Friday night, I went out with friends for drinks at The Bottleneck Lounge. I had been meaning to check this place out since it opened, earlier this year, because I kept hearing it being described as a nice, simple, straightforward neighborhood bar. No frills. No gimmicks. That sounds like the ideal bar to me.

Bottleneck Lounge is located right in between snooty Capitol Hill and even snootier Madison Valley. This area used to be a bit on the seedy side. It never felt too dangerous to me, but, any time I walked from Madison Valley back up to Capitol Hill, I was guaranteed to pass by more than one shifty-eyed person loitering about. Hey, that’s what makes a city a city, right? If I wanted everything to be safe and sanitized and homogeneous, then I would live out in the burbs. Safe and sanitized and homogeneous seems to be the direction that this area of Madison is headed, however. Chocolate City, a notoriously troublesome club located just up the block from Bottleneck was shut down earlier this year (one of the people I was out with is a cop, and she was telling stories about being called down to Chocolate City every weekend.) Across the street from the former Chocolate City is Crush, a very upscale restaurant, and it’s only a matter of time before more places like this move in.

For now, though, there isn’t too much around which makes Bottleneck feel like a little hidden oasis. It is located just far enough from Capitol Hill as to not be overrun with young hipsters. It’s a good thing, too, because Bottleneck is pint-sized! There are maybe five tables and additional seating around the small bar. When we were there, the music was really mellow & not overly loud like some places prefer it. The bartender and waitress were laid back and very friendly. It felt really cozy & comfortable inside. Perfect for a rainy Friday night!

One glance at the menu will inform you that the owners of Bottleneck love dogs. Each cocktail on the menu is associated with a photo of a dog (plus one cat) and are given names such as “Dog Noir” and “The Ugly Chihuahua” (okay, so maybe there is some small amount of gimmickry here.) I tried two cocktails: “The Skirt Chaser” which is Absolut Mandarin, Campari, Rose’s lime juice and soda and “The Loyal Companion” which is Tanqueray gin muddled with fresh basil, Rose’s lime juice and soda. Of the two, “The Loyal Companion” was my favorite. It was so refreshing. And, the basil aroma that wafted over me as the bartender was muddling my drink was incredible.

In addition to cocktails, Bottleneck also has a small number of beers and wines available. As for food, they offer grilled panini sandwiches which looked very tasty. On Sundays, they have a bloody mary & grilled cheese sandwich special for only $10 (be forewarned: their bloody marys have an rather unusual secret ingredient that you may or may not like. I won’t divulge it here out of fairness to the bar.) They are also going to start hosting game day each Sunday which I am particularly interested in because I love me some Scrabble! Chess, Uno and Battleship will also be available for play. Prior descriptions were spot-on in my opinion: Bottleneck really is a great neighborhood bar.

Bottleneck Lounge is located at 2328 Madison Street and is open 4PM to 12AM Tues, Wed, and Sun and 4PM to 2AM Thurs-Sat (closed Mondays).