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<\/a>Some places don\u2019t advertise their Happy Hours. I\u2019ve been to bars where after sliding onto the stool and looking around for the requisite chalkboard or table tent I finally had to ask the bartender, \u201cWhat\u2019s on special?\u201d<\/p>\n
After the answer, I wanted to follow up with, \u201cSo why don\u2019t you post something and promote it to your patrons?\u201d But we all know it is not in one\u2019s best interest to annoy the bartender. Unless you want to leave really thirsty.<\/p>\n
Lei Lounge, a bar\/restaurant that opened in University Heights three years ago, is the opposite end of this spectrum. Not only does this place have menus, signs and a Web site that eagerly promote its specials, it offers a dizzying array of discounts and coupons.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d have to be pretty dumb to come here when it\u2019s full price with all of these deals,\u201d one of my friends said as we examined the long list of daily specials.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for us, Tuesday \u2013 when six of us sauntered into Lei Lounge \u2013 is perhaps the best of all money-saving days there with half off all signature drinks and half off all menu items in the \u201cnumbered column\u201d (more on that later) all night long. (The same drink special is available every day except Sunday from 5-7 p.m.)<\/p>\n
Even better, Lei Lounge offers 27 signature drinks from which to choose at $4 each (normally $8), and we\u2019re not talking your run-of-the-mill cosmos and daiquiris here. How does a Dragon\u2019s Breath (vodka, dragon fruit juice, pomegranate juice, sriracha sauce and simple syrup) sound? Or an Aloe Vera Collins (vodka, aloe vera juice, lemon, simple syrup and 7UP)? Does a Tokyo Bubbles (sparkling sake, mangosteen juice and simple syrup) intrigue you?<\/p>\n
This is where my ingenious plan to invite five friends \u2013 actually they just showed up but it felt smart \u2013 came into play. You do the math: 27 specialty cocktails divided by six drinkers \u2013 and yes, I think I did manage to taste nearly every concoction on Lei Lounge\u2019s drink menu. I did incur a few dirty looks when two friends tried to order the same drink and I intervened with \u201cno, everyone has to keep ordering something different so I can try all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you paying the bill too?\u201d another friend asked.<\/p>\n
Uh, no. I am a starving journalist, after all.<\/p>\n
Anyway, even if I were paying the bill, at $4 a pop these were pretty cheap, tasty cocktails. I watched the bartender pour and he was not shy with the vodka. Tip: they don\u2019t charge extra for call vodka, so call your Grey Goose to fly right over to that glass.<\/p>\n
I obviously can\u2019t list all 27 drinks here, so let me highlight a few hits and misses instead. The Watermelon Lemondrop with its sugared rim tasted like liquid candy but really lived up to its name. I was also partial to the Black Cherry Cosmopolitan\u2019s real black cherry juice and the Shanghai Tea with its whiskey base. But yummiest of all \u2013 dessert in a glass \u2013 was the Papaya Cream Colada, the bar\u2019s only blended cocktail, which has spiced rum, papaya juice, cr\u00e8me de coconut, lime and simple syrup.<\/p>\n
Now for the less successful sips. Everyone hated the aforementioned Dragon\u2019s Breath. Something about that sriracha sauce, an Asian hot sauce, plus the sweet juice gave it an unpleasant taste, although I could see it as a Bloody Mary alternative. Another unpopular choice with my crowd was the Carioca Caipirinha, which has cacacha, a Brazilian rum that smells and tastes like tequila, in it. And the drinks topped with champagne tended toward overwhelming bubbly taste rather than an evenly mixed drink.<\/p>\n
All in all, though, the drinks were fun and interesting, and Lei Lounge gets big props for not scrimping at Happy Hour and still using their high-quality exotic juices.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the food just got one big \u201cmeh\u201d from the group. The menu, which assistant manager Kevin McEuen termed \u201cglobal tapas with French and tropical influences,\u201d is broken into four columns. On Tuesdays, one column is half-off, so since this was the fourth Tuesday the specials were in the fourth column (another tip: on the fifth Tuesday of a month all columns are half-off). We ordered the Cuban Spiced Chicken ($12\/$6), the Mini Kobe Burgers ($14\/$7) and the Mini Crab Cakes ($14\/$7). The chicken\u2019s sauce tasted like bottled barbecue sauce with a shake of spices, while the burgers \u2013 ordered medium-rare \u2013 arrived medium-well with plain ketchup and mayonnaise instead of the Dijon dipping sauce in the description. The crab cakes were fishy-smelling. The food wasn\u2019t horrible \u2013 even at medium-well the two mini burgers were still juicy and I was impressed with the baby greens and the tiny tomatoes on the buns \u2013 but we were glad we hadn\u2019t paid full price.<\/p>\n
Considering the size of Lei Lounge\u2019s menu (four columns with 10-12 items in each), I was really disappointed that my strictly vegan friend could not be accommodated. Especially since one of the area\u2019s best vegan stores is right across the street.<\/p>\n
The service was spotty. Sitting at the bar we received fairly decent attention, although empty plates and glasses sat for a long time without being taken away. But when we moved to a side table, we had to be our own servers. It seems like they could have servers for the bar tables or the bartenders could come around occasionally for ordering.<\/p>\n
Lei Lounge is deceiving from the street because the bar is in a narrow space that opens to a large, beautifully designed restaurant patio. The bar itself is long with plenty of seating and the area includes several long tables for groups to gather. But it is that patio with its private cabanas, lit torches and Polynesian meets Party City d\u00e9cor that makes this place exceptional for North Park. As the sun went down, the patio\u2019s ambience increased and I wished we had reserved a table.<\/p>\n
Speaking of which, those precious cabanas don\u2019t come cheap, my Happy Hour penny-pinchers. They are only available by reservation for a two-hour block and require a $200 minimum check. Yet another tip: Book your cabana for Sunday or Monday and you probably won\u2019t be held to the two-hour limit.<\/p>\n
Lei Lounge is owned by Three Weiss Guys out of Philadelphia (which might have something to do with the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich on the menu!), who also own Bourbon Street next door. I found it to be less friendly and more L.A. or Gaslamp than Bourbon Street, but then again the hipsters deserve to have their neighborhood joint too, I suppose.<\/p>\n
A final tip: If Lei Lounge sounds like your kind of place, go to www.leilounge.com and read through all the various specials, plus print out a few coupons – otherwise you might develop a little Dragon\u2019s Breath when you get that final check.<\/p>\n
Next issue: I\u2019m diving into one of Uptown\u2019s old-style bars.<\/p>\n
Lei Lounge
\n4622 Park Blvd.
\nUniversity Heights
\n(619) 813-2272
\nDinner from 5 p.m. nightly.
\nBar open until 2 a.m.
\nSaturday brunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
\nSunday brunch 11 a.m.-4 p.m.<\/p>\n
Ratings:
\nBebidas: 4
\nThe 27 cocktails were fab but what about the wine and beer drinkers? No specials for them! (And Corona is not from Holland even if the menu says so.)<\/p>\n
Food: 3
\nPossibly we hit a bad night but I found it all just average and a bit confusing with the columns. I rarely know what day it is, let alone which Tuesday of the month it is.<\/p>\n
Valor: 5
\nHey, even mediocre eats and a few drink mishaps is fine when you\u2019re paying half-price.<\/p>\n
Service: 3
\nNot enough of it.<\/p>\n
Duration: 5+
\nLots of ways to save and experiment with the menu. Pay attention, all you bars who don\u2019t know how to market yourselves!<\/p>\n
Note about the ratings: Each category is based on 1-5 glasses, with 5 being best. Drinks and food are rated as to quantity and quality, while duration is based on the number of days and hours Happy Hour is offered. Value and service are self-explanatory.<\/p>\n
Want to make me happy? E-mail Dr. Ink about your favorite Happy Hour and I\u2019ll drop by with my stethoscope: dr.inksd@gmail.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Dr. Ink In the last issue I mentioned the difficulty in keeping track of where you might want to go for Happy Hour and what the various deals are at our Uptown bars and restaurants. Some places don\u2019t advertise their Happy Hours. I\u2019ve been to bars where after sliding onto the stool and looking […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":242758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Exotic Cocktails, Value in Bloom at Lei Lounge","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}