Copper Cart Cafe -- Cheap Drinks Uber Alles?

I don't think I'm batting a thousand in suggesting happy hour locations. Copper Cart is a bit of a mixed bag and I'm feeling list-y.

Pros:

-Cheap. Ass. Drinks. $3 glasses of wine. $5 pitchers of any beer on tap, and it's a good selection. And Happy Hour goes until 9pm or so. And we did actually get three bottles of $16 champagne, not two. That way you don't have to flag down the waitress whenever you want another glass.
-Really tasty food. I was shocked. It's yummy and fresh and good ingredients and a good deal. Everything we ordered was delicious

Cons:
-Odd vibe. They can't seem to decide between ultra-modern and sports bar in decor and this is reflected in the crowd.
-Uneven service. Our first waitress on our happy hour visit was great, the second a little less impressive, and the only waitress I could snag on previous visit said she was too busy and to go to the bar.

Deal breakers:
-Poorly organized when it comes to reservations. On both of my visits, after we'd been there for 1-2 hours and not shy about spending money, a waitress comes up to us and says that the table is reserved and we have to go. Like now. Which is pretty damn rude. On our happy hour visit, I think Angelina was in the bathroom, a huuuuuuge man in a suit came up to us as we were putting on our coats and said no really, you have to move NOW. I really didn't appreciate that. I don't know if they take last minute reservations or just can't be assed to handle it politely. I'm perfectly happy to move if I've been given plenty of warning that the table is reserved at a certain time. A slip of paper on the table works.

I'm not planning to go back unless I'm exceedinglly thirsty and exceedingly broke.

Copper Cart Cafe

The Copper Cart Cafe

Belltown's Copper Cart Cafe. It was actually a pretty decent happy hour stop until we were ushered out of the spot we had been in, spending money, enjoying the remainder of our drinks, by a very rude waitress for people who were, apparently, more hip than we.


It has a lovely interior, with bench seating a cute
little stools. Very hip, dark and intimate. Located on Bell Street between 1st and 2nd, it is a little on the gritty side of Belltown and might not be for those with sensitive sensibilities.

The happy hour fare was very good, and priced just right, we had the hummus plate, the Dungeness crab cakes and the Milano Roasted Garlic Pesto Pizza. The dirty vodka martinis were exceptionally good. Like I have previously said, I only order dirty martinis since they are a drink that are done either very well or very badly. I give much kudos to the happy hour waitress that served us. The happy hour champagne is, in fact, cheap champagne (marked by one hellish hangover the next day) but the price is right. Happy hour starts at 5 daily. They do have billiard tables and for those that enjoy pool, a dollar per game is a good price.

The evening waitress, in my honest opinion, can get bent. As we sat finishing the SECOND bottle of champagne we ordered, she came by and placed a reserved sign on the table and told us we needed to finish, there was a party coming in. The proper thing to have done was to close off the section earlier that evening before anyone was sitting there. Not hurry paying customers out. Waitresses of this ilk leave a bad taste in my mouth for the establishment as a whole, unfortunately. I cannot distance bad service from a good restaurant and had she acted less haughty, I might recommend Copper Cart Cafe more highly.

As we finished our drinks around 9:30 PM, we slowly got pushed out by "Bridge and Tunnel" kids flocking into the city from Kirkland and Bellevue.

I say, go. But leave before the late shift shows.

Angelina

Art Bar at the Four Seasons, My pennies worth

So when Ms. Darling recommended going to the Art Bar, my mind immediately went to the dive bar that was once located on 2 avenue between Pike and Pine Streets. But alas, that was not to be.

What can I say...? Swanky. Chairs are lush. View of the old steam factory and the Viaduct out the window. Would probably be a very pretty sunset site, if the sun didn't set at 4:00 pm on a cold Seattle December.

The place kind of feels like it is trying just a little too hard to bring in a hipper, younger set. Lighted bars, futuristic but homey decor, pricey drinks. But what are you to expect from a hotel bar. I would not be surprised had we stayed a little later, a more techno beat would have been piped out of the speakers. But the fact that it is plopped down in the tourists part of downtown Seattle might hinder its aspirations.

No, no. Don't get me wrong I LOVE hotel bars, but this one felt a little... What's the word I am looking for...? Strained.

I order only one drink. A dirty vodka martini. It is a classic and is either done very well, or done very badly. This one was done very well. Strong and with just enough dirty to make me happy. it came with two olives, I would have preferred three, but I am greedy like that.

I tried the mini burger, plain, medium-rare. It was good, but would be just as good at any other place you order a mini burger, plain, medium-rare from. Nothing to really get excited about, nothing to knock down either. I also tried the Dungeness crab spring roll. That was very good, but basically if it has crab in it I cannot resist. The cheese plate was spectacular. (I should have written down the varietals, but I was busy into my second dirty vodka martini at this point and research kind of fell by the wayside.) The hummus and tapenade plate was also very good.

The waitress was very personable and pleasant. Our drinks were relatively promptly served, for the amount of patrons in the bar, I would have expected slightly quicker service, but it was fast enough to not be an annoyance. The food was also served quickly, and when we asked for more crackers to finish off the remainder of the cheese plate it was brought quickly and politely.

They do not have a Friday or Saturday happy hour, which brought our bill to an impressive $176.00. I don't even spend that much on groceries and quite a bit much for four ladies out on a Friday eve and I will recommend avoiding the bar on the weekends.

Foods: Nothing to write home about, but might be worthwhile during happy hours
Drinks: Damn fine dirty vodka martinis, but need to be less stingy with the olives
Ambiance: Comfortable, but again not exceptionally impressed, might be prettier when the sun comes back.
Price: Like Ms. Darling says, stay to the school nights, avoid Friday and Saturday... Oy, I still have stabbing pains from my bank account.

Angelina

Art Bar at the Four Seasons, Revisited

http://www.fourseasons.com/seattle/dining/art_restaurant_and_lounge.html

Art Bar -- 1st and Union
November 20, 2009

Key words: Posh. Good Value for School Nights/Happy Hour. A Little Pricey for Weekends.

So this was my third visit, and sadly, my least impressive. Especially as I had drug these three nice ladies with me.

If you can get past the intimidation factor, this is a very comfortable bar.
Cushy chairs, exceedingly nice waitstaff, and especially if you there there early/not during winter, a lovely sunset view over the Sound.

This is a great bar on a weeknight. Compared to our Friday visit, my two school night visits provided for larger and stronger (as in kicked in the head by a mule stronger) cocktails, and tastier mini-burgers.

I kept up with drinking the "Stone Fence" cocktail. I don't quite recall what's in it, but if you like whisky and citrus fruity-ness I think this will serve you well. It's $12 and, again, on a Monday-Thursday (based on previous visits) it will be an excellent booze value even at that price. I've also sampled the whisky cocktail from their happy hour menu, slightly smaller but quite tasty and a noteworthy value at $5.

The food menu is good but not enough to make the trip worthwhile on it's own, especially outside of happy hour. My first two samplings of the mini-burgers were excellent, and I do like the taste of blood. The cheese sampler is delightful and they're not stingy if you want to ask for more crackers. (Neither am I, so you can invite me to come with you.) The spring & sushi rolls were decent but not note worthy. The hummus and tapenade is solid, the tapenade especially nice and I do recommend it.

As far as a pick up location... Are you looking for a sugar-daddy? The crowd tends towards the mature and the financially comfortable. Largely business travellers staying in the hotel, and families with adult children, and date night for people who have already been through one spouse and came out without being fiscally raped. And occasionally some drunk girls.

This is a place for a Sunday-Thursday if you want a quiet strong drink on your own to relax from the week in progress, or on an early casual date with a new beau if you want to sell yourself as a classy professional type.

Mwah,
Sara Darling

Today's recommended song: "The Rooster" by Outkast
Antithesis of this bar song: "Stagger Lee" by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Review of ART Restaurant of Four Seasons Hotel, Seattle

By DrunkGirl#4

Let me start by saying, "Welcome to our blog!" The purpose of which, aside from getting a really good buzz and blogging about it ^_^, is to each give our own reviews of the establishments we visit. And yes, for the time being, there are four us ladies and I consider myself to be kind of the "rookie" of the group in that, a group of them have been going out for drinks after work for a while now. It wasn't until my first night going out with them recently that the idea of creating this blog came to be, and there happened to be just the four us that night...hence the title "Four Drunk Girls." ^_^

Oh, and I've never written a review before, much less one for a restaurant so...yeah, definitely a rookie! Hehehe!

We made our first official visit at the ART Restaurant of the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle on Friday, November 20, 2009 shortly after work ended at 5PM. Now, I don't know if this is the same for every restaurant/lounge, but when were seated at our table and requested their "Happy Hour" menu, our lovely server (forgot her name, sorry!) advised that they do not have one for Fridays and Saturdays. If that's not standard for other places, then the lack of a "Happy Hour" menu on a Friday night is a problem for me, especially when you're going out hoping for "a sale" on food and drinks! Hehehe! Good thing we got paid that day!

The restaurant itself was situated nicely, adjacent to the hotel lobby and, thus, having some cute bell boys hold the door open for us. ^_^ We had a great view of a public storage facility and the Alaskan Way viaduct from our window table, but the inside of the restaurant as you can see from the picture above was pretty fabulous, so much so that I felt a little underdressed in jeans, a cropped turtle-neck and heeled boots but no matter. =}

Our server was so approachable and friendly that we even invited her to join us, but, of course, she was not able while on the clock. Really lovely lady.

From the menu, I had selected a mini beef burger complete with cheese AND bacon and a Dungeonness crab spring roll for myself. A platter of hummus, chopped/minced olives and pita bread was shared amongst the Drunk Girls, as well as a selection of some fine cheese and crackers. The mini burger was, unfortunately, a little bland and dry despite the added cheese and bacon. I prefer my burger patties to be a little juicy and with some seasoning. The crab spring roll was interesting in that I'm used to Dungeonness crab in a crab cake, but it was actually pretty good! I could have been satisfied completely with just an additional order of the roll, instead of the burger.

I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE hummus and pita bread and this one was pretty good. I've never had with olives before, so that turned out quite nicely as well with the added salty slight-tang. The cheese platter was also good, though I do not recall what cheese I sampled. ^_^

Now for drinks! I ordered the Feng Shui which included vodka and Soho lychee and a couple other ingredients that I do not recall. It had the look of a cosmo, almost. It was sweet and oh so yummy that I ordered another! I had to stop at two to make sure that I would not get on the wrong bus later! Hahahaha! The first one buzzed me up pretty good, though I had not eaten much that day which did not help...or helped! ^_^ It was a rough day at work and my appetite usually abandons me during those kinds of days. After I consumed my food, the buzz started to settle and I was ready for round two of sweetness!

Ok, so I liiiiiiked my drink, burger was iffy, spring roll YUM!, hummus YUM!, cheese yum! Service so friendly you can invite them to your table. There was sad lack of yummy men, however, but we were focused on and having too much fun with our conversation and each other's company to really take note of that while in the moment! ^_^ It was more of an after-thought, really.

The night did not end there as we made our way to another place for wine and decadent desserts!! I don't remember the name of the place but I wouldn't mind trying out their full menu next time. ^_^

Ok...done! Until the next review, DrunkGirl#4 signing out and wishing you all the happiest of hours. =D LOL