Angelina's #3: 15 Romolo

I really enjoyed 15 Romolo. Again, we were the only ones in there. We crossed the street from Impala, and headed up the mini alley. 15 Romolo is located in the hotel and consists of a few booths and the L-shaped bar. The juke box with the selection lan loves was in the corner...with some free credits courtesy of the bartender. You can also rent this place for the evening. The single bathrooms didn't bother me, like they lan.

We opted for the bar and got to ordering drinks. The bartender, Benito (ele e paulista), made me a mighty fine margarita. High quality tequila, perfect mix and very tasty. Minh's martini (made with gin, of course) was also very very well made. The selection of draught beers wasn't too shabby either, all served in the correct glasses.

I think what made this bar so likeable was Benito, the bartender. He hooked me up with some extra margarita as he made one for himself. Then, I tried a mai tai, but don't really dig those. So, he took it back and dusted off some scotch off the top shelf and poured me a nice glass of that. Needless to say, after eating only chips at Impala, I was a bit more tipsy than I had intended for a Wednesday night.

Off to the last bar of the night....with food, please!

** Benito's other bar suggestions: Rye, Ambassador & he works at Rosewood & Gravity (mondays).

Lan's #5: 15 Romolo

15 Romolo
15 Romolo Place
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 398-1359

This is a neat little bar in a quiet little alley off of strip club row attached to a small hotel with a great jukebox. Yes, that was a lot of prepositional phrases. When our crew of 6 walked in, the bar was completely empty aside from the bartender and the Smiths was on the jukebox. The bartender wasn't very friendly at first, but Angelina fluffed him up with some talk of Brasil and he warmed up (even giving me a bottle of water, which I later discovered had been previously opened, on my way out).

I ordered an extra dirty Grey Goose martini which didn't fully satisfy, but then again, he said his specialty was margaritas and I wasn't really feeling the margaritas after Impala's flop. This is also a nice venue for a private party, with one minor issue: the bathroom is a single room, no stalls. We hung out here for a while since the bartender had credits on the jukebox for us.

What we chose: Pharcyde, Bjork, Patsy Cline, Jurassic 5, the Smiths, the Jam...they had my music collection on their jukebox! The bartender (Benito) recommended that we head to Mojito next for some food (that was our original destination) and we were on our way.