Twin Cities Bar/Cafe/Venue Review - 3/24/2009
115 First Street North • Minneapolis • MN • 55401 612•339•3933
Two words sum this place up well: indirect lighting. Which is very important! Ask anyone there!
The place has great ambiance, which actually includes their acoustics, so I'm quite glad that live music was involved.
Dearling Physique (LIVE) :: Dominique Davis & Matt Vannelli
Soul:Control (DJ SET) :: Zak Khutoretsky aka theDEVIOUSone & Daniel Paul Cortez aka Ghetto unite
Loveless Aphrodite (DJ SET) :: Alexia Rodriguez
Dearling Physique was amazing! They mixed, and played, and jammed, and sang, and DANCED! In a hood and tights. Frier Tuck meets David Bowie maybe.
http://www.dearlingphysique.com/
http://www.myspace.com/dearlingphysique
The drinks were outrageously priced, and in my first go'round at guzzling diet coke instead of red wine, I was unpleasantly surprised to pay $2 a pop for my pop. They weren't horribly snotty about it, but I didn't feel any love from the bar itself as the DD.
But here's my big kicker in all of my forthcoming reviews: The bathroom. This I feel rounds out the amount of consideration any space gives its patrons. So JetSet gets an A- for their bathrooms. Very clean, cleanly decorated, well lit. The sinks and mirror are outside the "toilet room" so men and women primp together in front of a humongous mirror which was in a farther back corner/nook of the bar. Nice, private. There was only one toilet in each room however, and while I never waited to go, you always ran the risk of bursting into the room and then realizing that it is a single person room. A touch of privacy issues.
Crowd was clubby - clubby girls and gay bois molesting each other to low key mmm maybe some deep house? not quite downtempo. It was off the cover of a design magazine, complete with skinny pants and shiny shoes. I felt granola and I was wearing heels.
So, my Experience-o-Meter on a scale of 1-10
1: Pissy: me feeling crummy, sick, ripped-off, put-off, grossed out, etc etc
5: Neutral: me feeling indifferent, adequately fed (though maybe crap food), or just generally unremarkable
10: Spectacular: me feeling thoroughly impressed - amazing food, superlative drinks, accessible specials, accommodating space for patrons and performers, etc etc...
Ambiance/Space (doesn't include bathroom): 9
I found parking easily, the decor was simple and well done, the candle lights fit the mood and music perfectly, we had a place to sit, or mill or pull up to the bar. Very well done.
Bathrooms: 8
The single person stall in a little room was a little awkward a couple times, but I loved the mirror.
Food/Drink: 3
I'm pissed that I paid so much for my soda. Shannon's mojito was pretty delicious though.
Performance: 8
Loved the live band. Its been too long since I've seen djs too, I think I need to be in my dancing shoes to really appreciate some good wax though.
JetSet gets an overall: 6
I'd go back, but not unless there was a direct invite for a specific event, as was the case last night.
