Commissary Lounge

I came here about three times and I'm finally writing a review for this place.

This girl once said, " This place makes you feel like a little kid since the high chairs and level of the bar makes you really reach for your drink orders like a cookie jar."

Funny observation and I tried playing wing man for a friend with this girl to see if any sparks of interests would fly, unfortunately it was a fail.

Commissary is one of the many Hipster Bars in Costa Mesa, I went here for a few drinks after a having a business meeting in Irvine. We figured having a few drinks after a busy weekend was necessary and we met all kinds of people. UCI Students and Alumni, a Bouncer from the Marine Corps, The Situation's Preppy Half-Brother who was in a drunken stupor from Manhattan (because he swears on his left nut that he would hook it up with drinks since I was familiar with NYC locales and mannerisms).

Drinks are affordable and after two beers, a few shots of whisky (they have a Yelp special for a check-in, free shot with drink order purchased), the entertainment and eye-candy went on a downward spiral making our departure necessary.

Overall, cool spot just wish there was more space to see drunk people's dance moves, maybe acquire some inspiration out of it?

Gotta love this place to relax after a long work week. Chill crowd of 21+. Black and white artwork along the walls... Drink specials written in chalk... High rise stool seats at the bar and neat little booth seats. Pretty cool bartenders as well. There's a bouncer on the weekends and a DJ spinning in the back. You should definitely expect some weird stuff playing on TV that do not go with the music in the background, but it's something to glimpse at every now and then. Overall, very laid back atmosphere.

I met up with a group of Yelpers here, last Friday, to start off our night on the Xtreme Limos party bus. Commissary Lounge is modern, hip, and has a full bar. They serve Tiger's Blood! #winning! I ordered the drink and it's more fruity than what I would have imagined for a drink with said name. The only bad thing is that they do not serve food. I was hungry but there are plenty of places around the Lab that do serve food. This place is cool to hang out and chill in. Very cool. I'll be back.

I must have just picked the right night to stumble across this place, cause it's newly opened -- like first week. I just stopped by the Gypsy Den and my friend and I were like, "I've never seen this bar here before." It's right across from it.

This place seemed super chill, or as my friend put it, "This place is legit." Seriously, I walked in and it smelled like a shoe store because the leather booths were brand new.

The bar is super simple, and I love it. They've got big 7-11-esque fridges with a large assortment of bottled beers. The only hard liquor they were offering was tequila and vodka. I don't know if that'll change.

It's a small place that's a lot longer than it is wide. They have two flatscreen TVs on the wall behind the bar playing classic movies with the sound off. While I was there, "Falling Down" and "Taxi Driver". The music was pretty cool... both indie-sounding rock and hip hop. They had DJ table although no one was spinning.

They served our High Life (not my choice) in champagne flutes, and gave us a stand to chill our bottle in. It is the champagne of beers, afterall.

Bartender was super nice and kept coming over to make sure we were all right. Overall, a pretty cool place that'll probably soon become a hot spot, especially now that I've reviewed it.

What a quirky little place!! A little hard to find since there's only a neon sign that says "BAR" right next to the door. It took us a little bit to find the place but when we did, it was all good!

We walked in at around 9:30pm and were able to find a sizable seating area for our 9 people. The bar was busy but the place itself was not too bad. Drinks are reasonably price (favorite feature) and the bartenders were very nice and friendly (2nd favorite feature).

Since there really isn't a dance floor, all dancing is done in your seats or in in your little seating area.

It did get a little busy for about an hour but then it died off just as quickly as the busy started. Saw some people walk in, see how dead it was a 11pm and walk right back out. Sadface. It really is a great place to hang out.

Music was great and there also seems to be a private area in the back next to the DJ for reservations.

Minus 1 star for not having hand soap in the bathroom. Kind of an odd thing to skimp on...

QUESTION: What does Portishead's 3rd album, Star Wars The Phantom Menace and the Commissary lounge all have in common?

It took Portishead 11 years after their second album to come out with their 3rd album. Fans of Star Wars waited 16 years for the prequel Phantom Menace to come out after Return of the Jedi. I heard about the commissary lounge maybe a little over a year ago (at least it seemed like over a year) and how great it was, how it was right up my alley because of the atmosphere, the cool movies playing on the TVs the music they played and the hipster crowd.

ANSWER: They were all epic disappointments.

The results didn't even come close to my expectations. I try to tell myself time and time again to never expect greatness, that way I'm not disappointed when it sucks but pleasantly surprised if its a win. With all the postive yelp reviews and fellow friends who's opinions I trust saying how awesome it was, I really thought Commissary Lounge was a safe bet...

When I walked in they had The Craft and Blood in Blood out playing on the TV screens, the DJ played The Smiths twice in the hour we were there, all the tools for a great time right? Sadly, no. Something just seemed off. We were there from around 9:45 to 10:45, I don't think they were more then 15 people in the bar at one time, 3 or 4 would come in, 3 or 4 would leave and the Bartenders looked like they were there working community service hours. My friend was lucky enough to get herself a bar stool, (despite the fact only about 15 people were in the bar all 6 or 8 stools were taken) so I had to stand and if you've read other reviews or have been here before you know that the bar is very tall, me being moderately vertically challenged I felt like the guy in the picture I attached to this review...

CONCLUSION: I really wanted to like this place and who knows maybe I just went on a bad night. I'd give them another go, but only if I happen to be in the area, I'm not going out of my way to come here again like I did last Friday night.

It was pretty empty for a Friday night. But the drinks were strong and the DJ was playing decent music (Feist/Michael Jackson/Hip-hop remixes...). The ONE bartender was hustling! Wow.

The layout was a lot smaller than I expected (after seeing photos...) but it made for a more comfy lounge feel versus a club feel....this is Commissary LOUNGE afterall!

I think if we stayed for another 30 minutes it would have gotten more interesting and busier but we decided to go over to Mesa, haha....we are at Mesa too often but I like it...

Anyway, this place had a slightly older crowd last night - late 20s to 40s it seemed. I think me and one other person was still in their early/mid 20s. This is nothing particularly good or bad, it is just what it is.

There isn't really a dance floor but there is space to dance...one girl was really going for it all by herself, haha, ballsy.

I'll visit again someday, perhaps later in the night and with more friends (there was 4 of us total).

I really enjoy coming by this place. Very chill, a little dark, a bit of fun and a great place to come for a drink late at night after a hard day's work.

Seems like the place is getting more on and poppin' with all sorts of peepos. I don't mind; i usually am able to get a nice cushiony clean seat to sit on.

Cons, I would say...only one bathroom stall for each sex..it gets pretty hectic now that this place has a liquor license on weekends so there is a significant wait. Usually, it's pretty fast service and nice bartenders so I didn't mind too much. She made the drink cheaper since I waited so long which made me a lot happier. :D

Going agaaaaaaaaaaaaain this Saturday to celebrate my bdaaaaaayyy~! woooooo! *crossing my fingers that it's not tooooo busy but just right :D*

Mmmm, I just wasn't that impressed.

Commissary Lounge is in the Lab (right across from the Gypsy Den).

Great things:
high bar stools
great decor
descent music

Kind of whatevr things:
they have happy hour, but it isn't nice enough a happy hour (price-wise) to make anyone crave it.
the one bartender working when I went was pretty nonchalant. You seem bored, you make me feel bored.

We were looking for a quirky place to show our friend from Toronto a fun California-style bar experience. This place was close by, and the name sounded cool, so we decided to give it a shot.

The first thing you'll notice when you walk in is that the place is very sparsely decorated. You're got room at the bar, and booths, but that's pretty much about it. Two TVs will play movies on repeat the entire night (It was Goonies and Inglorious Basterds the night I was there.) which is nice, but you get the feeling that if it was a movie that you hated you wouldn't be so keen on it.

The bartender spins a good mix of 90s rap and hip-hop, but doesn't seem to take requests, but still played a good enough variety of tunes to make the atmosphere pleasantly bumpin'.

If you go there on a Monday night like we did, they play a game where you can score cheaper drinks. First you pick your choice of beers on draft. The bartender will flip a coin. if you call it wrong, you pay $5 (normal price) for the beer. If you call it correctly, you get to roll a d6. Whatever you roll on the die is what you pay for the draft. In all likelihood, you're going to pay $5 for your beer, but it's just plain fun.

Additionally, they have a drink there called "Tiger's Blood". I asked the bartender if they made a "Warlock", but apparently they figured one Sheen-themed beverage was enough. I'll have to try the Catalina Wine Mixer next time I'm out there, apparently.