Gogo Lounge

80s feel of a post psychedelic era sound and lights gong show. Green lights and loud beats, red plastic cherries hanging from the ceiling, records playing stuff I haven’t heard in ages. People dancing, some drinking colourful cocktails that are reasonably fancy; a photobooth in the back and a washroom straight out of a rainforest, with artificial moss, trees and such.
This is the place to go when you are HIGH. Well, I wasn’t high and wasn’t even drunk but I thoroughly enjoyed the ambience of this place. It was zany, man… totally zany. The crowd is a little older — I’d say it’s the place where people in their early to mid 30s would hang out. Lots of well dressed people, lots of accomplished people. Not trying to be cool, which makes them awesome.
The menus are in the form of old records with stuff written on them. I find the theme of the place to be perfect for what it is aiming to be. Definitely need to visit this place again.

I am from Nova Scotia but was in Edmonton for a conference and met up with some old friends who have transplanted to the west.
We headed to the Gogo Lounge and had an absolute blast! The music was heavy on 80s/​90s, which went over VERY well with our 30-​something crowd. As the night wore on, the DJ began to mix in a few more current songs, but the retro vibe remained. We danced ourselves sober, and considering the variety of cocktails we had ordered from the menu, that’s impressive!
Speaking of the menu, it’s made up of colourful stickers on a vinyl record, which is pretty fun. Our server was fantastic. We were a large-​ish group, we were rowdy, and she kept us all straight along with the tabs, until the bitter end.
The barstools are held up with female mannequin legs, so that made for a good photo op. Also, there is an actual photo-​booth in the back corner, and for $ 4, it will print off 2 copies of your snapshots.
The DJ is quite amenable to taking and playing requests, and they actually will provide little sticky notes to allow you to do so.
Overall, we had a terrific night, and if I ever end up in Edmonton again, I will definitely hit up the Gogo Lounge!

I love bizarre, I love tacky, and I hate cookie-​cutter. I knew about the décor at Gogo Lounge before I ever visited — the lady leg stools, the glowing cherries, the red lighting. I envisioned all of it, plus some awesome go-​go/​60s/​retro music to go along with it.
I was a bit taken aback when I walked in on Saturday night and N’Sync was blaring… ok, maybe it was early so they music would change over the night? But it didn’t. Love Shack, I Touch Myself, MJ, Madonna… some of the songs were good, some were a bit too cheesy for my liking. It didn’t jive with the vibe of the bar. I went in the mood to dance, but needless to say I didn’t end up dancing. It felt sort of like a 90s junior high dance, complete with the group of girls (women) dancing in a circle.
Onto the positives, which are pretty much everything else. Like I said, I loved the way the decorated the place. The art was cool. There is so much detail put into everything. The record player menus are cool, and I appreciated the little logos for each individual cocktail. I also liked the coasters that doubles as shot menus, and the fact that the shots were named after all of the zodiac signs. My favourite, favourite, favourite was the bathroom covered in astro turf with over sized foliage and dragonfly on the ceiling. I don’t know where I felt like I was, but certainly not Edmonton.
Our waitress was funny and cute and a little bit awkward but in a cool way. She was one of the best servers I’ve had, honestly. The other staff — door guy, busboy guy — all seemed happy and cool.
I had a vodka and water ($ 6.25), and then decided to splurge on one of their $ 12 cocktails. There’s 2.5oz in there, so it’s a good deal. I had the Yellow Submarine, which was lemon liquor, lemon juice and something else. It was delicious and tart and cold! Very nice.
I’m really glad that Gogo Lounge exists and I will likely go once in a while, but at this point only for a couple of drinks unless they tweak the music a bit.

I get it, it’s a go-​go themed lounge, but sometimes there can be TOO much kitch. The leggs as barstools, maybe only at the bar, instead of everywhere would be better. The red lights in the bathroom, ya, I’m not a fan. Other than that it is a fairly fun and different place to spend an evening. Good music, I like the menu on old vlnyl records, the bar staff is friendly and really know what they are doing, which is huge, great staff is what really makes or breaks a place in the first year.
I think that in some time this place has the potential to be great, I give them credit for opening up something novel, especially on the (fingers crossed) slow re-​invention of 124St. Like with every new venture, there is a learning curve of what works & what doesn’t. So, although I am only giving 3 stars, please, check Gogo Lounge out for yourself. I know I will certainly revisit the place… in a couple months though.

Nothing like a double Gogo Lounge week to remind me why I love this city. Like taking a break from Shostakovich to put House of Pain on repeat, this is such a nifty bar I partied here twice in as many days.
I hesitate using the term retro to describe Gogo. There’s nothing here pastward looking. As Amy B’s previous excellent review described, there are stools with shapely women legs, cocktail menus on vinyl, and cherry lamps. She needn’t have stopped there though (but one must stop somewhere)…AstroTurf washrooms, a real working photo booth. Martinis with names like Dirty Harry and Mr. Freeze. Hints of tackiness have been reinvented and twisted together creating a remixed atmosphere that really only could have come out of a city like Montréal.
The space is fairly small and when people fill it up on the weekend, the music pumps and people dance anywhere. Everywhere. The small space, heavy red drapes, and many shades of red lighting make Gogo intimate: dancing beside the table you could have been sitting at feels natural.
My one complaint are the $ 12 martinis – the martinis you order from the vinyl record menu. Although full of fun, tasty, and sugary goodness, they aren’t cheap. I can get a very good glass of wine or scotch elsewhere for the price of a «Yellow Submarine». Granted, the marinis are 2.5oz (I think) and no wine will be as fun as what’s on Gogo’s menu. And although I have a hard time justifying buying many drinks here, I do anyways. When one gets to having fun…
One side-​effect of Gogo being on the pricey side is the more mature crowed this attracts. A quality that can also be seen in the servers and bartenders. They’re all very intelligent, pleasant, and fun. A combination that is not exuded in every bar in Edmonton.
So, I’ll see you there? C’est ben bon la.

I think it says a lot about Edmonton that places like Oil City Roadhouse/​Vinyl are closing down and places like GoGo Lounge are popping up. I had a really fun time when my friends and I went here on a Saturday earlier this month (would’ve written the review sooner but nobody had created the business page here in Unilocal yet, and I was too busy then to do it myself).
First big plus — atmosphere. The décor is retro-​tasteful, with cherry lamps, stools with shapely women legs, cocktail menus on vinyl and a blown-​up piece of Edmonton skyline out on the back wall (but with other famous structures across the world strategically inserted here and there). The music the DJ plays is fun, danceable, and familiar. This is a place where you take your closest friends, have a drink (or fifteen), dance where you stand, and HAVE FUN. And when you’re ready to have even more fun, you go to the back, try to fit into the photo booth and see if you can bottle the night up in that little strip of awesome. It’s pretty cool.
Second big plus — selection of cocktails. $ 12 each, but worth every single buck. They taste marvelous (and are quite strong)! They also have these zodiac shots at ridiculously low prices (I think it came down to $ 2 per shot) — those taste pretty great too! When we went here last September long weekend, they didn’t serve food yet, but I hear that’s coming soon (if it hasn’t already). I think that could only be a welcome addition to the so-​far limited but respectable menu. I personally have no complaints on the palate end of things.
Third big plus — no cover, older crowd. Definitely a breath of fresh air after the usual stifling selection of clubs and bars in the city (with overpriced covers or a typically younger clientele). I’ve never been to the GoGo Lounge location in Montréal myself, but I’ve heard good things. If this is what this little gem strives to be, then I’m all for it!
So to sum up, it’s an intimate lounge — great atmosphere, weird retro but tasteful décor, good music, great cocktail selection, no cover, older crowd. And photo booth. Oh yeah, and very interesting washrooms.
Now if only we could get one in Calgary…