Owner Leora Davalos stands next to the door of VIP room at The Vault, at 227 Hale Street in Charleston, W.Va.. Photo by Chip Ellis from Sept. 27, 2007 Gazz article

Sweet and Sour met up recently at The Vault, Charleston’s newest upscale lounge. “Beers to You” blogger Rich Ireland does a Beer-O-Meter at his gazzblog. We are going to use him as inspiration and do a Design-O-Meter on this new much-talked about hotspot. Thanks, Rich! Joining Sweet and Sour is ‘Noel Cole Coward Porter,’ a certified lounge lizard and design fashionista from way back.
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Sour: “Rich didn’t give The Vault a good rating on his Beer-O-Meter. What do you think of the design and ambiance?”
Noel Cole: “Let’s start with the drinks. I’m more of a martini man, myself. And this one is very good. Just the right temperature, good amount, nice big olives, and I love the stylish metal martini “glass.” Wonderful — keeps it nice and cold. All for just $6.50. Pretty good value for a great drink at an upscale lounge. I give it a A on the
Martini-O-Meter.”
Sweet: “I’m with Noel Cole. I got a dirty vodka martini. The house is Absolut, pretty good stuff, and I think it’s a great drink, stylishly presented and a pretty good value for a fancy place. Solid A in my book.”
———-
Sour: “What do you think of the decor?”
Sweet: “Puts me in mind of that bar on ‘Star Trek Deep Space 9,’ the one with the alien bartender with the big ears.”
Sour: “You mean Quark.”
Sweet: “I feel like I’ve been teleported in, with all this metal and electronics. I think I like it.”
———-
Sour, peeping in the ‘exclusive’ room...
SOUR: “Yes, and the entry rooms and the Exclusive Room are like ‘Deep Space 9′ bar meets The Purple Moon.
Sweet: “And we LOVE the Purple Moon gallery. Yep, that’s it, you got it. This place’s vibe is ‘Deep Space 9′ meets ‘Midcentury Atomic Age.’”
———-
Sour: “The star of the show is the vault itself. Look at that door! Massive. It’s worth coming in here, sipping at a martini and staring at that door alone. Needless to say, they don’t make them like that anymore.”
Noel: “I don’t get the brown paper on the door outside.”
Sweet: “I’m not sure they own that door, but it gives it a sort of big city feel, A nice lounge inside, nondescript outside.”
———-
Sour: “I guess. I don’t know, I get a feeling they just didn’t get everything done in time. A few arty types who have already been in mentioned a few out-of-place elements, probably due to the rush. Like I don’t get the big plates. Doesn’t seem to fit the decor.”
Sweet: “I like it. It has a post-modern Left Coast feel. A little bit of LA, SF, Seattle… right here in West Virginia. The only places close to this ambiance here in WV that I can think of is Embers at Snowshoe and 3 Onions in Shepherdstown.
———-
Sour: “Like Embers, The Vault has those little white curtained off cubicles in the Exclusive section.”
Noel: “I don’t get that trend, it looks like an emergency room in there, with a purple swinging retro chair.”
Sweet: “That’s a good way to describe it. I don’t completely love the emergency room cubicles here or at Embers, either. I guess you could sort of hide yourselves from some snooping person’s camera-phone while you sip your $250 a shot drink if you had to.”
Noel: “I wonder if it’ll attract that kind of crowd. It was empty
when we were there.”
Sweet: “Well, I hope so, it’s a stylish attempt. Hope they succeed.”
———-
Sour: “I give The Vault on the Design-O-Meter a B. Not an A, because right now it’s still a little too scattered, too eclectic. Or maybe not eclectic enough,I can’t decide. But I love the cold metallic bar area and that door! Can’t be topped.”
Sweet: “I give it a B+. I think it works well enough for a new vibe attempt — and thanks for trying.!
Noel Cole: “I give it an A-. But I worry it won’t catch on. I can’t think there are enough stylish, rich young people to spend their money here. I hope I’m wrong.”

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