Felt

This place is closed. I would not recommend going. Unilocal needs to take this off their page instead of fooling people! My boyfriend and I were fooled.

I went here for drinks with friends one night. While I was at the bar I took a picture, apparently people thought I was taking a picture of them. I showed them the picture so they could see they weren’t in it, so I wouldn’t have to delete it. Out of nowhere the bouncer tackles me, rips my shirt, kicks me, smashes my phone and then throws me out. I found out after it was because the bouncers friends thought I was taking a picture of them.
The bouncers at the bar are clearly racist.
Other than that it’s nice inside.

This place has potential to be really nice. It is set up well and has pool tables upstairs. But at midnight on a Saturday this place was dead. It was us and a bunch of creepers. Didn’t love the music. They were trying to charge us $ 20 to get in, yeah right. We walked away and they said ok $ 10. One of my friends gave them $ 7 lol. now sure how she got away with that. Become a place that is off the charts and then you can charge $ 20. Waste of money. None of us would go back

OK so before coming here I read some of these reviews and was very skeptical because of all the 1-​stars… but our post-​exam celebration was scheduled to be here, so I had to check it out.
Brags (+): I was not wearing proper shoes or even a nice shirt… I had a peacoat on over a Northface sweater and sneakers. But despite allegations of racism and rudeness at the door, the guy let it slide and let me in! I was very pleasantly surprised. The music selection was also pretty decent (i.e. not just top 40 hip-​hop).
Beat (-): Didn’t make my way up past the first floor, but aside from the typical shady-​looking guy fare you would expect at a club, nothing to complain about.
Variance (~): They let people wearing sneakers in.

My friend was denied entrance (no, you may not pay $ 15!) because his shoes were open toe, and legal liabilities, see, something about broken glass.
I was denied entrance (no! Not your cash either!) because my boots aren’t dressy enough. No legal liabilities mentioned. Just too schlubby.
Advise men who want to see the inside of this club to wear black dress shoes, or else to be women. Women may wear either boots or open toe shoes, so far as I could see.

its gotta to be the worst place in boston when it comes to club scene. I just can’t believe I paid $ 20 to get into this crappy place. Bouncers are flat out racist and bartenders/​staff think they are above everyone else.
of course you will see plenty of ed hardy doucebags polluting the place.
But above all, the music was just horrendous. The DJ simply plays the CD or even worst attempts to mix music.
Avoid this establishment if you want to flush your money in the toilet.

Oh my god this place is horrible…
I went with my friend for her 25^th birthday party. She reserved a VIP table and it was 300 dollars. You get to order a bottle of alcohol and you have sprite, OJ, and cranberry juice on your table. The problem with this is that the waitress has the bottle of alcohol you order held hostage and is never around to make your drinks. You do not get VIP service or good service for that matter. You are also expected to tip this waitress for doing such a sh*tty job.
I’m not a huge fan of dance clubs to begin with so maybe that’s why I hated this place extra. Ear splitting techno music, strobe lights flashing in your eyes, and a bunch of juice head/​trashy people squished against you. OH and there is a bathroom assistant in the bathroom… I always hate that!
I didn’t get a chance to check out the rest of the place so the other floors could be ok but beware of getting a VIP table. It is not worth it!!!

Okay, what the hell happened to FELT? I had been going here for years, but then stopped going for maybe a year or so, and upon return, I have found they really changed it up.
FELT use to be 4 floors with the night club on the top floor with dancing. You would only have to pay $ 10 to get into the top floor. The other floors were lounges and pool tables, and you can just hang out. So it was great to go to because people can choose what they want to do on various floors, dancing or no dancing. It catered to a lot more people’s interests.
When I went to FELT last night, they charged $ 20 just to get into the door. $ 20!!! I think the trendiest dance place in the neighborhood is Gypsy bar, and even they charge you $ 10. $ 20!!! $ 20?!! It was crazy. The reason for this is probably because now, every single floor was its own night club/​dance floor. So they are probably covering the cost of 4 different DJs, or what not.
SO the best part about them charging $ 20 is the following:
1) They had a leaky pipe on the 3^rd floor where the pool tables are, and I got constantly dripped on with water. In fact, I uploaded a Unilocal picture of the stain on the floor from the dripping water to demonstrate that yes, this was indeed happening at a club that charged me $ 20 to get in.
2) The pool tables did NOT HAVE ALL THE BALLS. Seriously?
3) The pool tables were uneven in some of the legs, because all the balls kept sliding in one direction– it was slanted/​crooked/​crappy tables.
Wow…seriously? FELT? Come on!

In terms of clubs in Boston/​America/​the entire world, I have to honestly say this is the worst one I’ve ever been to. I’m not a prick or stuck up when it comes to nightclubs or bars, but I do believe there’s a certain standard that if you advertise you should live up to.
It should be noticed that I’ve only visited the fourth floor, and won’t ever visit any of the other floors because of how terrible it was. First off: Small. One room, not a lot of creativity (or any) in the design or layout of the place. Relatively small dancefloor, directly adjacent to the bar (which means the dancefloor is comprised primarily of peoples’ spilled drinks, crushed ice, and people’s empty cups). VIP tables are the most unimpressive ever, and although they say they accomodate large groups, the tables are no more than two feet across. Good luck fitting more than two or three people at one.
They also didn’t have a coat check. Great job having a club not having a coat check. That’s when you know your club is a winner!
That’s not my true gripe with that place, because even with poor facilities you can overcome with some imagination, and people come to clubs to dance, not to sit down. However, the DJs they have are the worst I’ve ever experienced in my life. No creativity, no talent, and terrible song lists. They managed to take some songs which I had previously thought were almost impossible to ruin and destroy them, it’s not even possible to describe just how bad they were — just trust that as someone who’s worked in the music industry I can more-​or-​less tell between a crap DJ and a decent one.
Lighting in this place was awful. Just one party light and one super obnoxious strobe light that was on all.the.time. That’s not a creative way to do club lighting and it’s just obnoxious and terrible, especially when anyone heading to the bathrooms have to walk through a crowd of people in a strobe light. Leads to a lot of unecessary bumping and accidents.
Bathrooms are terrible. Incredibly small, dirty, unkept and they just have paper towels on the counter to dry your hands with. This means that a few assholes spill their drinks/​water all over the paper towels and render them useless, which means that after you use the bathrooms your hands will inevitably be wet unless you wipe them on your clothes. Great luck trying to pick up chicks with wet hands after you just used the bathroom.
For the ridiculously overpriced $ 15 cover charge and the fact that the dress code is only partially inforced for some people, the music/​lighting sucks, and you’re walking through a flood of people’s spilt drinks which even Noah wouldn’t have been prepared for, this place isn’t worth the hassle. Steer clear.

The only way I can describe this place is: weird. Coming from NYC, I didn’t know what to make of this 4 story behemoth that seemed to draw people I had never seen in all the rest of the Boston. The first floor is an awkwardly empty bar and lounge area, where no one was hanging out except a bachelorette party. I guess it’s good if you want the semblance of a private party without paying for one.
The second floor has some really, REALLY poorly laid out pool tables, where ¾ of the time your shot is blocked by a wall, a column, or a table. The bar is kind of dinky and looks temporary, as the bottles are just kind of hanging out on a counter. Pool is free, but as the night goes on, the line to go upstairs to the nightclub starts seriously cramping your style. Now I don’t know very much about Boston, but I know that in the entirety of my weekend there (which encompassed walking through almost all the neighborhoods) I saw less than 10 non-​white people, including myself. It appears that all the rest of them were in line to go upstairs at Felt. I’m really mystified as to what to say about this, but it was so overwhelmingly obvious I didn’t feel like I could ask my (white) Bostonian friends about it.
Bathrooms: I can’t believe I nearly forgot to write about this. We got here at 10, an hour after they first opened. NONE of the stalls had toilet paper installed in their dispensers. They each had two wrapped rolls on top of the dispensers, but that’s not really what they’re for, is it? Only one of the soap dispensers actually had soap. One had a complete front piece missing. Only 1 or 2 of the automatic sinks worked. Instead of paper towels in the metal bin, there was a roll of toilet paper, forcing you to use the poorly placed hand dryer. Pretty much the only good thing in the restroom was the couch in the corner.
Anyhoo, we ended up leaving this place after a few games to go somewhere else.

Other than the bar tenders that work at a lightening pace, I am not impressed. Pool tables are top flight but it is pretty hard to hit a shot when the distance between the wall and the table is smaller than the length of the stick.
Up stairs the atmosphere feels like a warehouse while downstairs feels over done. Not a fan.

Two friends and I sampled the pop-​up Petite Robert that has installed itself in Felt’s first floor restaurant spot and serves from their full menu Tuesday to Saturday. We were seated in an eponymous red-​felted hemispherical booth that mostly kept our attention on our meal, and when it didn’t, lent a certain voyeuristic feel to our evening, as if we were watching a television show about a bar. General thoughts were that the service was attentive but not overwhelming. The temperature of the place was somewhat chilly, an ongoing issue in Felt if I remember correctly, but manageable.
Choosing a wine proved somewhat challenging, as the first three vintages my dining companion picked out proved to be only represented by already opened bottles. We were assured by our waiter that Petite Robert was responsible for only the food and not the wine list, but I imagine that’s something they’ll want to address. So after an impromptu and accidental wine tasting, we managed to order.
The Lentil Cake with Frisée and Bell Pepper Coulis (~$ 17) was tasty. I don’t think I’d ever had frisée before, but its a delightful sort of green that was dressed perfectly. The lentil cake was more reminiscent of a veggie burger than anything else, and if I’d seen a photo I would never have ordered it, but it ended up being the prized item on the table. It had nuance and kick both. My man ordered a garden salad because he’s on this fitness tip ($ 7), and enjoyed the shallot vinaigrette. Our roommate ordered one of the specials, a trout dish (I think maybe ~$ 20), and although she wasn’t pleased to find it still with skin attached, thought the taste and texture to be above average.
Overall, a solid experience and one that I would likely repeat the next time I am downtown.

I gave Felt another chance, and it still left a lot to be desired. I went last night for «Russian Night» with my boyfriend and a few friends. First of all, $ 15 cover? I know this is pretty typical of Boston but this place is hardly a night club. Also, the girl at the door was very shifty-​eyed and not friendly at all. The guys checking IDs were dressed like complete douche bags– like a 2010 version of the rat pack or some shit and acted all pompous. You’re checking IDs, you’re not a celebrity.
The music was good, but that was a given as DJ Albertik was spinning and I’m never disappointed with his music. Drinks were also reasonably priced and very strong, something I was too drunk to notice during my last visit to Felt :)
But all in all, paying that much for such a little turn out seems completely not worthwhile to me. There weren’t that many people, the vibe was just kinda weird all around, and I would’ve much rather gone somewhere else. I won’t be going back here.

Interested in a quick and cheap dinner, I popped into Felt shortly after 6pm for their Wednesday Ladies night and their $ 3 Recessionista Menu, and was made to feel very welcome by both the hostess and my waitress despite (or because of?) my solo status.
After perusing the short menu (a photo of which has been uploaded), I decided to indulge my preference for variety and ordered the Chicken Piccata, Mini Mac & Cheese, and twin Mini Cheeseburgers.
The Mac & Cheese arrived piping hot and melty. Orange/​yellow cheeses melted and stringy when pulled on top, a white creamy sauce below. The chicken in the Chicken Piccata was a decent portion; while not very moist, it could still be cut with just a fork (when applying quite some pressure). They were pretty generous with the capers and sun dried tomatoes in the dish. But the tube pasta in both entrees were a little on the overcooked side of al dente. The Mini Cheeseburgers came with wimpy fries with just a touch of crispiness here and there. The buns were fat but the meat patties were thin, which made for a poor carb to cow ratio. Okay burgers, but no where near my Morton’s mini burger experience earlier this year.
Summary:
Service — pleasant
Food — okay but not great, but what do you expect for $ 3?

A group of about 20 of us went here yesterday early evening for a billiards party a friend had won (2 hours of free pool plus apps). Plus points for the sinage everywhere (the «reserved for» and «Jess party upstairs» signs were cool), but minus points for only having 4 cues available for 2 tables of pool, and one was missing a few balls (…that’s what she said).
They do give you a toooon of food that even my crew couldn’t finish (hard to do)… although the party next to us which was only about 6 people gave us most of their own food, so we had extras to begin with. Calamari, buffalo wings, and 4 kinds of pizza… not absolutely horrible, but I wouldn’t call it great either. But hey, free food always tastes better to me, so I can’t really complain. They gave us plates but nary a napkin was to be found, wtf? Didn’t find that out until I had polished off my first wing. Awesome.
Drinks were too pricey, a well vodka and tonic was $ 8, no thanks. Bartender was quite unpleasant– come on, asking if you have Sam Summer is not an unreasonable question– but our waitress was sweet, albeit a bit hard to find at times. Pool was pool, and the crowd there was fine (on that floor), groups of young professionals keeping to themselves enjoying a game of pool… keep in mind this was 7 – 9 PM, so I have no idea what the real evening crowd is like (although from the reviews, I don’t think I want to find out).
I’d probably only come back again if another friend won this same package, definitely not my scene and not worth the prices.

Walking up & down 4 flights of stairs just to have a cigarette and back?
Yeah, that’s just stupid & inconvenient.
The music was mediocre at best, drinks were slightly on the watered-​down side, and 4 flights of stairs just to get to the dance floor?
For such a huge place in Downtown Boston, it’s a disappointement. And it was slightly dead on Saturday night.
Meh, I’d rather be a dancing fool elsewhere.

I’ve been reassessing my sense of Felt for a little while now. I realized that I should change my review to reflect a variety of factors:
1. The drink prices are way too high: I once attempted to order a Red Bull and Vodka. I don’t know, I thought it would be a nice pick-​me-​up to keep going, but instead I ended up with an $ 11 Rockstar and Vodka that was just disgusting. It wasn’t worth it under any circumstances, even if it had been good.
2. The Buy Your Friend a Drink coverage is spotty at best. I’ve had experiences where bartenders either don’t know how to do it (despite the fact that the bar mentions that it takes it) and have had whole sections (the 4^th floor) where using the card was impossible.
3. It can become a unregulated meat market. This was particularly apparent after a private party I was at ended and became more public, and a whole section became VIP seating. No problem there. The issues began when Bro #1 and Bro #2 decided that they needed to fight. Security didn’t get over there fast enough to really deal with anything. I don’t think anyone got seriously hurt, but really I don’t need to be around that much whacked-​out testosterone.
Having seen my friends’ experiences (see Jen H’s review) and looking at the various amenities offered (off-​center pool tables), I can’t see why I would ever come back here, unless I was going for a friend’s party or something.

So actually, Felt turned out to be a pretty perfect spot for a private party. Rented out the first and second floors to thank the volunteers who helped out at GreenBuild Boston this year. Organizing and planning with Danielle was great, because she was very accommodating and easy to work with (I can’t take credit for this, though).
The food options ranged from standard pub grub to slightly gourmet-​ish (bacon wrapped scallops, beef skewers, spinach artichoke tarts, chicken egg rolls, and bruschetta), all of which were surprisingly tasty.
The second floor was all about complimentary billiards.
Since the atmosphere is ultra low-​light, velvet furniture, lounge-​y and less dance-​floor-​y, it was the perfect venue for students traveling from all over the country and spending one special night out in Boston to get to know each other, relax, have fun, and of course, get sloshed.

The thing is… this place has great ambiance and good service and delicious bar food.
The music early in the night was wonderful and progressed into shitty remixed dance stuff appropriate for a 20-​something night club and not a classy pool hall.
But the real problem here is space. They put 6 tables, for instance, in a space that should hold 3. You can’t try to make a shot without bumping your cue into a wall or a pillar or another person. It’s just WAAAAAY to cramped. And the tables themselves aren’t exactly level or perfect.
I might come here for a cocktail before something else, but I wouldn’t stay to play.

I went here about a month ago for a MIT/​HBS joint birthday party. The group throwing the party rented out the top floor for the event.
Felt feels more like an upscale pool hall than a club. You’ve got a couple tables on each floor, very well lit rooms relative to most clubs, and soft music. What are we supposed to be doing here? Shooting pool? Dancing? talking? I’m already confused.
The front guys were exceptionally harsh with would-​be patrons. I saw more than one guy at the front turned away for wearing (new-​looking) sneakers. Again, the vibe of the inside of Felt didn’t mesh well with the bouncer’s people filter.
I wouldn’t go here if I had to pay a cover. Definitely.