Each time I go to Sonya's, I have a fine time. It's a place I now take close, personal friends when looking for a comfortable venue on 1st Avenue.
Sonya's is a lovely, elegant bar, the front of the house richly appointed in black lacquer, velvet tapestries, rich colors, an ambient sound system and tastefully indirect lighting. Eric and I have been going there for several years since one of his old friends from parochial school, who we refer to as "Pretty Mark" tends bar and he does an exceptional job. In addition, whether you are straight or gay, he earns his title. Mark is mesmerizing to watch work the bar and always a charmer.
We always sit at the bar and chat up the wide range of locals, which leans to appealing to the eclectic insider: folk that get off work in the evening. restaurant people, artists and refugees from other clubs. Eric usually has a Jim Beam & Coke (with very little Coke) and I typically have a deep, red wine as they have an outstanding wine selection to pair with an exceptionally diverse dinner and tapas menu, which always surprised me for such a small house. I've had Spanish Olives, artesian cheese and crackers, roast duck and seasonal garlic mash, wild green and garlicky Caesar salads as well as a standard bar menu. They also make very frou-frou cocktails and the rare, but always appreciated Cuban Mohito.
To make the place even more of a gem, there is a club in the back, through a door, where one has to pass under an arching rainbow. A petite disco hides in the back, sometimes hosting live music or DJ's spinning records. Through tiny windows so small they almost seem like underwater portals made of ancient brick, there is a stunning, intimate view of Elliott Bay, sparkling in the night, adjacent to a set of cocktail tables made for two.
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