Grey Gallery & Lounge

I was so sad to discover during block party that Grey was no longer open. It was a fun place to lounge around, sip on a drink (or two) and observe the artwork.

Awesome freaking drinks! If you like classic cocktails this is the place to go, the bartender knew his stuff… heck taught me a thing or two about gin I didn’t know. He was very sweet to me kept me company and let me read one of his bartending books while I waited for my friend.
For food I had the prosciuto panini, yum! Prosciutto, gruyerre, apples and sweet hot peppers… honestly one of hte best paninis i’ve had. Total taste bud happiness in my mouth!
I saw they had my fave brand of gin! Aviation… so I had him play and make me what he wanted with that gin. He made me an (u guessed it) aviation cocktail which was awesome, perfectly crafted. Honestly one fo the best bar experiences I’ve had in a while. He even poured me a few tasters of other gins he thougt I would like and really educated me, it was fun!
The art was fun too, quite pretty and actually quite fitting to the location and atmosphere. Next time i’m going to take more time to peruse the gallery.

My first Grey Gallery experience was to partake in the Color Court event ahead of a 4Culture exhibit for ‘Flatchestedmama’ artist/​blogger/​cool lady as she prepares for her 4^th Annual Monochromatic May — wearing all things grey. We got to vote on the validity of her color choices while enjoying the wonderful ambiance that Grey Gallery offers. And to sip and eat from their menu.
We sat on the lower level and shared the Smoked Salmon, Hummus Platter, House Salad and a couple glasses of their Malbec.
It was such fun! What a great, non-​pretentious venue for art and dining. And the artfulness was playful and unique.
I’ll definitely return, event or not, to support this Capitol Hill gem.

Oh Bacon Apple Crêpe, I will come back and savor you one day! We shall meet again…
So. they don’t make crepes on Mondays (or Sundays I learned), which may or may not have made me cry like a little school girl when I went there for the sole purpose of stuffing my face with bacon. and alcohol.
But the guy (I didn’t catch your name, sorry, but you have dreads and are über-​nice) made me the Bel Canto cocktail and all thoughts of bacon crepes left my mind… til now.
If I was allowed only one cocktail for the rest of eternity, please dear Unilocalgod, let it be the Bel Canto. It’s sweet apricot-​y bellini like taste and it’s slight champagne-​y punch made me feel all kinds of elegant.
The amazing Dude later recommended and made me a French 75, which was like an Adult Lemonade and was very tasty, but nothing will ever stand up to the Bel Canto… *swoon*
The roomies got the seasonal Maritime, which I didn’t care for after my drink, and I tried John L’s martini and I didn’t care for it either, heh.
I ordered the Salmon Croccantini, which is like a long cracker with a smoked salmon-​esque ‘salad’ and it was very yummy. Roomie #1 got the Prosciutto panini and Roomie #2 got the Salami panini, both were good.
The atmosphere is great at Grey, seems very laid-​back and relax type of place. I dig that. Has a mini gallery in itself, so it was neat to stroll on thru and take a gander at some art.
This was a great place to meetup at for a pre-​almost-​3-​hour-​long-​movie drink!
Oh Bacon Crêpe, I’ll be drooling of you…

This place was pretty cool. Almost perfect place to hang out with a couple of friends and sit around and talk all night. The art on the walls are a nice touch.
When I got my bill for my Jack and Coke, they charged me $ 17. So I jumped over the counter and smashed all of the bottles and did karate on the security guards.
They then apologized and mistakenly charged my friend’s drink on my tab. She had an $ 11 drink. Her life is average.
Zipzap Zubidy Bop!

Drinks + Art + Music = Smiles.
Love the ginger gimlet. They make most drinks well. Bartenders can be a bit on the cranky and touchy side… they could be a little nicer and smile more.
Seating is limited and if you get any, they’re comfortable. Usually quite packed on a Thursday-​Saturday night.
Fun to grab a small group of friends and just hang out there. Upstairs has a nice cozy seating area too.
‘Hipster’/trendy looking clientele for folks in their mid 20s-​30s

Came here for my 4^th anniversary of my 21^st birthday.
I’m glad I began the night classy, because I sure didn’t end it classy.
We didn’t make any reservations at Grey, but they were more than accommodating when a slew of my friends (15?) all sat around those couches nearby the entrance. I could tell they weren’t thrilled with the idea, but they took it in stride. I’m glad that it worked out, and the drinks they served us throughout the night were average to good.
More than anything, this review is based on the service from that night. If you want great drinks, you might want to go elsewhere, but if you want a chill ambiance, great food, and great service, then come here. And that was a run-​on sentence. And I just started a sentence with «And» and I just did it again.

Man. Don’t ever ‘rent out’ the upstairs of this place for a private party, unless you feel like paying through the nose.
A friend did just that last night for his going-​away party. The deal is that when you reserve the loft, they’ll give you your own waitress and you have to have a minimum of something like $ 350 per hour of drinks/​food. Which should have been more than doable, considering he invited 150 people at at any given time there were at least 30 people crammed in the space. The only problem was, the waitress was really inefficient. She’d only take about 6 drink orders at a time, and then she’d be gone for 20 minutes. At that rate, there was no way we could meet the minimum requirement (even though their cocktails were ~$ 10 apiece).
Of course, you also had the option of going down and waiting in line at the bar for a drink, but that was also a 20 minute time commitment, since they only had two bartenders.
Anyway, at the end of the reserved time they said he owed over $ 400. And of course any drinks ordered after that could not count toward the balance. Lame!
Also, it was a thousand degrees up there and the music was waayyy too loud.
So, even though I had fun dressing up and going somewhere ‘hip’, I’m not a big fan.

The space I like… the people there? Well, it depends.
The first time I stopped by the Grey Gallery was during the Art Walk, and I ended up leaving within moments. It was crowded and full of hipsters with martinis.
The second time was for a birthday party and while it was crowded and stuffy, I had a bunch of friends there and that made it loads better.
It definitely seems like a lounge with some art there, so it’s kind of interesting that it’s also considered a gallery. I do like that partition with the display on the other side, though… and, given how many people I’ve seen drinking here, I bet they make a pretty penny because of that lounge aspect.
Plus: Plenty of people would sporadically groove to the music playing. Sometimes just a little, sometimes full on dancing. I love that!
The staff was busy and running around the whole time.
The bathrooms were a LITTLE gross. One of them had something leak or spill, so there was a good amount of water around the toilet. Ick.
Otherwise, though… it was good. I guess I’m a fan!

I am so sad. This place has become the worst of the worst hipster hangout. Complete with drunk girls spilling their drinks on you; white boy dreadlocks flung in your face as he spins around to catch sight of said drunk girls; and completed by a cracked out waitress with pupils so big you could park a beemer in there…
And you have to *scream* to be heard above the music…
Still gets two stars for the great HH; it *is* a great place if you leave before the Belltown contingent arrives…

Yeee. I like it :) Very classy.
I really like the open atmosphere, and the welcoming feeling when you go inside… and we can just LOUNGE! No drama and no crazy drunk people yelling and bumping into you.
***GOOD MUSIC!!!
I would definitely come here again — it is a little small but the chairs are very comfortable and it’s a close setting so you can have a real conversation up in here! They also have an uppper level you can reserve for a more private setting. gets a little hot though! Oh and the art gallery is cute. i think we took some pictures with some of them. teehee *are you allowed to do that?
There isn’t anything I don’t like about this place. I felt safe inside and outside of this lounge. Everyone is nice and we ran into some old homies! Good times:)
I too, like some other people thought this place was not so great from a glance of it. but as soon as I entered i realized I was wrong :(
Peoples –check this place out! I’m starting to like the Cap Hill area more and more…

It makes sense that my 200^th review should be of a place that I love. A place that I hadn’t heard of until Unilocal.A place that I went to in the company of Unilocalers. So, for my 200^th review, I give you Grey Gallery & Lounge.
I’ve found that more often than not, an establishment that strives to be hip and classy often achieves being pretentious, too. This is not the case with Grey Gallery. The art gallery and lounge hybrid is casual enough that I’d feel completely comfortable going there solo to view the art, drink a Ginger Gimlet and listen to the dj spin. On the flip side, Grey Gallery would also be the perfect venue for a group gathering. While my birthday is five months away, I’m already hoping to secure this place for a celebration. Whoever designed the lounge thought out all of your seating needs. There’s bar seating and stools for those flying by themselves, small tables by the windows in case you’re enjoying a drink with a date, and sleek, leather couches and chairs that can accommodate bigger groups.
The cocktails are tasty, creative and strong. The bartender was witty and friendly. The art and music are sure to spark a conversation. And while you may leave with your wallet a bit lighter, you’ll leave with more cool points than you had before.

Hit this place up with my Bro after an engaging yet somewhat disappointingly short bout between Pacquiao and Hatton. This is one of my Bro’s hangouts– partly because of all the Filipinos that happen to flock the spot (courtesy, I’m sure, of the hoppin’ DJ called «10 – 4 Roger,» who is, of course, Filipino). But, mostly because of the great cocktails the bartenders at the joint (he claims to) skillfully concoct.
He also warned me that the bar and the surrounding area are «hipster central.» Sure enough, as we walked to and from the bar, there were many a pair of jeans that would give Mick Jagger a wedgie for weeks; plenty of hair dyed a color not readily available in a box of Crayola; and attires that could only be described as «Laundry Hamper Chic.»
But, as we spent just a few minutes inside this gallery cum lounge cum dance club, I got more than I bargained for: douchebags. Yes, and they were in good supply. And the ladies that accompanied them– douchebag magnets (or DM, for the folks who like acronyms)– also ran aplenty.
Apart from the predictable milieu, the cozy joint was a’ight. Nearly half of the ground floor was gallery space, showcasing pieces for which the phrase «Art is relative» was undoubtedly coined. The short but significant bar was toward the rear, adjacent to the only working single-​use restroom in the spot. The DJ was along the railing of the mezzanine level– at which a scant number of additional nooks and crannies were available to the lucky few who get to the joint early enough to park their rears.
In spite of the douchebags and the DM’s, the place actually had a cool enough vibe. Enough to make me hang around and consider a second serving of Jamieson-​on-​the-​rocks. 10 – 4 Roger was spinning toward the latter part of the night, and that Filipino is talented, yo!
And, speaking of my drink, I knew I was going to enjoy it when I heard the bartender go «Oops» as he poured more liquor into the glass than he’d intended. For that, he received a 25% gratuity. (I hope he doesn’t spend it all in one place.)
Overall, Grey Gallery & Lounge is okay. It might be a place that’ll grow on me if I gave it a few more visits. But I would suggest treating it as one among many you visit that night. Don’t let it be the place the defines your evening.

Me and two of my buddies are standing outside Grey Gallery, talking to one of the bouncers, a tall dude named Demetri.
A drunk male patron comes sauntering out and stands next to Demetri, facing the three of us. He’s a stocky, short, dark haired guy with a beard and mustache. His shirt is buttoned up to his neck. He’s got that look on his face that denotes he’s hit the point where he now thinks he’s both clever AND funny.
He pats Demetri’s arm, and says to us in a loud, put-​on mafioso/​New York accent, «You fock wit’ him, you fock wit’ me.» For a brief moment he looks at us, awaiting applause or hysterical laughter or maybe terror in our eyes, I don’t know.
I immediately point at Demetri and ask, «So let me get this straight: If I have sex with him… I can have sex with you, too?»
He gets a brief panicked look on his face. You know the one, it’s the look you get when you accidentally puke on someone’s shoe. Or you’re gesturing while you’re talking and accidentally hit your male friend in the nuts. It’s the «What the fuh?!» look.
«No, no no,» drunk guy says, «No… if you fock with… awww ferget it.» He walks away mumbling to himself.
Art, and booze were still as good as last time I was here.

Good place for drinks and lighter fare. Good ambiance and attentive service. Personally, liked the place for a group gathering with simple atmosphere and decent music playing. Definitely not a place to take for a date due to the loud music and simple food options.
Service was really good and the reason I’m giving it four stars instead of three. Our waitress was really on it and very attentive to the group. I don’t think my drink ever went empty since she was around so much.
Food was decent. I loved the salad I had. The crepes were ok… sad to say the salmon crêpe wasn’t available when I stopped by. The mushroom crêpe was simply ok… and the Broccoli & prosciutto even more lack luster…
All in all a decent place to grab a drink and a simple bite before making your way elsewhere on the hill!

Grey Gallery is a lovely (and somewhat small) place to unwind.
The drinks are great, the bartenders are well educated on the style of drinks they serve, and they’re chatty! I love a bartender who can make good conversation.
It’s also a unique and fun combo that the bar is also an art gallery. It’s a good way to keep people coming back. Not only are the drinks good, but the scenery changes! Very cool.
I recommend that you go to Grey in smaller groups. If you’re more than 4 people you’re likely to end up standing because the seating is limited. That says a lot about the service because it’s always packed.
In my experiences there I’ve had fast service. One I sat at the bar (so that was a given) but I’ve also sat tucked away upstairs and the waiter came back a lot to make sure we did/didn’t need refills. Great!

The DJ was playing really odd things that honestly only kind of worked, most of the art fell into the category of stuff-​I-​could-​make-​if-​I-​wanted-​to, the top floor was closed off for a private party, and drinks were expensive.
And despite all this, the crowd was happy and mellow, and the vibe was really pretty right on. Drinks might be spendy but are also goood, and our server was on the ball at filling our glasses up. I suspect another night out here would bump it up to four stars.

What a great hidden gem in the middle of Capitol Hill! Grey just started a new brunch menu which is INCREDIBLE!
It’s such a cool concept… it’s a lounge in the middle of an art gallery. It’s a great place if you just want to hang out with friends, glance at the art, or just grab a cup of coffee and get out of the cold. It’s really trendy and was surprising to see such a nice place in a less nicer part of the city.
Try the sausage crêpe and a cajun bloody mary. They are awesome! Oh, and Kim is a new addition to the bar staff… but he’s awesome! Very friendly and he knows his stuff! He made some great recommendations… the French toast crêpe is really good too if you have a sweet tooth! :)

Probably one of the nicest places in Capital Hill, Grey Gallery and Lounge is exactly that — a small gallery with a lounge. There is a small bar along with some tables and open sitting area. The setting is clean, minimalist and inviting all at once.
The bar turns out some really interesting and tasty stuff. Think St. Germain, Chartreuse, Yazi, and Clear Creek Pear Brandy in addition to your usual poison of choice. The ginger gimlet is a great choice, made with Yazi Ginger vodka and muddled cucumbers and lime. The ambrosia is a nice twist on a champagne cocktail, but with brandy and cava, and lemon juice. My fave was the Last Word, which has just about all of my favorite liquors — Hendricks Gin, Maraschino liquor, St. Germain, and Chartreuse, and lemon juice, and looks gorgeous.
They also have wine and a few beers on draft, as well as a small food menu focusing on crepes. It was fairly quiet on a Wednesday night before seeing Miss Kittin and the Hacker, but perfect for hanging out in a civilized space without the crowds, meat market, etc. Great drinks, great service, and great space means that I’ll be back soon.

Multi-​tasking is one of my favorite talents (right after my awesome yo-​yo skills, but definitely before parallel parking) and that’s why I totally love Grey Gallery.
Want to look at art, grab a cocktail at a Capitol Hill bar, and run into a bunch of friends? You can do all three at once at Grey Gallery and no one even looks at you funny as you compulsively check your blackberry.
If the opening party was any indication as to how well these folks know how to throw an event then we are in for quite a few good times!