Um...there's food?
After a hellish taxi ride from Tempe to Phoenix (note: the atm across the street at desert schools spits out a FIFTY DOLLAR BILL if you ask for 50 bucks!), I couldn't believe how close this hotel/bar is to my usual CenPho hotspots! 3rd Ave and Clarendon? That is spittin distance from the Chez Nous! But I mean..who like goes down 3rd Ave, you know?
A beacon of prettiness in the desert, I was ushered into a lounge/bar that was actually pretty small. The low ceilings give a cosy but kind of clausterphobic feeling. I asked for a drink from the bartender, a kind of recommendation or specialty he had, and that I liked Gin. Um..he had like nothing really to offer? And I ALWAYS get G&T, but so many people raved about this place I was like, C'MON there has got to be some kind of hot drinks this ultra-chic lounge serves? I ended up with this kind of lime rickey martini that normally has vodka and he replaced with bombay that was pretty bomb-and the drink WAS HUGE. And not too expensive if I remember correctly (and I don't-b/c I bought two of those and a JD shot that he had overflowing- a shot? more like a full frontal machine gun assault?) .
The stools were high and the booths were pretty comfy-although I TOTALLy had SwampAss (or Swass) when I got up. This place was crammed wall to wall with hot gay guys. I think I saw a couple ladies but they were there for a hot gay guys birthday party that we all sang to-so there you are. I finally staggered around the space and discovered what I guess is the restaurant where people eat food at normal not too fancy two seaters. We went outside to a tiny lil seated patio to see a nice sky and balcony.
I wanted to see more of the hotel and ended up getting cited for having my libation near the pool (whoopsy!), but I was so psyched for the retro yellow loungers (ca-yute) and look inside the lil hotel rooms where the knobs (hehe) have the Clarendon Hotel symbol.
I thought this place was super cute, and I wouldnt mind meeting for drinks to kick off the night or trying some of the food. But it wasn't the mind blowing experience I thought it would be?