Neighborhood: West Town

Vegetarian Options Rating: ★★

Pescatarian Options Rating: ★★★

Affordability: ★★★

Ambience: ★★★★★

Service: ★★ 1/2

Food Quality: ★★★★★

Overall Rating: ★★★★

With a name like Beatnik, I had very high expectations for this cocktail bar/restaurant that opened up recently in the West Town neighborhood.  I am first of all happy to see a new restaurant open up in the West Town neighborhood because it definitely needs more options for restaurants.

Walking into Beatnik for the first time, I was definitely taken aback by how beautiful the interior was.  It was one of the most beautiful bars/restaurants I have ever seen in my life.  I absolutely LOVE the decor and aesthetic.

There were beautiful plants hanging all over the ceilings and walls with gorgeous chandeliers.  It was basically the cocktail bar of my dreams when I first walked in.  There was just a refreshing, yet elegant feel to this place that I can’t put into words.  I knew I was in the right place though and was very eager and excited to try this place out.  Just the decor in itself is five stars.

We got there on a Friday night around 7pm and they told us it would be about an hour and a half for the wait but that they would call us when the table was ready.  About an hour and forty five minutes later, we still hadn’t heard from them and went back to the restaurant and asked about our reservation.  They said we’d still have to wait and that they weren’t sure when we’d be seated.

I understand that this place is newer and it’s Friday night but waiting a little over two hours when you are told that it’ll be an hour and a half is just painful.  It was also extremely difficult to get a drink at the main bar so we kind of gave up on that, which was disappointing.

When we were finally seated, we mentioned the wait to our server and she was pretty unresponsive and not very friendly or helpful.  I would say the wait/service brought the review down to a 4.  For how costly everything is here/the type of place it is, we should’ve had better service.

The cuisine style is eclectic fusion that blends Eastern European, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern flavors.  I absolutely love fusion and I thought they did an excellent job combining it all in creative ways.  Their cocktails are also unique and delicious.  I had The Second Fiddle cocktail which had turmeric and tarragon in it.  I was so intrigued because I had never seen these ingredients in a cocktail before and it tasted very good.  I am a big fan of turmeric and I’d like to see this ingredient more in cocktails!

The food style is shareable plates so we split a few small plates, a larger plate, and a dessert.  Since it was about 10pm at night we were both pretty hungry and I wasn’t really full after the meal but that’s okay.  We started out with an order of the Halloumi Cheese.  I was really happy to see that on the menu because I don’t see Halloumi in that many places and it is such an amazing, salty cheese!  It was basically served like a fried mozzarella stick with a subtle tomato jam.  I loved it.

We also got the Potatoes 3 ways, which came with caviar, a leek labneh, and a lighter salad.  The potatoes were crispy and well-seasoned and the salty, crunch caviar went so well with the heavier potato flavor.

For a lighter shareable, we got the scallop crudo that had sesame/chia seeds and peach and hibiscus aguachile.  The scallops were made perfectly and were very subtle flavor-wise.  I did really like the unique aguachile because it was a nice sweet flavor compliment to the subtle scallops.

There were no vegetarian options for the  larger and there was only one pescatarian option so we naturally went with the whole fish as the pescatarian option.  It was so flaky, tender, and flavorful.  The Kerala curry complimented the fish perfectly and I couldn’t get enough of this fish!

We concluded the meal with a chocolate halva torte.  I love halva and I was so excited to see it on the menu because I never see it on menus.  The torte was a perfect dose of decadence with a nutty flavor.  There was tahini caramel drizzled on the plate, how creative is that!?  I typically don’t like caramel but the tahini caramel was a gem!  It was a beautiful way to end a beautiful meal.

I cannot wait to go back here to enjoy the cocktails, creative cuisine, and stunning ambience.  Hopefully, the service will be better next time.  It’s definitely pricy so come here planning on spending some money.  It’ll be worth it though if you can afford it.