Ibota Lounge

closed… again… it seems an impossible space to keep a business open in.

I went here last night and the situation turned comical pretty quickly. We stopped in on a whim for the chicken and waffles, but the menu we were given didn’t include them anywhere. When we asked about this, we were told that the man who cooks the evening menu hadn’t arrived yet, but that apparently he was on his way. We thought about this later and, really, how hard is it to throw some wings in a fryer and some batter in a waffle iron, but we weren’t in a huge hurry, so we ordered some sangria and sat down to wait.
After about 45 minutes, the night cook still hadn’t shown up, our sangria was running low, and we were about 5 minutes from walking out. That’s when the very nice woman who cooks during the day came over and poured us (gigantic) glasses of free wine since we’d been waiting so long. That kind of settled the debate about whether or not to leave and the guy did eventually show up, maybe 15 minutes later. He got right to cooking and told us it was almost ready. Somehow it still took another 20 minutes to get our food.
Maybe it was being much more drunk than planned, maybe it was the company, maybe it was that I was starving by this point, but the food was tasty and the entire situation was pretty ridiculously hilarious. I liked the spices used in the waffle batter and the fried chicken was about as fried chickeny as could be expected. Any other night, I probably would have been pissed, but last night somehow ended up being really fun.
I’m curious about some of their breakfast items so I may go back, but they should really be a little more strict on what time their cooks get there.

I was on my way to the EASY lounge, when I first seen the Ibota lounge. I was curious to see what was inside of the new business, so my cousin and I went in. The first thing that I thought was awesome is that it is owned by a black man. We don’t see too many black businesses nowadays because they are being forced to shut down due to racial behaviors in my opinion. Anyways, I will talk about that part later. The people were really friendly, which resulted in me staying inside for 30 minutes. The music wasn’t that loud. I liked the place so much that I think I’m going to throw a party their. It the right size for me and my friends. The owner gave me a free glass of wine which was also cool. Shit the free glass of wine put a smile on my face. I talked to the owner and he is making aesthetic changes to his business, so by the time the summer hits, he said everything should be updated. It is very hard to develop a small business and attract customers, so don’t knock down a business that hasn’t been around for more than two years.
Anyways, I am pro black businesses. If this business gets shut down, I will blame it on the prejudice neighbors who don’t want the black owned business in their neighborhood anyways. I hate to see black businesses get shut down. It seems like black businesses are declining month by month, which is sad because soon there would only be European businesses and other businesses that are not black if this behavior continue. This is not fair and I would no longer tolerate it!

I hate calling the cops on anybody. Hate it. I’m a night-​owl, heavy sleeper kinda girl.
BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD IT IS THE TUESDAY NIGHT/​WEDESDAY MORNING AFTER A HOLIDAY WEEKEND WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU BLASTING USHER AT ME AT 1:15 A.M.
This place is right in my backyard! And because they have no airflow they like to open the back door, hence the thunka-​thunka in my backyard. And apartment.
Mind you it’s not like Easy is that far away, or doesn’t have DJs. Or the old Serenader lounge, either. But we have only had a noise issue from Ibota, and it’s recurring, and annoying. Oh, and their food sucks, and the space sucks, and it’s just a lot of general suckitude.

haha, this place has got to be a front for something else. I got fried chicken that must have come from the local supermarket’s frozen section. Amazingly bad. What is with the ridiculous club music at level 11? I wanted to stuff my mac and cheese into the tweeter like I used to do with my frozen veggies as a kid. But, seriously, who screws up mac and cheese?

I didn’t come here for the food. and i’m kind of thinking this is a fortunate fact on my behalf. i came with friends for another friends bday… so i’ll mainly be talking about the LACK of space this place has. Seriously, I would never throw a party here. For one, it’s carpeted in the make-​shift dancefloor area which makes it rather hard to for women who wear heels to actually dance without there heel snagging fabric. Also, it was SO FREAKIN HOT IN HERE! Where was the AC??? I guess the little fan they had going was supposed to cool down the 20 or so people they had cramped in this place. The highlight of the night was the DJ. He played very good R&B, Classic Hip Hop, Reggae as well as some Contemporary hip hop and r&b which was a beautifully blended plus! I also loved the mirror on the wall on the makeshift dancefloor so when anti-​socialites arent dancing you can easily dance with yourself! But i wasn’t too enthused with Ibota — by far i’ve been to better lounges. With more space, more ventilation, more ummmm energy. so yea I most likely won’t be returning. I wish them luck though. *grooves on down to Somar*

To paraphrase the great Patton Oswalt, dinner here was a failure pile on a sadness plate. My meager few scraps of fried chicken wings were were *actively cold* in places and had clearly been fried hours before and microwaved just before serving. It was accompanied by uninspired greens, appalling macaroni and cheese, and the depressing knowledge that I paid 11 dollars for it all.
I actually went and had second dinner of a slice of pizza at Arizmendi up the street afterward. It was that dire, dudes. Here’s hoping that this new restaurant gets it together soon, because I honestly don’t see them lasting long at this rate.

So, we went to go to Taste of Joy tonight, to find that it’d been replaced by Ibota Lounge. We loved Taste of Joy, and were disappointed to see that it’s gone, but glad that another local establishment has taken its place, and were eager to give a new place a shot.
The service was friendly — the waitress was clearly new at this, but she took our orders, got ‘em right, and was incredibly pleasant. The colors inside are reasonably bright and cheerful.
…and that’s where the good ends.
We (along with the other people we were with) got the fried chicken, ribs, and a variety of sides. When they say fried chicken, they’re technically correct. It is chicken, and it is fried. But I’ve never been to a place where you can call something «fried chicken» then serve six fried wings. Cold.
When the food came out, I thought it was a joke. Seriously. This couldn’t be right. You know that sweat you get when you can see that something has gone horrifically wrong? Like the moment you walk in to your house and see a window’s broken and your TV is gone? Yeah. Got that the moment we laid eyes on the food. Looked like someone had improperly microwaved a handful of Costco winglets. And the ribs? Again — technically correct, as you can call two scrawny baby back-​sized ribs «ribs» instead of «rib,» but at $ 11 for two ribs that had been clearly cut hours before and kept around in a warming tray somewhere… it’s disgraceful. I’d say it borders on insulting. The chicken *was* out-​and-​out insulting. $ 11 for six Costco wings? You’ve got to be KIDDING me.
This was one of those moments where I wanted to get up and walk out. I wanted to walk over to the kitchen, and ask if they thought that this was reasonable to serve. Cold wings? Two ribs? Does anyone take this crap seriously? This is one of the only times I’ve ever felt insulted in a restaurant *by the food*, and in general, I’m predisposed to like a place. In the end, we ate the food. We didn’t complain. We paid our bill and left. But I will never, ever eat there again.
The mac & cheese? Where Taste of Joy’s were beautiful, complex, creamy — this was a rubbery, tasteless, joyless mess of generic unremarkable glop, like you’d get in a school cafeteria on a bad day. The greens? Eh. Whatever.
Halfway through the meal, the staff started mopping up, and filled the air with the delicious aroma of bleach. This was at 6:45pm.
Would I go back? Not if it was free. Not if someone else paid me to do it. Honestly, this was one of the most wretched meals I’ve ever had, and the fact that it occupies the same space as one of the best BBQ places I’ve ever been…
Well, it’s sad.
Look, I don’t wish ill on the proprietors. I hope they get their act together and are able to turn the place into some sort of decent establishment that other people might give a chance. But not me. If this is the best they can do, they should find another business to be in. Like accounting.
Truly, truly awful.

After what seems to be a change in ownership, I’ve visited what is now the Ibota Lounge. Seems to be coming together quite well. They’ve updated the décor with bright, colorful curtains and other accents, but there are still those signs that «another business used to be here». I’m sure this will dissipate with time, however. For me though, the most important thing to keep in mind when reviewing a place is the quality of the product and at Ibota Lounge, the product I received was food– pretty good food. I went for the barbecue baked chicken combo which came with 6 chicken wings, baked beans (with meat), potato salad and a cornbread muffin. Overall, my meal was quite tasty. Aside from the potato salad needing paprika seasoning, I’d say that the meal was pretty good. I mean, to be frank, it tasted like a meal I’d make at home, but I like that! :P All of my friends went for the sausages of some sort… chicken sausage, beef sausage, and they all seemed to enjoy. One of the owners came by and told us about he freshly stuffs the sausages in-​house. Prices were good and service was friendly. I just think this place is empty because people don’t know they’re there. Looks like a little marketing and word of mouthing and of course, Unilocaling will do the trick ;)