Muse Lounge

Do not waste your money on this «lounge.» I made the mistake of purchasing a table here for New Year’s Eve. Every part of me regrets it and it was such a waste of money.
First of all, this club is dirty. It is disgusting like no one has ever bothered to clean any part of it, and every possible fixture in the bathrooms are broken. That stair case is so narrow and only has railing on one side, it’s a wonder no one has fallen and seriously injured themselves.
After seeing this I thought my experience at my table would make me feel better. I was wrong. My group of five as given a tiny space in the corner of the second floor which had absolutely no lighting and only a small velvet rope in front of it to section it off from the dance floor. The space we were given could barely fit the five of us and it was supposed to a six person table. Because it was so dark in our little corner, the table was constantly mistaken for open seating or either a place where people could sit their empty cups and trash. Needless to say my group and I were all infuriated by the 10^th argument we got into with some random person throwing their trash into our ice bucket or sitting on the table itself. We finally set our cell phones up around the table with the flashlights on and this helped immensely. People were actually able to see it was a reserved table and not a regular part of the club.
Our bottles did not arrive until almost 11:30pm and they were not the ones we ordered. The bartenders are terrible and slow. This place had 1 bartender on the second floor on New Year’s Eve when they had an open bar. It was almost impossible to get a drink with the wait.
Again, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY HERE. If I could give this place zero stars I would because one star is too much.

Just not impressed. Drinks are weak. It’s just an ok club. Below average to me. Location is good.

If your looking for a good time, this is the place to be. Sunday Funday (gay night).
I went with some friends last Friday it was a Hip-​hop and Latin night. We had lots of fun till my friend got really drunk. the second floor played Hip-​hop music and had unisex bathrooms. I would go agian.

I came for the iBlack event that host their monthly games night there. The idea was awesome. However the location left much to be desired. Chairs were damaged, seating set up a little awkward. Just wasn’t a happy looking place.

I really tried to like this place. I’m only giving it two stars because of the open bar (vodka only). I believe the bartender ignores you during open bar because they’re not making any money. However, if you get enough in you before its over you will have a great time for about 1.5 hours.
The people that come in are pretty lame (no offense to anyone that loves the place) not really my type of environment. The place is really small and often times appear to be empty even at 12:00 — 1:00.
Alot of people just go in for the open bar and head out to other clubs.

Whelp! Considering it’s location, I don’t understand how this place isn’t that all good. I mean, you would think being across from Verizon would be a banging business move so what’s wrong Muse? I’ve been here maybe once or twice because my friend had a table each time. Place is small and our table was right by the bathroom which was kind of annoying but eh. Can’t really say this place is all that memorable and there’s much better bars, lounges, clubs to frequent elsewhere.

Pretty expensive and not all that fun.
$ 20 dollar covers and mediocre drinks for $ 13 is pretty steep. If the club was nice inside, maybe the prices would be worth it, but unfortunately that was not the case.
The music wasn’t bad, but pretty samey.
At some point I was also slightly worried for the safety of everyone in the club. They had some pyrotechnics that were firing up against the ceiling decorations. There have been horrible and tragic fires at nightclubs, so I was feeling a little paranoid.
Oh, it is also annoyingly cash only.

First of all I never EVER review anything on Unilocal.That means one of two things. Either this place was either awesome… or really really bad. Sadly, it was more of the latter. If I could have given it zero stars I would have. This place was completely empty all night. I would have hated to see what this placed looked like after my group of friends and I left. Instead of dancing, there were 30 dudes just standing there. Also, they blatantly lie to you. The «free» admission before 12am doesn’t exist. Their promise is that entry into this place is completely worth the $ 20 (???). I will never go back there… not even if they gave me my $ 20 back.
I feel better now.

Muse is one of those places you either like or don’t like and I am in the not like category.
Pros
Guest list before 11, all you need is a printed pass or a text on your phone
Open bar from 10 to 11 and it is premium alcohol, you get Grey Goose if you like vodka
Music is decent, standard hip hop but nothing special
Staff is friendly, nice bartenders and bouncers
Cons
Horrible male to female ratio, not there to pick up women but it would be nice to find a dance partner
Small place, two floors but a little too cramped for me.
I’ve been there at least three times and have never had a particular good time and my experiences have been pretty similar for each visit. There is just something off about the place to me, they have a lot of good things going for them but they just don’t deliver in the fun department.

Saturday Night!!!
Open bar vodka drinks from 10−11pm
Need I say more?

So the first time I went to Muse it was a venue called (insert name) about five years ago. It was after the club changed its name from Coyote Ugly. You know a club is destined for failure when it is named after a movie about female bartenders that dance on top of bars. First of all, this place should be packed all the time — you are located around a ton of restaurants, bars and the Verizon Center — all of which attract large crowds. Unfortunately I think Muse is in need of a new muse and desperately needs a makeover and and a name change. Or maybe this venue is cursed and cannot succeed no matter what the name is or who the owners are.
Anyways, I recently went to Muse for a
event and it was a ton of fun meeting new people in the DC area. There is a male bartender there who is really nice and makes the drinks fast and strong. I feel bad for him b/​c I think he should work somewhere else because this place is not the ish. The event was crowded for the Meetup but once the Meetup HH was over the place cleared out quick. I saw this one girl grinding up on this other dude with a sticker on her booty that said ‘Spank me’. At that point I knew it was time to bounce. The bartenders were laughing at my reaction and proceeded to tell me ‘she comes here all the time and does this regularly. Same stuff, different day’. For real? It’s like that?
Three levels of potential and probably the only roof deck in Chinatown/​Penn Quarter. Unfortunately the club scene is not located in this hood, its in either Dupont and K Street neighborhoods.
This place needs to be bulldozed and start fresh. Maybe that will lift the curse of Coyote Ugly.

Use to be a really good place.
Cons
1) This attracts a lot of Latin guys coming in gangs and misbehave or just bully. I think they feel its their club, because the club play Latin music in one floor and it packed with latin people.
2) I went on St Patricks day 2012 and found a lot of beautiful young girls dressed in st patricks theme. I was surprised the number of girls out numbered the guys 2 to 1. After a while started speaking one of the girls and she said that all of them are in college and the club pays them to just come and dance in theme clothes for the day. THE CLUB JUST PAYS COLLEGE GIRLS TO BE IN THEIR CLUB TO ATTRACT OTHER CROWD. I just didn’t like the whole fake crowd thing.

I walked past this place twice before I actually found it. It’s really tucked away.
The bartenders are great, the door people are great. The free open bar is great, but after open bar ends, so does the party. The night I went, there were only maybe 20 people there, and reduced quickly to about 8 people after open bar ended.
The music wasn’t that great, not made for dancing. Everybody just stayed in their own corner.

Muse is hit or miss place. Sometimes the music is great and the crowd is awesome and other nights its just dead. First I like it because it has free open bar from 10 to 11. 2 problems with that: 1) They sometimes limit you with two 8oz drinks in that hour which means its not really open bar 2) The bartenders are really shifty with their time. This Saturday I ordered a drink at 10:55 showed him my iphone and he declined to give me my comp drink.
The environment is upscale. Dress to impress with beers going for $ 8 and cocktails and shots around $ 10. With 3 floors each playing difference music you are sure to find something to dance too. Usually latin in the first floor, Hip Hop Second Floor, Top 40 Third Floor.
If you are going with a large group take advantage of there free guest list pass on their website and get there from 10 to 11 use the open bar and if you are feeling it stay there for the night otherwise hit up one of the many other Chinatown bars. You can always get a stam and come bac later without paying cover.

The bartenders were friendly and helpful, but the club itself left more to be desired. Since it was a happy hour event, Muse made our organization stay on the 1^st floor which was very crowded after the first hour. The music was loud and the definitely not my style for dancing. We all just stood around, so much for a“muse“ment.
One positive aspect was that they allowed the charity event to occur there. It gave them an additional star in my book because I appreciate clubs/​corporations that allow charity events to occur at their establishments.

Muse provides the same kind of bullshit club environment that DC establishments excel at.
If you desperately want to feel like you are participating in the kind of trashy-​posing-​as-​classy Vegas-​style culture seen in countless «club scenes» in awful movies and prime-​time network TV shows, go to Muse.
If going to a club for you is about putting on a tight dress and stumbling around in heels (or, for the lads, putting on a spread-​collar button-​down shirt and dousing your head in hair gel), go to Muse.
If bottle service makes you feel special, go to Muse.
If a good night out for you necessitates such ingredients as «beautiful people» and «being seen,» go to Muse.
If, however, it’s about the music, or just hanging out with friends, go somewhere else.

Seems like they are always changing promoters so I can’t say Friday/​Saturday night is like this because it will change in a few months.
What I will comment on is the drink prices: Patron margarita — $ 16 & Ciroc Redberry and Tonic — $ 14. Have they lost their mind? This isn’t NYC. Muse is a tiny 4 story townhouse without proper club lighting so it’s too dark to see anyone unless you’re in the unisex bathroom.
I won’t be returning.

Muse can be a little confusing.
From month to month it seems like the nights vary and it’s hard to show up for the crowd that you desire. Thing is, I really like the space.
Although each floor is small and narrow, there are actually three floors all of them with a slightly different set up. I think the lighting is good as well for a nightlife venue — dark, but just light enough to be able to recognize a buttaface. They try to offer open rail bar specials fairly often for a number of parties.
Plus, I don’t know anyone that was not able to access this club and there is rarely a line. Yes, this may indicate that Muse is not very exclusive, but who cares. You’re down the street from the Verizon Center and you just want to party a little bit.
Muse has a lot of potential and is less douchey than some other nightclubs. However, I must warn you that I’ve walked in here before to a nearly empty venue so just be ready to expect the unexpected. And if they are charging cover, I would be weary.

Not in the least bit «amused» by the first two floors…(haha, ok too easy of a cheesy setup, but I will stop now if you promise to keep reading ;)). First floor-​hip hop… first of all, you will never find me on the first floor of any tier club… Dragonfly what is now Current? Top floor. The Park? Third or Top floor. 1223? «Spank» room upstairs. Fur? Mink room upstairs… Ibiza? Definitely NOT that god awful overkill of a main room with all that lighting… Club Space? TERRACE hello! i think Lima is the only exception… although, i consider it the «base» ment, first floor is still main entrance. so, ha! there you go.
OK, not to side track! So back to my point… 1^st floor, although hip hop, space isn’t so much decent. We bounced to the 2^nd fl… not quite house music, more electronic/​tribal/​techno… adequately matched with the laser lighting that so caught my eye… not diggin’ it.
Third floor’s a charm-​finally some soulful house music I can dig. Quite a pretty scenic… albeit a little stuffy and HOT. I’m digging the décor. It’s got quite a charm I can grow fond of.
Lastly, I’d just like to comment, that even though it’s super close to the Chinatown/​Gallery Metro stop, just a block away off 6^th and G, it just seems waaaaaaay the fuck out there. I dunno, in an alley-​ish street… I don’t know. Not that I normally take the metro out in the city, I’m 10 minutes away, why wouldn’t i just cab it? But it was inauguration week… and it was cold and dark and smoggy and roads were closed off… meh, maybe it was just me.
I need to go back on a normal night, whatever normal is. Odd bunch for a Monday… but after all it was pretty much amateur night. Who knows who was from where, what, when? Yeah, strange, but nonetheless amused. (haha) Oh, wait, when don’t i think that though?

I went to Muse Lounge for the first time for the Wednesday night promotion of Asian Night with 5 other people. I reserved a table in advance with a bottle of Jack Daniels that was supposed to be $ 275 (this will come up later).
The doorman Giovanni greeted us and quickly got us upstairs to our table on the second floor. As we entered the main area near our table, we noticed the place was pretty dead, and the DJ had the volume so low you could barely hear the music. The second floor has a VIP area with about 3 or 4 tables, and a bar beside it, flanked by the dance floor and DJ booth.
After cruising around downstairs, I noticed an open VIP couch in the much more crowded and loud first floor dance area. I asked the gigantic bouncer hounding the velvet if we could move our party here, and he barked that we could not, that it was reserved. I explained that we were VIP and he looked at me like I took away his Big Mac, so I casually went back upstairs to get a second opinion. I found helpful Giovanni and he swiftly had our party moved downstairs, past the giant bouncer and onto the much nicer VIP couch.
Once comfortable, we ordered a bottle of Grey Goose, which was supposed to be around $ 250 – 275 or so, which ended up being $ 400 (same as the Jack story, below).
The promotion was Asian Night, and boy was that accurate. I was in heaven. The crowd was pretty friendly. The ladies really liked to dance, and although they lacked some skills in that department, it didnt matter because they made up for it by looking good, being friendly and conversing well.
Our cocktail waitress was pretty much on a leave of absence the entire night except when it came time to deliver the bill. Remember that $ 275 bottle of Jack? Yeah, that’s now a $ 350 bottle of Jack, including tax and gratuities, and she still expected a tip after the gratuity.
Maybe I had a memory lapse about the price I was quoted in my email, so I pulled out my iPhone: lo and behold, I was quoted at $ 275 including tax. She wouldn’t budge. Then she wouldn’t take my card. I had to go to the ATM to pull out $ 400 to dish to this girl that barely showed her face all night.
Moral of the story: Make sure you bring your quote with you if you have one, and have it settled before you start drinking the bottle, in case you want to reject it unopened and save yourself some heartache.
I give this two stars rather than one, thanks to the helpful service of Giovanni and the high number of cute girls in the crowd.