Or Bar — Restaurant in West Hollywood

I appreciate what this place is trying to do (keyword: trying), but it's just not hitting the mark. The bartenders aren't particularly knowledgable (though they are hip and cute). The DJ situation was a complete mess. She had a full digital deck layout, but was really just playing isolated tracks off a laptop. The music volume was all over the place, the transitions weren't really. My friends and I thought it would be more effective just to connect a phone and hit shuffle. There's a funky tastemaker doorman/host, for some reason, as the place is tiny and he essentially he just advises you to hang around and wait for a table. You know...like at a bar. The drinks are overpriced. While it's not unprecedented to pay $50 for two cocktails in LA, your game needs to be on-point to pull off those prices, and this place just is not.

Response to Response from the owner: Thanks for the reply. I really do appreciate that you're paying attention to feedback. He was easy breezy about it, but the bartender had never heard of a boulevardier. I hadn't either until a friend of mine suggested one (at HiTops) a few months ago, so fair enough. But I'm not tryna be a bartender, and everywhere else I've ordered one the bartenders knew how to make it. Just saying if you wanna pull of this really high-end establishment vibe, maybe give your bartenders a bit more knowledge. Is a negroni an "expensive specialty cocktail?" Cuz two of them, with tip, costs $50. I don't think you're making them with Bombay Sapphire Revelation up in there. Also...the first drink was ordered during "Happy Hour" for what it's worth. We felt kinda bad for the DJ, but the music was honestly a distraction from the experience (harsh transitions, incongruent song selections, wildly varying volume, longish gaps of silence...). This should be a gimme...so many options for a soundtrack to a night out these days. Also...it's WeHo. Swing a dead cat and you'll hit at least three amateur DJs with their own equipment, so it's not hard to find someone with the requisite skills if you wanna have someone mixing live. Lastly, it wasn't Constance Cooper...just some guy with a super fly haircut. He didn't check my ID, but he did advise us that since all the tables were taken we could hang around and wait for one...which is generally how bars work. It's not a large space, so it just felt like an extra layer of something without much purpose.

The space is gorgeous, but the overall experience felt a bit pretentious - almost as pretentious as my feedback - and to pull off that level of pretentiousness you really need to be at the top of your game. I hope you guys get there, cuz it's nice to...

Too long didn't read: Cheap ingredients at top shelf prices= avoid!

So I just went to Or Bar with a friend and ordered 2 Negronis (equal parts Gin, Campari, and Sweet Vermouth) and was shocked to see the bartender free pour both drinks - like you'd see at a dive bar. More shocked to see that each drink was more than $20. The MOST shocked to see that they're using Martini Sweet Vermouth which is the absolute cheapest, bottom shelf brand of vermouth available. Slightly annoyed at the cheap, liquor store ice instead of large rocks that one would usually see at $20+ for a cocktail.

When the pricing "scandal" first came out about Or Bar I was on their side as I am happy to pay a premium for a premium cocktail with premium ingredients. I was appalled to see this level of swindling at an establishment that's riding on the coat tails of an institution of WeHo bars- Gold Coast. Not only did they cut the square footage in half but they also cut the enjoyment in half by cheating patrons out of their money for swill from the bottom shelf.

I'd consider going back if they remodeled their business plan to include better ingredients and respecting their customers. If they'd like an example I'd say look to Hi Tops which has three times the volume and three times the class by using Carpano Antico and LoFi Sweet Vermouth and measures their god damn ingredients per drink.

Or Bar is a scam masquerading as a classy experience. Boo,...

We chose OR Bar to celebrate a friend's birthday - it was the BEST time!

The staff went out of their way to make my friend feel special. We got to pick out a signature cocktail and rename it for her, and then they printed that out with her photo on cards that were placed on the tables. And on top of that plus our reserved table, they sent out a bottle of bubbly with sparklers on the house! (It literally took the manager Darren saying it "no charge" 100x to convince me that I couldn't pay for the bubbly up front - who gives away free stuff anymore??).

Our server Neil (who is GORGEOUS and kind and wonderful) took incredible care of us the entire night. The French Blond cocktail was delicious - and wow, all of the specialty cocktails are part of happy hour! The food we got was super yummy too - definitely try the Italian Panini. Neil also brought our birthday girl a lemon drop shot from the bar. She was SO well taken care of.

And we didn't realize it when we booked the res, but it was a Monday and on Mondays they have Disco Bingo (starting at 7:30) hosted by the most gorgeous queen ever - seriously, need to know her skin care routine. Our birthday girl WON the first round and took home a beautiful, bedazzled bunny rabbit vibrator - KISMET!

We can't wait to plan our next event here. Thank you to everyone at OR Bar for the most perfect birthday...