Neat

1114 North Pacific Avenue
Glendale, California 91201
(818) 241-4542

www.theneatbar.com

twitter.com/neatbar

Parking: Neighborhood parking

Days: Monday–Friday 

Time: 5-7:30pm

Drink Deals: ½ off all drinks!

Food Deals: N/A

I think Yelp Commenter’s Gene E’s synopsis of Neat says everything you need to know: “Come here to get your beer boner on.” Ha! Okay, I didn’t go to get my beer boner on, but I did go to see what the liquor aficionado buzz was about. And I pretty much get it – very knowledgeable bartenders that are like Cocktail Whisperers – you give them a general idea of what you like and they craft a terrific cocktail. Simple!

 

Also simple is the Happy Hour menu – ½ off every drink in the place from 5-7:30pm on Monday through Friday. That’s beer, wine, any booze w/ mixers or not. Sweet!! For our cocktail selections, the helpful bartender made me one of my standards of late – a very clean margarita made with Milagro tequila, soda water, simple syrup, and lime. Basic and delicious. Booze went for a variation of the Aviation, a classic gin-based cocktail, made with tequila instead. Tracy couldn’t decide what she wanted until Helpful Bartender asked if she liked vodka and cucumber and mint. Yes, please!

Cucumber Vodka Concoction 

Helpful Bartender then seemed to forget about Tracy’s cocktail order and when we reminded him of it a few minutes later, he straight up gave it to her for free. So very classy and such a delicious sweet + sour cocktail. Our other 2 cocktails cost $14 total, so $7 per drink – not too bad for a well-crafted drink made with a closer to the top shelf liquor and these neat square block ice cubes.

Simple Margarita

Owned by Aidan Demarest (who’s managed a who’s who or what’s what of LA’s cool cocktail bars – Seven Grand, the Spare Room, the Edison, and First & Hope), the bar is pleasantly off the beaten path for our True Hollywood Headquarters – out in Glendale near the foothills. The space is pretty cool with a woodsy feel and a nice looking bar.

 

Aviation (made w/ Tequila)

But I gotta say I don’t know if I was feeling the spot overall… Maybe it was the acoustics; with a wood laminate running along the low ceiling, I felt like I could hear the conversations of everyone in the bar and they weren’t even speaking that loud. Maybe it was the no food on the menu – granted, I could have fixed this by picking up a bite at any of the adjacent restaurants and bringing it into Neat (that’s allowed), but I didn’t know what was good and didn’t want to order another non-HH priced cocktail while I found out. I think overall, Neat just didn’t feel that friendly – like the bartender, while helpful, and other patrons just weren’t the aww-shucks friendly people its neighborhood bar location would lead you to believe. Or maybe you just have to become a regular?  

I do think it’s worth a stop if you’re in the neighborhood and looking for something simple and neat, and of course if you’re looking to get your beer boner on!

--JB

Rating: 3 Martinis