Tree House Lounge

Awful venue, inconvenient location, awkward stage, and the owners rip off touring bands.

A group of us were invited to the Tree House Lounge to watch a friend’s band. The ‘venue,’ so to speak, was a bit difficult to find; it’s located in DC, so there’s your first problem.
Although no fault of the Lounge, something which is still worth mentioning, nonetheless — the parking is very scarce, which is not surprising, considering the location. If you haven’t been here before, you’ll most likely pass the location a couple times between making U-​turns and taking roundabouts; the storefront deceivingly resembles a townhouse, which was probably the original design.
Upon entering the doorway, we were greeted by a $ 10/​person cover, which was bearable, due to a portion of the funds supposedly going to the bands. The drinks were pricey, which has been mentioned before. The crowd was mainly comprised of your typical douche-​hipster demographic, typically found in DC.
When it was decided to leave, I asked one of the bartenders for my bill. They had quite an archaic method in place — credit cards sprawled out across a tabletop, with pieces of paper tucked underneath, which is how they kept track of drinks ordered. Upon inspection, my piece of paper had a slew of different drinks on it, totaling a very high amount, which is curious, considering all I ordered throughout the night were a few whiskeys. The bartender slides your card BEFORE they give you your bill, which does not allow time for their obvious and blatant mistakes to first be rectified. After bringing it to his attention that 75% of these drinks were not ordered, he starts arguing with me, stating that I did order them.
It goes without saying, I most likely will not return to this place. The energy was decent by the end of the night, and the bands were great; that’s where the minimal positives extend to in this case.

This is a nice intimate venue. My boyfriend’s band plays here often and it’s always a good time. The cover is about $ 8 which is fine since you generally see about 3 – 4 bands per night. They don’t serve food but you can bring your own.

Didn’t think I’d be spending my Saturday night this far up on Florida Ave, adjacent to Trinidad and neighboring Galludet. Contrary to what the website describes, this is not considered the H Street area.
This is an intimate concert venue where you’d basically come to watch a band play. I was there to watch my friend who just started as a guitarist for Skypunch. This isn’t Velvet Lounge, you are here to watch a specific band. You come and you’re willing to pay the $ 8 cover because it goes towards the band you’re watching. It reminded me a lot of the the Red Palace (RIP).
The set up is ideal for watching a concert. The bar is ideally situated behind the viewing pit and serves up a decent selection of drinks. Don’t expect a intricate cocktail or even a Dark and Stormy. But, your jack and coke will be strong.
Downstairs and balcony are a work in progress, but I’d be excited to come back and see what they do with the place.

Went to see a friend’s band. Nice spot, except for the outrageous alcohol prices. $ 10 for a single Jim beam. Hint: this isn’t 930 club ($ 9 there, in fact, and the pours are more generous). I have no idea what Gordon E. is speaking of, but the beer is no less expensive. A «premium» bottle of Heinekin for $ 6? The bartender (owner?) must have realized how outrageous the whiskey prices are after handing me my bill, as he quickly offered to «buy me a shot» in response to my inquiry on the cost (would have preferred a warning about prices to a $ 0.60 token of apology).
I live a couple blocks away, and would think that a relatively new bar in this neighborhood would be inclined to develop a loyal following (e.g., The Pug or Jimmy Valentines). Instead, it appears they have taken the path of gouging people who actually show up. Last night, this consisted primarily of supporters of the bands that were playing. I guess this is the «hidden» booking cost associated with getting stage time? In any case, I will not be returning until I hear that prices have dropped in line with those of other local spots. Unless this is a glamour bar, I imagine this needs to happen soon.

$ 8 cover per person for a small live band venue?! Too expensive for this place. Maybe if drinks were cheap but the cheapest beer is $ 5 for Miller lite… come on. I do have to admit though, the bands were good the night I was here and the staff was friendly.

The New Normal String Band was playing bluegrass on the small upstairs stage when I stopped by on a on a recent Saturday night (no cover at 7pm), but despite a favorable write up in the Post a few months back, it was surprisingly empty. Maybe Northeast DC is a hard sell for the bluegrass crowd, or maybe with Gypsy Sally’s in Georgetown has a lock on DC fans of the genre.
In any event, the Tree House Lounge is still a work in progress. The setting is a converted townhouse that had formerly been a semi-​private cigar bar (the smell of cigars still haunts the place). Due to licensing issues, they’re currently only allowed to serve upstairs, which is a pity, since it doesn’t allow them to take advantage of the draft lines downstairs. However, according to the owner, this should change soon. He’s also looking to get permission to serve on the patio out front.
At the upstairs bar its cans and bottles only (think $ 5 cans of Yuengling). They also have a small selection of bourbons and Tennessee whiskey (i.e. Kentucky Gentleman). It’ doesn’t book exclusively bluegrass bands, but that’s what seems to dominate the weekend schedule; definitely a very intimate venue.

I came out a few weeks ago to see my friend’s gig. Given he played at, oh, 7pm, the (very) small crowd was fun, the drinks were cheap, and the bartender and bouncer (I believe one of them was the owner) were super friendly and chatty. The location is a little off the beaten path, which gave it friendly neighborhood bar vibe.
As a fairly new business, they do have a few kinks to work out – sound quality for bands (it was too loud for the entire night and completely drowned out the singers), $ 10 cover charge (for 7pm on a weeknight when I know my friend didn’t get paid to play? Fail.), and lack of food (though the gyro I brought in from next door was delicious). I’ll definitely be back!

These guys are awesome. They will let any band play. They are really cool guys, and they treat everybody with respect. Bands play until late at night. The owners are really cool guys, and I’ve had some great conversations with them. They have cheap beer here. Basically any band who applies will get a shot at playing.

I have to adjust my review of the Treehouse Lounge unfortunately. During our last visit it was so packed you could hardly turn around. And that made it hot as Hades upstairs. We spent most of our time outside on the patio not listening to the bands that we went to see. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the bartenders require that you open a tab and leave your card behind the bar. Too bad they don’t check the name on the card before they give it back because when I went to close out he had already closed my tab and given my card to someone else. Lesson learned, next time (if there is one) pay with cash.

Remodel has the place looking very nice compared to how it was before.
The owners are very nice and the music is enjoyable. Everything about the place is quaint.
However, the prices are high. Much too high for a place that’s ‘quaint’. Lower your prices and never have a cover then you’ll get yourself a ton of business.

Really liked this place. Nice front patio that apparently will seat people soon. The downstairs still had some work to do, but upstairs in really nice! Good stage area. Saw a good bluegrass show there.
Not sure why others are complaining about drink prices. They are about the same anywhere you go in DC. I think I had rail drinks for $ 5, but they were strong. Once the downstairs is opened, I think it would probably be a lot better.
I did knock off a star for the cover. I know you have to pay the band, but it’s a local bluegrass band and since you are new, take a little loss to bring people in. $ 8 for a show would be fine if it were an out-​of-​town band, but for that, $ 4 – 5 would be better.

$ 8 cover. Ok, that’s semi-​reasonable. $ 8 rail drink? Not reasonable. $ 5 – 6 for boring beer? No thanks.
Upside is it is clean, has live music, and people here seem pretty friendly. Bit sterile, but not a dump (or a dive bar). Bro H summed it up well: an expensive rowhouse to hang out in.
If prices were lower, this place would warrant 3 – 4 stars.

With a location like this, I suppose a place can go one of two directions. They could have low prices so that people outside the neighborhood will want to come, or they can bank on the fact that the people in the neighborhood will love having a bar there so much that they’ll pay five bucks for domestics (or six bucks for their «premium» beers, nothing you can’t find at 7 – 11)
Some day this place might be swanky and justifiably pricey but right now it’s an expensive rowhouse to hang out in.