Who is Ms. Alice? Going off vibes, I'd say a particularly youthful millennial or a particularly sophisticated gen z. In bar form, Ms. Alice is a classy and sexy, somehow both trendy and timeless. But Ms. Alice isn't just looks and vibes. The drinks -- the martinis in particular -- are thoughtful in concept and varied in profile. And while the martini+raw bar combo is one of my very favorite things, we came here after dinner so didn't try the very appetizing seafood tower many fawn over. Overall, I was impressed by the concept here, as it manages to perfectly strike a balance between many people expect/want when they got to a more upscale Lower East Side bar.
We came here at around 10:30 or so on a Saturday night. There was a small waitlist but the hostess told us we could wait near the bar given that we just wanted drinks and could grab the first two seats that opened, which only took 10 or 15 minutes.
Though Ms. Alice offers a solid variety of drinks, martinis are its speciality and the main draw for me. It was a no-brainer to start with the Dirty Blue Martini (Blue cheese washed vodka, olive oil, lo-fi dry vermouth), as someone who cannot find a martini that is ever too dirty and swoons at the sight of blue cheese olives. This is as filthy as you'd hope, and extra savory because the vodka itself is essentially wearing a luxurious coat of blue cheese. If you are a dirty martini girl, this is the obvious choice!!
Because we came here after dinner where I'd already had a drink, I wanted to get something a little lower in ABV so I tried the Session Martini (50:50 blend of gin and vermouth, citral lemongrass, lemon twist). I typically don't go for 50:50 martinis because I prefer the more gin-forward variety (I am either a filthy filthy dirty martini girl or a dry gin martini girl meaning I'm not usually ordering martinis to get something vermouth-forward) but the lemongrass element gave the drink a lot more intrigue. I knew I'd love the Dirty Blue, but loving this as the relative wild card was a pleasant surprise. read more