Comments

1
Who is voting "trashy"?!?!? It is the best thing ever.
2
Need option for trashy but fun.
3
Huh? I don't get it.
4
I don't mind. It's a costless odor eater.
5
Wait, I thought you didn't like Asian food?
6
@4:

And it cuts down on splash-back.
7
classy. but can you talk to the Ballet people about maybe cleaning out that urinal? GA-ROSS.
8
It's also fun to piss on ice. Is that trashy?

How about if I piss with my pinky extended while holding my cock? Better?
9
Classy........ish, but as noted, serves practical proposes as well. The only downside I can possibly think of is knowing there's an ice bucket traveling from the ice machine to the urinals a few times a day.
10
@8 that's how the Queen does it.
11
Oh heavens, those two photos side-by-side, what is it? Avocado and Burnt Umber? Those two colors together, I'm sorry girlfriend, it's neither classy nor trashy, it's clashy!
12
I have a free 'lemon' sno-cone for anyone who votes 'trashy.'
13
Neither classy nor trashy, just a waste of energy.
14
Why waste fresh water like that?
15
Depends: are you icing Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio?
16
I am agnostic as to the classy/trashy question, but as others have noted: practical and fun!
17
But it's totally fun to use the awesome masculine power of hot urine to blast holes in the urinal ice! It's even better than pissing your name in the snow
18
The only time I've seen this done well was in the now defunct Broadway Grill's stainless trough. Doesn't look good in single units. Doesn't look good in porcelain. Always a little concern about the health issues - as noted above in 09's comment. I have seen photos of stainless troughs with colored lighting shining through the ice and thought that looked pretty fantastic for a club type setting too.

I think it's really just a "no-cost" way of not fixing urinals that don't flush anymore.
19
Ice is a food product and it sickens me to see food in a urinal.
20
If they had a decent janitorial service that cleaned the damn things the way they should, they wouldn't need ice to keep the smell down. As to splash back, the urinals are "supposed" to be designed so they don't do that. Ice should be totally unnecessary.

Of course, none of this takes into account the "fun" of pissing on ice. But I'm female, so I just don't get it. So I'll defer to the penis-havers as to whether it is worth it or not to put ice into the urinals.
21
Anything to encourage people to piss *in* a urinal rather than near it works for me.
22
Costa's in the U District has been using this for 20 years. Just until they get their pisser fixed. Makes you wonder why we bothered inventing anything if this is all people do.
23
@ 13/14, you think people are flushing those toilets? I don't know about the energy needed to make the ice, but I'm sure this saves a lot of water.
24
I'll take ice any day over those ghastly pink urinal "cakes".
25
@15 more like penis greasyo
26
Ballet is my absolute favorite phở place but man, their bathrooms are disgusting.
27
I'd say 90% of the time I've seen this, it's because the toilet is broken and won't flush. So my vote is "trashy," but that's only a bad thing when I'm at a nice restaurant. I'll piss in some ice at the 5-Point, but anything nicer than that better have a properly functioning toilet.
28
in ballet it serves a function, because that urinal doesn't flush.

best damn food on a cold rainy day btw. if you're really feeling it get the crab wontons.
29
Only classy if it also includes a maraschino cherry, some sliced fruit, a swizzle stick and a little umbrella.
30
is chateau marmont actually still "classy"? Sofia Coppola's Somewhere led me to believe otherwise.
31
Neither classy nor trashy seem apropos. I will say, though, that the urinals in the bars I frequent are less odorous if there's ice in there.
32
None of the above. It's not about style.
33
You haven't been to a trashy bar until its one where not only assholes dump their empty glasses in the urinals but the staff picks them out at the end of the night not to bin them but to wash them....
34
@26, I'm grateful to whichever Stranger staffer, standing in their vestibule on a break, steered me to Ballet a couple of years ago for phở. Cienna denies it; Mary Traverse, maybe?

Re: ice, I can't help but think of it in terms of beverages, and I can't help but imagine (as @9 points out) a kitchen ice bucket being set on the bathroom floor or a scoop coming within 10 feet of a toilet.

But let me just say, since I don't have many opportunities for potty talk, that I'll be glad when/if we go back to 1970's short-shorts and move away from cargo shorts. I'm tired of hiking the damn things clear of the urinal rim.
35
It's fun to melt but really it's trashy because anywhere respectable and clean wouldn't need it to cover up urine smell.
36
I lean towards classy but it really depends on the urinal.
37
@29: My thoughts precisely.
38
WTF why is this surprising to anyone? Ice in urinals at bars is not at all unusual in my experience up or down scale. It serves several purposes, 1. helps keep the supply on ice fresh, i.e, cycling out the crap on the bottom of the ice machine. 2. it does reduce odour. 3. er guys don't always flush the urinal, see 2.
39
It keeps the smell and the splashing down. A must for classy urinals.
40
@38 This whole "ice in urinals" stuff is genuinely a first in this European female's experience. Thanks for the education !
42
May we please have more polling options?
A. Classy
B. Trashy
C. I'm so jealous of the ease and relative cleanliness with which penis-owners can urinate standing up, I refuse to form an opinion of the subject.
D. Sorry, zero fucks left to give today.

I'm kinda torn between options C & D, myself.
43
Lipstick on a pig: classy or trashy?
44
@43, well that depends on the pig now, doesn't it?
45
Yet another reason why I'm happy I don't live in Seattle. The place sounds like it's a total shithole.
46
I love Ballet, but they need to stay open past 8 on Saturday nights.

And I always figured ice in the urinals was either a way to save water, or a sign that the flush function was broken.
47
If your patrons dress up: classy. If you're the five point: trashy and faux class (like a tuxedo t shirt). It does serve a purpose, it prevents splash on your shoes. Five point patrons' shoes would be cleaner with a little sprinkle. The notion that urinals are "designed" to prevent splashing is laughably ignorant.
48
I should mention I've worked in restaurants at the top of the classy scale, where I learned and did this task. The bucket used is only ever set on the floor by the ice machine, and scoops of ice are dropped into it. The bucket remains away from food prep at all times. It is not set on the floor in the bathroom but poured into the urinal cleanly.

And if it takes ice to keep a urinal from smelling one should NEVER eat at said establishment.
49
I just call it fun!
50
@41: Urine itself can smell plenty. Have you never eaten asparagus? Drank several mugs of coffee in succession?

That said, there is certainly a particular smell one might associate with urine that is bacterial.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.