If the idea of drinking in a hotel lobby makes you think of cheap gray carpets with complimentary bad coffee in the corner for guests only and fake plants that still seem to be dying, then you have never set foot inside the likes of the Bowery Hotel. “Opulent”, “luxurious”, and “regal” are the words most often used to describe this space, which was designed Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson. The fact that those men are contemporary, that this lobby only looked so good for only a few months is almost mind blowing. The persian rugs, woodwork, velveteen chairs, and tapestries all evoke another era, an era of wealth, class and sumptuousness that most of us feel like we missed by several decades. But even if the decor feels like you've wandered into a Fitzgerald novel, the prices are sure to remind you that you are indeed at an upscale NYC bar of our modern day.
Yes, it's time for me to discount-shop-up the joint by exclaiming that it is expensive. Skip the eighteen dollar martinis and go straight for the Chimay, it's ten dollars anywhere else anyway. But I can almost guarantee you will never enjoy one in a finer setting. Despite all it's fanciness, it manages to remain unpretentious due to the skilled and friendly wait staff who make you feel right at home presumably because they think you're a guest and that's their policy, but you can bend the rules if you just act like you belong there.
But what do you think?