Lotus Hotel

Flames to dust, lovers to friends. Why do all good things come to an end?

We stopped in here on a Saturday night to say hello to some friends and have a quick drink. On Saturdays the Lotus doesn’t open until 10, and apparently it doesn’t even get busy until midnight or so… I didn’t hang around long enough to find out, but needless to say we were the keeners that were there at like 10:05pm.
The bouncers were firm but cool, we were honest and thirsty. You see, we had a bag with booze that we wanted to bring in cuz we were going to a house party afterwards, but we didn’t want them to think we were trying to pull a fast one on them, so we told them and promised to coat check it at the door. They were understanding and cool with it. Cover was $ 10, which seems pretty standard for a Saturday night in the city, and the ladies at the door and coat check were super nice and very friendly as well.
They have some well-​priced drink specials, which is almost unheard of on Saturday nights, for example doubles were like $ 7.50, hell yes! I’ll take ten! We grabbed a round and found a table beneath the glowing red lights. The music was alright, it was some housey-​electro, but again, it was still early so I am sure I missed the best music of the night when I left, I mean, why would the DJ waste his skills on the three of us? He was probably just cracking his knuckles and getting warmed up!
The reason this place is not a five star, is because of the bathrooms. And honestly, when I speak of club/​bar bathrooms I speak to ALL of them. Why, dear God WHY can’t they ever fix the doors on the stalls so they actually close properly? WHY? First, you have to find the cleanest toilet you can, or the one most available if its later in the night, then you have to do the T.P. check, to make sure you can wipe your ass. Then you have to wipe the seat clean becaue of all the squatters, in this case it was because of those automatic flushing toilets, cuz when you flush they seem to spray up all over the seat. I am pretty sure it wasn’t a case of the seat being dirty because there was no one else there. After you clean your area, then its a question of whether the door will close, or if you’ll have to sit with one foot on the floor and one on the door to make sure no one barges in. (When you’re drunk, this happens quite frequently.) At the Ltous, they don’t even have a door stopper, so you can’t sit with one foot on the floor because the door swings both ways! this is probably why girls always go the bathroom in groups, it’s not so they can gossip about who’s fucking who and what so –and-​so is wearing, it’s so they can hold the freaking bathroom door closed while the other one pees!
I’ll be back to the Lotus, but I would like to conclude that all bars should fix their bathroom stall doors, so that we can pee in peace, and not fear the next drunk that barges in to throw up in our lap. Thank you and goodnight.

I am the most picky when it comes to getting my groove on. This is the place i keep coming back to after all my years of serious boogying. Depending on the night you will have several selections and styles of music. I usually stick to the Lotus downstairs. It’s dark, has an amazing sound system and usually has some great beats. You’ll find me in front of a speaker or a fan rocking out till the lights come on. The guys that work there are always nice.
Upstairs you go to the Honey Lounge. and great lounge setting with plush red velvet seats and warm lighting. Get a Lotus Martini. a fave in my books. This is great for groups and parties.
Lick next door operates mainly as a lesbian bar, but i find it’s anything goes.
My favorite nights are: Friday’s: Honey Lounge for Mod Night or Saturday: Lotus for some techno dance party. or even better the Lotus Long weekend parties that open up all 3 rooms for your OCD pleasure. if you can’t decide what you like try all the rooms out.

ok, is anybody else confuse with lotus, lotus lounge, honey, and lick?
*I* am. all I know is that there is a club on the corner-​above ground, the lotus lounge which is downstairs and lick, which is the lesbian bar. (I assume honey is the one on the corner?) anyhow, let me try to review all of them:
All three have reasonable wait times for line (if that), all have great door staff that are courteous and don’t bully/​intimidate/​or igonore you. And all three have good bar staff who pour fair drinks @ fair prices and will always serve you water without a scowl.
1) The bar on the corner (honey?): Half dance floor and half loungey area its a nice place to end up with 60s/​mod/​old skool playing oldie bandstand clips on the big screen above the dance floor. It has a friendly vibe and happy people who bob up and down with no particular penchant for skillful dance moves. (Which is not exaclty a complaint if you’ve ever seen my bust out my Kevin Bacon-​footloose). An overly undergrad White kids kinda place, it’ll feel like a frat party without the overly douchey vibe and date-​rape-​drug. you get what i mean…
2) Lotus Sound lounge: a couple buck more expensive, this place is downstairs and does the techno/​electronic/​house vibe. LOVE it. Now I am the LAST person who thought I’d love this kind of music. But I’m one of those kids who started out in the club scene loving the top 40 and slowly made my way over to more serious dancey House after traversing the world and checking out some serious dancers who vibed House music.
If you like that kind of e-​house you will LOVE this place on friday nights. It reminds me a lot of some of my favourite dance clubs in NY and Toronto.
And when I mean dance clubs, i mean DANCE. Why I love this place is that it is low on the «pickup» scene and high on the «f*ck it. I just wanna dance and move my body to some tunes» vibe.
Yes there are a few creepers waiting to see girls grinding on eachother, but for the most part it’s just a bunch of people taking up their own quadrant and cutting loose to the loud speakers and kickin DJ.
No doubt, there are some drugged up kids here, but the best part about hanging out with kids doing party drugs (vs alcohol) is that the guy aren’t looking to hump the next thang they see. (party drugs are usually energy boosters and not drunken messes who get in your space).
so at least that will save you a couple times from pushing someone off you. Which is, shame to say, the norm in clubs, unfortunately.
3) Lick, première lesbian club (Vancouver has so few good queer bars, or queer bars for that matter). I can’t say too much about this place because I’ve only been once. But it’s good and predictable.

I had to save an awesome experience for my 500^th review!
If anyone knows me, they know I love to dance but I hate clubbing in Vancouver because of the long line ups (3 hours? even being on the guest list!), the extreme pretentiousness, paying lots of money for cover and mandatory coat check, ridiculously expensive drinks, and crappy music (50% of the time).
Honey Lounge just may be my favourite place in Vancouver to go dancing! Especially on a Saturday night.
1) Line up around 10:30pm was only a few minutes wait. And it didn’t seem to ever become too long.
2) There was very little, to no, pretentiousness at this place. I was able to go with my girls, have a good time, and still feel good about life rather than being discouraged by the a**holes in the world for not fitting into the lifestyle.
3) Cover was $ 10, no mandatory coat check, drinks specials were $ 7.25 for doubles, budwisers for $ 4.5, or 2 for $ 11 vodka redbulls. Not bad at all for a night club.
4) Music was awesome! It’s mostly hip hop, so if that’s not your thing, then maybe it you won’t like it. But it was some new stuff and a lot of older stuff from the 90s! Since none of us were young 19 year olds, we thoroughly enjoyed this music selection.
It is in one of Vancouver’s shadier locations for a night club… but if you’re willing to overlook that, you’re in for a good time. I hope none of the above points change.

Thinking about going dancing? If you are looking for a great time with friends, or if you could do without the pretention and hassle of club elitists then the Lotus Sound Lounge is a place you want to be. Upon first appearance the place appears to be a bit dodgy, but after taking in the soundscapes for a few minutes you may begin to see the charm of this place.
As a general statement for weekend dancing in the underground, tekno, and, electronic scene Saturday nights usually have a better selection of music than Friday nights. I’ve found that Friday nights don’t seem to groove well, and are filled with disjointed musical experiments that don’t work for keeping the rhythm flowing. Don’t get me wrong here– I’m all for experimental music but not when the groove is such an important part of your night. Saturday nights will feature everything from progressive house to trance, and occassionally you’ll get a brilliant DJ who will mix it up in a way that makes the night flow well.
Because of the scene I’d have to say that the Lotus Sound Stage is probably the next best thing to a private party option in Vancouver.
The drinks here are affordable, the bartenders pour a good drink if that’s your choice of poison, and the coat check process is smooth and efficient (depending on who’s working that night).

I wanted to hear some good techno while in Vancouver so this is where my friends-​in-​the-​know took me. Walking in I wasn’t much impressed. For some reason techno doesn’t seem to bring about inspiring interior design. It was the usual cube with black painted walls apart from the sparkling (but kinda cliché) disco ball hanging above the dance floor. People didn’t seem to care. Everyone was having a good time and the dance floor was jumping most of the night. Asked around a bit to see if anyone could tell me who was playing on the decks, especially wanted to know when the music got really good toward the end of the night. No one but some guy on security could tell me. Always find this funny in music-​centric places.
Can’t complain about my night though, all of us had a good time and stuck around for most of it. Nothing super spcial about Lotus except maybe that the service at the bar was cheap, fast and friendly unlike tons of other clubs.

I discovered Friday nights at Honey last year by fluke– the club I was supposed to go to had a ridiculous line. I’m glad I stumbled upon Honey, though. Friday nights here are hip but NOT pretentious (can you fathom that?), but I can dance without being attacked by over-​cologned males. Basically, a really good mix of people and various 60s tracks for dancing– cause it’s Mod Night! I have brought a total of three friends to this on three different nights, and each one always wondered how they hadn’t heard about this place/​night before. The only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars is that the music can be a bit… uninspiring. Whether that’s the DJ’s fault I’m not sure, but I have found myself a little bored on the dancefloor, and that’s not how it should be! That said, it’s still pretty high up on my nightlife list on a Friday.

The Lotus Hotel is home to Honey Lounge and the (literally) underground, Lotus Sound Lounge. Both venues are always packed on the weekends and with good reason as they both offer great tunes and cheap drinks!
Although I am partial to the Lotus Sound Lounge and its underground and electronic music scene, Honey is equally entertaining with some soul, jazz, pop, rocknroll 60’s beats, as well as house music. While Honey is open Friday and Saturday nights only, the Lotus Sound Lounge has a different music night every day of the week. Get dancing!

This is by far my favourite night spot. A lounge upstairs with a great vibe and a wonderful downstairs dancing area.
Unfortunately the cat is out of the bag on this Vancouver stalwart and it gets busier and busier every year.
Definitely come by here and have a drink and just watch all your cares melt away.