I stopped in to Sportsman's at an odd hour yesterday but was not alone in my pre-5PM drinking. I have to say that I wasn't expecting much from a "sportsman" bar, but thankfully was proved wrong. My coworker and I sat at the bar and perused the really excellent looking menu and decided to snack on a cheese plate (parmigiano, mahon and d'affinois black pepper) and a small basket of handmade pretzels. We ordered glasses of wine and relaxed while waiting for our food.
The layout of Sportsman's is nice and it's very clean and upscale but the bar staff is chill and friendly and quick with suggestions. Also attentive, except for the 8 minute span where our food sat in the kitchen window and no one spanned the 10 foot distance to hand it to us. That was painful, because it looked so good!
The cheeses were great, but I'm a cheese lover so anything you put in front of my will be inhaled unless there is something visibly wrong with it. I think pretzels are a wonder of human ingenuity and I nearly clapped when they were presented. I learned how to make them in 7th grade home-ec but I never ceased to be impressed when someone makes one for me. Annie's they're not and thank god for it. Chewy and soft, with a perfect quantity of chunky salt across the board, a little buttery but not at all greasy. The small order carries 3 pretzels and 2 dipping mustards, dijon and honey. In a moment of over-exuberance I over-dunked my pretzel piece in the dijon and my skull nearly popped off. But that's why I love mustard.
Sportman's is just the place to come for afternoon drinking and snacking, the whole experience was delightful.