Baker & Able — Restaurant in Huntsville

Came here with some girlfriends for a holiday gathering and have to say we were pretty unimpressed.

This is one of the very few rooftop bars in Huntsville, located inside a hotel downtown. We walked into the hotel and were more or less shouted at to head upstairs for the bar, despite not really having a chance to even get our bearings. The directions weren't unappreciated per se but it wasn't a very welcoming start.

I will grant them that the vibe is pretty pleasant and the whole first monkeys in space thing (hence Baker and Able) is an adorable theme. There are several cute touches/allusions to this space history, including flashy monkeys-in-the-jungle wallpaper and two statues on the side of the hotel better viewed in daylight.

We headed outside and were able to claim a snow globe to seat ourselves at out of the wind (though drinks still needed to be cleared from the table). There are fireplaces if you can't get a globe. I took a look at the view and found it super underwhelming but given the relatively small stature of Huntsville's skyline I don't know if it's especially fair to knock them for that.

One of my friends popped inside to ask if we needed to order at the bar or if someone would come to us and was informed of the latter. However, this someone took a pretty long time (despite it not being particularly busy -- like 9 PM on a Thursday) and upon arrival was just super low energy and not very helpful. I asked how sweet a drink I was interested in was and he said "sort of" and then provided like no follow up on other options or comparisons or anything. He did ask if we wanted to start a tab or just have the one drink and as we were winding down the night we chose the latter and opted to pay immediately, so that was appreciated.

One friend got a Prosecco, while I got the Don't Panic (bourbon, vermouth, cinnamon apple puree) and another friend got the Live Long and Prosper (turmeric infused gin, lemon, ginger).

The Prosecco was fine but the cocktails were not good. Mine tasted like straight bourbon (no hint of apple or cinnamon) and the turmeric one tasted like a spice jar. We all agreed the vibe felt like they were trying too hard to be pretentious and forgot to just make a decent drink. The sci-fi inspired names are fun but the taste did not deliver.

Perhaps take it with a grain of salt as I'm hardly a cocktail connoisseur, but personally we didn't have a particularly impressive visit. Luckily, we still enjoyed each...

This was our first visit to the Baker & Able rooftop bar located on top of the new 106 Jefferson Huntsville, Curio Collection Hotel by Hilton. Named after the first monkeys in space, it’s a very fitting name for the Rocket City. We had been looking forward to visiting and were sadly disappointed. The view of downtown from the patio was awesome! There are not many rooftop bars in Downtown Huntsville. This is truly the only reason it’s getting 3 stars. I wouldn’t recommend coming here unless you’re looking for a high dollar basic drink with bad service and a view.

It was not the best experience overall. From the moment we stepped into the hotel lobby to take the elevator up we were very put off. There were front desk staff members basically shouting at us that the rooftop bar is at capacity and don’t bother going up… so we took their word for it. We were meeting friends so we decided to wait for people to come down before going up. Once several people came down we attempted again, just to be told the same thing almost like it was their way of deterring people from visiting. When I questioned, I was told “well you can try it.” So we took the elevator up and we were immediately let in the bar without a problem. Once we entered, we noticed the bar was mostly empty and nowhere near capacity.

FYI there is no drink menu to order drinks from. When we asked the bartender about specialty cocktails or for any recommendations, we got a few generic and easy to make recommendations like a “Manhattan” or “Whiskey Sour.” Trying to make small talk, we asked how their night was going and we were told that they were all unhappy because some tip money went missing. We were a little caught off guard because this was not the response we were expecting but it definitely made sense because all the employees looked like they hated being there. We won’t be back...

I have never been so disappointed with a business that represents themselves as "upscale" and said to have friendly/helpful customer service.. I had scheduled back in JANUARY with Mary Beth (one of the sales Coordinators) to do my engagement picture on the rooftop bar, Baker and Able on April 2nd. So there was a 3 month notice. Mary Beth told my photographer " Please reach out closer to the day for photos.Baker and Able is closed on Sunday and Monday, Therefore, i would recommend if you wish to capture sunset we do so on one of those days" per her email response on 1/6/23 The WEEK OF pictures we reached out to Mary Beth ( 3/30/23)to her request, to finalize details and she responded with " It is hard to get staff to come in with a 3 days notice. Unfortunately we do not have the staff that can be with you on Sunday.... We need to reschedule this for another time". We then called multiple times to get ahold of her and she was inevitably "unavailable" every time. We did speak to multiple staff that were very helpful and said they were not surprised with the outcome of this situation with Mary Beth. We then tried to be in contact with 2 other sales coordinators and it took them multiple days to get back to us and were in the end no help. Then when finally got a response after 4 email and multiple voicemails were then surprised with " did she mention there was a $500 Rental deposit"... The whole situation was handled very unprofessionally. I had extremely high hopes for this hotel and rooftop bar but they will never receive my business or recommendation to anyone. To any future brides wanting to use them for photography i HIGHLY do not recommend unless you're...