Commune Lounge

The music was good but there was too much EDM and house music for my taste. It wasn’t bad but not the best either.

Nice experience. Decent drinks. Mixed crowd.
Dark basement to cut loose in. The DJ plays a nice mix of upbeat music with heavy bass. I’ll be back with a few friends. Only knock would be letting some of the music play long enough to dance… songs got cut before the beat drops and you can really turn up.

It’s like a basement party. The bar is busy and they’re adamant on checking id’s. It’s fun if you’re looking for a dark ambiance dance party with mediocre dj. The later you go the better. They have coat check and clean bathrooms.

This is probably one of my favorite places in Royal Oak. It’s an actual dance club and it’s usually a good atmosphere. The drinks are reasonably priced and pretty strong. The bartenders are pretty attentive for the most part. Also, there is quite a bit of security, which is helpful in keeping the peace. I have never been there when there were any problems.
Only issues are the line is always really long even when it is not full downstairs. I’ve waited in line for up to 30 minutes when it wasn’t very full and waited less time when it was. That was partially due to the security overdoing their job. Also, being that it is in a basement, it can get pretty humid but that is to be expected when in a basement full of people.
Other than that, I always enjoy myself here.

Hate this place! They think they are so cool and hip and think treating their customers like crap is cool and hip! Your bar is not cool and hip, it’s a dark hell hole dungeon! I’ve unfortunately been forced to come here about a handful of times due to it being a selection of a couple of people in the friend circle and the desire to be fair to all who in the group have a preference on where to go. I’ve seen people get kicked out of here for almost nothing, for example being disrespected by staff in various ways and getting annoyed by this so they get kicked out. You can stand at the bar all day and if they don’t seem to like you countless others will be served before you money out in hand or not! I have multiple times had to walk away from this bar after 20 mins and countless others served before me, just giving up on getting a drink any time soon! Ridiculous! This place is horrible and if I can help it I will never be back in their dark, dusty dungeon of a hole and I hear the restaurant above them isn’t anything special either, not sure if they are connected cuz they seem to be!

This place is like a dungeon where throngs of horny males convene — or dare I say, commune? — to dance with drunken females and do their best effort to get laid.
I don’t think I have been to this place in nearly six months, AKA since I got a girlfriend.
There is no point really, unless you enjoy stepping on people’s feet and bumping into random patrons. The ratio, as long as I could remember, was always bad. It was like 10 dudes for every girl, probably because the ladies were (rightfully) scared and afraid of all these horndog guys. It was almost like a frat bar with the DJ spinnin’ them hits. Yeah, right.
But hey, the ultimate optimist said, «You can always drink and have a good time.» OK, I’ll go to the bar and order three Labatt’s …“that’ll be $ 13.” Oh, I love paying top-​shelf prices for average microbrews! The drink prices are pretty ridiculous here, so much so that I wouldn’t mind going upstairs to Bastone and drinking good, strong beer at half the price. You can drop a pretty penny in here.
I don’t know. This place could have been, and still essentially could be, so much better. Add some damn lighting so it looks less «Silence of the Lambs,» and bring down the drink prices. Wait, why would they do that? Suckers are paying for those drinks! (Maybe that’s why I used to always bring a flask into that place.)
This is a place you try out, for like an hour, and then go somewhere else. Call your friends and see what they’re doing so you have a plan ahead. Wait, you won’t have reception. That’s just what the frat guys want!

It’s now called Craft, which means they have nicer drinks. And the drinks are pretty good with reasonable prices ($ 7.50 for an Incredible Hulk — try it!).
Otherwise, it’s still the dark and sketchy place to drink too much and make bad decisions.

Somehow went here twice this past weekend. The first night, I started with some beers upstairs, which were decently priced and tasted pretty good. They have their own brand of beer, and it satisfied my taste. The IPA was decent, and the Dubbel definitely knocked me back a bit. Before long, a good buzz had arrived and it was time to go downstairs and party. Sadly, this is where this place gets one star. It’s horrible down there. I like dark places, but when I can even see in front of my face, it becomes a safety hazard. And don’t even get me started on the music. But since I have to review it, let me just tell you that it was horrible. I thought that coming back Saturday night that maybe they’d have a different DJ and better music, but I was wrong. The transitions were off, and I’d say that one of every two songs that came on all dancing would cease. I really liked the upstairs portion to chill, but there’s no way I’d come back here on my own.
Protip: If you walk inside and see a line for downstairs, go back outside and walk around the corner to the back of the place. Hidden entrance with no line! You can thank me later.

The place has been slightly made over and is called «Craft» now as a nod to craft cocktails the bar is now serving up.
The dj booth has moved and the extra long bar table in the middle of dance floor is gone, but aside from that the changes seem minimal.
I’ve had fun here in the past but it really depends on who you are with and how willing you are to cut loose and partake in beverages. Drink prices are average.
I was here this past week on a Thursday and it was completely empty. Ended up here Friday and it was packed. Very rare for me to come here two nights back to back but definitely had more fun Friday with a larger crowd.
This isn’t my first choice of places to go out, but the slight changes in décor and drinks make me more willing to give it a try.

Went here one Friday night (a friends choice) it was uncrowded and had this cool little room that used to be a wine cellar that we sat in and talked. Drinks were a little pricey compared to some of the other bars Friday specials. There was also a cover to get into this place that NO ONE was hanging out at.
When I had to plan a bachelorette party, I thought renting out the wine cellar would be a perfect place to do presents and cake. Wrong! I called 3 times before I ever got an answer. I left a message for the manager to call me back, a week later I called back and left another. I received NO calls back! I found another place, and a week before the party I called bars all over royal oak to try to get free or discount cover. This was the only place that wouldn’t come down for a big group of women. I got free cover at woody’s and 5^th avenue, and a few places in ferndale.
F THIS PLACE!

On the 8^th day god said «Let there be a shitty bar, the shittiest you’ve ever been in. It will be located in the basement of Bastone. I shall pack it 40:1 frat boys to women. They will come from far and wide to drink beer made of piss, listen to awful music, and drink in the dark. It shall be named, ‘The Commune.’»
Seriously worst bar ever from top to bottom. Full of hair gel and too much cologne. I thought upon entering, «Hey this is not my scene but I’ll have a drink or two and run up the stairs. What could possibly go wrong?» Well let me say I have NEVER left a drink behind having not finished it. Even if I wasn’t a big fan. Until now. I ordered a Blonde. Holy crap it tasted like urine and wet dog. I took 3 drinks and walked out. I hope this place is smitten once god realizes what he has done.

Review based on events from: ⁸⁄₂₀₀₉:
We don’t ask for the world. We don’t. We ask that you open your doors to our members, and that you stick to what we agree to. So, when we go back and forth and reach an agreement that yes, you will be honoring $ 3 «You Call It’s» for the duration of our event… that doesn’t mean that you suddenly invent a term called «call», that is somehow synonymous with the term «well» or «rail» and start charging people $ 5 to $ 8 for drinks. That’s lame. It’s lame, and it virtually guarantees that we won’t be using you for a future event of any sort. I mean, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the restaurant and bar industry has been virtually untouched in this disaster of an economy in Michigan, and so it doesn’t matter to you if you have a few hundred extra people show up on a random Thursday night. If that’s the case, then shame on me for not seeing that. However, I have a sneaking feeling that quite the opposite might be true, and that you’re hurting just as badly as everyone else… and so you might want to make sure you keep your word, and follow through on what you agree to do. Particularly when you’re dealing with people that are out of work, looking for work, or just otherwise generally feeling the pinch like the rest of us… backing out on your word in a situation like this is just wrong.
We’re up front and honest with you when we’re booking the event and all along the process leading up to the event taking place… and so we sort of expect the same from you.
Yes, you might want a bunch of high-​rollers to walk in willing to drop hundreds of dollars each on bottle service… but if you’re up front and honest with us, and deal with our members in a decent manner and help them enjoy what is most likely an extremely rare night out… then you just might find that you’ll get what you need — loyal, returning customers that have good things to say about you, generating good word-​of-​mouth buzz for you.
For the record, we still haven’t gone back to this place… and also another venue that never touched base with us after the event. Fail.

Disclaimer: I do not typically go to bars/​clubs that feature dancing and loud music.
That said, I had a pretty decent time with friends last weekend. I bought drinks for my friends — 6 drinks in total — and spent less than $ 40 including 20% tip. Pretty impressive.
Not the fastest service, but they were a bit swamped when we were there. Not exactly the place for me, but I’d go back if my friends made me.

Ewe… When did going out to a lounge involve skanky outfit-​coordinated girls staring at themselves in the mirror and flirting with guys so they can get their picture taken to upload immediately to Facebook?
Besides that, the drinks were too much effort to buy and the music was awful.
The people watching was just about the only fun I had there. I saw what looked like a Lawerence Tech instructor dancing with braless tubtop wearing super drunk girl. I wonder how that night ended for them.

Whenever i go to Royal Oak and someone asked me where i want to go my answer is «not Commune.» Somehow i have ended up here twice. Its just not my style (and i even have a fohawk and button up shirts).
I hate this place so damn much. But if listening to crappy music straight from 955 that is blaring so loud you couldn’t hear a fire alarm going off and fighting you way to the bar for a bud lite is your thing then knock your self out.

I would rather stick a glass thermometer up my cock then ever going here again. Imagine every repulsive frat boy trait you can think of and chances are you will see it in this cess pool of foul shit: vests, lots of hair gel, generic techno music, striped shirts.
Chances of getting a sexually transmitted disease: 37 percent.

Why do people do this? Why do people stand in line to enter a dark, sticky, disgusting space to pay too much for watered-​down well beverages? Why do people flock to spaces to dance clumsily with strangers? Why are the bartenders curt and the bathrooms disgusting? WHY CAN’T I MOVE MY FEET without getting stuck to the floor?
Ugh. If this is the «best» lounge in Royal Oak, why do people even bother?

DISCLAIMER This review was written after a sober night there on NYE:
I would rather have the creepy old guy from Family Guy give me a pap smear than EVER set foot in here again. Packed, packed, packed full of inebriated
d-​bags. Note to bartenders-​when patrons cannot articulate their chosen libation maybe they’re cut off? I don’t know just a thought. This place would haves dram shop lawsuit written all over it if the patrons could remember where they were earlier in the evening.
It was like a bad after school special about the dangers of roofies and date rape. To it’s credit, however, at least Commune manages to diversify. The most irritating residents of the trailer park and various sororities were represented as well as pretty much every country in the middle east and eastern Europe. And every single one of them managed to spill their drink on me.
I cannot comment on the service as I was too busy being «that girl» scowling at the absurdity of it all. As far as the décor goes, I wonder if the glowing reviews would hold true once the lights were turned on? One last question, what happens in the event of a fire when they pack the basement like that?
NOW YOU KIDS GET THE HELL OFF MY LAWN!!!

My favorite bar in Royal Oak — the city where I spend most of my money.
The girls are prettier and wealthier than the trash at Woody’s and less pretentious and off-​putting than the girls at Black Finn.
This bar can get quite expensive if you buy bottled beer $ 4.75 for a Corona and a Miller Lite and that’s all they sell.
You can save a few bones by buying a 22 ounce pint of the house brew. I prefer the Belgian White. They also have an IPA, a Lager and some other brews I am afraid to drink.
The bar sits below Bastone, a restaurant right off main street. There are two entrances. One on the side, it’s like a hidden back-​door with no sign. The other is inside Bastone. This inside line is the best because you can buy a drink at Bastone and wait in line indoors, out of the cold.
The bar itself is rather small. There is only one bar to order drinks and the line can get intense. The D.J. is cramped under a stairwell, but somehow they make this place work.
The venue is dark with some candle-​esque lighting, there are some small side rooms and booths you can reserve and lots of ledges to put your drink on.
Flat screen televisions are also scattered around the bar and tuned to sporting events.

This is place is like night and day depending on whether it’s packed like a sardine can or elegant in it’s sparsity of patrons. I was here on a Friday night from midnight to 2AM and it was so packed shoulder to shoulder, there was the classic line to get into the sticky, wet bathroom, and drunks were pushing through crowds and bumping into each other to get through. The crowd is cool — typical Royal Oak good looking folks — but it was so packed that it was hard to notice that it’s normally a nice place.
I went here for a private event on a Wednesday evening from 7pm and I could actually notice the Gothic elegant décor and chandeliers, the intimate booths and lounge areas, the TVs placed just the right places, and of course the inviting bar.
All in all, I feel that this place is a more clubby and loud chaotic place in the nightlife hours on Friday and Saturday, and in the normal evening and after work hours it may be a little more tame, clean, and swanky experience. If you are undecided as to which flavor you’d like better — maybe go for an in-​betweener time segment such as Thursday 10pm-​midnight — that way you can have a middle point and see whether you like it busier or more sparse!