Concrete Cowboy

I went to Concrete Cowboy on 6÷25÷2016 and I arrived at Midnight. Upon walking in I was SHOWERED with spills of alcohol due to the fact this place was nothing but «asses and elbows» (meaning CROWDED) and with people dancing, jumping around, and talking with their hands it was bound to happen. I have passed by this place for that exact reason but I decided to go because I was meeting my date and his coworkers.
First thing was first, to get a drink. Knowing how crowded it was and the fact I used to be a bartender I understand this was going to take a while… There are somethings I find unprofessional and that is when an owner lets a lazy or inexperienced bartender behind the bar on a very busy night. Both of which was what I saw.
We push our way up to the bar to be ignored for about 10 minutes while a bartender with long black wavy hair, blue eyes, and collagen injected lips. I watched her move around the bar and she was more interested in dancing for tips than getting drink orders.
Not only did the lack of tending her bar get to me with such a crowd, but when she did manage to make a drink she made them AT MOST only TWO DRINKS AT A TIME. This alone slows down production and ultimately causes a loss in profit. Knowing how to make a drink is another thing. I ordered a Cherry Vodka Sour, and my date ordered a Vodka and Sprite. When the bartender FINALLY got to us she was in the middle of making shots and asked what we wanted. After telling her my order she immediately responded with «we dont have Cherry Vodka, we have Raspberry Vodka.», I politely told her that using Grenadine and regular Vodka would be fine. She turned away from us and finished making the shots.
After serving the shots she took 2 other couples drink orders and then came back to us and said «What can I get you?» When we went to respond she quickly turned around and ignored us.
Feeling frustrated and the fact this would be my first drink of the night I was not getting upset because a «drunk» couldn’t get a drink quick enough. She closed out a tab then turned to us AGAIN and said «what can I get you?» I told her my drink again and she said the same thing «we dont have Cherry Vodka, we have Raspberry Vodka.» I again told ehr that Vodka and Grenadine would be fine.
She started making our drinks… After so much back and forth I would think she would be able to get the order right and she turned around and grabbed a Vodka bottle from a fridge under the bar. In watching her I noticed she was trying to hide the bottle behind her leg obstructing my view. As soon as I saw the bottle, I knew. Low and behold, I see Raspberry Vodka. Using that Vodka she pour that into a tall glass, Sweet and Sour, and Grenadine and garnished it with a lime. Due to the inability for this bartenders short term memory I accepted the drink.
We made our way through the crowd and gathered our friends. The concept of the bar I have to say I did like. There was a wheel with dares on it that included dancing on the bar, riding a horse saddle, and pole dancing; there were more things but I didnt get a chance to read all of them. As I was watching some girls execute their dares while dancing on the bar I noticed the same bartender, and can you guess what she was doing? I will give a hint… NOT tending her bar. She would repeatedly stop tending her bar and she would start to dance. Please do not misunderstand, tending bar is a fun job where you can engage with your customers and this includes dancing, jumping around, making conversation. But in watching her I noticed some things that, yes, I may be wrong but I think I know when I see it. Her movements resembled that of a exotic dancer and her behavior towards her customers reiterated this feeling.
She was on the bar top with a couple other females and instead of dancing with them, she moved them out of her way and took stage.
A bartender should NOT be on the bar, she should be tending it. Also the fact she was not encouraging others to get up there, or giving the customers that were up there confidence to keep having a good time would turn business away. I sipped my drink slowly dreading going back up to the bar because going to a different bartender was even harder because they were having to pick up the slack of the bartender who was there to have a good time.
Unfortunately, we went back for a refill and mine never happened before the bar stopped selling alcohol (can we guess why?).
I dont think I will be returning to Concrete Cowboy until I hear of their club capacity being down sized and their bar staffs ability to focus on customers improves.
By downsizing the capacity more people will want too stay longer spending more money and will increase the profitability. No one wants to go out to have a good time just to be felt up on by people passing by, and being bumped and knocked into. I wont even go into why it is important to have a attentive bar staff.
I hope this helps you in making your decision.

Racist bouncers and corrupt cops. Our group was afraid the whole time we were there so we left to go checkout the rest of the bars in midtown. Eventually we came back to Concrete Cowboy and one of the dancing girls told my friend to take his shirt off. As he was doing that a bouncer came up behind him and put him in an armbar. As they were dragging him out they were hitting him on the top of his head for no reason. When I asked why they threw my friend out they said he elbowed him. No elbows were thrown. My friend had to leave in an ambulance. The police officers (who were standing outside the whole time) said they reviewed the tape and he elbowed the bouncer. That would be impossible since they were outside the whole time. Then asked us if we wanted to go to jail or if we wanted to go home like Denzel Washington in training day. Awful racist environment, overpriced watered down drinks. Go to this bar if you want to be harassed, assaulted, and ripped off. Terrible.

I was so excited to try this place now that it’s finally open, and I stopped by yesterday and will never return. I was with my boyfriend and a group of girlfriends, and we walked across the parking lot from Kung Fu together. The door guy checked all the girls’ IDs, let us all in… I look back a minute later, and my boyfriend is standing outside. I go out to see what’s wrong, and the door guy says to me «I heard he fell in the parking lot so he can’t come in.» He didn’t fall. We all walked over together. I tried to argue it, and he simply said «I didn’t see it but I’ve made my decision.» I’d possibly accept that if we’re pushing underage and drunk… But we’re all respectable 29 and 30 year olds just trying to day drink on a weekend. So disappointed we had to deal with immaturity like that.

Second bar of the night. We were hyped from the previous bar and was hoping for the same experience. We had no problem getting in. The bouncer was pretty friendly, but one of our friends was held back for a bit. Once we got in, we noticed the bright lights and all the girls dancing on the counters. It looked promising at first until you walk further in and see so many guys and girls just standing around staring awkwardly.
The music was good, but no one was dancing. They was a crowd around the bar area. People were just watching the girls dancing on the counters. It was pretty boring. On to the next bar~

They didn’t let us in because our friend was wearing vans but a white guy wearing flip flops got let in right afterwards. We were an Asian crowd and they didn’t want us to go in. Clearly a racist business. We eventually got in and the crowd sucks. People didn’t know how to dance and music was not enjoyable. Wouldn’t go back

Awful!!! If you are not white don’t waste your time me and my husband went there and the door man looked my black husband up 4 times and then said umm you can’t come in cause your shoes! But then let a group of guys with the same type of shoes in!!! Awful awful awful!!! So sad places like this are ok!!! So sad!!!

LOLOLOLOL every time I come here, they tell me that it’s guest list only but I know they’re just racist

This place is rude and terrible. Didn’t want to let my friend in because he had on a graphic tee but let everyone else go in with the wrong outfits on. To be honest, I think they are racist like Gaslamp (I hate that place with a passion from previous experience). I’ll stick to Kung Fu at least I know their outcome & my friends can get in. The bouncer is a pu**y by the way. He needs a lesson on treating customers. I bet this place won’t last too long.

I stopped by this place around 5pm on a TUESDAY to avoid traffic.
I was already annoyed that I had to pay $ 5 just to park.
Anyway I walk up to the door guy (who takes his job serious) and wouldn’t let me in.
The place was empty, empty people.
I guess they don’t want nor need business.
Welp Kung Fu it is.
We sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather at Kung Fu with the view of Concrete Cowboy completely empty and Door guy posted up outside sending all potential customers to Kung Fu.
Good job Management.

I would give this place ZERO stars. Going to keep this review short and simple. On 4÷2÷2016 we (a group of Asians) came here to have a few drinks. As most of the reviews says about this place… It’s true. They didn’t allow us in because we didn’t have a table reserved, but they let in two white guys in after us with no table reservations. We ended up going to Kung Fu across from them and decided to drop a few hundred.
Just another racist business in Houston, Tx. Reminds me of Gas Lamp.

I am your typical Houstonian Asian male: I sit in traffic for an hour, work from 7−3pm, and play video games naked until about 11−12am, leading to a habitual cycle of chaos. However, I do enjoy turning up on the weekend with my squadtourage and have amble experience with blacking out at multiple locations across Texas. Here is my play by play recap of my entire CC experience.
— My squadtourage consists of two accountants and a financial adviser. We had already gotten into Kung Fu and were pounding shots inside until we got the call that our friends were inside of Concrete Cowboy. Standing in any line with our demographics is possibly the worse move you could make in the Houston nightlife and therefore should be frowned upon. Luckily, one of our friends was having a birthday party and had already bought four bottles, so there shouldn’t be any issues to get in when there’s a list. Oh wait, there is. «Friend has a party inside? You’ve got too many guys.» Apparently, you need a 5:2 girl guy ratio to get inside, and I’m not the best person at math but that sounds like we’d need about twenty-​three girls to get us inside, the equivalent to the U. S Women’s Soccer Team.
— After having friends trickle inside, we were the last ones waiting to get in. Three asian males standing at the front actively working as a wall bordering everyone in behind us. The bouncer would continually ask if there were more girls coming to match us and saw us with despair knowing that we were desolate of any form of the opposite sex coming to our rescue. I think I wore the wrong clothes because there were other dudes that were walking up shaking hands and getting into the club, even when he said there wasn’t enough room and he had to wait for people to leave. There was even a twilight zone moment when we saw three guys who were our mirror opposites walk into the club right in front of us. Bizarre but we’d come and waited too long to leave.
— Finally made it inside around 1:20 am. Goal was to get trashed and black out because any good indicator of a bar is how well the cohesion of alcohol, music and crowd can throttle your tolerance and explode your fun meter. Seeing as how we had spent a majority of our night in line, we made a beeline to the bar to order a ticket to trashedville and no one can take you there faster than the four horseman. I’m by no means a bartender but isn’t a four horseman made of four liquors? She poured three bottles and I just stared at her as if I was waiting for her to finish her magic trick. But seeing as how we live in a consent culture, this only felt natural as we had already been screwed by the long wait in line.
— Now that I had a mixture of inebriation agents infiltrating my system, we could finally move towards the celebration for obnoxious greetings with sloppy hugs and bottles. So as we slowly trudged our way to them, I noticed the inside is just a smaller form of Kung Fu, lacking in both space and broken arcade games. Even Red Door has some facet of decency when it comes to getting ratchet; there is zero of that at CC. There was only a small amount of us really getting down into the dirt with a larger group shouting and staring. This isn’t really even a grievance, more so my pro for the night but I’ve written too much.
— Near the end of the night, I had found myself dancing on top of a speaker and with my past experiences with dancing on speakers, this had possibly been the most dangerous. I mean I’ve danced on speakers at house parties, lock-​ins and churches but wow, having a hanging speaker above a planted speaker? Are you asking for drunk negligence? Because that’s how you get drunk negligence. My dancing motions were severely limited to half a quan and I had to be aware of my proximity of head to giant speaker. I don’t know what civil engineer or twerk architect thought this was a good idea, maybe they had measured it to fit the standard 5’2 ratchet female addicted to retail but I’m 5’11 and had rightfully secured my spot on that speaker. I feel like this was just pure foolishness.
The music is good though. But then again we walked to velvet taco afterwards so who knows how well my judgement that night was. Place gets 1 star for dank music, I think.

One word for this place: RACIST.
Never have I ever been discriminated for entering an establishment because of my race until this place. Out of curiosity, how is your bouncer going allow the two whites guys behind us inside when you specifically told us «reservation only»?
Backstory*
Before we even got to the front of the line, I asked the two guys behind me if they had a table reservation and they told me no. We moved over to the side (after being denied access unless we paid $ 2,500 for a table) to see if they were going to be allowed in and what do you know, for some magical reason, the bouncer let them in with no problems.
THIS IS NOT OKAY.

This place is racist and has no respect for women.
My friends and I had an altercation with a guy (who happened to be white) in this place who kept using profanity at my friend because she didn’t want to dance with him.
The bouncer suggested we move instead of dealing with the jerk.
Long story short, we refused to move, and the guy kept being disrespectful to my friends and as the situation escalated, I got escorted out. A 5’5″ female who weighs 110 pounds.
Concrete Cowboy, take your overpriced drinks and sexist bouncers and go fuck yourself.

A friend decided to have her birthday celebration on Washington ave and our first stop was at CC for a few drinks. My friend was already inside with a group of friends and I came to the door alone. The bouncer at the door was friendly and looked intimidating. However, he even asked how my night was going (most bouncers don’t talk to you at bars/​clubs). I didn’t have a problem getting into the establishment. Also, there was no line at the door (probably because we got there around 10 pm).
Before 10:30 pm, there’s no line and it’s not as busy inside. You notice a lot of the workers on the floor just walking around/​people watching. Also, the crowd seemed to be in their late 20’s to early 30’s. To make your night an interesting one you can spin the wheel for $ 5 (they pour you a mixed drink before you spin the wheel). Drinks at the bar were nicely spiked and they didn’t cheat you on the alcohol. Also, I was impress with the ladies room! The restrooms stalls were really clean! Keep it up CC and you’ll have me as a regular! The clean establishment left a good first impression for me.
When we left CC to go to another bar which was around 11 pm. There was a line at the door and it seemed like some people were having trouble getting in. As another Unilocaler noted, if you can’t get into CC there’s Kungfu next door (fun spot to hangout with free games).
Overall, some may disagree with the 4 stars but my experience was a good one compared to a lot of other peoples experience. I must have stopped by on a very good night. I would definitely do an updated review to see if anything changes.

More of a 3.5 star. I personally didn’t experience any problem here but can see how it can be tricky getting in after 11:30pm on a Friday night. Place gets packed but bartenders were attentive and drinks weren’t watered down. Has more of a laid back feel to it compared to its dallas location. It’s just another typical bar but nice option if you’re tired of kung fu.

First time here and I thought it was a okay it a big circle with the bar in the middles not much of a places to dance but to mingle and have bottle services. The open space wasn’t much to just dance. The interior is very pretty. And we go our drinks fairly quick. Bartenders were very quick. It got really crowded by the time I got there and t was only 1130 and a line was forming. Restroom was nice and contemporary. With that being said we only stayed until midnight here. They played very minimal hip hop more like the edm music which I’m okay with but can’t withstand 3 songs back to back.

These people are totally racist. I waited for 40 minutes. People would come out and he still wouldn’t let us in. Ridiculous.

So you take a Texas chain and move into a cursed location but bring prejudice treatment at the door. Coming up with arbitrary door treatment. We thought this stuff stopped at gas lamp and the midtown places. But nope apparently Washington is now back at it again. Kung fu learned and is killing it. But concrete you’ll learn all enough. Don’t waste your time or money on this establishment.

Based off the reviews given for CC, I’m really not surprised I hated this place as well. I hardly ever go out since I’m basically a grandma, but my friend from Dallas was in town, and it was another friend’s birthday so I put on my dancing shoes and off we went. Came around. 1? went to the door and got inside because we had 3 girls and 1 guy with us. We ordered drinks while we were waiting for the rest of our group to show up.
Needless to say, they never made it inside. They were standing in line for a good while, and as people were leaving they were overlooked for a group of white people. Now, I’m not pulling the race card here, but that definitely seems a bit suspect does it not? I’m not saying that they didn’t let in any minorities, because that’s not true at all. I ran into a group of college friends who were entirely made up of minorities and another group of Asian friends. Regardless, a group of Asians completely unrelated to my friends, got restless and started heckling at the bouncer. This said bouncer decided to assume that anyone who was Asian was part of that group. That on the other hand is racist as all hell. My friends tried to explain they didn’t even know these people but the bouncer got rude. I guess being the person who holds a rope is something that gives people a power trip or something I don’t know. Get over yourself dude.
The interior is cute but the bar itself is kind of boring. It’s literally just a bunch of people standing around. No one is dancing at all, and there’s really just not much to do here but stand and yell at people 2 inches away from you. The bathrooms were FILTHY. I walked into the ladies room and one of the toilets was completely flooded, spilling water and toilet paper all over the place. Abort mission! Would rather get a bladder infection than use that restroom.
Service: aside from their bouncer the service was decent. Didn’t really have any issues with the bartenders. They were pretty quick about pouring drinks and stuff. They weren’t stingy with their pours.
Overall, I’d rather go to Kung Fu next door. At least they have skee-​ball to entertain people.

First Dallas, then Austin. And now just recently, Concrete Cowboy has moseyed on down to our amazing city of Houston. A group of friends and I found ourselves here last night to celebrate a pretty momentous occasion –the birthday of yours truly!- and we definitely enjoyed this new addition to the Washington bar scene. For the most part, parking is easy to come by: you can park in Kung Fu’s paid lot right next door; if not, there’s plenty of pay-​to-​park lots nearby and street parking. Not sure if there’s a strict dress code here, but we had no trouble getting in with smart-​casual attire (for reference, my hubs wore a button-​up shirt and I was wearing a dressy romper with wedges). In any case, I was really diggin’ the scene here: it’s new, clean, and trendy, with lots of TVs (they were showing the McGregor vs. Diaz fight last night), plenty of open space, booths for table service, and two huge bars — one smack-​dab in the middle of the venue and one out on their covered patio. Crowd is made up of middle-​to-​older 20-​somethings to 30-​somethings; really diverse, too. The bartenders were friendly and attentive. Most importantly, music was ON-​POINT! My friends and I love EDM and we like to dance, so I was a bit turned off by the crowd here — it seems like most of them were there to just stand around, dranking and talking. Then again, there’s a chance the big fight they were showcasing just happened to bring in that type of crowd last night. Still, music like that shouldn’t be wasted, jusssss’ sayin’! During the main fight, they stopped playing music, so me and the girls in the group easily hopped between CC and Kung Fu Saloon next door, which is very similar in vibe and scene. Overall, we had an awesome time! Now, if the crowd would just loosen up a bit more, we’d be all gravy baby.
TD;LR…
CROWD: Older 20’s to mid-30’s; very diverse crowd
MUSIC: EDM, Trap, some Hip-​Hop
GETTING IN: No issues getting in around 11pm on a Saturday; line started forming around 11:30-midnight
ATTIRE: Smart-​casual
PARKING: Plenty of paid lots nearby; street parking