by Andres Felix and Christina Mehr
Adjacent to the Arcata plaza sits The Basement at 780 7th Street. They’re open Thursday – Saturday from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. if you’re looking to have an exciting night.
As far as drinks go, Christina being a Vodka girl, she had the Passion Drop made with jewell citron vodka lined with a sugar rim. The drink was pretty strong in itself and on the pricey side at $14, but good enough to get a nice buzz going.
The Raspberry Lemon Drop was also strong but delicious, a great price at $7. Tequila shots were large. The bartender was sweet and kind despite the rush, and she helped me pick out drinks amongst the chaos. All in all, 7 shots of tequila cost about $43.
The Basement offers some drunk food favorites like soft pretzels or a charcuterie board. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, your options are limited to the flourless chocolate torte.
The downside to the bar is the small space up on that platform waiting to order a drink. If there’s a surplus of people on a particularly busy night, getting up to the bar can be a bit complicated and overwhelming.
We appreciated that there were multiple zones depending on how you spent your time there. If you wanted to sit, there were plenty of tables. If you wanted to chill at the bar, it was crowded but it was there, and, of course, dancing if you wanted to dance. Also every zone didn’t feel isolated from each other, making it easy to enjoy whatever aspect of nightlife you chose, without having to expel yourself from the other aspects.
As for seating, The Basement is probably the largest in terms of space. The layout of the club is reminiscent of the speakeasies of the Prohibition Era. Plenty of tables are on a slightly higher elevation than the main floor. An ornate railing surrounds the main floor. Half of the main floor is designated for tables, while the other half is for patrons to let loose on the dance floor. A stage allows for a band to play tunes for the crowd underneath a neon sign reading, “The Basement.”
Be careful bar hopping though! Arcata is such a small town, you may just run into your drunk boss.
With a $5 cover charge to get into the venue, decent music and good drinks, The Basement gets a 4 out of 5 stars on our rating.
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