East Side Show Room, Shangri-La, then late night pizza taste off

I've been anxious to make it to East Side and visit some of the bars over there that I have heard so much about. Brent and I have been to several restaurants over there such as, Primizie, Blue Dahlia, Ms. B's, and East Side Pies to name a few.  There is some great food to be had East of I-35 and I love all the places I have just listed and now it was time to check out some of the night life.
I never realized how close it all is! It's right there and it was busy. I was able to make it to both East Side Show Room and Shangri-La. I went to ESSR first but due to my bad experience it will be at the end of the blog and I'm going to go straight in to raving about Shangri-La!

Shangri-La

Nicole checking out the cool Juke Box.

According to Wikipedia, Shangri-La "has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia-a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world." I think that our little Austin Shangri-La bar has captured that definition and feeling. It has an awesome outdoor area with tables which are fenced off, nicely enclosing everyone in it's own little world. This place is super cool and it's the perfect time of year for the outdoor portion of their venue.  There were lots of people but it didn't feel too crowded and it wasn't so loud we couldn't talk. It was really perfect. It definitely has the quintessential Austin Funky Cool scene going on and this is the place to be. It is unpretentious and hip.

Funky, cool bar.

This is awesome Ms. Pixie Rose. The outdoor part of the bar allows your canine companions and she was a perfect, no barking lady!

My new favorite bartenders in Austin. Adam Rose is pictured left and is my new unwitting BFF.

I don't remember why but I was on a mission to get a picture with my new friend Adam. You can see what good friends we are here. He was a friendly, fast and efficient bartender. He rocked.

Loretta was rocking some serious style tonight! I loved the boots and tights. She really pulled it all together with a great outfit. I got a quote from her and she wants to tell the world, 'Dayglo is cool'. She was definitely hitting the mark with her Dayglo fashion!

Just two friends chillin in their year old boots. I love boot season!

V looking good in her gold heels. She always seems to have such perfectly painted toes!

I finally decided to put a pair of my own shoes in here. I love these and got them at Le Garage sale year before last.

East Side Show Room

And now for my disappointment at East Side Show Room. Or as Nicole wittily coined it the "East Side Slow Room" (sigh). I generally like to post on the positive, which is why, even though we went here first I'm putting it at the end of the blog. More times than not if I have an "eh" experience I just won't say anything about it in the blog. I realize that sometimes places just have an off night. This, however, was more than just a mildly bad experience. This was terrible and I feel it was bad enough to warn people about it. This was by far the slowest service I have ever had, ever and I've been to some slow bars in Austin. I was close to quizzing some of the other tables to see what they were experiencing but after reading some reviews online, this isn't a new problem.
I felt so bad for our waitress, who was sweet and as attentive as she could be, without having drinks in her hand.  My friends and I sat down about 8:45 and the place was pretty busy but didn't look overwhelmed. We ordered our first round of drinks and waited, waited, waited. I wish I had timed it but who knew it was going to take so long. Finally she showed up with one drink. Mine.

I had the beautiful Violet Translation.

I remained open minded about the price of my drink and made final judgment with my last sip to evaluate the total effect of the beverage. I think it was overpriced at $10.  It isn't that I always mind paying that much, since Peche is one of my favorite bars with similar concoctions of creativity and prices to match,  but at Peche 1 drink is like having 2, so it's worth it. I'll quote my friend Ted who said, "These are Manhattan prices in an East Austin bar."
One of the excuses that we got from the waitress as we were getting anxious for the completion of the first round of drinks was that the bartender was "really particular" and the martini glasses were dirty and all these drinks were supposed to go in martini glasses. I say, big freaking deal, give it to me in a Dixie cup... I just want a drink!
Then it was "he's a perfectionist and his drinks have to be just right, so it takes a while". Well, back to Peche, they make some seriously complicated drinks all from scratch and all by hand and yet they are able to crank them out and keep the booze flowing.
I do have to thank ESSR for one thing. Because it took nearly 2 hours for us to obtain two rounds of drinks, I feel certain  they saved me money, prevented me from getting drunk, and possibly a DWI.

East Side "Slow Room"-
It was nice to meet you. I sincerely wish you all the best and hope that you can figure it out. You look great but I need a relationship based more on just your looks. When I go somewhere else, I can drink more and the looks don't matter as much after I imbibe.

I hate to break up with you so soon. (sniffle)
L*3

Old man and the Sea

Ted's Improved Anejo Manhattan

Beso de la muerte: a tasty drink

The burger:tasty but not great

Curried grits and greens: I tasted those and they were actually really good. Too bad I won't be going back for my own order.

Cheese plate.

Pizza Taste off: The Onion and Hoek's

My frist slice was from The Onion. It had a crisp crust, nicely cooked cheese and definitely won. It's my new favorite late nite pizza spot downtown.

Hoeks simply was lacking. Soggy crust and eh flavor made for an overall dis-illusioned experience. I miss the slices from the old Hoek's location, it used to be the bomb.

My first artistic picture with my little camera. Eating my last slice of pizza from my front step on 5th. It's always good people watching out there at 1:30am.