28 April 2010

Whine Parlour Room

| CoffeeGeek
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I’m feeling somewhat lighter in the wallet department after an evening at the Wine parlour room (http://www.parlour.net.au).

I ordered a Vodka Martini with lemon, it was fine, if a little watery. A while later the waitress asked for more drinks orders from our table, so I asked for the drinks menu. I was about to order a finger of vodka, neat, when I stumbled on the price – $7 for regular, $10 for their “Premium” (grey goose – if you care)… for a single!

I asked for water…

When I went to settle, the Martini was $16.00! What the HECK?

Is it common to pay this sort of money for basic drinks in Canberra? How much expert training is required for a Uni student to measure 2 ingredients into a shaker, pour, then ad a twist of lemon?

Check their drinks menu. How does $20 for a Bloody Mary sound?

Coffeegeek

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Woody Mann-Caruso4:10 pm 29 Apr 10

Ah, now I get it.

Bottom shelf vodka – $1
Vermouth – 30c
Casual wage uni student to shake – 50c
Overheads – $3.20
Profit – $6
Smug wanker surcharge – $5

Did they hit you with a credit card fee? That seems to be the latest trick in bars that gets my goat up.

bloodnut said :

you pay extra for the nice surroundings, cute and engaging staff, the distinct absence of bogans and dick head security guards.

totally worth the extra cash.

Agreed.

So what is the point of the OP? Is it about throwing caution to us Rioters reminding us to read the menu first? Or is it about your misguided presumption that all establishments in Canberra offer cheap pokie-subsidised drinks and alcopops?

Wake up! As others have posted, the fact what you see when you walk into the place you expect to pay more (not that it is much more than other places anyway)… table service, great decore and atmosphere, all located in a 5-star hotel minutes from city centre. Seriously, move back to shelterville and leave great places like Parlour alone.

I’m assuming you don’t get out much if you think that is expensive.

$16 for a cocktail and $7 for a standard drink is common.

Try going to a nice place in Sydney and then see how much they charge you for drinks.

you pay extra for the nice surroundings, cute and engaging staff, the distinct absence of bogans and dick head security guards.

totally worth the extra cash.

It’s pretty swish – it’s what I’d expect to pay.

You don’t get out to up market establishments too much do you?
$16 really isn’t that astronomical for a cocktail in comparison with all the rest around the world.

You can tell just walking into the Parlour Wine Bar that it is a pricey establishment, and cocktails are expensive no matter where you go (except for overseas of course – I had the best strawberry daiquiri for $4 somewhere in Thailand).

My favourite places are the Julep Lounge in Manuka and Kremlin on Northbourne. Both places you get good drinks, good service, and you can hear yourself think. I do prefer Kremlin at their happy hours as opposed to late night – less people and cheaper drinks. The food at the Julep Lounge is very tasty!

(Please note – I’m not affiliated with any cocktail place, I just like to be able to drink something nice in nice surroundings where I can hear & take part in conversation)

Don’t forget these businesses have to pay not only for the staff and ingredients, they get to pay for the building lease, the insurance so when you slip on the martini you spilled they don’t get sued out of existence. The decor, heating, maintenance, liquor license.. not to mention they are in it to try and make a profit.

Perhaps stick to the pokie subsidised beer and schnitzels if price is all you’re worried about.

Fiona wins the thread. Let’s all go to Muddle for lychee martinis!

The martinis at Muddle are $14. I love the lychee one. But $14 is their entry level coctail, they go up from there. $7 for a vodka sounds right, unless you’re at shooters.

Maybe you should go down to the labour club or moose heads I’m told they have cheap drinks

Clown Killer9:37 am 28 Apr 10

Unfortunately $16 sounds around entry level for a real cocktail these days. You can pay $25 for a well made martini.

I think that at the lower end all you can realy expect is a uni student and a couple of shots of house spirits.

Just bring a bottle of vodka over to my place. I have a shaker and a freezer in which I can produce ice. Actually, make your own martinis, you bum! I don’t even know you!

No but seriously, $16 is reasonable for a fancy pants cuervo cosmotinian, appropriate for the best damn martini in town (fyi the best damn martini involves much better ingredients and much more complicated chemistry than just measure, shake and pour) but pretty shit for a watery one. Which by the way indicates that they didn’t appropriately chill their apparatus. Or their ice. This does indeed enter the territory of the “basic drink” which I think you can get for $2 at Shooters.

Woody Mann-Caruso9:07 am 28 Apr 10

Sounds like cocktail prices in Darwin. I paid $14 for a (very, very ordinary) vodka martini at Hanuman not too long ago. I could understand if it was a more elaborate cocktail with a number of spirits and mixers, but it was bottom shelf Stoli and vermouth. I think their standard spirits were $8, which means I paid $8 for vermouth and a poorly drained olive.

(Don’t let this put anybody off going to Hanuman. It’s a great restaurant, just stay away from the cocktail menu.)

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