The Grove
189 Grove Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 931-0202
Parking: Big (sometimes annoying) Parking Garage – 0-1 Hour = Free, 1-3 Hours = $3
Days: Daily
Time: 4-6pm
Drink Deals: $3 Beers, $6 Well Drinks, and $6 select wines by the glass
Food Deals: $5 Small Plates
There’s nothing quite like a bar that makes you feel like you’re in a Woody Allen movie – you know, one of the “Bougie in Manhattan” ones like HANNAH AND HER SISTERS where your cares and concerns are not life and death on the streets of New York, but of the kooky and bizarre, yet extremely intelligent family variety. Too bad Sunset Tower doesn’t have a Happy Hour; the Tower Bar always makes me feel ready for my close-up, Mr. Allen!
Luckily, there exists that same kinda “Bougie in the City” ambiance down at The Grove’s Whisper Lounge and it is way fun and maybe a little more WHEN HARRY MET SALLY with its ever-present jazz standards soundtrack and the feeling of a perennial autumn. I don’t know why it feels like Autumn there all the time, it just does!
The Whisper Lounge’s Non-Happy Hour prices might make for somewhat of a “Place for your Sugar-Daddy to Take You,” luckily their Happy Hour prices are pretty all right for a lazy afternoon at The Grove. For drinks, you’ve got $3 Beers, $6 Well Drinks, and 4 wines for $6 by the glass; pal TAG and I ordered a Chardonnay and a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (a fun red), respectively and I liked mine enough to have… 3!
Whisper Fries w/ Dipping Sauce ($5)
Crispy Calamari ($5)
Wild Mushroom and Truffle Flatbread ($5)
On the food side, they’ve got 5 food items for $5 each as well as a selection of 3 bar snacks for 2 for $5. Whoever created the food menu knows Happy Hour well! The bites are different enough (Crispy Calamari, Mac and Triple Cheese with Pancetta, Wild Mushroom and Truffle Flatbread, Whisper Fries, and Caesar Salad) that you could certainly make a nice meal out of the five options. And that’s what TAG and I did with the calamari (super tasty), flatbread (nice crisp crust with very rich toppings) and Whisper Fries (nice serving size and terrific dipping sauces). Very good and affordable food!
As stated earlier, the ambiance really is cool – there’s a nice patio (with a tent in the winter), a nice looking bar area, and then swank restaurant seating. The jazz soundtrack is way cool and makes you feel a little… well, fancy! It’s the kind of spot you could go on a kind of classy date, or just a spot to meet up with girlfriends, or somewhere to rest your bum heels before, during, or after an afternoon/evening of shopping at The Grove. Heaven knows you might need a cocktail for that!
Speaking of cocktails, my only complaint with Whisper Lounge is that they don’t offer any of their specialty cocktails in the Happy Hour drink line-up. And like I always say, if you serve specialty cocktails, why not include a rotating Happy Hour-priced specialty cocktail of the week? I’m going to start to get neurotic about this… like a Woody Allen character!
As the French say, c’est la vie – it’s a fun Happy Hour that runs daily and I dig it!
--JB
Rating: 4 Martinis
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