Hips shake, beats pulse, and a line of people desperately wait to get in on the action. While this may be standard for a club on a weekend night, this is comparatively tiny two-level lounge, and it's only a Monday. Welcome to Cafe Citron.
Cafe Citron keeps up a steady stream of customers with its combination of Latin dance music, in-crowd vibe, and lack of a cover charge. It becomes a mixed crowd of Latin men shaking their hips and gyrating girls in low cut tops, gay and straight alike, all pressed together in Citron's two levels and basement. DJs spin a mixed combination of salsa and international music, with a few billboard hits thrown into the mix for good measure.
The late-night dance party a little too hot for you to handle? Cafe Citron's happy hour consists of potent pitchers of margaritas and creative mojitos, but the prices may be a little more than people have come to expect from a happy hour. Food and drink can add up quickly, so if you're going outside of happy hour, you may want to skip the eating and get straight to the dancing.
The only drawbacks? The lounge gets packed on weekends, with a line extending pretty far away from the door late into the night. If you don't come early or have an in with the bouncer, you can expect to spend a good amount of your night waiting to gain admittance into the sweaty fray. Also, people come to dance, not to stand around and talk, and the volume of the music is indicative of this. It's so loud you may have trouble hearing yourself think, much less what other people are saying. You'll have to let your hips do the talking.
The best reason to go to Cafe Citron? There's never a cover charge, even during the variety of events that take place throughout the week. Monday nights features live flamenco at 8 and 9 p.m., and Tuesday has live music 8-10 p.m. Saturday is Rio night, with a Brazilian show at 8 p.m. and a free dance lesson following the show at 9 p.m. These special events usually coincide with all-night drink specials.
1343 Connecticut Ave, Washington, D.C.
202-530-8844
http://www.cafecitrondc.com/
