Velvet – Speakeasy

Un de mes bars préférés a Montréal. Je n’y vais pas très souvent mais a chaque fois que j’y vais, au moment ou je descends les escaliers qui mènent a un long corridor souterrain aux murs de pierres éclairés seulement par quelques cierges je suis toujours impressionné. Quand j’arrive dans ce sombre corridor souterrain qui me fais beaucoup penser aux Catacombes de Paris, j’ai toujours l’impression de voyager, de me retrouver ailleurs dans le monde. C’est très différent des autres bars de Montréal. Vraiment unique comme vibe. Et leurs drinks (quoique pas donnés) sont excellents. Je conseille le gin Hendrix au concombre. Il est juste parfait. Et la musique est incroyable. Ils recoivent les meilleurs dj house, deep house et electro de partout dans le monde. C’est vraiment un endroit à essayer si vous êtes fans de nightclub et de musique house et electro. J’y ai toujours passé des soirées mémorables.

Very laidback ambiance, wear clothes you don’t care about as they will get ruined, very easy to get in– don’t even bring ID.

Don’t waste your time or deign to pay for this. Incompetent, rude, and unintelligent staff. You are not Hakkasan in Las Vegas, so please stop trying to be.
Music was terrible, and overall crowd was very poor.
Friends said: «Thank god it was Canadian dollars. That was the worst DJ who wouldn’t listen to his crowd. GTFO.»
Go to Rouge instead!

Overpriced cover and drinks. Sausage fest of about 75% guys. Need to regulate the ratios at the door. I understand why women love this place so much. For the attention.

The club’s ambience is badass, the drinks aren’t too bad for the sorta high prices that they charge, the clientele is interesting and the music is decent, but the staff is extremely unprofessional, and it has soured me on the club. At the door, I was instructed to leave my identification, take an escort down to the bar and retrieve cash for entry. The doorperson then switched, failed to return my i.d., was no longer there at closing, and no one has gotten back to me since. It has been FOUR DAYS and I live overseas.
This was my first trip to Montréal, and this establishment is the only one who has soured the experience for me. The only person who answers their phone is the administrative person at Auberge St-​Gabriel — the adjoining restaurant. She never calls back, though — I always have to call her. She keeps promising me that someone from Velvet will call me promptly, but that never happens either. Extremely unprofessional. I need to know if I have to replace my i.d., but I also need to know if they have it first (and why wouldn’t they — what the hell could they have done with it? Sold it on the black market? Is that why they’re being dodgy about returning my calls???)

One of the most interesting decors for a club that I’ve ever seen, however, the DJ should have cancelled instead of playing the terrible «music» he played.
The upstairs is a restaurant with a bar, and then you go downstairs through a dark tunnel to reach the speakeasy. Very interesting! Extremely dark!
Keep in mind that the place got packed out with a terrible crowd and bad music. 4 stars only because I can’t rate the club-​theme any lower.

Enter the catacombs. Walking down the candlelit stone corridor one expects to enter some ancient grotto or cavernous subterranean dungeon but you can save the leather and whips for another day. On second thought actually, no, no, bring all the equipment you’ve got. You’ll need it. The booming bass gets this place bumpin’ in the night and best of luck to those of you who’ve come here to talk. Unless you know sign language that is not going to happen without feeling like you’ve pulled your vocal cords out and have eaten them for a midnight snack. Seriously the volume up in here is at a straight eleven. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just don’t come here to talk. You come here to legit get your grind on. The drinks are pricy but excellent and well worth the dollars. Top value for dollar in fact and the bartenders are quite skilled mixologists as well as generous with the alcoholic portions. If you want to go to the toilet you’d probably want to go outside and come back in. Besides, public urination is an age old Montréal tradition! Ladies, pop a squat or use the P-​Mate. Gentleman, you know what to do. Should you feel inclined to not follow my suggestion be prepared to wait and wait and wait. There is a long queue and all the people ahead of you are each going to spend ten to fifteen minutes having sex or doing blow so seriously if you have some real business to accomplish go outside. Also if you come here in the winter it is boiling goddamned hot and if you’re on the dance floor and you’re grooving that adds a good 10° to the intense heat and humidity. Only come here to get funky; no talking and no peeing. *Disclaimer: it is not the intention of this Unilocaler to endorse public urination. Please adhere to all sanitation, health and safety laws and bylaws.*

Tu veux tester quelque chose de nouveau ?! T’en as marre d’écouter du commercial et de danser sur ce que tu entends tous les jours à la radio ?! Oui ! Alors il né te reste plus qu’à te rendre au Velvet ! Agencé sur 2 niveaux: le rez-​de-​chaussée à ce côté un peu chic, un beau bar, des chaises hautes et comptoirs, avec un mur en brique, style un peu chalet je trouve, illuminé par un joli éclairage.
Ce qui nous intéresse plus particulièrement, c’est le niveau du bas par lequel vous serez très vite attiré, car la musique vous y appelle (c’est comme le chant des sirènes dans la mythologie grecque).
Il vous suffit de descendre l’escalier qui mèné vers un long couloir sombre, éclairé par quelques petites bougies. La première chose que l’on se dit: mais oú vais je donc atterrir ?! Et bonne surprise, on se retrouve dans une sorte de «cave» stylée, la salle n’est pas énorme mais peut accueillir un nombre suffisant de personnes pour avoir une bonne ambiance !
Et là, il y a le Dj de la soirée qui mixe juste devant vous, vous pouvez même aller à côté de lui, danser à ses côtés, en gros être en plein cœur de l’ambiance et observer tous ses faits et gestes, son habilité à mixer !
En général, il y a plusieurs artistes qui passent au cours de la soirée ! Le style musical est la house, deep house, electro (personnellement, j’adore!)
Il y a certains artistes connus qui y jouent, d’autres moins ou locaux mais c’est peut être l’occasion de découvrir de nouveaux artistes, qui sait ?!
Niveau clientèle: ça c’est bof bof hein, étonnamment une clientèle pas toute jeune… Je me demande un peu ce qu’il viennent faire dans ce genre d’endroit (peut être parce que l’endroit à cet aspect assez chicos finalement). Bref, personnellement, je vais là pour le plaisir de la musique et de danser.
Niveau vestimentaire: je dirais viens un peu comme tu le souhaites ! Certaines personnes sont très classe (genre costard), d’autres plus relax, ou rock !
Le Velvet est le genre d’endroit que j’aime et que je vous conseille d’au moins une fois essayer mais il me faudrait trouver d’autres endroits de ce style à Montréal pour être complètement objective et avoir un point de comparaison.
Sur ce, si je t’ai convaincu, on s’y croisera peut être !

This cavernous venue can be hit or miss. When it hits, it can be one of the best spots to really party in Old Port. It’s even been mentioned in the NYT. The music is that hard electro stuff, but the crowd is trendy and made up of young Europhiles. The partying takes place downstairs in an atmosphere that looks like it’s from the medieval era. The drinks are pricey. Fun place to go with friends moreso than meeting new people.

The Prohibition era is making a hot comeback right now. After all, what makes us want to do something more than being told that we shouldn’t do it?
Velvet’s another nighttime spot capitalizing on the trend. Here, however, Prohibition goes chic — the club is located in the basement of a rustic-​but-​modern auberge (Auberge St-​Gabriel) in the Old Port, and has one of the coolest club spaces in Montréal. With a long hallway leading you to the party, stone walls on all sides and candles everywhere, the place actually up kept its reputation as the city’s best kept secret long after its secret was out.
Smoke fills the underground room as the fashionable crowd made up of high-​rollers, nightlife regulars, the slightly eccentric and the hipster-​ish dance the night away. The 18-​to-​40-​something year-​olds are quite good-​looking, or, at least, that’s what I gathered from the little I saw through the smoke. The music is usually a mix of minimal tech, house and electro — don’t count on any Rihanna here — but it seems to please even the pop-​lovers despite the few lapses in momentum. Unfortunately there are only 2 bathrooms for the entire club. It makes the wait relatively long, especially when they’re also being used for extracurricular activities. (If you’re willing to go up the stairs, there are more bathrooms there!)
The barmen/​maids are fast, and their drinks are good. Their specialty drinks ($ 8-​$ 10) are actually really good — try the cucumber Hendrix (Hendricks’ rose petal and cucumber infused gin, dry vermouth, fresh cucumber) — and strong. After paying a 10 $ entrance fee, free-​pouring and generosity are key. Or hey, you can always get on the guestlist and enjoy the strong drinks just for the hell of it.
Music 7.5÷10, Pretty people ?/​10, Service 8.5÷10, Drinks (strooong) 9.5÷10, Dancing-​friendly 9.5÷10.
Pictures:

The main attraction of the night was Velvet Speak Easy. They should just leave the Speak Easy out. Nothing was easy except the girls there. Getting a drink was a 20 minute task. And they only had two bathroom stalls for girls and boys. But while in line, there’s at least a photo op with sparkly «Be Fabulous» (The text wasn’t only for me, but it sure seemed like they had me in mind.).
The crowd was probably one of the worst I had seen in awhile (pretty much equal to last night but that post will come later). Think young bleach-​blonds with fake tans who wanted to wear their gaudy, bejeweled, short Prom dresses until they burst the seams, and bros who were subsequently separated from the girls as if they were at a junior high formal. The DJ started playing better music later in the evening, but we belonged to the small minority who were actually dancing.
I definitely won’t go back to this place.

Apparently, the basement is where it’s all «happening». Once we finally got down there it was hard to tell why anyone would want to be there; it’s humid and doesn’t have proper ventilation, the DJ is no one you’ve ever heard of (this was a Sat. night) and check out the picture of the bathroom. It’s disgusting — actually nauseating. Pretentious; and I live in LA where we practically gave birth to pretention.

Wandered into this place early on a Sunday night and was invited back by the manager for that night. After hearing how «intense» the club gets, we decided to check it out.
«Intense» in Montréal clearly means a ton of 17 — 18 year olds drinking heavily. While the vibe upstairs is great, once you get downstairs and through the tunnel, it’s not really anything special. Drinks were good, though not spectacular.
Oh, and this is not a speakeasy. Hard to find club is more like it.

HIDDEN GEM ALERT!
OMG this place was amazing but a little challenging to find! To find this place, you have to first understand what a Speakeasy is. A Speakeasy is an establishment that illegally sells alcohol (sit down Lot 332, I am talking about during prohibition time in the 20’s and 30’s).
By design this place should be underground but we didn’t realize that that would include the entrance. My friend and I showed up to 420 Rue St-​Gabriel and the door was locked… are they closed on a Saturday? My friend really had to go to the washroom and since we were already in the Vieux Port we decided to go to the bar next door called L’Auberge.
We arrived at 11:30pm and begrudgingly paid $ 15 at the door. Once in, my friend noticed some bouncers hanging by a staircase and beats coming from that general direction. Went down and saw the cobblestone tunnel seen in the Unilocal photos… were we in the right place after all?!
Yup, and let me tell you this place was gorgeous! What else was gorgeous? The staff! My bartender and busboy were HAWT and the super cute bar service girls were super nice and danced around with the patrons all night.
The music was an awesome blend of House, minimal techno and electronica. I loved all the art used in the space and small details like the poetry on the walls. The drinks were pretty strong and about $ 8 each and $ 6 for shots. I will definitely come back when I am in town again.

Velvet in Vieux Port is what you get if a bunch of dangerously good-​looking people commandeered the Parisian catacombs and moved out all the pesky bones to make more room for their writhing and gyrating hips.
Once you get beyond the bouncer/​guest list, pass through the lounge-​y ski lodge atmosphere of the first floor and descend into the depths below, it’s literally like walking into Nosferatu’s lair… dank, ancient, terrible, seductive, wickedly alluring. The music here is bumping techno that courses through your veins and beats uncomfortably at your sternum. Personally, I wished that they would instead play a low key trip-​hop, a smoky melody of exhilaration and dread (It’d be too much to ask for some Bartok night music, I tried to come up with a compromise).
But hey, the kids wanna dance. And after one of their drinks, that’s just what I did.
(Useful information: 10 dollar cover, 2 dollar mandatory coat check in the winter. Or at least these were the terms when I went at 11pm on a Saturday night)

OK … so last night was the second time I’ve wondered into this dark and wicked underground club in the old port. An unsuspecting entrance in an old stone building, you go downstairs … almost as if you’re entering a dungeon … and down a very dark tight tunnel made completely of natural rock and only lit with candles. You enter into a small but hoppin club. Everyone is quite friendly and happy … dancin’ drinkin’ and enjoying the night. Another plus — free pouring :) I’m a fan!

Velvet is certainly a hip joint filled with an attractive clientele. But while you’re there don’t expect to have any real conversation with anyone as the music volume is set to 11. I think I lost my voice more than my hearing after a few hours of trying to chat up my friend.
Definitely a cool vibe but you’ll pay to be there as the drinks aren’t cheap and they force you to check your coat for a fee at the door. The door guys were all really nice and one even chatted us up about our hometown. It was a decent night out. All and all, not a bad place to be seen in, but that’s about it.

I went to Velvet for the after party for Friendly Fires & The XX. It’s a nice place, but kind of small. It’s just one long room, with two bars at each end. It has a cool fireplace in the middle, located next to the dance floor and some small couches lining the back walls.
The music was great and the drinks were strong. The crowd that usually goes is more of the hipster and young urban variety. I think there might be some type of dress code, there definitely is a line in front that you have to pass through with the bouncers approval.
As at any place, be kind to the bouncers and they will be good to you. They definitely have a big influence on who gets in or who doesn’t. I’ve watched pretty girls being carried out kicking + screaming for pissing off the door guy. On the other hand, I think they’re super nice, and will definitely hook you up if they like you.
A good place to go if you want to drink with young and attractive hipsters that dress well, a bad place to go if you’re not one of the above.