Vinyl Retro Dance Lounge

Freezing Saturday night dancing.
CROWD: About 80% black, 15% trying to hook up with somebody black, and 5% got lost on their way to somewhere else.
ATMOSPHERE: Like a hip hop music video. Everybody could shake their booties at a Beyonce-​Shakira level. Lots of grinding. A number of times a circle of people formed while somebody demonstrated particularly outstanding moves.
DJ: Sucked. Wouldn’t stop yapping the entire time. Around the end of the evening he got desperate that nobody was on the dance floor, so he started skipping through tracks at a rate of five songs/​minute hoping that something would get the crowd going again. His strategy was unsuccessful.
CONCLUSION: I like your bouncer — Robert. And the fact that your dance floor is made up of colourful boxes. But please change your Chatty Cathy DJ. He ruined it for us.

I’ve been going to Vinyl for almost 2 years now. When we first started going it was packed and always busy. Upstairs and downstairs would be full of people. Now it’s not so busy and I never see the downstairs open. Perhaps I’m going on the wrong night.
The main reason my girlfriends and I always go there is we have connections and never wait in line nor pay cover. However, Friday’s are no line no cover for the ladies before 10:30 pm. For the most part I have always had good service. Fun bartenders… right now there is a great sport named Eddie R bartending there and he’ll hook you up with a bevvie and put a smile on your face.
The crowd is young and I often feel like a cougar there so I don’t wear my glasses… that way I can live in denial about how young everyone really is. Being that I am married I’m never hunting anyhow.
We’ve celebrated a few birthdays there and used the VIP section and bottle service on a couple occasions. I found this service to be okay. I never felt 100% safe with leaving our purses and stuff as the servers in our section tend to easy get distracted and I once came back from dancing to find strangers sitting in out section.
On my last trip there I was over charged. I paid $ 8 plus tip for a bottled beverage. When I spoke to the manager about it he informed me that it cost $ 6.75. He got us a round of shots and let the beer tub girl go. Apparently he’d had other complaints of overcharging by this particular individual.
Over all I usually have fun here and hope to see it stay afloat and packed again.

$ 10 cover at 10 pm when the place was dead… makes me a sad panda: (

What in the world was I doing at Vinyl Retro Lounge on a Saturday night? I DONT KNOW. Okay, I do know. It was a joint birthday celebration two of my friends decided to have, and they chose this place. Why? I DONT KNOW. So I had to show.
We missed our 10:30 no-​cover guestlist time, so actually had to pay $ 10 to get into this place. We found our ‘crew’ in the ‘VIP section, and it was pretty empty so that was good. The other good thing was that it was ridiculously easy to walk up to the bar and order a drink. As in, there was no one there ordering anything. Weird.
Anyway, gosh the music sucked. It was atrocious. The sound system was terrible, I couldnt even tell what the hell was playing half the time. I was trying not to be a sourpuss but I couldnt help it. I didnt even want to dance it was so bad. The crowd there was barely 17, and I’m not even exagerrating. I dont have anything against 17 year-​olds, but I’d rather not go to a place that is filled with nothing else but.
From where I was, I could see the dance floor was lit up with these REALLY TACKY blue lights and had some tacky smoke being pumped out every 20 minutes, but only in the ceiling. So random and unnecessary and tacky.
At 12 or so, three cops came and stood beside our ‘VIP’ area for like half an hour. I didnt know why they were there, but one of our friends went to talk to them casually but was brushed off, at which point he came back pissed off.
The drinks were served in these crappy plastic glasses/​cups which were hideous and disgusting-​looking. I decided to save my sanity and get out of there after a couple of hours. I dont need to tell you that I’m not going back.
²⁵⁄₃₀

Absolutely love this club! Music and atmosphere are amazing. The staff are really fun too. Every time I go I know its going to be a great night. Making it my regular weekend party place!

When Vinyl first opened everyone was so excited to go there. I have to admit I enjoyed it my first couple times. The décor is in fact retro and the wall to wall mirrors give it a cool vibe. Now, that’s really the only good thing I have to say about Vinyl.
Please, please get rid of the smelly carpet! I mean who’s moronic idea was it to put carpet in a bar. Drinks are spilled, people sweat, the place gets hot and musty… and the carpet just plain reeks! It’s especially noticeable downstairs where it gets so hot and musty, as well as claustrophobic. Last time I was there and my shoes were sticking to the floor I told myself that’s the last time I’m wasting my time and money in that place.
The layout of the bar is not great. I find that often it’s either you’re upstairs or you’re downstairs and if you’re with a large group of people it’s really easy to lose people because of all the turns and the division of the bar. They’ve set up so many ‘VIP’ sections which leaves NO seating for anyone else, yet the VIP areas are always empty!
The drinks are meh. The staff are meh. The patrons are annoying! Very young crowd, very tacky in their retro outfits. The cover charge to get in is ridiculous…$ 10? For what? F that.

I expected soo much more. The few times I’ve been erhe was always because my good friend (who knows everyone there) invited me. This meant no cover costs. Thank God! I would have hated to have paid to have gone inside this place just to have left ²⁰⁄₃₀ mins later.
It’s difficult, since the last time I was there I was really starting to like the DJ. But the crowd. It almost feels like prom night sponsored by Stitches clothing. The crowd barely seems legal to be there, what people my think as being classy usually looks quite trashy. I like going to places with a great crowd — the crowd really impacts the vibe of the place.
The interior of this place is borderline gaudy, the interior designer seems like he/​she tried a little too hard. I also find the set-​up of this club to be a little awkward, big bar in the front seems nice, but another one tucked away in the back — and a dancefloor off to the side.
I also saw at least 3 girls wipe out on the dancefloor– really unfortunate, and this was early in the night — they were just walking across! That deterred me from taking a risk to bust a move. or a bone.
It would take a lot of hard convincing and begging for me to return… or a special friends birthday party invitation (though I’d continue to question my friends self-​respect for having a party here).

This place definitely has its ups and downs — literally. You can either party upstairs with a live DJ, or downstairs with a completely different DJ. You’ll be mingling away downstairs listening to some tunes, but as soon as you make it halfway up the stairs the music starts to change and you realize it’s a totally different environment. Both DJ’s play similar mixes of popular rock and pop music, but with the obvious twist individual to each DJ. It’s like they’ve got two different clubs all mashed into one. Very neat.
Upstairs is quite large and very well spaced. They have two different bars you can buy your booze at, just in case one is busier than the other. There is a nicely sized dance floor located right under the DJ booth with metallic bubble walls and hanging disco balls everywhere. Some may get a little dizzy from time-​to-​time, whether that’s from the reflection of the lights, or just the alcohol taking its effect, but they offer a good amount of tables and booths for a more intimate feel. Downstairs is quite a bit smaller than the upstairs, but offers a full bar, a mini dance floor and plenty of space to rest your feet… or your head, which ever you prefer.
The staff inside are super friendly people, and actually quite entertaining, if you enjoy people-​watching at the club. Each has their own unique style, whether it’s suspenders or a cowboy hat. I’d watch your behavior though because they have a million bouncers at the door and scattered around the club. Okay, maybe not a million, but there sure are a lot. I counted seven outside when I was waiting to get in. They really don’t want people sneaking in their club. Perhaps people are trying to get away from the $ 10 cover they charge. The amount isn’t too extreme considering it’s what almost every other club charges, I suppose.
The people that frequent Vinyl seem to be that of a younger crowd. Seriously, I almost felt like I journeyed back to high school when I stepped inside. It seems to be a hip spot for people new to the bar scene, but also a nice place for people a little more experienced. Everyone in the place was so fresh and full of life, it was actually quite a relief to know that you can just go party and not be judged by how immature you may be coming across. A nice change from the norm.
Top drawer!