Bar at the Palm Court:

Happy hour at the Bar at the Palm Court is a pretty nifty secret downtown. You don’t hear much about the Bar, located at the Hilton in Carew tower.

Orchids at the Palm Court is the main restaurant, followed by the Grille—which is a little more casual. As far as bars go, though, it doesn’t get much classier. Softly lit with incredibly high ceilings,the 1930’s art deco in Carew tower is very interesting and impressive to look at. An entire wall of mirrors also conceals a door to the kitchen. The staff are constantly appearing and disappearing in to it.

Happy hour runs Monday to Friday, 4-7, with gin and vodka based cocktails ½ price. (Which means $5), and select appetizers ½ off as well. The appetizers featured include the Hummus (normally $8, HH $4.); Spicy sriracha wings ($12, HH $6.); 3 Mini burgers ($8, HH $4) and a few others.

We tried several cocktails as well, including Orchid’s Orange, made with Hangar One mandarin blossom vodka. Hanger One seems to be the bars go-to vodka, and David and I approve. I still am puzzled by Morton’s decision to make their $12 martinis with Smirnoff vodka.

As far as the beer list goes, it’s not spectacular, but it’s not depressingly sparse either. A lot of domestics, a few imports. The standouts on the list include Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Warsteiner, Guinness and Christian Moerlein.

I ordered the mini burgers (very tasty) and the wings, which were more sweet than spicy but still delicious. David went with the tuna tartare ($11). He really liked it. We also got the hummus and a side of fries to share. And yes, we had leftovers.

little tartare sailboat

I like the space that the bar is in. If I stopped by after work for happy hour, I could get two cocktails, mini burgers and be out of there for under $20, including tip. And if I recall the strength of the cocktails correctly, you probably wouldn’t want more than two. They make them strong.