Before enjoying dinner at Lucali on a Wednesday night, decided to stop into Bay Club for a quick drink. Even though they had an abbreviated Lucali food menu, we decided to wait to eat and just grab a drink. I had a beer and shared a Hot Box cocktail with my girlfriend.
Quality
We were just looking for a quick drink before our meal and Bay Club played its role perfectly. They had several different specialty cocktails, a few beers, and a couple wines on the menu. Bay Club really just feels like overflow space for Lucali and makes for a place for just a single drink. The beer was standard and the Hot Box cocktail was fine. The Hot Box used mezcal, hot bitters, passion fruit, ginger, cucumber, and lime, and did have some kick, which I did appreciate. But it lacked the same inventiveness as other more sophisticated cocktail bars.
Quantity
Both the beer and the cocktail were fair sized, I believe the beer was poured out of a bottle so no real surprises.
Value
It turned out it was happy hour when we were there, which made the drink prices much more reasonable. The beer came to $5 and the cocktail was $12, both decent prices, especially when you are just trying to buy time until you are seated at Lucali.
Ambiance
Bay Club is a small cocktail bar located in the Sunset Harbor area of Miami Beach. It is located adjacent to Lucali and there is even a weird shared wall that connects the two. They operate together so that if you feel like food at Bay Club you can order off Lucali's menu and the booze at Lucali comes from Bay Club. It is a good setup especially if you are looking for Lucali when it is busy and unwilling to wait. Bay Club is a relatively small space with a bar when you enter on the left and then a few tables and chairs on the right. It is dimly lit and follows an almost basement feel with exposed brick and old furniture. However, the focus seemed on the huge television that was playing From Dusk Till Dawn in its entirety. They also have a few benches outside for smokers or for nice days. Also, important is they are fine with you carrying your drink over to Lucali if you are not finished when your table is ready. In the end Bay Club is a nice waiting area.
Crowd
The bar was pretty empty, with just a few folks who were either unwilling to wait for a table or those who wanted a drink while they waited. It seems pretty obvious Lucali needed an option to prevent people turning away due to long waits.
Service
The bartender was very nice, but it seemed there were way more people than needed working on a Wednesday night. I'm not sure if they just share staff with next door, but at least three people greeted us in the few steps from the entry to the bar.
Parking
Just a few steps down from the bar is a parking garage that is extremely affordable. Street parking is also pretty easy in the area, but it also is about four times as expensive.
Extra
It is impossible to talk about Bay Club without mentioning Lucali. It really acts as the bar area for Lucali, even going so far as offering food from their menu. And while it is a comfortable space to relax and wait, it lacks creativity in its cocktails and offers a very limited beer and wine selection, which is disappointing. I really couldn't imagine stopping in again except on a visit to Lucali, luckily Lucali is pretty delicious and draws large crowds. read more