We visited the Dollar Bar and Grill which boasts to "...serving the best cocktails this side of Manhatten". We shall see.
Having phoned ahead that afternoon to see if a reservation was required (it wasn't for the basement Martini Bar) we arrived a few minutes before 8 o'clock.
The restaurant was full when we arrived and we squeezed past the the greeting station and descended a short, slightly precarious, flight of stairs into the basement martini bar.
Space was at a premium and we were offered a choice of tables although only one was un-reserved. The others would have meant being moved on when the the forward-thinking patrons arrived.
We didn't want to have to move so chose the table at the bottom of the stairs next to the cloak room.
I ordered a vodka martini straight up with a twist and was offered a choice of vodkas to go in this.
It turned out, but was not explained at the time, that opting for non-house vodka incurs a surcharge of £3 on top of the base cost of £6.50.
I chose Grey Goose and my date chose Chopin Vodka to grace her extra dirty vodka martini
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| An extra dirty Chopin Vodka Martini |
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| A Grey Goose Vodka Martini with a double twist |
When the drinks arrived I received a VM with a Double Twist which isn't quite what I ordered and then a few minutes later another one arrived. I didn't send the double twist back as that would have been churlish and I accepted the extra drink as it was kindly offered on the house. The main benefit of this was that I was able to immediately check the consistency of two drinks before pouring one into the other.
They were nearly the same although my date thought that one was stronger than the other.
Dollar - Bar and Grill has table service so we didn't get to see our drinks being made but when I did look, there were no measures in view.
I have mixed views about this. On one side it's fun to see bar staff pour direct from bottle to glass or shaker and it means that you will get more generous measures on occasion. However, it means drinks are not consistent unless the person mixing your drinks is very good and the inconsitency can affect both alcoholic strength and flavour. Both too strong and nor strong enough are down checks in my view.
My date had a second very dirty martini which she enjoyed and I had another which was much the same as the first.
Measures: The glass was not filled to the brim until I put the accidental extra one into the same glass as the original. It seems that Rich's measures are rich indeed.
Mixing: No information
Twist: A double twist in this instance definitely adds a strong pleasant lemon scent and flavour
Verdict: A better martini than the Lucky Voice. I think Grey Goose does add something to the flavour.
Cost: £6.50 plus £3 supplement for Grey Goose (the same applies for the Chopin vodka)
Overall, I liked Dollar Bar and Grill. The staff were friendly and attentive. The drinks tasted better than at Lucky Voice and were more consistent although they did make mistakes with my order and didn't tell me that the non-house vodka incurs a surcharge.
I'll score this with three stars out of five.
The downstairs bar is a fun place for a date too.
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