The Beetlejuice Themed/Tim Burton Bar in NYC has been the talk of the town for the while. Appearing all over the internet. Last night was its opening night and we were there to cover the event here is what we thought.

Upon walking up to Beetle House I was greeted by an enthusiastic Beetlejuice. He was fun and friendly and made me excited to enter. After entering I was informed that there was something wrong in the kitchen and to not expect food, but we could still sit at the bar and enjoy the specialty drinks. Not a big deal, it is opening day and problems will happen. My friend and I sat at the bar ready for some awesome cocktails.

Genie greeted us and took our order. I got This Is Halloween!(Pumpkin Liqueur, cinnamon liqueur, apple liqueur, apple cider, ginger beer, garnished with a lime) and he got the Barnabas Collins (Bulleit Rye whiskey, crushed brown sugar, chocolate bitters and peychauds bitters). It took over five minutes to get my drink and it wasn’t terribly busy. It took him another ten mins to get his because our bartender tried to relay it to the other and she did not hear. While it took a while to receive our first drink it was still understandable since it is opening day, and within the first few hours of opening.

My drink was really good, and I don’t normally drink fancy cocktails. It was sweet but with a nice kick of cinnamon and ginger. His drink was strong! It sounds like it may be sweet because it has chocolate bitters and brown sugar in it but do not be fooled, it is still whiskey. After we started our beverages we were informed that we might be able to order and we should take our table we reserved. We took our seats in hopes we might get some sort of snack. It took a long time to get a server over and when we did it was because I called her over. I asked if we might be able to get food, she asked the other server then they both checked the kitchen…then never got back to us. I assumed the answer was no but still wished someone had told me.

After finishing our first drinks we managed to get our servers attention and he grabbed us a menu. This time I ordered Beetlejuice (Muddled blackberry and limes, Tequila, Blackberry schnapps, Angostura bitters, splash of cranberry) and he ordered Jack Skellington (Bacardi Rum, creme de coconut, lime juice. Topped with crushed ice and orange zest). My drink was strong. Wow! I did not anticipate it but I was pleasantly surprised. Once again I waited a bit on my drink and my friend waited even longer. The Jack Skellington was a sweeter drink, you definitely taste the coconut but there was a nice kick of orange. During these drinks Genie made an announcement that there was a problem with the gas in the kitchen and apologized to us but informed us we could still order wings, beetle bread or the butchers stew. She then announced that they wouldn’t be serving all the drinks all night and let the crowd decide on what they wanted served for the rest of the night. They chose Beetlejuice, Big Fish Bowl and Alice’s cup of tea. At this point I found myself a bit annoyed that only a small amount of people got to decide the small menu of drinks for the rest of the evening.

Overall, the atmosphere lacked. For a Tim Burton themed place there was not nearly enough influence from the man, just some piece of art on the walls, not all of which made sense. The Beetlejuice actor made up for a lot of what was lacking. The bartenders were pretty good but seemed really frazzled. At least Genie was nice and trying, but the other girl behind the bar was not as friendly. The servers spent more time doing nothing at the bar than helping customers. When they did come over to the table they were not friendly or fun. They would just take the order and leave. I expected some sort of Tim Burton type experience and I did not get that. The drinks and food items have fun names and the drinks were good, but nothing screamed Tim Burton. I do plan to go back soon to try the food and see if the place is more put together. As of now, I do not recommend it. Give it time and I am hoping that this bar can be just as good as their other, Stay Classy.

Article By Hannah Hollis