I love Bang. (I can practically hear the management’s sigh of relief from here!) For me, it has been a girls night out destination, a third date destination, and a professional socialization destination since it opened. It is always a special occasion to go to Bang, because it’s Bang.
The menu is a diverse selection of tapas-style dishes, and every time I eat there, my table goes through the same routine of wanting everything and painstakingly narrowing the options based on who ate what most recently. Some dishes never get exhausted. If Bang were to remove from the menu its calamari, trio of salads, salmon nori roll, or sixty-second sirloin, I think a bang would be the least of the commotion. When the cocktail menu changed a few years ago, for example, bartenders found themselves still making old drinks for clientele who just couldn’t let go. I’ve never even seen someone remark that none of the cocktails look good to them. There are only, like, more than 20 to choose from.
And it’s hard not to fall for the place, inside and out. The wallpaper and the backlight of the bar make Bang one of the sexier (-est?) settings in town. (For this reason, I typically avoid doing anything relating to work there. I once felt unnaturally toward a colleague halfway through cocktails and small plates upstairs.) The walled-in patio with Christmas-lit trees stays popular even when it gets cold.
The servers are lookers, too, aren’t they? Under the influence of Ketel One and orange wallpaper, I once left an employee my phone number and actually thought he’d call. I later discovered it happened nightly. (And maybe I’m not the bombshell I thought I was!) I bet their filing cabinet of job applications has to be emptied regularly. My one recommendation is to the servers: remember it’s our special occasion, no matter how often we come see you.
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Tagged as: Bars, Charlottesville, Cocktails, Downtown Mall, Local Business, Raves, Restaurants, Restaurants/Bars, Reviews, Singles Scene
Interesting. Bang always strikes me as the place that was THE SPOT about five years ago and now somehow soldiers on.
I don’t dislike it, and it’s nice that you can always get a table, but the food strikes me as hit or miss. For every inspired creation there are two dishes with nothing going for them.
And the asian salad/slaw that seemingly adorns everything, while pleasant, seemingly adorns everything.
I really like the bar and drinks at Bang, but the food is reminiscent of frozen, pre-made appetizers with some special sounding sauce. I would go there to pregame for something else, but I wouldn’t want to do my meal there.
I will admit to having an affection for their veggie curry that borders on mac & cheese or mash potatoes level comfort, but Ten’s calamari has left me with selective amnesia for Bang when a craving for Asian fusion in a hip atmosphere strikes. That being said, on the rare occasion the girls from the office get together for drinks, we almost always go to Bang.
Absolutely one of my favorites. I could close my eyes and point at the menu and be happy about whatever came out. Funny enough, this is our girls night out place to eat as well. Good pre-going out kind of place.
i just wish they had beer on tap. even just one.
Lilith totally wants to bang Bang.
I have only had a couple of meals at Bang, but like our man Dave, I seem to find a 1:2 ratio of great dishes to bland dishes. However, their martinis really do live up to the hype, and I’m not a big martini drinker (although some of them certainly stretch the definition of “martini”). But hey, a couple of good dishes and excellent drinks are enough to get me back…I’ll just reserve my orgasmic obsessions for Ten and Mas.
I went once with friends and purchased the most emasculating drink on the menu. It was quite good.
I go there just for the Sin City martini.
Dear Bang,
Please bring back the honey ginger martini as a permanent fixture on your menu because I feel like one of those girls when I ask for it on the sly but I love it with every ounce of my typically straight liquor drink- loving body.
Sincerely yours,
mau.
Mau, I second.
[…] Bang! Best service ever. Our waitress made MGOC feel like the special occasion it was. [Read the review.] […]
I love Bang! The Bang girls really make this a special place. Yes, it has seen its ups and downs. Thank you Joy for cleaning up that mess CoCo left behind! The chickpea rolls are my personal favorite and the TJ (can you believe they are pouring this by the glass?!) is just a TREAT. This is the perfect place for some chit chat and light fare.
And by “I love Bang!” he means, “I wanna BANG! the waitresses,”.
You may have just won back the “Who’s the gayest” title shen.
OH SNAP
i just researched the rest of the internet and found out that
is over.
shenanigans’z daze r ovr! GUD!
I’m just honored you stopped looking up asian schoolgirl porn long enough to post that.
Magical!
/nighty night time
haha i love you guys
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