowhere Special. This place is VERY low lighting, but there's very little on the floor to trip over. Large variety of seating including large arm chairs, low-top tables, and high-top bar seating.
PROS:
-Super cool space. Since they're in the basement, you don't get any natural lighting, but they made that work to their advantage with a lot of greenery, some neon lights, and a ton (a ton!) of mood lighting. They even have a faux fireplace down here!
-Lots of different "vibes" depending on what you're going for. For dates, there are two-chair tables tucked into dark corners. For when that'd be awkward with a coworker, there are larger, well(er)-lit tables near the middle of the room. For large groups of friends, gigantic circular, upholstered booths.
-Great Instagram areas if you want photos in front of the logos. Everything is gorgeously-lit here.
-Bathrooms were clean. Two single, unisex restrooms for anyone of any gender.
CONS:
-I'm unsure if Nowhere Special is accessible for anyone who can't do stairs. They appear to have some sort of elevator (maybe?) near the front door, but it was locked when we tried it.
-This place will definitely get loud with people in it. With low ceilings and lots of separate "rooms" without lots of space, this might be a place where you want to switch tables if you're in a room with a large party. (Nowhere Special's front door sign encouraged you to seat yourself!)
-I'm leaving the taste of my drinks out of the final review consideration for this review. I HAD been planning exactly what drinks I wanted to drink at Nowhere Special for a few weeks leading up to the day.
But then I showed up to find out that they had changed over the menu *THAT MORNING* to an all-new menu. It seemed to lack some of the uniqueness of the old one (like the drink that came in a lunch box!).
The staff also said that they were learning to make the drinks along with me, and some of them came out super weird (we didn't even finish a few). They were probably some of the worst cocktails I've had this year.
I'm hoping this is growing pains - but hopefully a sign to the manager that staff really needs to be prepped for and well-practiced on new menus before they hit the ground running.
If it was based on drinks, this would be a 2-star experience and we wouldn't be coming back, so I'm leaving the taste of the drinks out of this review in hopes that this was really just the growing pains of a new menu and staff learning to perfect the recipes.