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| - **For Happy Hour Cocktails in the Lounge Only**
The girlfriend and I had time to kill before our dinner reservations at Sage. On our way to Aria, we stopped at Beso to take advantage of their happy hour and $8 cocktails. We should've kept walking. We got there about 15 minutes before their happy hour in the lounge ended. There were only two bartenders on duty, without a bar back, who were responsible for the drinking needs of the patrons in both the virtually empty lounge and restaurant. Although they weren't seemingly jammed with customers in the lounge or drink orders from servers in the restaurant, the bartenders looked busy but it may have been more of a product of an inefficiently laid out bar, their inexperience behind the bar, and/or lack of familiarity with the drink menu. Regardless, we were sitting at the bar and neither bartender acknowledged our presence for a good ten minutes before coming over to take our order.
I ordered the Modern Gimlet, Beso's take on the classic. It was very disappointing. The drink was poorly balanced as the Bombay Sapphire was overwhelmed by the cucumber purée, while missing the advertised mint notes and any subtle hints of sweetness from the agave nectar. I don't recall what its normal price was listed on the menu, but it certainly wasn't worth the $8 happy hour price. The one good thing about to say about our Beso experience was that when our order was actually taken and rang up, it was after happy hour ended. Our bartender, a friendly, attractive, Christina Hendricks-like blonde, thankfully rang up our drinks at the happy hour price. I can't speak about the food at Beso, but I strongly recommend skipping the drinks and happy hour altogether.
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