Three flights up from The Big Bang basement bar, The Library street level bar, and on the roof of Hooters is the icing on the college bar cake stack. Once you step inside and begin to catch your breath (assuming you're a sad old fuck like me and get at all winded from scaling three flights of stairs), you'll feel instantly at home (if home to you feels like a moderately nightclubby rooftop college bar on Mill Ave.).
The inside is all black, but they spared us from the excessive black lights that illuminate your fabric softener making you feel like everyone can see your body is covered in dandruff. There's a big open dance floor that spans the length of the room along the bar leading to an outside patio. The walls are lined with a college version of swanky white comfy seating with curtains to make you feel like a VIP.
We were allowed to sit in a velvet roped off VIP area, but told that we would only have to move if someone "bought it." We were soon to find out how unlikely that would be...
The Dj arrived and started blasting hip hop (a personal un-favorite), and I asked him to turn it down in just the speaker that was aimed at us so we could hear each other. It took us awhile to realize that nobody was inside even though we had a clear view of the patio, but we finally did and we headed out.
The patio was quieter and it overlooked Mill Ave in all its glory. We could see from the treetops to the pedestrians across the street. The patio quickly filled up while the inside remained more or less empty. They were gracious enough to include an outside bar so we didn't have to endure hip hop music on 11. There were also beds outside and some decent bar-height seating near the balcony which made it pretty casual and relaxing and social.
My biggest problem with the outside was that everyone was smoking (as young people all apparently do) and it felt just as smoky as the insides of smoky bars used to be before the smoking ban. I also kinda felt kinda cheated by having to pay 2 bucks for a diet soda refill (no refills, son). The staff was pretty nice and the waitresses seemed to be very attentive and efficient (and cute).
It's not really my kind of place because of the music and the crowd and the fact that those days are behind me, but I imagine that it has to be the best thing on that corner. If you're in your 20s, it seems like a great place to go.