Happy Hour at Botanica

Botanica is a safe haven.  There’s no better way to describe it.  It sits like a bomb shelter on the south side of smoky Houston street, two blocks away from the undulating sea of Soho shoppers and opposite the building-size advertisements that pollute the north side of the street.  After a soul-crushing day of shopping in Soho, there’s no better place to seek shelter.

Which is exactly where I found myself yesterday.  After some ferocious shopping (1.5 hours) my friend and I headed to Botanica which had just opened for happy hour (5-8pm, everyday).  We were the first patrons to arrive, so we grabbed a drink and sat, while Beach House echoed through the empty bar.  Over the next hour we watched what was beginning to feel like our living room, slowly fill with a healthy gathering of after-work happy hour enthusiasts.

What I love about Botanica is that it feels like a warm, inviting dungeon: a huge underground treasure with dark red walls, exposed bricks and a menagerie of tables, chairs, couches, benches, etc.  They play good music (not ironic,  just music people actually like to listen to) and the crowd is young, cool and friendly – as are the bartenders.  To add to the charm, there seems to be an eclectic group of regulars, who, from what my voyeuristic senses tell me, met and fell in love there.

Botanica seems like the perfect place to start an affordable after-work drinking habit.  It’s happy hour everyday, and now that daylight savings time has swallowed up the final moments of after-work sun, it’s just a few short weeks before the wintery bitch of New York tries to completely extinguish our social lives. So let’s drink together before seasonal depression has us all drinking alone.

Happy Hour at Botanica:

$3-4 Draft Beers (decent selection)
$3 Well Drink
$1 Off Wine (which brings them to $5)

Botanica
47 E Houston St (between Mulberry and Greene)
HAPPY HOUR 5-8pm, EVERYDAY
[Nolita]

Photo Credit: Yelper Leeann D.