The Kettle Black Kitchen & Pub in Downtown Phoenix: Happy Hour Report Card

The Spot: The Kettle Black Kitchen & Pub 
1 North First Street, Phoenix
www.thekettleblackpub.com 

The Hours: Happy hour runs everyday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. until the restaurant closes 

The Interior: We were pretty surprised at how bright The Kettle Black is inside, considering the downtown Phoenix bar is styled after a British pub. The whole place is impeccably designed, with beautiful wood shelving behind the bar and red leather booths. There's also a nice row of seats facing the open windows to the outside — perfect seating for a spring day in the Valley. 
The Food: Kettle Black's menu is a mix of basic pub fare and British-themed items. The happy hour menu is mostly dominated by different variations of "chips" (essentially fries), topped with a variety of ingredients including prime rib or curry sauce. 

We went for an order of buffalo chicken wings ($7), which came heaped on a plate with a side of ranch and celery. There was plenty of meat on the bone, and enough sauce so that the chicken was well seasoned but not ridiculously sticky.
For $4, we were also really impressed with the huge helping of curry chips, which included fries topped with a house-made curry sauce. The curry sauce was nice; our only complaint about this dish, however, was that the fries weren't crispy enough. 

The Drink: Like many other places in town, Kettle Black doesn't offer enough discounted drinks during happy hour — at least not in our opinion. We've heard the restaurant has a decent drink list, but the only alcohol covered during happy hour is wine. For $5, you have a choice of either chardonnay or cabernet. We ordered the house chardonnay, Montpellier, which was decent.

Conclusion: The Kettle Black is a nice addition to downtown Phoenix's bar scene. It's got a great atmosphere and average food. Still, we really would have liked to have seen cocktails included in happy hour, since more drink options would have really rounded out the whole experience. 

Don't Miss: The wings. A heaping platter kept us full all night and we were intrigued by the mango variety also listed on the happy hour menu ($6). 
Skip This: The boring happy hour drink options. 

Grade: B-