I LOVE this place and it's my go-to spot when I need good food, good music, good cocktails without the loud, obnoxious bar feel. It's attracts a good crowd. It's not too restaurant-y and not too bar-ish, not too stuffy but not too casual, with a hint of trendy in a cultural kind of way. It's perfect, actually.
Ambience:
Perfect for day or evening, date or friend hangouts. The most impressive art is on the ceiling-- look up and you'll be impressed whether you're arty or not. Great seating options: bar, tall tables to share with strangers/new friends by the windows and beautiful sunshine in the daytime, or seating at the back for bigger groups or if you just want a more intimate feel. The lighting gets dim in the evening and it's perfect.
Work & Play?:
They have WiFi! It does not look like a place to work but they didn't mind me plugging up my laptop and me connecting to their WiFi while I sip on margaritas and listen to great music.
Music:
What a great playlist! Cuban tunes and live band (it was a Monday night!) with singers who play great acoustic guitars!
Happy hour:
5-7pm. They opened right on time at 5pm, as I was standing outside early waiting to get in. They opened not a minute later than 5pm and they took our happy hour orders right away. Large selection of food, sangrias, and wine. No margaritas on happy hour, though. $6 tapas
Food:
Tapas: fried cheese balls, crunchy chewy fried squid, bomb grilled octopus, this sexy mushroom cheesy bread number made my stomach chuckle cause it's never had happy hour tapas that were actually worth a chew! All tapas would make great main dishes, actually.
Drinks:
The Manchego Margarita has just the right amount of chili spice. Pineapple Jalapeño Mojito perfect sweet & spicy- so popular they ran out of ingredients for it one time. Strawberry Basil Margarita was so natural tasting-- loved it. Sangrias are great, both the red and white-- I love how they aren't super sweet with added fillers and sugars. It's just good, REAL wine and fruit.
Dessert:
The molten lava cake was okay but not as great as this cold chocolate mousse tower of a dessert thinger they served. You can share it but I realized I personally needed my own so I ordered another. They have some other desserts in that display case by the bar and I'm sure they are delightful, too.
Service:
Super nice people! You can tell they are loved and appreciated by the owner and management. There's a waiter here I absolutely love-- he's amazing and so knowledgable on what's what on the menu! Then, there's another waitress who forgot to check on us from the time we arrived till the time we left. I was there a couple days ago for 5 hours straight from the time they opened for dinner to almost closing time (don't worry, we were ordering all night and not just taking up space!). My friends and I had to keep flagging her down for more drinks and tapas before happy hour was over. We were still ordering after happy hour but boy was it a task! For each additional order, and it was plenty, we had to get up from the table, walk over to her and give her our order. Annoying, but everything was good even after waiting forever for food that sometimes never came out until we reminded her of our order. Only reason why 4 stars instead of 5.
Come and visit-- this place is for everyone and I can't imagine anyone not liking this place. I think you'll be happy :) read more