Storyville

A bunch of my lads and I came here over the weekend and absolutely crushed it. DJ was on fire playing all the bangers and the ladies were flockin. Only downside is it is ridiculously overpriced. $ 10 cover and all drinks are around $ 10 each.

Gross… you will need a shower after just looking at this place! If you’re totally wasted and want to continue your night into the wee hours dancing:.go for it… But yiiiccckkk!!!

Gross… long line for a mediocre club. It’s in a prime location which is why people go, I think?
But let’s be honest, there are no clubs in Boston anyway, so expectations should be low.
More so than that, I was disappointed by the music (which sucked), the people (think drunken hooligans), and drinks were too expensive. It just wasn’t fun. I definitely felt like leaving about 10 minutes in.

Used to be okay with Storyville — no cover, if you get there early no lines, great music, great location, no cover. Of course, you have to deal with the sleazy guys inside the actual club, but as long as you were with friends you were fine. And hey it’s a club in Boston, standards are low.
For some horrendous reason, they’ve started charging cover. And not an introductory $ 5, not $ 10, but $ 20 to get into a dank underground mosh pit. Nope.

Dreadful service. Terrible atmosphere. Bouncers are awful. No manners. Never come here !!

First time I went here with friends, it’s was ok and didn’t have a cover. Now there’s a $ 20 cover which I don’t think it’s worth. Went on Nov 7 and the coat check girl was visibly/​verbally strung out and high on drugs. Very uncomfortable to deal with and watch. In addition, the restroom was so disgusting I decided not to go. Not my idea of a classy night out. Drinks were good, and strong though

Horrendous appalling experience! Where to start, where to start?
If you think $ 20 cover will buy you a luxe night of partying in a prime establishment among Boston’s beautiful people, think again. You will find this nowhere in Boston, and especially not at Storyville. The only thing this place has going for it is that it’s sitting on prime Back Bay real estate. I guess that’s what earns them the mandatory minimum 1-​star.
A group of friends came to Storyville last night to celebrate a birthday. Most of us arrived together around 10:45pm except for 1 who came to meet up shortly after. Our first group got in fairly quickly and paid the $ 20 cover which they didn’t charge last time, then headed straight to coat check.
First thing we noticed, the coat check girl was way too strung out (not drunk, HIGH) to even do her job. For those of us who know downtown Boston, we can spot someone who is strung out on heroin from a mile away. Droopy eyes, slurred speech, and looking like she’s sleeping standing up, just waiting for the Mortal Kombat finisher move. The first two of us got charged $ 2 each to check our coats. We hand over our coats and the cash. Our 3^rd friend who was with us in line got asked for $ 3, immediately after the first two of us paid $ 2. After talking to her to clarify, she insists that the first two of us handed her $ 3 each and that’s the price. I bluffed and asked if we could speak to a manager, which in her heroin fog she heard something completely different. She slurred through saying «oh, the manager Eric said it was ok? Ok… cuz it’s only for certain people, but if Eric said it’s ok, then it’s ok. $ 2.» I guess she believed her own story? It worked out for us I guess, but I spent the rest of the evening paranoid that she would lose/​steal my coat. Turns out, after another friend went to verify the price, coat check was supposed to cost $ 5 and she was undercharging altogether, but we weren’t going to complain.
Décor is substandard in my book, but I moved here from Dallas where every hot club has pristine design and luxury finishings. I’m used to spots that make you feel like there was a point to the two hours you spent getting ready, the outfit you bought, the painful heels that you’re suffering through wearing, oh… and cover charge is non-​existent, and once you get in, you’re in the lap of luxury, ready to hit the bar for the overpriced drinks (which are still cheaper than Boston). At Storyville you can expect cheap furniture, cheap sound system, cheap DJ setup with nothing special about the music set, cheap decorations, sticky bar tops, disgusting bathrooms with all types of bodily fluids (and semi-​solids) painting every surface. Yes ladies, far too disgusting to even get away with hovering over the seat. Don’t go if you’re human and think you may have to pee after a few drinks. $ 20 cover for this dump? (No pun intended)
The final member of our group arrived at 11:30 and may have had the best experience of us all. He braved the long line and made it to the very front rather quickly, where the velvet rope was closed right in front of him. D-​bag bouncer move used to flaunt power and control over the desperate masses wanting to enter sub-​par establishment. Said friend is a nice guy though and waited patiently. So patiently in fact, that he was still FIRST in line AN HOUR LATER. 12:30 rolls around and I head outside to check on him, and D-​bag bouncer is claiming the club is at capacity. Strange, because it’s not that busy inside. Meanwhile, he is letting groups of 5 and 10 into the club at a time, claiming they are VIP/​bottle service. I know how the game works, like I said, I come from a city that has every reason to be pretentious because in Dallas, they can actually back it up with a gorgeous venue with gorgeous people in it, dressed to kill. My friend with his dress shoes and button-​down fit every standard of proper attire, more than at least half the t-​shirt and hoodie wrinkled jeans crowd already inside. By 1am, he still stood 1^st in line, bouncer still claiming «at capacity» and still letting random people in through the side rope. From inside, I noticed half of these people skipping cover completely. Really? ALL of these people paid for bottle service but chose not to arrive until after 1am? Boston is affluent, but I doubt this many people wouldn’t blink at shelling out $ 600 for less than an hour of partying. Eventually my friend lost hope and decided to leave. Last-​call in Boston is 1:45, and why pay $ 20 for an hour and a half in line plus maybe 30 mins of dancing and drinking.
After that, my night was mentally over. I won’t be back ever again, although sadly I doubt that or this Unilocal review would make any difference. Storyville is just another Boston club that has it all wrong. Take a trip to Dallas Uptown and see how real nightclubs are supposed to run.
Storyville is simply overpriced faux-​pretentious trash, which unfortunately is like most of Boston’s so called «upscale» clubs.

This place is awful. The bouncers are ridiculous and very rude. Never buy tickets here or go here for any reason

Storyville is the most douche bag bar ever!!! The door guys were jerks. They hit on me and I turned them down!!! They harassed me! Don’t go there!!!

For trying to be a club, their bathrooms were disgusting, the crowd was sleazy, and the music was synonymous to any tourist bar you find in faneuil. Way overpriced and overhyped

The staff here is HORRIBLE! When we were asked to leave at 2am and we were calmly making our way to the exit, one of the bouncers smacked a glass right out of my friends hand and started pushing us for no damn reason. The other bouncers and even people around us were shocked on why he randomly started going nuts. We pay money to these bars to serve us. Not to be insulted and disrespected.

I used to go to Storyville all the time, until one day this bouncer decided he wouldnt let me in ON MY OWN FAREWELL PARTY because he thought i was too intoxicated, when the truth is i am a foreigner so I have an accent, which he thought wasn’t an accent, he thought I sounded drunk! All of my friends got in but me. I cried at the door and the racist fucker told everyone not to let me in. It was sooooooo embarassing, NEVER going back to this place again. If you’re a foreigner stay away cuz the bouncer will assume you’re too intoxicated if you dont have perfect english. #shame

I went to Storyville several times. It is not the best club in Boston, however, it didn’t have cover, the music was okay, and if you go with a group of friends you usually have fun. But, unfortunately things have changed, there is cover now! $ 20 for a mediocre club.
I didn’t give 2 stars just because they started charging. It is because my last night experience was a disaster, which would make me give actually only one star but I have had fun several times so I add another star just to be fair.
Last night, I wanted to take my friends to Storyville. They were visiting me in Boston and we were so excited to party in Boston together. We arrived there around 11:30pm. The line was long but I have been there before with the same line and it usually took half an hour to get in, I thought that was going to be the case. However, this time the line was moving so slowly. We waited for 45 minutes to make the front. The guy asked us how many people we are and he said he will let us in soon. But then he never ever looked at our line at all. He just let other people randomly. We were already frustrated but since we waited already too long, we said let’s not leave and just get in. After half an hour, he took us in. 1 hour and 15 minutes later we were in! I wish I could say we had some fun afterwards but no. When we got in, they asked us to pay $ 20 per person. It was almost 1am (it closes around 1:45am) and we were already frustrated because of the long wait, we decided not to pay and we left.
Obviously, we got tired, lost our enthusiasm and decided to go back home. I feel so bad that my friends couldn’t enjoy the night in Boston. I don’t think I am going to go to this place again.

I was actually able to party here after a couple times when my friends and I had the gall to show up after 11:30 and expected to not have to wait in a 30+ minute line. I’m sad to report that we really weren’t missing out on much.
Echoing what the other reviewers said, the bouncers are kind of douch-​ey, but I was expecting that. The club itself wasn’t as nice as I thought it was going to be. It looks and feels like it’s someone’s basement, cement pillars and all. A lot of annoying clubs have the policy of letting just large parties of girls in, and this seems like no exception. The drinks were relatively easy to get, but I could barely taste any alcohol in mine, which is annoying since they are over $ 10 each. DJ was decent. It does get crowded fast, but is still okay for dancing.
It gets an extra star because there is no cover, but if you just want to dance there are so many other nice places in boston to do so without feeling like you’re back in undergrad squeezing into someone’s basement a frat house in Allston. I also hate the air of exclusivity this place puts on after 11:30pm, when there is really nothing that fancy or cool about it. I would rather pay a $ 5 or $ 10 cover fee if a club lets me in around midnight over waiting 30 minutes outside (often in the cold) to get into a free club.

Dear Manager:
When it’s completely empty and a group of 10 walk in wanting to spend money, perhaps you should be less of an asshat.
Thank you, however, as we ended up having an amazing evening at another establishment — we would not have left so quickly if not for you.
Jim

Yet another abysmal review about «Storyville-​as-​venue»: when you’ve agreed to host a private event you’re a medium for the event itself, not the *holy grail exclusive destination* that people should be willing to be verbally abused for because by god, this club is *so damn bumping* you literally will never need your dignity again after a night here so you might as well trade it in now. Unless you’re wearing sneakers. Then bye pleb, try Sears.
At the end of a two hour line for a private event, two feet from the entrance, negative two degree weather (well, probably), the «manager» (who eerily resembles Perez Hilton — family connection?) deigns to step outside in his unsullied alligator-​skin pointed toe loafers, immediately zeroes in on this poor kid at the front (a coveted spot that has taken, again, *two hours in the freezing cold* to achieve) and shrieks «You don’t even have to bother! Those sneakers, you– yeah, YOU can just remove yourself from the line right now!»
The thing is… we are not here for your club. We are here for the event that was advertised as happening *inside* your club. That petty power trip over dress code violators is totally inappropriate not only because it is so unnecessary to *yell* at people that are trying to patronize your horrible establishment but also: it’s not as if he did it to offend your sensibilities, 99% of the crowd obviously has no idea what Storyville is outside of the designated location for an event. And they were, what, supposed to magically intuit that not only their clothing was verboten in general, but that these restrictions would still be in place for a totally externally sponsored thing?
If your premises are too sacred for sneakers regardless of who’s paying money to claim your space for a night, then maybe you can communicate this fact as if you’re talking to a fellow human being, and not a filthy animal who just piddled your plush club carpet? I can’t justify patronizing a place whose employees are happy to treat people like literal shit.
Outside of that highlight of the night: no communication from anyone about what the wait time was, on what basis they were letting people in, who the people they *were* letting in from the side were… just a really quality experience overall. And agreeing to host an event with 800+ expected attendees despite sub-​200 capacity? Mmmmmm $$$ who cares that that’s totally unreasonable $$$. (Although I acknowledge that blame also 100% lies with the organizers as well — do they have a Unilocal page??!)
Incidentally, other fun things overheard from the Storyville line, from the privileged few that skipped it:
«You have to let my friend in, I’m Tony Abbott’s niece!» — they almost deserve an extra pity star for clearly being super discerning about their non-​sneakered clientele.

Come dance here! Excellent to come and enjoy the different dance floors on a weekend night. Highly recommend the going out scene here.
Down part: line might be long. and you’re stuck freezing outside.
Best Parts: Coat check, close to Copley and Back Bay stations

There are two types of clubs: there’s the type that primarily exist to create a fun environment for people to enjoy, and there’s the kind whose soul purpose is to exploit a perceived notion of exclusivity in order to accumulate money. Storyville is the latter.
Echo the reviews about the Halloween party booked by our school. Storyville very clearly didn’t honor their agreement and our school’s money went to waste. Also we were strung along for two hours, being told by the door men that we would be in soon but holding out for people willing to pay their ways in. We were stuck in the freezing cold for two hours. And we shouldn’t have had to wait in line at all.
This place doesn’t deserve your business. Detestable business practices and blatant exploitation. Storyville, you can make a profit margin without making your clientele feel like cattle or walking dollar signs.

I think this is one of the better places for nightlife in Boston. I like that Storyville is more of a lounge, so it doesn’t have that clubby atmosphere, but there is still room for dancing. It’s a venue that allows you to dress up. On a good night, there are a lot of good looking people, but sometimes they also have lots of creeps. The other night there was a 65-​year old man standing around leering. I guess that’s not Storyville’s fault and there are creeps everywhere.
There’s no cover, and drinks are reasonably priced (Jameson coke is $ 10-​$ 11). It’s also nice that they have two separate rooms with different music. I like that the space is somewhat small and intimate. It makes it less likely to lose someone from the group (although we still did). It is very very dark inside though, so beware of whom you end up talking to! Jk.

2 sazaracs & 1 vodka soda cost $ 38.52… When it’s normally $ 11 for a sazarac and $ 10 for vodka soda on the menu. My total should have been $ 32.00 before tax. WTF. This was a non-​itemized receipt, so I couldn’t see the hidden charges. I have a sneaking feeling the bartenders either messed up or are robbing customers blind. The blond handsome one took over when the older Latino guy made our drinks. The receipt reads «Alex D» as our server.
BUT of course they asked for tip on top of that. I don’t trust this place to be honest at all. They didn’t even give me an itemized receipt. Shady business, indeed. I’ll maybe come back to dance, seeing as the R&B room is decent, but refuse to drink here if this is how they treat credit card users.
(11:03 pm 04÷19÷14)