XL Bar & Lounge

I’ve never had a bad experience at XL, but neither have I had a truly amazing one. I did enjoy the go-​go boy competition I saw on a Tuesday night.

An OK gay bar option in Chelsea. It’s a lovely space, but the crowd is always pretty so-​so. It’s a great choice for happy hour (as others have pointed out) when the drinks are two for one. And I definitely spotted a few minor gay celebrities here now and again (Jai Rodriguez anyone?), but it’s not one of my favorites.

IF this place had been open when I worked in the building it has carved itself into, I would be an alcoholic.
One of the most beautiful bars in the world, the elegance still gives way to a certain seediness with its permissive bathroom stalls.
The drinks served by a buff, smooth, shirtless, musclegod always go down smooth.

Cool space and hot bartenders but this place has been dead the last few months so I’ve stopped going.

This was my «local» while in NYC for a week recently. Although I was staying next door, I found myself here at least once a day. Two for one cocktails until 9 doesn’t hurt. There are all of these reviews on citysearch talking about mean bartenders, but I found the opposite to be true– they were great! They let me throw a little party on my last night in town and couldn’t have been cooler– try to go on a night when Brenda Black is spinning– and tell her I said hi! She is a peach!

Go to this place for happy h our, has a razz spritz, and enjoy. It’s quite the experience :)

Kudos to the creative design team that devised an ever-​changing color scheme projected off the ceiling and backlit through the walls, and placed a fish tank between the urinals and sinks in the unisex bathroom (not all that off-​putting in a place where females are as scarce as cacti in Alaska). Too bad they couldn’t have conjured up a crowd more appealing than the unfriendly Chelsea pretty boys and poseurs who come here to see and be seen rather than mingle and chat. That’s a shame, because thanks to the shaping of surfaces and placement of speakers, you can actually have a conversation here, even with the music blaring. Just don’t let it carry you away — without a cabaret license, there’s no dancing permitted.