The thing about happy hour is that it tends to roll around at precisely the time of day you’re least likely to be in a bar. For example, the new happy hour at Bar Seven Five, the swanky lounge in the new Andaz Wall Street Hotel, is from Monday to Friday, 4 to 6 p.m., during which you can procure beer for $4 and certain wines for $6. Not exactly a discount to write home about, nor is it a particularly convenient tippling hour. But wait. They’ve also debuted reverse happy hour on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 p.m. to midnight, when select cocktails are $8 instead of $13 and oysters are $2.
The scene …
The idea is they bring the drinks to you. The waitress, like a 1960s stewardess, lugs the cocktail ingredients over on a cart, then assembles tableside. Now, granted, “Who goes out drinking in a Wall Street hotel bar on a Friday or Saturday night?” you ask. Hey, like we said, happy hours are inherently inconvenient. Besides, perhaps you’re dating a banker. Or visiting your rich uncle at his hotel. Or perhaps you are looking to pick up someone else’s rich uncle and prefer the sleek sterility of a boutique hotel bar as your background. (Spoiler: There are punters who could correspond to any of these clichés at any given time here.) Whatever your reason for patronizing this place on a weekend when the rest of the neighborhood is elsewhere, well-made drinks for $8 sure make the visit sweeter.
Bar Seven Five
75 Wall Street
212-590-1234
Happy hour: Monday-Friday, 4-6 p.m., and Friday-Saturday, 9 p.m.-midnight
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