Citizen Lounge

Not my crowd and not a place to be in my opinion. The place is extra small and the place is lite by candles only. The lights are so dark I feel as if I need to walk around with my hands out so I don’t stumble on anyone or anything. It’s one of those seen and be seen type of crowd. Oh yeah and the guy to girl ratio is like 10 to 1…

Saturday Night. No cover.
Within walking distance from Blue Label and Pearl Bar.
The bouncer was not amused that I was in the middle of eating a slice of pizza when we stumbled to our 3^rd destination of the night. Sorry! Girl’s gotta eat! [and thanks to the stranger who gave me the last 2 from his box!]
The place ended up being with my choice of music — dance/​hiphop DJ mixing. It was comfortably full but still had plenty of dancing room. Composed mostly of Asians. The layout of the place is a Long Rectangle which is a little weird if you come with a big group. You end up dancing in «ovals» instead of one big circle.

This place is Woody…
Yes, not a very good descriptive word for a club but that’s what I remembered from it. The décor was very nice dark wood. It had a very upscale feel to it. The night I went the people weren’t really dancing and it felt like more of a lounge. There is also a small patio on the side with a small bar. Overall It was an OK joint but I wouldn’t come back since the prices were high and it really wasn’t anything special.

I came to Citizen Lounge last Saturday night off the recommendation of a friend. In a group of 7 (4 girls, 3 guys) dressed smart casual, we parked in the hood and walked to this shanty town looking shopping strip with Citizen Lounge tucked in the corner.
I haven’t heard any back stories on Citizen Lounge other than «Tim, you’d love this place. it’s cabin-​y on the inside» so I went with open expectations. A bouncer wearing a blue button down oxford and a yellow tie that his mom most likely bought for him last christmas on sale from Kohls told us that we could not go inside. He simply said, «Sorry, we can’t let you in tonight.» We questioned why and he said we had to have a reservation, we told him one of our friends just walked in and he stuttered a few times before he told a girl in our group to go inside and extract her. We asked if we could just buy a table for the night and he said No there are not any available. When our friend came back outside she said the place was empty… the bouncer stuttered out more excuses and we left for Shot Bar instead.
Going through Unilocal today and then Yahoo! searching for other reviews of this place, I found that apparently they don’t let in the dark folk. By dark folk I mean non whites, our group had 4 asian and 3 whites so I guess that was enough. Oh well, lesson learned.

When we’ve had our fill of Blue Label, we usually walk on over next door to Citizen to end the night. Mostly because we need to breathe and Blue Label gets a bit crowded near the end.
Never had a problem getting in here, Donald the door guy is pretty courteous (and no, my friends and I are not white). The bartenders (which I knew from the old Hue) are always fun and willing to give you a tall glass. I love the patio the most, just because I love open space. Drinks are STRONG.
Hate the girl’s bathroom. Seriously, it’s so dark I could not see if my piss was missing the rim when I’m doing the hover-​move! Lol! Not good, especially if you’ve had quite a few cocktails.
Overall, it’s a good place to chill.

So not impressed.
This place holds a LOT of promise. It is in the Heights, which I love, and the layout and styling of this place is pretty awesome. Ample seating, good looking long bar, and a DJ booth which is elevated with a peekaboo cubby hole.
But then you actually have to drink here, and try to yell over the insanely loud music. So, I got a vodka tonic, my Euro-​trash drink of choice. When I tasted it, I realized that I had tonic and tonic with a distinct lack of vodka.
Also, when I asked what lighter beers they had, possibly import, they said… «well, we have Amstel light». Ya, that works, fine. So I pay and take the drinks back, obviously not looking at what I had. I handed my buddy a Michelob Ultra and almost got my head knocked off. I was perplexed.
So I did my cranky thing and went back and complained. They didn’t do anything about the beer, but they did poor out half my vodka tonic and top it up with Grey Goose. Now that’s customer service.
So even though this place didn’t live up to its hype, I still think I will go back. I am chalking up the bar failures to the one bartender that wronged me, and it’s unelectric crowd to an off night.

You can judge the quality of a location by the quality of conversations overheard in the bathrooms. And Citizen was a hell hole if I were to judge solely on that experience. I mean, you walk into a nice enough restroom with three stalls and only two sinks. There’s a line to the stalls. Fine. But then there’s a line to the sinks. Because four girls have enough MAC makeup spread out on the counter that they could start their own boutique. There there were about four other girls waiting to just wash their hands. And escape the inane conversation. It was awful. While overhearing stupidity from skanky girls is inevitable in a club like setting, last night was a doozy with fun comments about how she just *knew* she should’ve worn her light up platforms. Yes, hooker shoes are often necessary when going out.
We parked around the corner to avoid the valet (plus, our group had two ethnically diverse people, so I was concerned abut getting in after hearing all the horror stories) and walked right over. We got right in though I did get a snarky look about my flip flops (granted, they were dressy flip flops). There wasn’t a cover, so we were willing to give it a chance. It was only about a quarter full when we got in and the music was going. It was loud, but not as loud as I thought it would be.
In general, this was a sausage fest. The place was teeming with men and after all the talk of how they racially profile people, I was surprised to see so many «brown» people. There were very few blacks at all (minus the guy in our group) and pretty much every Asian in the room was a female. I didn’t get a racist vibe, but we also got in early in the night where they needed all the business they could get, so maybe that played a role in it.
The music was fantastic. And I hate club music. But the DJ was incredibly talented. The bartenders were on top of their game. They were quick and they knew all the patrons by their name after one drink. Pretty impressive. The horrible issue is pricing. Whoa. They not only ran out of Shiner by 10:30 last night, but they also had the audacity to charge me $ 5 for a Budweiser. WHAT???
I’m giving them two whole stars based solely on the DJs ability to play decent music, how well decorated the place was, and how friendly the bartenders were. Other than that, not worth your time to spend in a sausage fest with a smattering of desperate cougars.

Pretentious ass Dallas-​LA-​WannaBe spot !! My experience is this. Rolled up there with the Mrs, and 2 of her girls. I’m wearing jeans and a nice shirt. The girls show ID and bout to walk in. The door dude looks me up and down and said, «Nope, your jeans are too baggy». I’m like «WTF??». Now look, I’m 35 years old so I wasn’t rockin size 46 jeans hangin down to my ass like «the kids» do but I wasn’t rockin hip huggers either. From looking at the «clientèle» walkin in, I figured out what it was all about. I simply didn’t «fit the profile» they wanted in their lil bourgeoisie spot. I won’t 100% conclude it was a racial thing, but I certainly believe that played a role. I saw lots of «others» wearing jeans bout the size of mine but it’s all good. From looking at the pretentious people walkin in, hearing the whack ass «Roxbury» music, I prbly would have had an awful time anyway so THANK YOU Mr. «I overcompensate for my inadequacies by being an ahole at the door» DoorMan and saving me from wasting valuable dollars in your spot. STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THIS JOINT !!

I went here Thursday of last week for the first time. There was a mixed crowd… the bartenders were quick to serve and friendly overall. The décor is contemporary and trendy. The dress code is somewhat casual, but not flip-​flops/​t-​shirt casual. I like the fact that it wasn’t overcrowded, and that they have a small patio for you to get a breath of fresh air… well…humid Houston air, but you get the point. There wasn’t a line to get in, therefore I didn’t experience any of the «crowd selectiveness» other Unilocalers mentioned in their reviews, and then again it’s been open for a while now, so the hype about it has probably died down some.

My friends and I have been here on numerous occasions. The first time we went, part of our group could not get in b/​c «another large party had reserved a table and we need to make sure we have room for them». Whatever. The rest of us stayed and enjoyed ourselves. The music was okay that night, but has gotten better since then. The one thing that I’ve noticed is that their drink prices are NEVER consistent. At one point my cherry vodka sour was $ 8, then $ 11. But overall, its a pretty nice club. Beautiful crowd, good music and very nice décor. I do plan on returning.

Edited to add: I know plenty of white people who were turned away from this place too. I don’t think it is a race based thing since the owners are hispanic. Its just a contrived pretentiousness that does not go over well in Houston.
This is a shwanky ski/​hunting lodge-​esque lounge with an ambiguous dress code.
Forced valet parking which is expensive and you will not get your money back if you can’t get in the door due to the whim of the doorman or because there is an unsigned private party which is VERY frequent.