RATING: “The Vault” A beautiful bar for beautiful people but not a beer destination
My wife and I stopped by The Vault (227 Hale St.) for a drink and to check out the place. We were greeted at the door by two “football player sized” bouncers in bespoke suits. I guess since there wasn’t a clamoring crowd behind a velvet rope we were allowed to enter without having to be “chosen.” Once inside we were very impressed with how “Metro” the place felt. There were candlelit sitting areas and an array various types of contemporary track lighting fixtures, all tastefully illuminating very intimate seating areas. It was like something right out of New York, London or Toronto.
We made our way to the bar, which had a spacious back-bar area and a very cool custom-made bar top. We quickly noticed that the acoustics in the place make it difficult to carry on a conversation without being annoyed by an ambient “boominess” due to the lack of any softening of the hard surfaces in the room. If they ever decide to host live music, this place will be a noisy mess.
We were greeted by a very friendly and dare I say “hottie” bartender. I was busy checking out the tap selection (yes, really!) while my wife ordered her “cosmo.” I needed more time to decide. I then asked if they had a beer menu and the answer was “no”. I did notice that all of the bottled beers (maybe 20 different brands) are kept in a glass door fridge along the back bar, making it fairly easy for patrons to see, but a menu would be better and would help sales.
The Vault is lacking a wide draft beer selection, although the few offered (4 or 5) are decent beers. Of course, there is Bass and Guinness. I was glad to see a WV craft beer (Mountaineer Pale Ale) and I ordered that one. But not before I asked about frosted beer glasses (and lucky for me that I did). The bartender said that they serve beer in frosted glasses, so I asked for a non-frosted one. All in all the service was very good, the staff was friendly and the waitresses were very elegant and good looking.
In New Jersey where I grew up, we called places like these “Poser Bars,” meaning places for the “beautiful people” to be seen. This is not a place to go if you really want to drink a wide selection of properly served beer. But if you need to find a well-dressed attorney or broker during happy hour, The Vault will be a sure bet…
RELATED: Read how The Vault came to be and see photos of its interior
November 8th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Rich, I want to make 2 comments based up a few of your more recent blogs. The first comment refers to this blog. Yes, The Vault is not a “beer joint”. Luckily, I am more prone to order that famous Irish stout. Therefore, my needs are covered. However, for a smoke-free, exciting cocktails a-plenty, and interesting place to go when I am in the mood to curl my lashes: The Vault is great. I want to support it because the owners are genuine and good people. I know this, because I have served them a time or two in another life. This brings me to my second comment. Your experience at Soho’s makes me cringe. You cannot fault Soho’s for the cold mug. Most in this town want a cold mug – they have to appeal to the masses. As your pal and known brew-head, Jeff R., has tried to tell me over again, beer should be served in room temp glasses. Ok. I get it. But, what the barkeep at Soho’s should have done is ascertain whether you are staying for dinner and pull out some pint glasses to come to room temp for your future beers. As a server, I would have suggested that. Happy guest. Server with $$$ in her pocket. Nevertheless, I say to you - which is worse: good beer with important foaming aromas served in a cold glass or post-chemical rinse-y beer without foaming, aroma or taste? In this case, I think you could have drank the beer from the cold glass and saved the issue and the evening. The again, I am not Rich Ireland. I felt as though you were begging for the beer to be bad by all the instructions.
November 8th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Thanks for the comments…
#1 The Vault - My whole point was to rate this place from the perspective of beer, which ties in to my staement below. The Vault is a Very nice place and I would take my wife there again because her cocktail was very good…
#2 Soho’s… My whole point was that they seemed unwilling to do what I asked. The bartender actually thought that “headless” was the correct way to present a beer. I realize most bars in town are going to keep cold glasses, but Soho’s and the Vault have made a statement that they are catering to a different beer drinker by not putting macro lagers on tap. Now they need to finish the statement by serving the premium beers they have, correctly…..
November 11th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
The Vault Redux: My wife and I, along with a group of friends stopped by The Vault on Saturday evening. It was my Wife’s birthday and she wanted a good cocktail in a nice place. The Vault was hopping with a wide range characters; both young and old.
I will have to say that my beer experience this night was very different from my first visit. We did ask for non-frosted glasses for our beer. To my delight, we were served well poured ales in traditional English “Nonick” pint glasses (I am talking Imperial Pint)! Now That’s more like it…
November 15th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
[…] I will have to say that my beer experience this night was very different from my first visit. We still had to ask for non-frosted glasses for our beer, but to my delight we were served well poured ales in a traditional English “Nonick” Imperial-Pint glass. Now that’s more like it… […]
November 30th, 2007 at 11:26 am
The pretentious endeavor definately doesn’t add another ” beer joint ” to downtown Charleston. Promiscuity or dama blanca your thing ? You’ll fit in just fine. Nice for a visit, but not a hang out.