The Velvet Hippo Bar & Lounge

Even before we moved down to NC almost a year ago, our friends who live down here introduced us to this place. We enjoyed our first visit and have come back at least once a weekend or every other weekend. The staff, music, ambience and crowd is great.

Perfect place for a celebration, catchup date, or simply a random party with the community. It's the perfect blend of intimate and urban, rooftop and cozy, stylish and warm and welcoming to all.

Food just keeps getting better, cheese board is especially nice: pretty, fresh and tasty.

If cocktails are your thing, I think this is the funnest place in Durham.

Visiting from out of town and it was great!

Wonderful vibes! Outer patio feels like a steampunk cloud right before sunset.

Very good food and drinks. A great add to

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Crab Cake

Far and away one of my favorite places to take people in Durham when they visit us. Everyone who works there is so friendly. Their inside is cozy and decorated festive depending on season. Their rooftop is great and as a bonus, they offer blankets for when it gets cold. Limited food menu but what I've eaten has been good (I'm not personally going here to eat though) I'm going for their fun drinks, both cocktails and mocktails, and the view.
I do see people coming for the first time sometimes get discombobulated as to where to find it. Go in the building and take elevator and you'll see an open peachy pink door that leads to their bar.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

My group digged the vibe and the style of The Velvet Hippo. We liked the drinks and felt the rooftop bar was very cozy. However, the DJ rudely ruined the vibe for us. We were on the dance floor and my friend slipped an innocent song request, and he made a scene by calling her out in a PSA "not being a DJ and should keep the request to herself when the dance floor is full". Despite that he might be a crowd favorite, we did not appreciate the condescending attitude, especially that no one meant to demean his choice of music.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 4

Service: 4

Great views. Creative bar menu. Will definitely come back for the rooftop bar.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Smokeshow is the drink pictured. Great vibes. Good exercises. Nice strong drinks. Good mix of music.

Atmosphere: 5

Service: 5

I recently visited this bar and left feeling quite disappointed. Here are my thoughts:

Pricing Issues :
I ordered a drink priced at $8, but when I asked for club sodas with lime, I was informed by a tall blonde bartender that they were "low on cups." Instead, I was only offered "Liquid Death" seltzers, which ended up costing me $24 for three seltzers plus my original drink. This felt unfair, especially since I wasn't charged for club soda during a previous transaction that night.

Drink Quality
The drinks seemed overpriced and, frankly, watered down. My entire cup was filled with ice. I expected more for the amount I paid.

Ambiance and Service
The atmosphere was extremely crowded and loud after 8 PM, which made it hard to enjoy the experience. Long waits at the bar. Additionally, the staff came across as impersonal and cold, which detracted from the overall vibe of the place. There is no organization when trying to order a drink, you have to try and get bartenders attention. The people behind me were served first when I was standing right in front of the bar which felt odd, but again just waited my turn.

Overall, I felt overcharged and underwhelmed. I wouldn’t rush back anytime soon.

Atmosphere: 2

Service: 2

A nice time if you want to hear a good dj and talk A month's friends. Drinks are unique i recommend getting the moctail aqua de Jamaica

Vegetarian options: N/a

Dietary restrictions: Shellfish

Parking: You can barge in the parking garage right next beside it

Kid-friendliness: No they id at the door

Wheelchair accessibility: Theres an elevator but not guaranteed if the elevator will work or not. It's an old building

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 5

Great indoor, covered patio, and open rooftop. Go earlier on weekend, can be lines late.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Paid $20 for a cocktail that was in a plastic cup and did not taste good

Cheap water crackers and generic fig jam does not a cheese plate make. The olives were the saving grace of our spread, but shrimp salsa was wimp salsa and for the price perhaps we just had a variety of other expectations. Sitting amongst the mid level view of Durham does offer its own unique perspective but high level views should not be expected from the menu. Drinks were par...also whats up with the plastic cups? Probably 2.5 but whatever.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 4

Unlike anything else in Durham. Finally a spot with good drinks, good music, and good atmosphere.

Durham has a lot of amazing cocktail bars and restaurants, but it lacks a lively bar. This bar meets that niche. I’d say the target age group is 30+, so they play all the good hits.

On the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month, they have Latin night. On Saturdays and Sundays 12-6 pm, they are dog friendly. They also do trivia night on Thursdays.

New favorite spot in Durham! Can’t wait to show this spot to my friends.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5