| rev:text
| - Went here a couple times over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
The first night was post Downtown Tempe Light Parade (which was quite chintzy, I don't recommend it). We were walking to Casey's from Mill and 3rd and decided to pop in for a drink to check it out. I liked the dim lights and warm atmosphere. The long and narrowness of it reminded me of a Portland or SF bar. It was busy, but not crowded and still had open tables on a Friday night.
The beers on tap were posted in good view on the chalkboard (most hover around $6 and go up from there to $10 for a pint - pricey, but this is the good stuff: Lagunitas, Chimay, etc.). They also have a cooler with a larger selection of local/micro brews from all over the country (Ska Brewing, New Belgium, etc). Those were as cheap as $3 per bottle, and up to $8 for the rarer or larger bottles. They have wine as well, but I didn't check out the menu.
Speaking of menus...they should keep these (if they even have them? I never saw one) at every table. It's a little disconcerting when you walk in because there are couches, tables and a bar. It's small enough to wonder i f you're just supposed to order at the bar. While you wait to figure that out, you realize only the chalkboard of taps reveals what they carry. So on my first night I just ordered off the chalkboard. But once the server came out to take our order, she was very cool and knowledgeable about the beers, and helped me pick one based on what I normally drink. She offered tastes as well.
The second time I came in, my group wasn't in a six-bucks-per-beer mood, so we headed to the cooler. I assumed it was like Papago, where you make your own selection and bring it back to the table or up to the bar to add to your tab (again with that uncomfortable "i'm in a new place and not sure what is protocol"). But eventually a bartender came over and popped and poured our drinks into glasses.
As I looked around a little more on the second trip, I realized this place looks just like Starbucks - complete with the same exact light fixtures along the bar. Literally, you could replace the bottles behind the counter with syrups and this would be a Starbucks. All of the sudden this place went from "warm and homey" to "generic suburban cool" and felt uninspired. Compounding that, you can bring in take out from Tessio's and Thai Basil next door, and plenty of people were eating pizza out of the box as they drank their expensive beers. I admit, bringing in takeout is pretty cool, but it doesn't really jibe with the atmosphere and décor they're going for - is this place a stylish new pub or a pizza parlor with beer?
But I have such fond memories of Tops the liquor store that of course I'll return to support their latest endeavor. Also, it's yet another step in the chic-ing up of Tempe. I'll certainly drink a six dollar beer to that.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)