Review: Tini’s
Brent Finnegan -- January 7th, 2007
If it’s possible to have a bar that’s the polar opposite of Main Street Bar & Grill or The Pub, Tini’s is it.
Tini’s is the cocktail half of the newly-opened Downtown 56 — the restaurant under the apartments at the City Exchange (the old Wetsel Seed Building on Gay Street). Upon entering the bar, you might forget you’re in Harrisonburg. The atmosphere is similar to that of an urban four-or-five-star hotel bar. There’s a guy in the corner playing piano, and a lot of young and middle-aged professionals leaning on cocktail tables, boozing and schmoozing.
We sat at in the couch section near the piano. My friends ordered Mojitos and Guinness, and I had a Newcastle from the tap. The wait staff seemed a little confused and disorganized (it took my friend three attempts to pay his tab) but that may be due to the newness of the establishment. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. They have quite a few beers on tap, and a couple of cocktails I haven’t seen offered elsewhere in town.
Tini’s has a few kinks to work out (less head on the Guinness, a more organized wait staff) that I’m assured will be ironed out shortly. It’s a classy place to take a date, and may give Calhoun’s and Joshua Wilton a run for their money. If you want to get out of Harrisonburg for a bit (without actually leaving town) check it out.
-finnegan
Glad to hear another good review of this place. A friend of mine highly recommended Downtown 56 and upon checking out their menu online it looks like a really nice place.
I haven’t been to the restaurant yet. I intend to check it out after I try Thai Flavor.
finnegan… when you go to Thai Flavor, if you’re into spicy food, I highly recommend the Hot Sour Soup… wow. Easily like a 4 at Indian American depending on what hot sauce you choose and how carefully you eat it.
I concur with Brent’s review of Downtown 56 and its atmosphere. I will also add that it was nice to actually be able to breathe in a ventilated, smoke-free bar. I’m not much of a fan when it comes to bars that are already cloudy by the time they meet half of their capacity.
If you liked the smoke-free atmosphere, be sure to tell the owners. The scoop is they are waiting on an air filtration system before they allow smoking. We were there twice this weekend and loved not smelling like smoke when we got home. LOVED this bar! Food was also quite nice. Made for a great evening and certainly fills a niche the Burg is lacking.
This sounds great! Can’t wait to check it out. What are the prices for drinks/food like compared to Calhoun’s or Joshua Wilton?
Here’s the website and it has the menu. Seems to be comparable to Calhoun’s.
http://downtown56harrisonburg.com/
hmmm…. the only food I know of at Calhoun’s are the happy hour appetizers… is it really as expensive as downtown56 menu seems to be?
Yeah, I’d say the prices are more comparable to Joshua Wilton (i.e. DT56 has an actual chef).