Best Happy Hour at a High End Restaurant

[issey]

Any rec's for a great happy hour that serves great deals at fine dinning establishments??

[Robert Lauriston]

La Mar's is good. Much cheaper way to try their food than the regular menu.

http://www.lamarcebicheria.com/archiv...

[ssfire]

What location are you looking for? SF? South Bay? Berkeley?

[Robert Lauriston]

I don't think any of the few high-end restaurants that aren't in SF have happy hours.

[ssfire]

Well, it depends on how high-end you're looking to go. I always recommend the happy hour at Mantra in Palo Alto. Before 6:30 PM, everything is 1/2 price, including anything off the main dinner menu. It runs 7 days a week, and it's a phenomenal deal. I had a tandoori fish entree that was great. I'm not sure it counts as "fine dining." They have white tablecloths and overpriced tasting menus - does that count?

[Melanie Wong]

It's as high-end as La Mar that RL recs. I like the happy hour at Mantra, have been about 5 times now. The fish entrees are my favorite pick there. The food seemed not as refined the last couple times, but still a good deal at half-off. And a good selection of wines BTG and half-bottles. Usually a Champagne BTG that's worth trying.

Edited to add: The happy hour discount only applies in Mantra's bar and lounge area (and outside). So, no white table cloths for happy hour.

Here's a shot of the sablefish
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniewong/3373482509/

And, the shrimp lollipops
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniew...

[dsm246]

Second this one. It is a fabulous deal. Definitely not a destination place but if you are in the area it is worth checking out.

[alina555]

Not sure if you're looking for happy hour bites or just good bargains, but Michael Mina has a pre-theatre menu T-Sat before 6pm where you can have a 3-course meal for $55 (a deal compared to their regular tasting/prix fixe menus).

[celeryroot]

You can also get some snacks at the Clock Bar at MM. Although I wouldnt call it a Happy Hour.
By fine dining you might define what you mean by that????? I never thought of La Mar as being fine dining but I do like it and it is a fun place.

[Melanie Wong]

Anyone tried the happy hour at Barndiva in Healdsburg?

I've posted on the HH at Stark's in Santa Rosa,
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/618343
It's supposed to continue until the Dow hits 10,000 again, which it has, so i don't know the current status of the deal.

[celeryroot]

I didnt know they had a hh. They have a special wednesday deal which my neighbors enjoyed. I hope to try this over holidays.......
http://www.affrontihealdsburg.com/ind...

[Robert Lauriston]

To me, a prix-fixe before 6pm is an early bird special. Happy hour should be a la carte.

[Rich]

Farallon has a deal called "Six until Seven" with selected drinks and apps for six bucks until seven pm.
http://www.farallonrestaurant.com/6un...

[escargot3]

Great tip! thanks.

[ssfire]

Except it's not really Six bucks each, because Farallon adds a 4% surcharge, a detail that is not mentioned anywhere on the "Six until Seven" bar menu.

[escargot3]

thanks for the "proceed with caution" addendum

[toitoi]

4% of $6.00 is ONLY 24 cents !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Glencora]

So, has anyone tried the "Six until Seven" deal yet? It seems like a good place for a drink and a snack before a 7PM play.

[Glencora]

Off the $6 menu we had the crab cakes (tiny) and a generous pile of hot crispy truffled fries. Also the ceviche off the regular bar menu ($13, very good) We were given some tasty sourdough bread and delicious butter with crunchy pink salt. Not sure if that ordinarily comes with the happy hour. I think not.

The restaurant was full of tourists, but there were more locals in the bar. It was quiet enough to talk easily, cozy in the rain.

[marilees]

Flemmings Steak House also has a "5 for 6 before 7." 5 wines, 5 cocktails, and 5 appetizers (seared ahi, crabcakes, calamari, etc) plus a pretty decent burger .. each is $6 before 7pm (I think 7 nights a week)

[pushslice]

I've visited Fleming's Walnut Creek a couple of times for this; worth a shot if you are in the area. The burger might be the most solid hit of the food options; choice of fries or onion rings to go w/ it. also tried the crabcakes and the carpaccio, decent as well.

[mustardgirl]

Garibaldi in Oakland has a great happy hour for a very expensive restaraunt

[bbulkow]

Sorry, I have to disagree.

Garabaldi's has an average entree price of about $20, and $10 cocktails. I'd call that a mid-range restaurant. Maybe upper-mid. You can order three courses for about $40, or just have one course and get out for $20. Gary Danko, for example, you can't get fewer than three courses at $65. Three at Commis is $60 - in both cases, it's up from there. Boulevard average entrees are over $30. None of those places is at the extraordinary end of dining prices - simply very expensive.

Of course your words might differ --- but I think the OP was talking more about Commis/Danko class restaurants when discussing "high end".

On the other hand - looks like a fun happy hour menu. Prices are knocked only a little off, no discount on the signature cocktails, but the addition of a nice-sounding burger.

[Robert Lauriston]

The post-remodel Garibaldi's isn't all that expensive. First courses $8-12, mains $18-25.

[lmnopm]

Morton's has a happy hour. I've never been so I can't comment as to the quality.

[psb]

TWO was my favorite place in this category [subsidized facier food for cheap, not free].
I was dismayed it closed.

Has anybody been to this place in North Beach:
www.joedimaggiosrestaurant.com
Supposedly HH from 3-6ish + all day Sunday? Any info on what the food deal is and quality?

[vulber]

I don't really see why it should matter if the happy hour is at a fine dining restaurant or not. A great happy hour is a great happy hour. My favorite in the city has to be at Fly Bar, where you can get gourmet personal pizzas for $4.50 with a draft beer for $3.

Getting a little more upscale, it's not really a happy hour per se, but from 5-6pm, NOPA has cheap bar snacks.

[psb]

>I don't really see why it should matter if the happy hour is at a fine dining
>restaurant or not. A great happy hour is a great happy hour.
>
er, this that to me, or to the OP?

anyway, a great happy hour may be a great happy hour, but there is a difference
between getting say PBR for $1 and free chicken wings vs. "fancy cocktails"
discounted by $1-3 dollars and getting say dollar oysters [not something you can
really fill up on], or half priced normally expensive food. so the issue isnt what's
"better" but within each category what are good options ... fundamentally are you looking to get tanked on the cheep, or are you looking for great food deals.

[vulber]

sorry, that was at the OP. and that was my point essentially, that it should be about finding great deals, many of which don't have to be found at high-end restaurants (like fly bar)

[Robert Lauriston]

I figure issey's looking for happy-hour deals that let you try expensive restaurants' food on the cheap. That's a perfectly reasonable goal.

[Robert Lauriston]

Joe DiMaggio's is part of a chain. There are some reports here:

http://www.chow.com/restaurants/1238/...

[psb]

Yeah, I'm hoping the deep pockets of a chain might lead to a heavy subsidy,
although I dont think Morton's has much of an HH. The $50/person deal until the end of the year isnt bad tho.

Does McCormick+Smick/Spengers actually have decent food? Didnt they have
some absurdly cheap HH deals?

Another respectable HH is at Tokyo GoGo. Again that is in the "adult HH" category, not
the "get wasted" category. Palio d'Asti had a good option, but they seem to have gotten rid of it. Of course places like TWO and TGG often ended up kind of $$$ ... once you started ordering a lot of Oysters, or the $4/bite toro ...

If I ever make it out to NBeach at the right time, I'll analyze the JdM HH and report back.

[Robert Lauriston]

Morton's has $6 snacks at happy hour, but I've never heard anything good about the food, and most people don't have to come to San Francisco to visit one.

[toitoi]

Well, I'll let you all know how the bar-bites were when I visit it next week prior to either the 7 or 8 o'clock curtain of two shows I'm seeing. All I want is a snack at 6pm.

[Glencora]

Does the Grand Cafe bar count?

[vulber]

I know I might get darts thrown at me, but I actually think the Trader Vic's happy hour is pretty great. Half off all cocktails as well as the bar menu. It's not gourmet food by any stretch, but it's not horrible either, if you can forgive the occasionally oversauced dishes.

Where else can you get a premium burger and a mai tai for $10?

[toitoi]

Thanks to this thread, although I won't treat it as Happy Hour, I've found where to eat before I see Melba Moore (8pm with unreserved seats) at Hotel Nikko and She Stoops to Comedy (7pm) at 533 Sutter.

Morton's and Farallon's bar-bites will do just fine.

[issey]

Thanks SF chowhounds for all your helpful input! I'm sorry I didn't get back on the post to clearify my request. Robert got it right in his assessment and was a bit more articulate than I when he stated:

"I figure issey's looking for happy-hour deals that let you try expensive restaurants' food on the cheap. That's a perfectly reasonable goal."

For example, Nobu in LA has a great happy hour with appetizers 1/2 off at the bar. While we might spend $300 on 2 people when can escape with great food for a fraction of the price.

Again, thanks for all the great leads!