Read a Thrillst article about Atwater and was intrigued. Then I saw the video of the 'Smoke Show' and I was sold. My boyfriend and I were in town for the Labor Day holiday from the States, and honestly our main goal for the entire long weekend was to eat and drink.
The Atwater experience went like this:
Arrived around 9:45pm on Saturday. Zero queue when we approached the alley way. Once through the graffiti door we were told we would be waiting for a table. No one else was waiting before us. They took our order, drinks came out. WE NEVER GOT A TABLE.
The Smoke Show cocktail was as delicious as it's presentation. You could actually taste hickory smoke faintly in the drink. A+. One of the best cocktails I have had in quite some time. We ordered another drink... Sherry something. Decent. Not the Smoke Show. Loved that the presentation for each drink was unique. For drinks that cost between $15 - $18CAD, the presentation had better 'wow', and these did that.
We enjoyed a bit of 'entertainment'. Two younger ladies and a gentlemen arrived after us and they were all. over. each. other. Clearly on something. After a while Atwater finally asked them to leave. But it took a good while. The place is tiny so the menage a trois was easily noticeable to everyone.
The ambiance was really lovely. Wish we could have sat down to enjoy it a bit more along with another drink. But hey, at least they didn't make us wait outside. When we left the queue was loooong. Glad we got there early!