Fleur

My girlfriends and I were really excited about a champagne bar, I personally love the bubbly! We went there on Friday evening around 11:00pm, the place was absolutly dead, which is fine by me, except our service was horrible. It took several minutes for someone to greet us, and it took quite a while to get our drinks (I’m usually not picky about service time because I enjoy socializing, but it’s a little frustrating when it’s obvious they aren’t busy). My friend accidentally spilled her drink whilst reaching for some cotton candy, right after it was brought to her completely full. I had to go ask for napkins & paper towels, and another drink for my friend. We realized after we had all finished our first round her new drink never came. Also, we were never asked if we wanted another round. To finish out the evening, they charged one of my friends $ 20 for one cocktail, and the one who never had a sip of her drink was asked to pay for it!
I was impressed with the champagne selection, and most of us enjoyed our cocktails as well as the cool space. I’ll probably give it another chance with my husband and see what he thinks.

(In the voice of the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland:)
Whoooooo RRRRR UUUU?
Who are you, Fleur? What are you?
If this place isn’t gaining any traction in Columbus, it could be because of either (or both) of the following reasons:
— Consistently inconsistent. I’ve been to Fleur about 4 — 5 times and every single time they are undergoing some kind of revision. Oh, it’s a champagne/​dessert bar with local desserts. No, wait, it’s a late-​night club space with cotton candy for everyone! Oh, nevermind, we do crepes and brunch. WTF? No one will ever think of Fleur for anything in particular because it can’t make up its mind for what it is. Several of the times I’ve gone there, something has been compromised, whether it’s the availability of the waitstaff, the menu offerings, or the credit card machine. It’s been open for more than a year now, but without any benefits of having been open for a year. The lack of usable website or any information isn’t enough to inform potential patrons or get anyone excited.
— Weird location. I guess a downtown locale can’t ever be «weird» but it’s usually weird for whatever Fleur is trying to be that week. The demographic that seems to make the most sense is the after-​work happy hour crowd, but it doesn’t seem to me that they’ve done much to harness this. It’s close enough to the Third/​Gay Street businesses to be part of that– but, who is really going to come over here latenight (not enough else going on), or on a weekend?
Additionally, the crowd is always kinda strange. It’s usually sparse. I’ve seen a lot of botched plastic surgery. Everyone looks normal from a distance but a bit off when you get up close.
That’s a lot of Fleur bashing. Possibly lazy management and marketing aside, Fleur does have some things going for it. First, I kinda like the space. The white and orange and the mural… it verges on cheesy lounge circa 2002, but I kinda like it. From a decorative standpoint, it’s unlike anything going on in Columbus right now. Would be a pretty backdrop for ladies’ night silly pictures.
I like the champagne menu– everyone’s doing vintage cocktails but I like the crisp option for some bubbly.
My suggestion to other patrons is to give Fleur a try. Perhaps pair your visit with another downtown activity… it’d be a decent stop for a downtown bar crawl, or for pre (or post) drinks with Due Amici for dinner. If you try for breakfast, maybe pair with a stroll through the Topiary Garden by the old School for the Deaf (but you’ll probably have to drive between spots).
My suggestion to Fleur is to solve your identity crisis, then consistently deliver your vision. Make information available to patrons. Host some events. Get involved. People are confused by you, and therefore won’t put you into their rotation of places to visit or suggest to others.
My rating of 3 seems a little bit high. I guess it’s more of a 2.5 for me, but I’ll round up and give Fleur the benefit of the doubt.

I really enjoyed going here solo. It was a nice pop in after work during the week. Now they are only open fri and sat.
What really burns my bottom is that my colleague and I had booked the venue for an event, had 30+ rsvps and we walk in and they basically tell us (on arrival) that that can’t host us. The ice machine was broken.
Unless something is drastic, and in the event of a pre-​booked private event, you send someone to go buy several bags of ice. Or at least entertain the question of — «can you serve beer and wine only — we have around 35 people attending this evening?»
Something was not on the up and up. The manager was out of town apparently in California and actually called my colleague to notify her AS SHE WAS WALKING to the door.
The away-​manager then promised that we could reschedule and that they would help out with the pricing.
Five follow up phone calls later to our contact AND the venue, no one has returned a call.
Our group of 30+ (including catering) relocated over to Tip Top who graciously accommodated us (and also made some really good sales in the deal.)
Fleur did not offer to keep someone at the door to tell our guests about the relocation, did not do anything.
But when I walked back to post some sort of sign (they had one, they just only wrote «XYZ is at Tip Top» with no directions, no number of the venue or address… nothing), there were two people sitting and watching TV.
Total BS.
Apparently, as I share the story, this has happened to others.

I really want to give Fleur a better star rating than 3, but for all of the beautiful white leather furniture and trendy atmosphere it projects, the past 3 or 4 times I’ve been there the crowd has been pretty thin. In addition to the crowd being fairly small, I’m not convinced their drinks are worth the price. I guess I estimated that with all the champagne purchases in bulk, the prices might be a little more reasonable — or the atmosphere a little more inviting.
My hope is that the summer will bring some foot traffic to the place. I’m sure that could help and they could invest in some better signage that can be easily seen from the street. I’m wiling to give it another try, but only if I know there is some event going on and the crowd will likely be a little bigger.

So I was given a recommendation to try Fleur for breakfast as I heard they were now serving crepes and delicious Illy coffee. I checked out the website for information, and saw the video of an unshaven, exhausted crêpe chef talking about their product, and how they serve breakfast every morning (including Sunday champagne brunches, yay!). So on a Friday morning, we strolled over there at around 8:15am only to see the doors locked and the lights off. They don’t even have a functioning website either. My guess is the owners just don’t know or care what they are doing? Truly disappointing! Never going back.

So me and my friends decided to go here for happy hour. I was in love with the all white décor and orange tables the waitress was okay and the drinks were good. Cotton candy was a nice touch. I was so in love with this place I decided to have my birthday party here. The manager was on duty we set and discussed the date and plans right on the spot she said everything was confirmed. I was so excited! The reason I gave this place one star is because when I called to confirm everything and emailed everything was different from the original plans and I was no longer able to have my party there. I was very disappointed! As a professional event planner i will never recommend this venue to clients or support this establishment for ruining my birthday.

I was excited to visit this establishment and was very disappointed. The décor was great as was the menu. However, the service was some of the worst service I have ever experienced in my life. We waited to get our drinks and the bar was empty. Then our waitress never came back. We had to track her down after a little over an hour and beg for our checks! Then they included the gratuity on a party of four. Really, I almost never tip under 25% and I just couldn’t bring myself to leave more of a tip. When we asked her about the included gratuity the waitress replied that she just works here… Not a good sign

After a planned excursion to Long Street Live was nixed by my friends and I last Saturday, and panic began to creep in about where we would continue to get our drink on, the sweet sounds of house music began to echo throughout the quiet, mostly deserted streets of this section of downtown Columbus and into my eardrums. Like a cartoon character floats through the air on imaginary wafts of scent, I was drawn to the redolent splendor emanating from Fleur.
I was immediately pleased from an aesthetic standpoint upon entering, as the inner Kubrick geek in me threatened to make a scene. I kept him calm enough, but the 2001-​meets-​Korova Milkbar décor still made me very happy. There was also a DJ spinning smooth house on the upper level of the space, overlooking the seating area. Pretty chill. Service seemed decent, nobody went out of their way to be friendly, but I get that this is standard for lounges like this. It’s not Cracker Barrel, it’s a bar trying to be upscale with a touch of snobbery. Deal with it, as long as you get what you ask for.
After perusing the drink menu (Milk Plus, sadly, didn’t make an appearance) and deciding that I was not going to spend $ 100+ on a bottle of champagne or around $ 10 on a girly cocktail, I checked the beer menu (printed in size-.0003 font on the bottom of the page), and saw a limited offering of bottles. Like, Bud products limited. So, I bit the bullet and ordered a Bud Light bottle ($ 5 — I know this is ridiculous and nothing further needs to be said) and headed for the patio.
The patio was extremely long and narrow and provided plenty of space for my friends and I. There was yet another DJ on the patio, spinning a bit more aggressive electro/​house, and it created a pretty cool vibe with a nice view of the wastelands of 3^rd Street and people drunkenly trying to hail cabs.
I hear they have desserts here, but I don’t see any reason to eat cupcakes after midnight.
Cool late night spot, but be prepared to spend some scratch if you want to hang out longer than an hour. On the other hand, I didn’t see a single table drinking a bottle of champagne, so don’t be scared off thinking you have to be a big baller to come here (but it still ain’t cheap).

Came here with the hubsters a couple of weekends ago for drinks. Disclaimer: It does NOT take much to make me happy and I have a sweet tooth. So when I was presented with a pink fluffy cloud of cotton candy for FREE, I was beyond excited. I got an awesome drink… something pomegrante. Sweet and tangy just like the menu says. Delish. We will be back.

What impressed me the most about this place was the service. I know that’s a common response, but it’s true. I’m used to going to the Short North/​Clintonville when it comes to drinking, which means I’m slowly getting used to dealing with pretentious a-​holes slinging drinks. When I walked in, I immediately felt as though I wasn’t cool enough to be there. It’s all white and clean and pretty and industrial. Then the bartender handed us menus and told us to grab a seat wherever we wanted. She actually smiled! She greeted us! I felt at ease immediately!
I had a classic Kir Royal-​it was really nice. My friend had a Vanilla Lemon Bay that was really crisp and strong, and it was amazing. The bartender brought us complimentary cotton candy – delish!
My friend asked if I would come back. I said that it’s such a niche kind of place that you would really need to be in the mood for a place like this. However, if you are in the mood, this place is perfect. Other than that, I might not head back any time soon.
Huge pro: They also had an awesome mix of music, techno, indie, French, etc.
p. s. I actually thought that playing cartoons was sort of endearing.

Went back again now that they are officially open for business. Lots of improvements to the space have been made since last time. They were not very busy, but I will say the staff was extremely friendly.
I enjoy a good vodka on the rocks so I was kinda looking forward to seeing what kinds they had. Hopefully something cool I’d never heard of? Well, they have about 500 different flavors of Absolut. ZZZZZZZZ
They’ve also got the other standard offerings that most bars and restaurants have. Other than maybe Chrystal Head their selection isn’t any better than Champp’s Americana.
None of the specialty drinks looked appealing to me, most of them looked very feminine.
Overall I’d say this place certainly is unique but I don’t see myself ever going back, especially since I’m not having a $ 400 bottle of champagne there, and their vodka selection was a big let down.

I was extremely charmed by my recent first visit to Fleur and I am already giddy at the thought of returning. My time at Fleur was definitely the best happy hour of my life thus far and was a delight in damn near every way.
We went during Happy Hour, as I said, which is really the trick to this place. It doesn’t look cheap, it doesn’t smell cheap, it doesn’t feel cheap– and lord knows it just ain’t cheap. But the happy hour is beyond reasonable. $ 7 champagne martinis? Yes’m, continue to pour those down my throat. Very thank-​you please.
Bright and clean and colorful and modern, as a space, with the sunlight filtering in through the curtains of the HUGE windows, Fleur shines both literally and figuratively. The seating is as intimate or relaxed as you want it to be and comfortable as all get-​out.
But what really got my good goat was the SERVICE. Lisa and I were attended to– and yes, attended to is the phrase for it– by one Simone, who made our visit all the better by her attention and friendliness. No mere waitress, Simone chatted us up, discussed the business with us, answered questions about the menu, and even sat with us awhile and had an honest conversation with us. Floored. Or is that… Fleur’d? (Ouch.)
Here’s another great thing: the MUSIC! From German hip-​hop to insane international club music, the tunes here are different but very fitting and fun. I have never, ever heard any of the music we heard here at any other Columbus bar or club, ever, and it was a hell of a treat. We LOVED it.
Also, let me take a minute to say this. Holy God, pistachio caramel popcorn. Dee, lish, and us. So, so, so good. Okay. Moving on!
We were even treated to a free order of cotton candy, made right then and there. It was just presented to us, viola, and there it was. AWESOME!
I can’t wait to get back to Fleur. There’s still so many extravagant, mind-​blowing cocktails there I haven’t had a chance to try yet. Ah…

I’d go back for sure. The alcohol choices were good, and that’s mostly what you’re there for I think. The atmosphere and décor was awesome. Very loungey, which I like. LOVE that they have DJs spinning there. It’s a little pricey, but that’s ok b/​c it’s a vodka and champagne bar. They have sooo many choices of those two, you wouldn’t believe. The thing I was hoping would be great but wasn’t was the dessert. Not only was the dessert menu scant, the actual desserts were soooo tiny for what you’re paying for. And I ordered the fresh fruit tarte (which they say was made to order)…the fruit on it was FAR from fresh. The strawberries were all whithered like they’d been sitting out all day!!! I really think they just took some fruit from off the bar that they would use to garnish drinks and used that to make my tiny little tarte, which was the size of a canapé… it was something I could eat in literally one bite. But it was probably like $ 6! Go for the vibe, the music and the champagne for sure. Skip the «dessert».

You know what? I say haters to the left about Fleur. I think it’s really making sure you know what it is and what it isn’t.
Fleur is first and foremost a champagne bar. Is champagne cheap? No, it is not. Does champagne taste delicious in mixed drinks that are high end cocktails? Yes, it does. So with that, I feel like I can give this place 4 stars.
Go to Fleur to have creative cocktails made with champagne. The martinis are also pretty good and pretty consistent with market at $ 6 a throw (during Happy Hour, anyway). I had a Grand Pom, which I was pretty in love with (champagne, pomegranate and grand marnier). I also tried a Classic Kir Royal (Chambard, Champagne Brut and lemon) which I was… less in love with. My drinking partner got an appletini which was, you know, an appletini. It was good, but it was still an appletini.
We were brought a couple of mini cupcakes that were delish with our beverages (also orange and white) and a staff member told me it’s from Start From Scratch, which is a Michigan company. I really want to give Fleur the benefit of the doubt and hope that initially they were just trying to get things started with vendors and an order didn’t come in or something. They deserve a chance to prove themselves on the local desserts front.
Fleur had awesome service and the décor is adorable, but kind of girly (but what did I expect from a champagne bar, I guess). But there is a bargaining chip: $ 2 domestics during Happy Hour. Not bad, right?
The majority of the interior is white with orange and neutral accents, which really popped. My dining partner and I talked about how it felt almost European (but maybe that was the foreign language indie music playing through the speakers (listen, it was better than it sounds)).
In short, I think if you want an upscale drink in a cosmopolitan space, Fleur is your place. I don’t think it’s for every day. But for fancy times? I could get into it. It seems more of a venue that you would see in larger cities so I am happy that Columbus has decided it is ready to accept that kind of place.

When I first heard about Fleur, I was beyond stoked. A champagne and dessert bar?! Why yes, please.
My friend and I arrived around 7:30 the second day Fleur was open and there was NO ONE ELSE THERE. For well over an hour and a half. Well, no one else except for the DOZEN PEOPLE WORKING. As poorly overstaffed as it may have been, it was nice because we got to talk to a lot of the staff for a long time, and they were seriously fun, good people. This doesn’t strike me as the type of place who would employee two people who would make jokes about tentacle porn, but it is, so… good. :)
The space itself is really nice. White everywhere — the bar, stools, booths, walls — and fresh flowers all around. Simple but elegant.
I had two baby bottles of champagne (consuming champagne out of a straw is very fancy) and a Strawberry Vodka Pop, which was rose+Belvedere vodka muddled with fresh strawberries. It was freakin’ delicious, and I’m not much for the fruity drinks.
Now, to pull some quotes I had read prior to attending from a recent Columbus Underground article to explain what I was expecting and didn’t get:
«We offer a wide variety of prices because I want people to come in and not feel intimidated. We have bottles of champagne ranging from $ 10 all the way up to over $ 1000.» — owner in CU article
There was definitely not a BOTTLE of champagne for $ 10. There was not even a mini bottle for $ 10 (cheapest personal bottle was $ 14.) There were 4 GLASSES of champagne for $ 10, but that’s… not the same thing. The specialty drinks — cocktails mixed with champagne and vodka, START at $ 12. I was hoping to buy a bottle and split it with my friend, but the cheapest bottle they had was $ 40, which would have been perfect, but they were out of it. The next cheapest was $ 75. Then $ 110 — ouch: It’s certainly not a price range that everyone can be OK with. Incidentally, if anyone wants to buy me the $ 1,000 Dom Perignon… call me!
«Desserts are curated from bakeries around Central Ohio» — CU article, not a direct quote from the owner.
…what a surprise when I walk in and someone was unpacking the box of desserts they had just picked up into the glass cases around the bar. The box from… Whole Foods. Really? Pistacia Vera, Sugardaddys, Pattycake… no? Whole Foods? Maybe they just had a bigger first night then they expected, and ran out of local stuff. Let’s hope.
«We’re not a club, and we’re not a bar per se. This is a place to come have a conversation, hang out, listen to some great music and try out some different international drinks.»
No, it’s definitely a bar. A nice bar, a bar with a cool concept. But a bar. The focus is very much on the alcohol. It’s not like Chocolate Café, which is a dessert shop that happens to have a bar. This is a bar that happens to have desserts.
While their menu proclaims, and lives up to, an extensive Vodka selection, they definitely lacked a scotch/​bourbon selection, which one would expect to find in a «dessert bar.»
I’m going to go back, because I really liked the staff, I really like champagne, and I’m really hoping to pair it with some locally-​made desserts. Fleur is just not as SWEET (hyo) as I expected.