
HAPPY HOUR: The Independence Tavern
One of my favorite things in life is HAPPY HOUR!!! If you love HAPPY HOUR like me, especially quality and cheap happy hour – please read on. The Independence Tavern is located in downtown Santa Monica on the corner of 2nd St. and Broadway just a block away from the ocean. The restaurant has a super chill vibe during the day and has an early happy hour from 3-6 pm. If you’re wanting to feel happy earlier, this spot is perfect. I would definitely recommend sitting by the windows to keep an eye out on the street action since cocktails and people watching perfectly goes hand in hand.
Their happy hour is only on weekdays. Kind of a downer that they don’t have a weekend happy hour but on a side note though – they do have all you can drink mimosas during brunch that I’m planning on checking out later and will definitely post =). That being said their happy hour has $5 cocktails and $5 small plates. Have a look at their HAPPY HOUR menu, if you don’t believe me. Trust me though, the drinks and food are pretty legit!
Of course, cocktails were first. My boyfriend chose the Paloma (tequila, lime juice, grapefruit soda, and mint) and I picked the Crescent (rum, pomegranate juice, lime, cayenne and sugar rim). I’m a sucker for pomegranate juice and sugar rims so that was an easy sell for me. The Crescent was light and not overly sweet, and the cayenne and sugar rim made it quite interesting with the mix of spicy and sweet. My boyfriend, on the other hand, wasn’t too fond of the Paloma as much since it was quite strong, but I was more than happy to finish it off for him. It too was quite refreshing reminiscent of a classic Mojito.
As for the food, we got an assortment, all for $5 each!
Truffle Fries: super crispy, fresh, truffle-y, dusted with Parmesan. So simple, but perfectly done. Served with ketchup but I ended up asking for some mayo and this made me so happy. We demolished these quick.
Indy Wings: red pepper honey sauce with smoked blue cheese. Reminded me of buffalo wings with a sweeter note. Blue cheese dip had a very subtle flavor. Would’ve preferred a dip that had a bigger punch but overall, they were “finger-licking” good.
Truffle Bacon Mac and Cheese: this is pretty self-explanatory. It was truffle-y, bacon-y, mac-y and oh so cheese-y! My boyfriend dug into this hard and I don’t blame him because it was fricken delicious! I would’ve liked to have taken an action shot with the gooey melty cheese, but once our spoons dug in, it was over.
Classic Meatball: it was a huge meatball covered in a sweet marinara sauce. The presentation was lovely, however, wasn’t a huge fan of this one. At one point, I thought it was actually meatless because of the texture. But the waiter confirmed that it’s definitely 100% beef. I also think that the sweetness of the sauce wasn’t really our style. For $5 though, definitely worth a try because I’m sure it’ll be divine to some people.
After 4 shared plates and a couple more rounds of drinks, my boyfriend and I left both very stuffed and very HAPPY!

