Yard House (Downtown)

800 West Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90015
(213) 745-9273www.yardhouse.com
twitter.com/yardhouse (for OC-location - if you're OC-based like Ryan Atwood)

Parking: Neighborhood lots ranging from $7-25 or 2-minute walk from the Metro Blue Line’s Pico Station (go Metro!)

Monday-Friday: 3 pm – 6 pm, Sunday-Wednesday: 10 pm – 12 am, $6 martinis, discounted beers, select half-priced appetizers & pizzas
We’ve encountered mild criticism for our indiscriminate happy hour tastes –we’ll review high-class happy hours like STK or Asia de Cuba just as quickly as we’d cover… McDonald’s – if they had one! We like good deals wherever we can find ‘em – be it cool, locally owned joints or chain restaurants like the spots in downtown’s new LA Live complex.

Almost all of the bars at LA Live offer a happy hour, but it was a late happy hour I was looking for on this post-opening night show of “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse,” a modern-day time-warp featuring everyone’s favorite Man-Child himself. And I found it in the Yard House, a chain restaurant whose logo features the tag: World’s Largest Selection of Draft Beer.

I didn’t get to test that proclamation though, I had inadvertently left my wallet in a different purse (I could write a whole (boring) G&T regarding the troubles of switching purses!) and the by-the-book waiter wouldn’t serve me. Kudos to him? Luckily, it was boys’ night (+ JB) and I got to sample everyone else’s cocktails including the popular Miami Ice (peach vodka, island blue schnapps, pineapple rum, and sweet & sour) and the similar Georgia Peach, both sweet & sour – just as I like my boys!

We also ordered from the select half-price appetizer menu – between us all, we had the spinach cheese dip, onion ring tower (inspired by Pee-Wee’s burning of onion rings in the stage show), blue crab cakes, and spicy tuna roll. Everything tasted good and the prices were right, between $4-6. Plus, the restaurant was full – somewhat surprising for a Tuesday at 10:30 pm.
And dear readers, that is the hallmark of a fine happy hour for our indiscriminate tastes – good food & good drinks at good prices with a happening scene to boot!

--JB
Rating: 4 Martinis