One of the latest additions of the club scene in Seoul, Ark Lounge is located one block from Lound lounge or S-Bar in Cheongdam area, right across from Apgujeong Rodeo. It is across from KooBar, if you are more familiar with the location of that venue.
Ark is a smaller private lounge club, which I guess is mainly used for private events. I have not seen them promote their venue in public, which I see as a mechanism to encourage only those familiar with the scene or the neighborhood of Cheongdam to know about the venue (and hopefully come regularly! That’s the most important part for any venue-owner).
I wrote in my previous article that smaller private clubs are emerging at a rapid rate. Maybe this will turn out to be a short-lived trend in a few months or years to come, but Ark lounge is a great example of what a private club should be; suitable for throwing a closed party, for guest numbers in between 50 to a 150. I can see the venue easily accommodating up to 200 guests, but anything more would jam the place.
Ark has some interesting lighting system; all across the venue there are horizontal bars of lights with variable colors. After a while, and of course, strongly depending on how inebriated one is, one may find such crazy lighting suitable or a nuisance. In my case, the lights didn’t bother me too much but I heard from a friend that it was too much for him.
There are tables aligning two long sides of the dance floor, and there are private rooms on the second floor. A room that can accommodate 15 people or so costs around 450,000 Won, which includes 3 bottles of Korean whisky, 15 or so Cafri bottle beers and probably a fruit dish or two.
I visited Ark three times in three different parties they threw, and the cover cost 30,000 Won. It is on the pricey side for a smaller club, but here is the thing; they offer unlimited vodka shooters throughout the night. So you don’t need to burn through extra cash to lower your inhibition to a desired level for the night. Although I have to mention, vodka shooters that they offer are quite skewed towards the weak side; I could barely taste the alcohol. But hey, it’s all good, since if you feel that free shots of poison are not serving their purpose, feel free to down a few at a time! Cafri beers were also offered in unlimited quantities along with the shooters.
I recommend Ark if you already have a group of people and want to have fun. Unless the venue has a party going on that day, I suspect Ark will be reasonably quiet in terms of guest turnout; but if you want to party with your close friends, and don’t want strangers constantly hitting on you or your friends, Ark lounge is probably a suitable venue for you.
DIRECTIONS:
From Apgujeong Rodeo: At the Designer Club side of Rodeo entrance, position yourself so you have PASHA (A soju karaoke place – they usually play Korean pop music loudly) on your left and you have the Rodeo street behind you. Cross the street, and make a left. Walk approximately 50 meters and make a right when you see a vet store. Make another right immediately and Ark will be on your right.
From S-Bar or Lound: Walk one block to the west (towards Rodeo) from S Bar or Lound.
