| rev:text
| - There are already too many photos here of cocktails rested near laptops, so I'll spare you. What I love most about Northwood is that it's a daytime cafe that smoothly transitions into a bar. So if you want to come here around, say, 2pm, and work away on your laptop with, say, a cocktail instead of a coffee (or a cocktail *with* coffee in it), who's to judge...
The place is clearly designed for the academic and creative-industry crowd, who make up the majority of its patrons. They have a wicked cocktail menu and a great atmosphere -- that rare balance between casual and classy, with an expected hipster crowd but no obnoxious behaviour. The staff are attentive but not intrusive. I come here at least once a week to catch up with a friend or to write on my own while sipping a drink. It's my favourite bar, and I don't even live near its neighbourhood.
The LADY GREY SOUR cocktail is probably their signature drink, is excellent, and is exactly as it's described. But my favourite is STORM BREWING, which is a twist on the classic Dark & Stormy with a clever addition of their in-house cold brew coffee. This drink is definitely not for everyone, but it's layered and unexpected in all the right ways. When their experienced bartender(s) make it, it's brilliant. However, they seem to have a fairly steady bartender turnover, and many of their secondary bartenders make a poor and disappointing version (either far too sour or using flattened ginger beer). If you're really feeling adventurous, try the Black Lodge cocktail, but for me the combination of tequila, cold brew, agave sweetness, and egg white proteins is all wrong and totally undrinkable. They had some other amazing cocktails in the winter, and I'm looking forward to them switching the menu up again.
So, if I can't stop coming to this awesome bar, why only 4 stars?
First: the uneven drink preparation. I never thought much about the importance of "mixology" until coming here over the course of 8+ months and noting the really wide variety of quality in the drinks. For instance, in the winter, I used to order the Vieux Carre cocktail, which is difficult to balance well and *demands* top-notch ingredients. When one of the owners (or whom I imagine to be a key bartender, at the least) makes it, he takes great care and tries the drink, sometimes adjusting to get it right. The last time I attempted to order it, with a different bartender, it tasted way off and the rye whiskey itself was poor quality. When I mentioned to the bartender that it doesn't balance as well as always, she gave me a puzzled expression and said "but it's such an easy one, I just poured whatever it said in the recipe." [easy one? it has 6 components...]
I realize I might be more picky than most, but a great cocktail menu (at great-cocktail prices, no less) deserves better.
Second, the food here is not good, at all. I think they're still trying to work out their kitchen, and I get the sense that the owners' heart isn't in the culinary side as much as the beverages.
Don't come here hungry and don't plan to eat.
It's a cafe/bar and it's totally amazing at doing just that.
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