Wednesday Cocktail Adventures: le Sofa

Le Sofa

21 Rue Saint Sabin
75011 Paris

Tél. +33 (0)1 43 14 07 46

The only good thing about this place was the bar top.

The Le Sofa website gives off a cozy, inviting and interesting vibe. This bar/restaurant serves food & cocktails and features various art exhibitions. So I was looking forward to what I'd find on the other side of the heavy red curtain as i came in the front door. First i was greeted by the bright and cheery bar top. And that was the last bright and cheery thing I experienced here.

The bartender was a bit grouchy and seemed put off at having to serve us. Note: we were the only customers at the bar, so this is not a question of too little bartender covering too many clients. She asked me if i wanted red or white sweet vermouth in my martini. She got defensive and somewhat surly when I showed genuine surprise at this question since their small cocktail menu features a dry martini with the appropriate ingredients of gin and dry vermouth listed.

What I ended up with was filled with ice and citrus chunks. Matt was completely underwhelmed by his negroni while Nicky's cuba libre was overwhelmed by excessive sweet and sour mixer giving it both a dirty cloudy appearance and a disappointing taste. For our second round, I had a margarita that was too tart and needed a bit of triple sec. None of us were pleased by any of our drinks for either round. Fortunately the prices were moderate at around 8 to 9 Euros.

I can't even assume that this is a better stop for dining in their comfy looking restaurant area. During our two hour visit, there were only two customers who came in for dinner so they apprently aren't packing them in for the food either.

With nothing else going for it, the colorful bar top is simply not enough to get me back to Le Sofa.