I'm going to buck the trend of the previous reviews and only give BSS four out of five stars. But wait! Before you break out the pitchforks, I have a couple of, what I believe to be reasonable, reasons for this.
I totally agree with others that Adelaide needs, nay, deserves! this sort of a venue. It's hip, it's funky, it's casual (I feel like a complete knob using all of those terms together but it's the truth) and it seems to draw a good crowd. Everything from the semi mysterious, unimposing street-level entrance to the impressive old-war-bunker style long room that faces you as you turn the corner on the stairs, with the equally impressive long bar setup (a LOT of booze on offer) screams good taste and well thought out business plan execution.
However! My two gripes, borne out of my previous experience as both a hospitality venue manager and bartender are:
1. You need to be able to afford to spend a lot of money if you want to have a session here. For me, this is the perfect place to have one or two drinks. But I couldn't afford to drink here all night on my current income. The range is impressive. But expensive. Not unreasonably expensive for some, but it is for me. The first time I visited it was on someone else's dime, which was fine, until the tab ran out. As I said, I bought a couple of drinks and heard my wallet screaming at me to stop inflicting the pain.
2. Cocktails are great, but they take forever to make. Without a dedicated cocktail maker behind the bar, it becomes painfully obvious when one drink is being made for one patron and 5,6,7,8,10 people start standing around waiting to be served. Standard hospo rules dictate a server should be able to handle 15-20 patrons without too many headaches. Waiting for 10 minutes to get a beer when some fancy Hawaiian fishbowl or some such drink is being made infuriates me. That may be a slight exaggeration but my point stands. Savvy bar management is crucial to satisfied drinkers. The one example I did witness which p*ssed me off no end was the extended time taken (I'd say about 6 or 7 minutes) to make a couple of fancy swirly cucumber garnishes for G&Ts when there were actually 10 other people waiting for a drink. That is an irresponsible use of resources IMO.
Having said all of the above, I really enjoyed the general atmosphere and I will return to enjoy more of the artesan beers and quirky whiskies on offer.
In summary, take lots of money and be prepared to utilise whatever patience you have, in case someone orders a mojito.
Also, Wednesday nights they have $10 pizzas (at the moment) and live acoustic musicians on offer. I did not get to enjoy a pizza because the fire alarm went off and they had to evacuate the bar. I suspect maybe a better fan above the pizza oven is required, but nonetheless they are still some attractive incentives to also get along to BSS for sh*ts n giggles. read more