The Spot: The Beverly 7018 East Main Street, Scottsdale 480-889-5580 www.thebeverly.us
The Hours: Happy Hour Monday through Friday 4 to 7 p.m.
Perfect for: A quiet happy hour with someone who's really hungry but doesn't have much knowledge of craft cocktails
Interior: If you're familiar with the space that used to house Mabel's on Main in Scottsdale, once inside you may not even notice that the restaurant and bar has changed names. Now branded The Beverly, it's still dark and cozy with brick walls, wood features, and an intricate tin ceiling. We chose to sit on the open patio to enjoy the little natural light left on a Wednesday evening. The staff was initially inattentive but ultimately friendly and accommodating.
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The Food: The one thing we can say for sure about The Beverly is they do not skimp on the portion sizes of their happy hour food offerings. Of the eight options, which all fall at or below the $6 mark, we tried the Mac & Cheese ($4), Roasted Brussels Sprouts ($5), and the Margherita Flatbread ($6). None of these was bad, per se, but we only finished the Brussels sprouts simply because we knew the other two would keep better as leftovers.
The sprouts were roasted with bacon, garlic, olive oil, and spiced Spanish almonds. The crunch of the nuts offered a nice break to the otherwise soft and almost mushy sprouts. Flavor-wise, this appetizer was on point, but we wish they'd been taken out of the oven a few minutes earlier to allow for a firmer bite.
The large helping of mac and cheese was creamy, flavorful, and balanced with garlic, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs. We even found ourselves going back for a few more bites after we declared that we were too full to eat anymore. Seriously, this dish could have been a meal on its own, and for the $4 price tag, we wouldn't have been mad about that at all.
The Margherita Flatbread was pretty much exactly what we expected with tomatoes, mozzarella, roasted garlic, and chili flakes sprinkled on top. We liked the spicy kick from the chili flakes and were impressed with how crispy the crust was even in the very middle where things can tend to get a little soggy. We were happy to take our three leftover squares home for a late night snack.
The Drinks: We're tempted to heed our mother's advice about not having anything nice to say when it comes to The Beverly's drink options. Tempted, yes, but we'll continue anyway. With half off specialty cocktails and $2 off beer, wine, and well drinks, these deals sounded right up our alley. Unfortunately, some things are just too good to be true.
We started off with two cocktails ($6 per), one each from the "classics" and "moderns" side of the menu. The more modern Secret Garden was fine if you really, really like gin, as the spirit pretty much overpowered every other flavor in the cocktail.
The classic New York Sour smelled so much like the raw egg white that traditionally adds just a little silkiness and froth to the top of this rye drink that we had to send it back. Despite what our waitress said, we're pretty sure that if you're serving raw egg on something, it shouldn't smell like the egg has been sitting out all day.
Thankfully, our waitress did happily replace the Sour and offered up the daily punch instead, mixed with house-made strawberry-raspberry infused vodka. After all that, the drink was way too sweet.
Conclusion: The Beverly's happy hour is definitely more for those who are looking for deals on food and a quiet, comfortable atmosphere than for anyone with a keen taste for cocktails. Even with the discounts, the drinks just were not worth it for us, a sad end result especially since we used to find many favorite, well-executed cocktails at Mabel's on Main.
Don't miss: The $4 Mac and Cheese Skip this: The New York Sour Grade: C
