The Spot: FEZ 3815 N. Central Ave. Phoenix www.fezoncentral.com
The Hours: Happy hour is from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. everyday. Bonus! There's also reverse happy hour from 10 p.m. to close.
See also: Cien Agaves in Scottsdale: Happy Hour Report Card
The Interior: Located between a FedEx and a typical CenPho tan building, FEZ's dark grey exterior makes the restaurant stand out -- in a good way. The inside further proves that it's a hip and relaxed place to hang out from the contemporary art on the walls to the turf under the glass of the community table.
The Food: Unfortunately, happy hour food deals are only served in the bar and lounge area while the drinks are served throughout the restaurant. These options are also the "discounted" price all the time. This may be a disappointment, but with six different options for $6 each, we couldn't complain too much.
We ordered the Triple "F": Fez Feta Fries, a massive helping of fries drenched in ranch dressing and topped with feta cheese, green onions, and diced tomatoes. These fries tasted so fresh we didn't feel guilty even though the waiter said the combination of potatoes and the pasta could be too many filling carbs. Oh well, it was worth every fattening bite.
Next we had the Mini Go Green Pasta Bowl. The dish contained spinach, zucchini, cucumbers, red bell peppers and noodles coated in a lemon pesto sauce. The portion was a perfect size to not feel too stuffed but full.
The winner was the Gyro Bowl. It was spinach topped with red onion, tomato, olives, feta and a light lemon herb vinaigrette dressing. The meat was tender and the salad was the perfect solution for the Arizona heat. We could of eaten bowls of it.
The Drink: Luckily, the drinks were discounted. During happy hour, well drinks, beer, signature margaritas and house wine are all $4 each. There are eight different intriguing margarita flavors from strawberry to tart apple to honeydew. We went for the strawberry and watermelon margaritas.
The watermelon margarita tasted like summer. The cocktail was a perfect balance of sweet, tart and tequila and it was garnished with candy. Turns out, it doesn't get much better than a tequila soaked gummy worm.
For me, the strawberry margarita was a too sweet, but for my counterpart, it was a perfect concoction. A typical margarita is rimmed with salt, but FEZ gives a choice between salt or sugar.
The Conclusion: Although there's technically no happy hour food discount, the food offered on the bar menu was exceptional and more than worth the $6. The drinks discounted were great, but there is a long list of martinis and specialty drinks that we wished had a couple of dollars off.
Grade: B+
