#004 Best Hotel Bar

Friday I went to #004 The Modern Hotel for "The Best Hotel Bar." 

Have any of you drank here before, or stayed at The Modern?  Living Social says it is an independent design hotel housed in a former Travel Lodge.  That makes sense, now that I have seen it.  For something called "The Modern," it looks a bit sketchy from the outside.

Yelpers give it a  high rating of 4.5 stars.  Reviewers say it is a popular hangout, even for locals, which made me feel less awkward about going there.  However, even when I mention it to my Boise friends, no one seems to know what I am talking about.  Once we got there, I think I figured out why.  It seemed like a taping of "Real Housewives of Boise, Idaho."  All the people there were quite classy and the bartenders looked like they were out of Mad Men.  Everyone was REALLY friendly though!

Their website claims they have the perfect martini, fresh squeezed juices, fine wine, and an international beer selection. 

The bar doesn't open until 5:00 pm, so I had to do some planning.  I also can't drink very much because I live quite far from downtown.  The one part I miss about Moscow is the walking distance between everything!


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I scoped out the location on a previous outing, and found that it was right next to the Linen Building.  There was an Improv Comedy Show at the Linen Building Friday, so it was the perfect adventure.

I really liked the decor inside.  It seemed like a bit of time travel and it was really fun for a bar.  However, one of my friends put it well..."It seems like they are trying too hard to be cool."  Yeah, I could kind of see that.  But -- I love that sort of stuff! It is fun to be different.

Thank goodness we got there during happy hour. It was from 5-7 and I think it is every day (or at the very least, every weekday).  The special I indulged in was their specialty cocktails, wich were only $6 (normally $8 or $9).  The sad part was there were only three qualifying cocktails.  I ended up getting the "Lucky Frida."

It was gin, lime, egg white, absinthe, fresh mint and bitters. I was obsessed with the cute flower design on the top, and even more excited that it stayed in place the entire time I drank it.  The drink was delicious, but disapointingly small.  I think without ice, the drink seemed smaller even though the equilavent with ice might have seemed impressive.

After that, I got a Jasmine Rum Punch.  It was a rum drink with jasmine green tea and a few other things I forgot to note.  It was bigger, more expensive ($9) and also delicious.  All these drinks make you feel sophisticated - they were a bit different with more complex and fancy tasting flavors.

From there, we made it over to watch the comedy show.  It was an "Improv Battle" type show and it was $5.  To be honest, the comedians weren't the best, but it was exactly the sort of way I love to spend a Friday night.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find I had a bit of a buzz from those two drinks.  Nice to know that even though they didn't taste strong, they did have a bit of a punch!

I would recommend The Modern if you just hit pay day and want to feel sophisticated.  The kind of night were you want a few drinks, you don't want to get drunk, you want to chat with a few people, and you want to end the night feeling like you had a great time.

The great night ended by going to Donnie Mac's (down the street).  I will rave about that tomorrow!