Who doesn’t love a happy hour? Happy hours are a nice way to meet up with friends and blow off steam after a long workday. In this weekly feature, I’ll be visiting establishments around San Diego County and reporting back with the goods on their happy hour offerings. In particular, I’ll be looking at atmosphere, whether or not there’s any entertainment, and food and drink specials.
This week’s happy hour location was Casa Guadalajara in Bazaar Del Mundo in Old Town. Happy hour runs Monday – Friday from 4-7 pm.
Atmosphere: The bar area was lively with quite a few people there to enjoy the festivities. It was a bit noisy when I arrived at 5 pm, but I was happy to score the only empty table upon my arrival. Parking wasn’t a problem, with a few spaces along the front and side of the restaurant and a fairly large parking lot in the back.
Entertainment: Sometime after 6 pm, a mariachi band came into the bar area to sing “Happy Birthday” to one of the patrons. This was the only time I saw them that evening, however, so I think they may have been entertainment more for the main dining area.
Food and drink specials: $3.25 house margaritas and free appetizers. Knowing house margaritas tend to be a little on the “light” side as far as alcohol goes, my friend and I debated whether to get a house margarita and add a shot of tequila or get one of the premium margaritas instead. We opted for the Cadillac margarita with premium tequila and a shot of Grand Marnier. We also opted to upgrade to the larger size. When they came, we still felt they tasted a little on the weak side. As far as food goes, in the front corner there is a small buffet set up. Offerings vary depending on time and what the kitchen is making. There was always a big bowl of tortilla chips with salsa for the taking. In addition, at various times during the two hours we were there, we saw them bring out quesadillas, nachos, some kind of shredded chicken in a rolled flour tortilla, and halved chimichangas.
The bottom line: we enjoyed the atmosphere and location. When the check arrived and our margaritas came in at just under $14 apiece, we were a little taken aback, but because we only had one each and didn’t need to buy dinner thanks to the free appetizers, we were satisfied with the experience. Verdict: I think we’ll try this place again sometime, but next time we’ll go with the house margarita with an added shot.
Originally posted for Examiner.com at http://www.examiner.com/article/happy-hour-of-the-week