The Lounge is your new, chill place in Rib Mountain
The creators of The Garage and Granite View Market Place — Bob and Megan Lamovec — are back with a new business.
It’s a lot like your rich uncle’s basement.
That’s how owners Megan and Bob Lamovec describe their newest venture, The Lounge. Taking a look inside the new Rib Mountain establishment, it’s hard not to get that impression, with plush, comfy couches, dim lighting and wood paneling (made with a special technique we’ll talk about later) all creating a chill atmosphere.
Considering the original idea was to start an arcade bar, The Lounge’s transformation is pretty incredible.
The Lounge as Rib Mountain’s chill hangout
People are already getting a sense of that transformation as they’ve started patronizing the place that originally was intended to be the Central Wisconsin Convention and Visitors Bureau. The new direction seems to have been the better choice.
Originally, Bob says he planned an arcade bar. But like any good business person, he toured similar bars in other cities and found unfortunately that they had one thing in common: they were usually pretty empty.
He and Megan then considered a cigar lounge, but that didn’t seem sustainable, considering the expense involved in outfitting a space for a cigar lounge.
Instead, The Lounge emerged, and it has some interesting features. For one, there are three different sets of sofa/chair combinations. Whereas The Garage is a fun, lively bar, The Lounge is meant to be a more chill place to have a conversation.
And that’s what is happening, more so than they could have imagined. “A friend commented the other day while the bar was full ‘Bob, look around, what don’t you see?’” When he asked him, his friend replied “no one is on their phone.” Bob points to a nook across from the bar - sometimes it’s full of one group, and other times it’s seen three couples all engaged in conversation.
Aesthetic considerations
The decor got some special attention. The wood panels are created using a Japanese wood burning technique where one actually sets the wood on fire and then scraps off the chair, giving a stained wood finish without any wood stain. And a sandalwood scent is pumped through the HVAC, completing that rich uncle aesthetic.
The alcohol is also a special case. There are plenty of taps for beer but also rare bottles of whiskey, bourbon and scotch, for instance. “It’s stuff you won’t find anywhere else,” Bob says.
And for the non-alcohol crowd, The Lounge carries Forward Beverage. Megan says the NA movement is growing at the Granite View Marketplace too, which the couple owns along with The Garage.
But the menu is truly a special case. All the food is made fresh and designed to be forked with no cutting required. That’s because most diners will be eating from a side table, and trying to cut a steak in that awkward position might produce disastrous results.
The menu includes items such as beef tartare, pan-seared blackened Ahi Tuna, or even a dessert pizza.
You may not have a rich uncle yourself - but you can enjoy that experience at The Lounge.
The Lounge is located at 227460 Shrike Avenue, and is open 3-10 Tues.-Thurs.; and 3 pm-midnight Fri.-Sat. Find them at theloungewausau.com or on Facebook.
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