Wild Indigo

Target customer: I have no idea. and dudes with hawaiian shirts
Quite the odd spot. I remember it being a martini bar. I suppose not much has changed, but the patrons are a strange motley crew.
I expected it to still be a martini bar. Instead, there were groups of people sitting around with buckets of beers on their tables.
The DJ was spinning some superb beats on this Friday or Saturday night. It was all varieties of house, including some songs that I didn’t know and had to shazaam. However, there was only one dude with a hawaiian shirt dancing. We could have taken over the small dance floor if we felt like it.
Wild Indigo is a good description of the wild and random decoration. Probably best described by Val G’s «schizophrenic pan-​asian nightmare», so check out her review for details.
In any case, you can certainly have fun here if you come will limited expectations and you are open to experimentation. I think it’s a great choice as a pre-​drink spot or a back up plan when you just want some drinks /​music /​club vibes without the hassle of actually going somewhere crowded.
Just frame it as a place you are willing to «walk out on in 30 seconds flat», as Robert De Niro advised in Heat.

This place closed down now. Sad :(

Very inconspicuous little spot on College St. I’ve walked by it several times without ever knowing that it existed. On the drinks list are primarily martinis made of Absolut vodka (not the highest of quality but for decent prices: ~$ 9). I had d dirty gin martini with muddled cucumber. It was great!
My «beef» with the place is that it’s a bit dingy /​run-​down. There are some cushion-​type sofas which is odd for a bar and perhaps not the most hygienic? Our server was great so no complaints there but the space could use some work because it lacks character, or in my opinion, has the wrong kind. Bathrooms need improving.
There was a DJ on a Thursday and the music was fine but got pretty loud and seemed a bit clubby. Strange vibe overall but the drinks were tasty and the service was friendly.

Awesome patio in the back. string lights on trees. OK service. yuppie atmosphere.server decided her tip amount which was weird. overall OK hangout spot!

If words «martini bar» evoke in you thoughts of posh establishment where servers wear shocking minis and ultra high hills and drinks are priced at $ 15+, go to Yorkville as you won’t find that in Wild Indigo.
In fact it’s a tiny bar/​lounge, that serves few dozens of martinis in three price categories (super cheap, cheap, moderate) and not much else. Think of it like a martini Starbucks, you go, you order your drink, you sit down and chat hours away while consuming it, or quickly soot it down and move down the street in search of a dinner. Their martinis are mostly nice and tasty, a testament to this would be my complete inability to recall the particulars of the décor or washroom issues indicated by other reviewer. My all time fave is Dirty Blond and that’s not only the drink choice for me… however it might be interesting to try Clean Brunette as well:)

There’s something seriously wrong here. I only ended up at this ‘martini bar’… because a visiting American in our party made an impulse decision in the freezing cold December rain to go in and no one felt like fighting it.
When we walked in, everyone sitting or standing near the bar turned to stare. as if a group of people coming in on a Wednesday at 10pm was a rare occurrence. It wasn’t a short stare either, it was a long gawking, got-​something-​on-​your-​face look, especially awkward because the place was empty other than us and those people.
The décor is some schizophrenic pan-​asian nightmare. They have orange paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, chinese characters on the fabric on the banquette, a lesbian karma sutra painting behind the bar and on the menu, rock themed drink names + a soundtrack of mostly mid-​90s and 00s rock/​alt hits that could have been assembled from my 14-​yo self’s Napster account (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Weezer — all great, but totally unconducive to the atmosphere).
Get it together The Wild Indigo! Or is this madness what makes you so ‘wild’? Also, I saw no signs of anything indigo.
We all ordered martinis and honestly, probably the worst martini I’ve ever had. My friend was certain there was no alcohol in hers, while mine tasted like it was entirely composed of Absolut. This should have been no surprise, the bartender looked like he graduated from the Kevin Federline School for DBs in his fedora. Every time a new Rancid song came on it was turned down a bit from ear-​bleeding level to scream over your martinis to hear each other.
Finally, while we were there, no one new came in and people only left the bar to smoke and deposit a highly intoxicated woman who couldn’t even walk into a cab, yet somehow more and more people seemed to materialize by the bar at the back.
Does this place have a down/​upstairs/​back room or were all those people in the bathroom together?! Also the bathrooms had no locks and the longer we lingered the more we suspected the women in this crowd might have been professionals. if you gather what I’m saying.
You couldn’t pay me to go back, especially since it’s so close to Sidecar but I’m giving an extra star for resurrecting one hit wonders «Filter — Take a Picture» and «Wheatus — Teenage Dirtbag». The angsty 14yo in me that doesn’t go to martini bars really enjoyed that.
Update: Shout out to Kat V! It’s hilarious that you take my review personally. Sure hope that’s not because you’re affiliated with the business. I definitely couldn’t recall the décor correctly. It’s not like there were 3 years between your review and mine and they might have changed some elements and got a lock on the bathroom door. That photo I took of their ‘sexy’ menu to corroborate my story, purely fabricated. It was because I was inebriated. You nailed it!