The Lot

Out of business! This place has been closed for years. Now its an awesome craft beer bar that rocks. Check out underdogs, its amazing!

cant really say much about the place. I dont hate it but I dont love it either.
I reeeeeeaallly like how they show the UFC fights. Gets crazy packed for that actually.
The bartenders inside arent fast… at all.
The scene gets different on Saturday Nights and I dont like the crowd that comes all of a sudden.

I like this place. Unlike some of the other bars on Washington, they’re not pretentious. The chill indoor/​outdoor atmosphere is a fun place to hang out. My friend and I made our own dance floor inside once but not really a place you would usually get down and dirty. Drinks are priced pretty decent.
Perk = taco stand outside. A couple times I’ve seen my friends buy some and bring the food into the bar, that patio seating area, to eat it. Seems like a win win. Everyone likes to drink… and everyone likes to eat.

Love this place… pretty chill atmosphere.
I usually attend this spot on Wednesdays for «Beers and Beats» night… old school hip hop and never commercial music… love the guest dj’s and especially the cheap lone stars.

So it’s been over a year since I reviewed this place and wow, is it ready for an update. My initial review was when this place was first opening up and I’m glad a place like this has grown in popularity.
It was my 27^th birthday and I wanted a place that wasn’t a club, since I’m honestly getting too old to deal with that crap. But I wanted a place where people could still get down.
The lot was the choice I could come up. The drinks are about what you would expect out of Washington. The bouncers are still chilled, no real dress code.
Love the frozen donkey punch made with 151!!!

I was a little nervous to try The Lot after having so many hit or misses on Washington. But my friends promised I’d like it and I’m glad that they convinced me.
The bar tenders were cool, there was a crap ton of places to sit, they turned on two heaters and put them next to each other for my group of friends, and best of all, we were playing bean bags. I love when bars give you activities to do.
I don’t know how much anything was because other people were paying but I do know that I met strangers here and laughed with them and had a blast. I will be returning to The Lot for certain.

The Lot is a fairly small joint on the Washington scene. It consists of a square space set back a bit from Washington, with a long bar along one side, and doors along the other leading to a side patio almost as big as the bar itself. Being set back like that, the front parking lot has room for a taco truck to pull up and park, which is clutch.
A DJ is usually spinning pretty good music in the corner, and 24 oz. beers, well, that’s just efficient — one less trip to the bar. Despite its trendy Washington location, the Lot can almost feel like an icehouse, especially in the warm summer months with the garage doors open to the patio. And at events like their Beach Party, complete with sand, kiddie pools, and a dunking booth, you’re just as likely to run into Tommy Bahama as you are Ed Hardy.
In the end, a good spot with less pretension than other Washington bars.

It’s weird to see a bar which calls itself a «sports bar» and not show a major sporting event. This is not the case for The Lot. I am surprised to see that The Lot is showing the Manny Pacquiao/​Antonio Margarito fight on November 13, 2010. There are a couple of bars on Washington Avenue who claim to be a sports bar (they even have the word sport in their name), but they aren’t showing a major boxing match. Is boxing not a sport?
The Lot isn’t even a «sports» bar but they are showing the fight. I just don’t get it. If a non-​sports bar can carry this fight, why not a sports bar?

My friends like to come here simply because they live within walking distance. After the routine pit stops at other bars on Washington, we tend to end up here every now and again.
This past weekend’s experience at The Lot was absolutely horrid. This bar doesn’t have any particular features (ie. great music, nice décor, decent drinks prices etc.) which make it spectacular to begin with so this past weekend’s experience has put me over the top for not ever wanting to come back.
My friends went to the outside bar since it wasn’t as packed and that is where we met the devil’s concubine. I’m not sure what happened to this bartender to put her in such a foul mood but she was absolutely terrible! She rudely ignored a guy asking about drink prices then ignored several other people when they weren’t ready to order. I have to admit it was sort of amusing watching the various shocked/​disgusted faces in disbelief as this woman spread more anti-​merriment than shots.
F her… I’m not going to spend my money in a place with this type of customer service.

This past Saturday was my second time at The Lot with a group of friends. I have NEVER encountered such a rude, off-​putting bartender before. My group went to the outside bar which was less crowded to order our rounds, and here is how our drink ordering experience went…
Friend #1 asked bartender, «Are there any drink specials tonight?» Bartender rolls her eyes, ignores #1, and goes to Friend #2. Friend #2 laughed at the former exchange, so Bartender ignored him as well. Friend #1 & #2 talked between themselves a bit confused as to what just happened… Bartender returned and rudely said «You weren’t ready!» She proceeded to scowl while making our Jack & Cokes.
Later, when no one at the outside bar was motioning to order drinks, the bartender threw her hands up in the air and exasperatedly said «Is ANYONE ready???» Then, when two guys at opposite ends of the bar started calling out their order, she turned to one guy and literally shoved her hand in the other guy’s face to tell him to shut up.
I have no idea what her problem was, but her attitude towards us definitely put a damper on the night. If this level of service is indicative of the norm at this bar, needless to say, I will not be returning.

We made it over to The Lot for the Texas-​Texas Tech game after a failed attempt to go to 360 (note to self: don’t try to make it to a sports bar and expect a table AFTER the event has already started). A quick jaunt down Washington and we ended up at The Lot with its massive projection TV.
You’ve probably passed by it quite a few times, saw this monstrosity, and thought it would be a decent place to go to. Well it is, but it’s a lot grungier than I expected. That’s not all bad; they’re decidedly unpretentious and everyone is very friendly. For example, a few strangers randomly started up a game of beer pong while we were there.
Buckets of Miller Lite were $ 21 each, which isn’t terrible but not great for the quality of the establishment; bump that baby down to $ 18 and you’ve got me sold.
The biggest demerit was the DJ kept trying to cut the sound from the game to start playing random hip-​hop songs… only he would cut it after a minute of commercials. Then, when the game came back on, he would cut the music but not return the game audio. Just a lackluster effort there, champ.
This place also hosts UH watch parties, so the big screen changed to the UH-​UCLA game a little after the Cougar kick-​off. The owner or manager came around and apologized to our table for the inconvenience. Luckily, they still kept the game audio and shifted the game to a smaller screen.
A couple other points to note: the taco truck right outside The Lot really hit the spot. Also, this place hosts the Owen Daniels show on Mondays, if you’re so inclined.

Have been to the Lot several times, but it had been a while. Went there on Saturday for my two friends WIG party. Yep, you guessed it about 100 people wearing all sorts of wigs. Very Funny. The staff took it in stride, it was a bit hot in there, but other than that we had a blast. Decent drink prices, made well, and didn’t talk 2 years to get them. Good crowd (maybe partial because they were all my friends, lol) nice diverse crowd, and good music. Can’t complain except that is was super crowded but that was because of the birthday party. Will be back!

It was early and we were on a bumpit bar crawl. That’s right… Unilocalers crawlin the W street bars with big hair. And how did the lot take it? Totally in stride, even letting us «bump» up other chicks hair.
That particular night they were doing Houston idol which was hilarious. We listened to some great singers and then took over the mic when those folks cleared out. The space works well, everyone was super friendly and I love that they have a jug for water instead of me having to ask an already busy bartender.
All in all, not particularly remarkable but a solid bar without an abundance of afflicted shirts or the snarky crowd we found clustered around some of the bars further down the road.

We have been to The Lot on several occasions. The most recent occasion being last Friday to support a friend that was competing in Idol of the Heights. The crowd was very diverse and the place was pretty chill since we were there pretty early around 8:30PM.
The prices for drinks were pretty decent. They had happy hour specials that our group took advantage of. The bartenders were fun and very friendly. The service was great and don’t have to wait long to get our drinks. Since we usually come to this place after midnight, it was nice to find out that this is a good place to pre-​party as well. $ 2 beers they had were pretty fair. They occasionally have different drink specials on their board depending on the night. I’m a fan of drink specials, so this is a plus to me.
What I like about this place is the fact that it is not pretentious and they are willing to let you in no matter what you look like or what race you are. Very much like Pearl Bar. It does get crowded at times, but there is an outdoor area you can go to get some air if you feel uncomfortable. On one occasion their A/​C must have been out and it was hot and muggy. Aside from that time, we have not experienced anything negative about this place.
If you are looking for a place to go that is chill and Pearl Bar is too crowded, then I definitely recommend this place as an alternative.

So I returned to the Lot on a Saturday night with a party that ended up there. Service was marginally better, and they were really busy so I have to give them some credit.
They have big orange Gatorade coolers filled with water and plastic cups in the corners of the bar. It gets very hot inside (even at night) so I guess this is a good thing. They could turn the A/​C up a little though.

I’ve gone here a couple of times for the Cougar Power hour (2^nd Wed of every month) and was delighted to see how cordial the whole staff was to us Coogs. Sure it makes business sense since they’re getting a 100 or so U of H alumni on an otherwise slow night, but in a city where there is so much Cougar apathy, it was touching to see a place welcome us.
Their happy hour prices were great too. Service was fast and courteous.
The only complaint I have is parking and why I’m knocking off a star. I know parking in Washington is bad for everybody, but by law houston businesses are required to have 8 parking spots per 1000 foot (give or take). While I didn’t get out my tape measure, it didn’t look like they had that much and at any rate, the valet had closed off the entire parking so I still had to go fight street parking so to me, the business had zero parking spots. Most decent businesses that offer valet, also offer a parking alternative and it’s not meant as yet another way to take money from customers.

A place where the ladies look sexy sippin on a 24 oz Dos Equis!
A good friend and I were on the way home after leaving Pearl bar and we heard some «Notorious B.I.G.» walking by The Lot. We were like oh hell yeah, we are hittin up this place!
We walked in, hit up the bar, got some 24 oz dos equis, walked over to the dance floor, battled some random guys (one wearing an American flag wind jacket and called him «America!» all night– random). The Lot felt like a fun house party… you’ll feel like you chose the right spot to dance the night away!
Bartender service: fast! good thing when you are going for round 3 or 4 to keep the buzzz goin!
Crowd: Everyone was friendly and really funny that night
Bathrooms: clean!
** UH Cougar Power Hour
— every 2^nd Wed of every month at The Lot
— open to UH alumni and friends
— FREE to attend
— Bring business cards and be prepared for an evening of food, fun and networking.
— Door Prizes and Drink Specials.
— Show your COUGAR PRIDE and wear something red!!!

Updating again because this place has found its niche. Great crowd, great vibe, smiling faces from the staff. I went next door to the surrounding bars seeing what was shakin’, and when I got to The Lot, I found the party.
The TV’s inside show an interesting mix of sports beyond MLB, NBA and NFL. Surfing, skating, random Redbull stunts… I love it all.
The interior is not your standard wood and earth tones. This place pops with vibrant colors that give it that «alive» feeling. Never left unhappy, and I never wanted to leave.

I can say I am a BIG fan of The Lot. You would think with another bar on Washington you might expect asshole door men, lines to get in, reserved tables, $ 400 bottle service… blah…blah, all very lame and stupid. I was happy to finally see just a bar with a friendly staff and decent drinks at reasonable prices.
This is probably your typical run of the mill 3 star kind of bar, there seems to be a lot of concrete and cinder block used to make this place. Unfortunately it gives the bar a generic look and feel to it.
The good:
It is a brand new bar so everything is clean, including the bathrooms.
The staff is friendly and prompt.
The patio is big and it smells great with the gas grill firing up some burgers and hot dogs.
The bad:
Concrete and cinder block makes for not much character. Generic
Valet, but I understand with Walters, Pearl, and Dubliner all competing for street parking
I have been here 4 times, and each time I have been approached by the owner of The Lot. He wanted to make sure everything was going well. I appreciate an owner/​proprietor who makes himself accessible like he does. I will bump it to 4 stars for that reason.

Yep, what we got here is another run-​of-​the-​mill sports bar complete with all the amenities needed to make me wanna return, namely, good selection of booze, patio area, outdoor grill, and er, toilets, yeah they’re important.
Came here last Friday with a few fellow Unilocalers to watch The Rockets, whilst we won’t discuss the score in that game The Lot certainly provided a decent enough spot to watch the game whilst also providing a nice atmosphere for me to attempt to drink my body weight in beer And I ain’t light!
Not really a huge amount I can rave about for The Lot, it did not offend me how is that? Nah seriously, it has everything you need to watch «the game» whatever sport that may be, a nice open area inside complete with friendly and easy on the eye bar staff. Reasonably priced, actually I can’t remember but all I know is my bill did not shock me! Parking is a bit of a nightmare but it’s Washington on a Friday night so go figure, valet could take care of me but I slipped my man an extra ten to get parked directly out the front door, sweet.
Washington has plenty of decent places and I would quite happily return, it’s convenient to where I live and I am intrigued to take down the grill that was going on Fri night, I read David mentioning something about Tacos? Hmm, not tried but certainly piqued my interest.
Decent enough place and will be added to my sports bar list.