liberty

impressed by the artistry but.... i have yet to really love a drink that i've been served here. i do tend to like the sweeter cocktails and maybe my palate is not 'refined' enough for these artisan drinks. firsttimei was here i told the bartender that i'm usually a beer drinker and that i like sweeter cocktails but left it up to her to make something up. i watched as she took a fat sprig of rosemary, burned one end and dipped it in absinthe, then dropped it in to the glass, poured in more absinthe and something else - maybe gin? i'm not sure what else was put in there, but this was probably the strongest drink i've ever had and tasted very much like pure alcohol. i'm not a wimpy drinker and can hold my own, but this just didn't taste good so i ended up giving my drink away to my boyfriend. secondtimei was here, i had a pomegranate gin drink and thistime- i could finish the drink but i wasn't really impressed. bummer, i wanted to really like this place.

sushi and a well stocked bar. i visited this spot on a tuesday evening after work with a girlfriend for some much needed "girl talk." we snagged seats up at the bar versus opting to wait to occupy one of the sofas in the "main" dining area of this fairly small establishment.

aaron, our bartendar, was patient with us the entiretimethrough our various "oh mah gah"s and "girrrrrl, you don't even know" conversations and was very helpful about telling us what different bottles of alcohol were when we started playing "i spy" with their extremely well stocked bar. (note: they had st. germain which i swear only 4 bars in this city ever carry). the drinks were incredibly stiff and delicious and complex in taste--these aren't your typical "belltown"-tinis. i ordered the dragon's toe because...well, i love whiskey, and i was pretty buzzed after sipping 3/4 of my whiskey, ginger ale, ginger water and cucumber concoction. bonus points for strong drinks that taste like candy.

as for the food...well, it's similar to what you'd get in belltown. the usual suspects were on the menu: spicy tuna and rolls slathered in mayo. it's not that the rolls were bad, or that the cuts of sashimi were bad, it's just not anything special.

the staff is mostly pleasant, sans one guy who looked like he was their version of macguyver. mg was a bit of a jerk when my girlfriend tried looking for the bathroom and asked if there were specific guy and girl bathrooms because they weren't marked.

overall, this is a great laid back location with very good drinks, a knowledgeable and nice bar staff (mostly), and decent food.

note on absinthe. twice now i have had absinthe at this pub, the firsttimeserved perfectly by the bar tender, the secondstimerushed and messed up by one of the servers. nice place, but if you have absinthe, make sure the person behind the bar prepares your absinthe.