Jessica N.
Yelp
I used to love this place a couple years ago but now I'm not sure what I was thinking. Overcrowded with scantily clad girls, and guys wearing kahki shorts, and muscle tanks, all of which look like they just turned 21. Baby prostitutes are half naked and dancing like strippers, and young guys are walking around salivating and trying to attempt what sort of resembles break dancing or popping and locking to impress them, but not really sure what they were doing, could have been a seizure, hard to say. So depending on what you are looking for, this might be the spot for you but not what I was looking for or remember it being like a couple years ago. They used to have a more diverse crowd, and it wasn't so crowded that you couldn't move to dance. Now the scene reminds me of the "bros and hos" scenario down at Fifth Ave. Maybe it was just a bad night. It was a hot Friday night in July, during the peak of summer which may explain the crowdedness. I used to come with a large group of friends, guys and girls, and we mostly danced with eachother so that may be the difference too. If you come here, I'd definitely suggest coming with a group of friends. It used to be fun for pub crawls and birthdays. I also think that it's better to come here earlier and start your night here dancing because it gets too crowded later and the crowd gets more obnoxious later in the night. This past week, I came around 11:00 with one other friend after a friend's birthday at the dueling piano bar upstairs and it was overcrowded with obnoxious overly drunk patrons. You couldn't move to dance because it was bumper to bumper people and the floors were super sticky from people spilling their drinks. My friend had three separate people spill their beers down her dress in the massive crowd. We finally ended up leaving.
What I remember liking a few years back, is they played good danceable music, mostly hip hop, some top 40, not really any EDM. I like EDM but it can be harder to dance to if it's the only thing they are playing all night. They play, Bruno Mars, Lil Dicky, Fetty Wap, the wobble and the like. They play music videos on tv screens throughout the bar. They have a long dance floor with a dj near the front and a tiki bar to the left which gets super crowded with people. They used to have frozen margaritas which were really good but they no longer have the frozen margarita machine. Drinks were decent but kind of expensive depending on what you order. A margarita and a shot of tequila on the side was only $10 but a Moscow Mule and a shot of something else was $15. I think the bartender must have used top shelf in the Moscow Mule order without asking for a preference. They have some booths and seating when you first go up the stairs from the piano bar, but this time they had it closed off and were using it as a "VIP" section which seems pretty weird for this bar. They charge a $5 cover at the door after around 9:00, but ladies are free cover on Friday nights. I used to think that this and Craft or Commune in the basement of Bastone were the only places worth dancing in Royal Oak but now it's not much better than Fifth. I still have great memories of this place, and anything is better than Fifth Ave so I'd give them another shot but it wouldn't be my first choice and if I did come here, it would definitely be earlier around 9 or 10. If I'm in Royal Oak, I'd probably go to Craft first but its Royal Oak so the drunken crowded immature debauchery is probably all you can really expect anywhere here.
