Fall Back to the Classics @ Lounge 201

Went there to enjoy the ½ price wine by the glass all night, YAY! Went there with friend and they only had 6 types of red wine and were out of 3 of them?
Then got the bill and they tell me the wine special is only until 8pm, though the website says all night so instead of a fairly reasonable bill we were hit with a nice size one with no flexibility from the staff when I brought it to their attention.
Double check on everything before you go as they provide false specials and do not honor them.

Great event. I was seriously debating whether to come or not, but I’m glad I did. The night was like old school greeting the new class of elites. My sincerest apologies I forgot your name already. The Mango Mojito was nice and strong but I thought the Pear cocktail was the clear winner.
Had a great time meeting up with Jee and Drew, Derryk, Fenny and James, Jack, Aine, Mikkela and Noël, Nicole, and the wonderful Tara who introduced me to a whole bunch of new Unilocalers.

Thank you Tara for wearing those black leather high heeled boots!
Excellent barkeeps, spacious digs for lounging, fine food with a mini-​buffet (absolutely brilliant solution to the voraciousness of Unilocalers!), and delightful cocktails! Oh, yes, there were fabulous Unilocalers — mwah, mwah, air kiss, air kiss, you gorgeous, gorgeous pers-​ONs!

I had such a great time. Really loved the Pear Vodka drink. Thanks, Grey Goose! I loved the wonderful Lounge 201 venue. It was just the right size to mingle in. Everybody could spread out, but it still was segmented in a way that lends itself to intimacy. It was great seeing Tara and meeting and talking to Leagne when I came in. The one crab cake I had was awesome. I never got any cheese pizza. The chicken was very good and spicy like Piri piri. I really had a great time talking with all my friends and just hanging out. This was a very nice get together!

This was the perfect «Welcome to the Club» party a girl could ask for! So I’m obviously late to the party, but better late than never… right??? Besides, my little fingers are cramping away while I make up for lost time.
A HUGE THANK YOU TO TARA for this wonderful event. If there were ever a moment that I doubted how amazingly awesome it would feel to be part of this swanky elite club… NO MORE! I may be a virgin elite, but I’m in for the long haul and totally SPRUNG!!!
In fear of being rejected by new comrades, I refrained from getting crazy and having too much of a good time. It’ll give everyone something to look forward to at the next event. But I managed to just get crazy enough, meet some fellow Unilocalers, and let Fenny know I’m not worthy of her presence.
Thank you to Lounge 201 for the amazing food and drinks!!! Crispin Cider may very well be liquid crack or the breakfast of champions. The wings and pulled pork… delish! All this across the street from Union Station… Sensory overload!

First Elite event.
It was fantastic! who can argue with free drinks and delicious food right? Big kudos to Tara, and to a lesser degree, the dude with the Cider.
I haven’t been to this place before, but love the union pub and the business they run, and 201 was no different; and its close to union station… huge plus
Best food of the night: Split between the Steak Teriaky and the pulled-​pork
Worst food: Burnt Steak Teriaky… anyone else eat that round?
But lets be honest… those pear and mango drinks were sooooooo sweet, a few they made were almost undrinkably syrupy
Other than that it was nice to meet some new soldiers, and am definitely looking forward to the next event.

4.5 STARS!!!
This event was great: CRISPIN AND GREY GOOSE PEAR?!
What better things in the world are there to drink?
The location was close to the metro (had to whip out my handy –dandy iPhone compass, but it was the only non-​white building in sight), and in an area I had never been. The food was good, though the vegetarian options didn’t seem to get around. I ate the grilled beef, pork sliders, spicy chicken wings, and bruschetta. The bruschetta was the best, followed closely by the pulled pork ‘wich just because of its size and the fact that it used a potato roll.
There was some confusion at the bar if we were supposed to get the bottle of Crispin, or pour it over ice (which was a quarter of a crispin b/​c they packed the glasses with ice). The mango mojito was bad and we left it at the bar, but the pear drink was good. Only 4.5 stars because the bartenders were difficult to get a hold of.
Crispin by far stole the show, and I was glad to meet someone from Crispin! I love their ciders, they are absolutely delicious and refreshing and have been drinking them for a few months.
Yay for seeing some familiar Unilocalers and finally meeting Derryk IRL!
Bonus: we walked through the station to the metro and stopped by the Godiva for some free strawberries and other chocolatey goodness

It was my first Unilocal Elite event in DC, and what an intro it was! Wings, Flatbread, and pulled pork– Oh my! I am used to Elite events where you have to fight people tooth and nail to get a small morsel of food. This to me, was heaven!
The drinks: The perfect pear was delish, the mango mojito not so much. But hey, who’s a girl to complain about free drinks and awesome bar tenders serving them!
I didn’t get to do too much mingling, but of the few people I did meet, I enjoyed! Thanks to the Elite Squad for all their hard work and making it feel more personal, and to Lounge 201 for the great food and space!

Terrific location, terrific food, (almost) terrific drinks, terrific company. All things that make for a great OYE! I had never been to Lounge 201 before and was very impressed. Very cool space with modern and traditional touches throughout. Did anyone else notice the random George Clooney photo on the wall of the back bar? You know it’s a hot spot when Clooney is a patron.
So nice of Lounge 201 to debut a few drinks for us, but I didn’t have the greatest experience with them. My first mojito was undrinkable it had so much alcohol in it, and while some of my fellow Unilocalers would relish in such a scene, I’m a wimp and like my cocktails with lots of juice! The cider wasn’t so bad, but it was weird drinking it since it looked like water.
Food was yum! BBQed pork sliders, spicy chicken wings, and lotso little bites being passed around. Not very veggie friendly though so I felt badly for my vegetarian friends. BUT, always great to see and meet Unilocal peeps! Looking forward to the next one!

That was the best pear martini on the rocks I’ve ever had. The crab cakes were out of this world. The chicken drummettes? OMG were they spicy jerky hot. Pulled pork sliders and pizza were not bad either. I knew nothing of egg rolls or bruschetta.
It was fun to see Unilocalers I haven’t seen in a LONG time. Chris M. Semra E. (have fun in Turkey). And I kept hearing the shreiks of Fenny L. but never actually saw her.
Lounge 201 is a cool spot. Love the red. I was glad I had on red, too. Felt properly dressed for once. Yessss!
This was a fantastic event! Thanks Tara L!!!

It has been far too long since I’ve been out to see the Unilocalers. Last night was an excellent way to spend an evening.
First, let me just say that the Lounge 201 venue was awesome. Their food was delicious and plentiful. I love that they both circulated appetizers and had a food station set up. More places should do this when providing food at an event (any event, not just Unilocal events).
The drinks were awesome. I know that Fiancé thoroughly enjoyed the Perfect Pear cocktail and I loved the Crispin Cider. The Crispin Rep (Mario?) was super helpful and he explained to me why Crispin should be served over ice.
And the people. I good god I lessthan3 you people. You’re all ridiculous fun.
As always, thank you to Tara for hosting. And thank you to the NYC rep that came down to help out! It was lovely meeting you!

Reason #1 to use public transportation and ditch your car for the evening:
COULDN’T PARTAKE OF THE MOJITOS!!! I heard great things about this pretty little drink. I hear she packed a punch and tasted like heaven. I’m jealous. I stuck to the cider so that I could get home without harming myself or others.
I did get to grab a nicely seasoned wing or two and the BBQ pork was better than I expected. I missed out on the pizza and bruschetta, but I think that’s my own fault. I was too busy yapping it up with fun Unilocalers and I didn’t go on the hunt like I should have.
As usual, the best part was seeing folks that I know and meeting the ones I’ve only seen on the talk threads.
Thanks Tara for all of your hard work. Nice touch having the photos of events past on the big screen. I look forward to more fun in the future!

Best Unilocal event I’ve been to in quite awhile. The food was plentiful. Chicken wings and pulled pork were quite tasty and pizza was pretty good, although the cheese slices were heavy on the garlic.
My +1 first got the pear drink and was not a fan nor was I. A little too fruity for us perhaps? On the other hand, we both really enjoyed the apple cider.
And as others have noted, it was quite spacious so you didn’t feel packed in like one does sometimes at Unilocal events. Overall had a great time and have no complaints!

The word classy comes to mind… without the «K» ;-) This was a splendid good time. Although I was half awake for most of it due to my work load this week already & walking into the room with that mindset. The yummy Pear drinks had me wash away my sad work blues in a heartbeat.
I had a fantastic time meeting new Unilocalers and shoving meat into my mouth… wait…that came out wrong. Delicately putting meat in my… wait…nevermind, either way I had an awesome night. Tara L. you’ve done it again my friend. Cheers to another successful turn out!

What a great venue for parties. It’s another awesome event, Tara!
We were treated to Pear Martini, Mango Mojito and Crispin Cider. I didnt get a chance to try the Crispin Cider. The Pear Martini, though was good I sticked with that most of the night. The generous food — spicy beef stick, spring rolls, crab cakes, bruschetta, spicy wings and bbq pulled pork sandwiches. Everything was tasty!
It was great to see everyone I finally met Michelle and Hilvic! And gosh I hadn’t seen Fenny L in forever! So what if it’s Monday night? Mondays are the new Saturdays!

So, you know that scene in Willy Wonka when Gene Wilder FINALLY opens the chocolate factory and everyone’s in awe of the room made of candy? And Augustus Gloop loves it so much he falls into the chocolate river? Well, that’s how you feel at a Tara & Co. planned Elite Event. They always do such a great job you can’t help but be impressed. THREE signature drinks to choose from? Plenty of food on hand? Cool, loungy music playing in the background? Photos of past events playing on the flat screen tvs? Yes, if this doesn’t make you feel like you’ve got a golden ticket you may as well go work for Mr. Slugworth since I don’t know what will. Unilocalers are a friendly bunch (think anti-​Veruca Salt) which added to the great time I had last night.
Lounge 201 is great! An unassuming, Rat Pack-​y lounge serving up good drinks. I LOVE that there are no chairs/​stools at the bar so you’re not clamoring over people to order a drink. Brilliant! There’s also ample conversational seating around the place so you can move around the room easily as you greet your adoring public. I wish they had more vegetarian friendly snacks last night, but oh well, not the end of the world. Overall, I give this event two Everlasting Gobstoppers Up!
Thanks Unilocal for another great event!

Still tired, still at work, but in a good mood thanks to you guys. One of my favorite YEEs to date.
Loved the admittedly girly pear martini, abused the mango mojito to increase inebriation levels, and regretted the frou-​frou route of pouring the cider over ice. I’m just glad I didn’t leave through an emergency exit door while looking for the bathrooms, or pat Jeff’s face in awe (and yes that facial hair really does need to be baptized). This happy carnivore partook of the barbequed pulled pork sliders, spicy wings, and bruschetta (tableside service on top of vulturing at the food table? A++); vaguely amazed my Asian radar didn’t trigger off the proximity of available eggrolls. Pizza looked nice but I wasn’t about to lose my spot in line at the bar!
Huge props to Tara and Lounge 201 for being so baller. Not just plenty of breathing room, but enough room to sprawl. Swanky décor is pretty spot on. Lots of nooks and crannies so you can have private chats or invite group conversation in an open booth as you so choose. Friendly bartenders, decent music, nostalgic slideshow. Twas lovely seeing familiar faces (Fenny, Tracey, Kat, Hilvic, Michelle, Ben, Hue, Dietrick, Khalib, Lia, Nicole L, Scott, Hue, Jeff, Oscar, Donald, Tony, Libby, Mikkela, Noël), meeting new ones (J, Pam, Derryk, Nicole O)… and remeeting Aine. ;o Any failures to shout-​out properly are the shared fault of wonderful Grey Goose and my limited brain capacity this week.
Many thanks to those who offered to escort this drunkie back to the Metro. Plus ones minus ones all around, redundant guest lists make for serious fail, haha. Clotheslining one of the bartenders mid-​photograph was pretty amazing, won’t lie.

Leave it to Fenny to write a belligerent FTR! The event was classic! Who could say no to Grey Goose vodka? Not I, fer sure!
The Crispin hard cider was good too, but I preferred it straight from the bottle as the front bartender served it.
OMG! There were so many hot Unilocalers here tonight! Is that a surprise though? No! Fenny appeared, and her hunky husband too! The venue was great; plenty of room. We scored a parking spot right out front so the evening started on a high note. Music was great. Food was great. The food was ever present.
I had a great time, and by the look of all the Unilocalers around me, they were happy too.

I like it, I love it! I want some more of it!
Great Unilocal event (i.e. not overcrowded, plenty of food and alcohol). Most memorable part was hearing Fenny clear across the room several times with her squeals of joy.
Anyway, glad to finally meet Semra and Tracey C in person, as well as meet up with old buddies Hilvic, Allyson P, Scott D, Tony P, Aine, Donald, amongst others. Also glad to see a lot of new faces and meet some new peoples.
And yes, the pear martinis, mango mojitos, and cider were wonderful too. Did I mention the pulled pork sans buns was awesome? And the wings had some decent kick. Yum!
Thanks again Tara for arranging such awesomeness!

Ftr ftr ftr!!!
Omg!!! Amazing venue! Amazig drinks! Yummy food and THE BEST YELOERS ECER!!!
Yes — sucked down 2 drinks in 40 seconds FTw!
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Ok. Now that I’m home and not trying to get the FTR with my lips on perma-​seal on the straw of my drinkipoo (don’t believe me? Just ask Derryk! He was witness to my epic drinking & FTRing!)…
1) a huuuuuuge thank you to the fabulous and incomparable Tara L for another fabulous event, in a totally amazing space…
2)…which brings me to #2, which is a big round of applause to Lounge 201 for lending us their super swanky space (and yes, my party for my family may very well have to be here!!!), and an equally huge round of of applause to their über fabulous bartenders for being such good sports & soooooo much fun!!!
3) thank youth Grey Goose for that devastatingly yummy pear-​vodka drink. I think I’m going to name my 1^st child after you!!!
4) because veryone always complains about the lack of food — THERE WAS PIZZAS and PULL PORK and EGG ROLLS! Not that I ate any of it — no need to ruin my fabulous double fisting buzz or anything!
5) a HUGE shout out to Ja’Bette, who is a new Elite, found me on the metro, came up to me, got me to the event (I get lost easily)…and promptly disappeared like a sexy Cinderella before I could make sure that she got introduced to fellow Unilocalers. The fact that she could QUOTE from my reviews is just a bonus!
6) finally — but certainly not least… shout outs to the BEST UnilocalY BUDDIES EVAR!!!: Tara, Donald, Tony, Jeff (with the beard-​that-​deserves-​its-​own-​name), Chris, Mikey W (Asian table 4 lyfe!!!), Michelle, Ben 2, Nicole, Hue, Kat, Ruth, Derryk, Celia, Tracey, Opti-​my-​love, Mikkela (my long lost Viking sista!), Libby, Lia (msg me!)…and anyone that I have inadvertently left out (I didn’t forget you — I’m just still drumk!)…
And as always… I part with these final words — as Unilocal is my witness… I shall never drink again!!!