Review: Cheap Vegetarian Happy Hour Eats at Felice

My apologies for being MIA lately. It's getting increasingly difficult to balance work, 50k training, sleeping, and a social life.  Throw in a couple upcoming work trips, and you might not hear from me again until June.  But it's the quality of a post, not the quantity, right?

Felice's 3rd Floor Lounge

Recently, I had the absolute pleasure of dropping by Felice near the Shaker Heights/Cleveland border for their amazing happy hour.  And before I get into the nitty gritty - I can sum up my review by saying this - why in the heck haven't I gone their sooner?

Located in a big old house on Larchmere, Felice embodies everything that I like about bars set in old houses - it's oozing with character, they've made great use of the space, and someone has spent a lot of time and probably money making this a funky little place for people to hang out.  And I shouldn't really be surprised, since the folks behind Felice also own Lava Lounge, my favorite bar in Tremont, and Fat Cats.

After you walk up the stairs and past the sprawling front porch at Felice, you walk into the traditional dining room.  Like I said, I was there during happy hour, so there wasn't much happening on floor one.  Up a short flight of stairs is the bar and a lounge area.  This was packed when I was there.  While my boyfriend and I looked around for any place to sit, a server asked us if we were interested in eating/drinking for happy hour and directed us to the third floor lounge for seating.  Every three story house should have a lounge like this one.  Some interior designers might cringe at all of the funky angles of what was probably an attic at some point.  Not at Felice!  Every little odd nook and cranny has either built in seating or small furniture that perfectly fits the space.

Review: Lava Lounge Happy Hour (Sorry for Party Rocking)

My theme song for the night.

I think I've mentioned that to me, birthdays are kind of a big deal.  Life is very short.  Too short to stress out about getting older, in my opinion.  I generally try to throw some sort of birthday bash every year, and some are more elaborate than others.  I turned 31 this year, which is awesome, but has no real significance, so I decided that a mini bar crawl (or night of mayhem as my running club friends like to call them) this past Friday in Tremont was the way to go. I wanted to start the night of with a classy vibe, so we all met up at Lava Lounge.

To be honest, I was a little nervous about my venue choice.  The last time I'd been at Lava Lounge, it was summertime and I was with a large group of friends and we were thoroughly grossed out by a couple making out at the corner of the bar.  It looked like the man was going to swallow the woman.  It was gross.  (she was also eating chicken wings while making out with him which made the situation even more bizarre)  But I was excited to try out the Lava Lounge happy hour because it features my favorite drink - the Moscow Mule - and vegetarian food options.  Plus, they have happy hour even on Fridays (until 8 pm).

My boyfriend and I arrived first, a little after 6:30.  The place was bumpin'!  Apparently the word is out that Lava Lounge has a great happy hour.  While we were waiting for my friends to arrive, I ordered $5 hummus of the happy hour menu, along with the first of (too) many Moscow Mules.  The hummus was fresh and garlicy, and the portion size was large.  (some places skimp on happy hour plates, but not Lava Lounge, apparently) 

It's 4:00 somewhere OR Yelp Drinks

7:00 am on a Monday.  Is it too early to be thinking about happy hour?  Since it's Yelp Drinks week, I think not.


What's a "yelp" you ask?  Yelp is my favorite user submitted review site for everything from doctors to night clubs.  As someone who tries to avoid chain restaurants like the plague, Yelp has allowed me to explore some neat places while traveling on business or even in my hometown.  I could go on forever about the awesomeness of Yelp, but there's a more important task at hand.  Letting you know about Yelp Drinks, a week long celebration of extra long happy hours and drink specials!

April 4-8 has been deemed Yelp Drink week, with bars around town offering half off drink specials from 4:00-9:00 pm.  Such a deal!  And we're not talking your weak well drinks here, folks!  There are fancy beers, shots, martinis and drinks on special all week at some vegetarian friendly places like Lago, Reddstone, Touch Supper Club, and more!  It would take me far too long to list out the smorgasbord of specials being offered, but you can check out all of the specials on the Yelp Drinks event page.  There's even a friendly competition to earn a Yelp t-shirt.  If you're able to make it to three of the restaurants/bars participating in Yelp Drinks week, you could get yourself some great Yelp swag - being given away this Friday at the Yelp Drinks Finale at Touch Supper Club.

Enjoy this great spring weather and support local businesses while getting your happy hour on.  Just remember to drink responsibly!

Melange's New Happy Hour Menu - Starting March 19

I have a love hate relationship with Melange. I love $5 martini night (perhaps a bit too much), which takes place every Thursday and features great live entertainment, but it makes me sad that their dinner menu has so few options for vegetarians. I think I take it more personally with Melange since the description on their menu boasts "vegetarian dishes" but fails to mention that most of them are only available at lunch. Not dinner, when I could wash my meal down with a martini.

But enough about that. The folks at Melange are adding yet another menu (bringing the grand total to 10 on the website) for happy hour. Starting March 19, they're going to be holding a Progressive Happy Hour with $4 items at 4:00 pm, $5 items at 5:00, and so on. I appreciate a good deal as much as if not more so than the next person, but I almost feel like they're trying too hard. They have descriptions to explain the pricing hour by hour. I don't know about you, but if I'm out for happy hour, the last thing I want to think about is what time it is and based on that time, figure out how much a specific appetizer will cost. This almost sounds like a game to mess with the drunken happy hour revelers. But I admit, I'd be willing to try a $4 bocconcini at 4:00 pm. I just wouldn't want it at 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm when it's paired with other meaty versions.

P.S. Melange's $50 gift certificates will be on sale this Friday for only $25 through the Majic 105.7 Dining Deals program.