Solaire Restaurant & Bar

THE BUZZ ON SOLAIRE RESTAURANT & BAR 

Happy Hour Sunday - Thursday 4pm - 7pm

$5.00 Drinks

$5.00 Appetizers

Solaire Restaurant Website

Julie's Review:


I have been curious about Hotel Paradox and their new restaurant Solaire for quite some time.  Hotel Paradox is the old Holiday Inn on Ocean Street which then became the UCSC overflow dorm.  I watched with interest as they described the building of this new upscale, boutique hotel.  I figured that the restaurant and bar might be a little snooty, but was very pleasantly surprised. The staff was extremely friendly and the service was excellent.

I love the art and visual concepts that fill the hotel. Their theme is to bring nature inside and they do it in a whimsical, subtle way. The designer of the hotel built the theme around a large pine tree next to the swimming pool - rather than going beach motif, they went forest.

When you walk into the hotel, the Reception desk is a huge tree trunk laid on its side that is probably 20 feet long and six foot high.  As you continue towards the bar there are all sorts of cubby holes with comfy chairs and tables made of tree stumps.  These tables are throughout the restaurant and hotel.  They give a natural feel to the place, like my backyard where we have used logs for seats around the campfire.

Coming around a corner there is a great art piece of plaster squirrels climbing up the wall and ceiling.

Jo was already waiting for me in the bar. The bar has an amazing optical illusion ceiling of blue sky and tree branches overhead. It really felt like we were sitting under a tree outside. The furniture is sleek and modern, but the natural elements make it interesting. 

There was a beautiful sculpture made of tree branches which formed a wave long the wall and the restaurant reception desk was a podium made from a tree trunk.  There were so many things to rest the eye upon. The room looks out at the pool and the bar continues outside to a poolside bar. There was a private event happening at the pool, so we were seated comfortably inside.

 
















There were many staff present and they were all knowledgeable and friendly.  Josephine already had her glass of wine and water and the bartender quickly approached and explained the happy hour specials. The only down side to Solaire is that they haven't gotten their full liquor license yet, which they are anxiously awaiting (should be 30 days if not held up by bureaucracy).

All the happy hour drinks are $5 - three kinds of wine, a bottled and draught beer and two cocktails both made with Soju.  Soju is a distilled beverage, described as Korean sake, that has a high alcohol content equivalent to vodka. Solaire is quite creative in using Soju until the liquor license comes through.  They have a full menu of Soju cocktails that sounded interesting - they usually run about $8, so the happy hour cocktails are a good savings.

The two happy hour cocktails are the Santa Cruz 75 and the Paradox Cosmopolitan.  I started with the Santa Cruz 75 which is a champagne cocktail made with Soju, elder flower simple syrup, fresh lemon and a top of prosecco. While I was waiting for the cocktail, another staff member brought a glass of water which they filled on a regular basis without asking!  Love it.
 

The Santa Cruz 75 was quite refreshing, but I am a Spumanti girl, so it was not quite sweet enough for my tastes.  Next I tried the Paradox Cosmopolitan which was absolutely delicious and you didn’t even miss the vodka.

They have a nice selection of bar appetizers for $5: crispy wings, white cheddar mac and cheese, beer braised meatballs, wonton prawns, fried Castroville artichoke hearts and Monterey Bay calamari.   The food is listed on the menus as being fresh, local, organic, cage free, free range and sustainable food.

We asked the bartender for his recommendation which was for the meatballs and mac and cheese, but we went for the Fire Sauce chicken wings, Wonton prawns and the Calamari.  Josephine had had the meatballs before and said they were yummy.

While we waited for our food, we talked with the staff about the various art pieces which include LED lights installed over the bar that match the night sky when the owner’s twin grandchildren were born.  We will have to come back in the evening to see it lit up.  There is a nice fireplace with chairs and the lamps above all of the restaurant tables are made of twigs.
 

On my way to the restroom, I discovered shelves of books all wrapped in plain white paper –which reminded me of the way we used to cover textbooks in grade schools.  The concept is not to judge a book by its cover.  I had fun pulling out a few volumes and found a variety of reading material from Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickelby, the Diary of Cleopatra as well as books I wasn’t familiar with.  There was comfortable seating nearby and I could see curling up with a cocktail, feet up on a stump table, perusing some of the books.  I loved this touch.

  

When I got back our food had arrived.  Neither Josephine nor I were impressed with the Won Ton shrimp, but the chicken wings were tasty.  I was very happy with the calamari. It was a generous serving size and had both the rings and the tentacles flash fried.  There were a few fried fresh green beans included, that were so tasty we thought they could be their own appetizer.   The calamari came with a citrus aioli that was absolutely delicious.  One of the staff members brought us a spicy dipping sauce which tried as well and Jo was happy with the plain cocktail sauce.  Overall, the food was quite tasty and satisfying.

We had given our J & J Buzz card to one of the staff, so the manager Andrea came over to talk with us about the restaurant and hotel.  They have a lot of plans and really want to connect with the locals’ scene.  I was curious about the rooms at the hotel, so she got a key and showed us one on the first floor. 
 

Outside all the rooms are comfortable lounge chairs and the requisite stump table.  The rooms were very nice inside.  They included a wall with natural wood paneling, a lamp with a natural wood base and I’m sure there was a stump table in there as well.  The room had flat screen TV, free Wi-Fi , nice bedding and two complimentary bath robes.  The room was very comfortable and not your typical hotel room.
 

Andrea took us back to the pool area and showed us the tree which inspired the design of the hotel. One of the plaster squirrels was frisking on the stump table and we were told her name is Simone and she is the hotel mascot.  There are cabanas that you can rent for groups and they are thinking of opening up the pool to locals for a $20.00 a day, during the summer.  So, if you want a quick escape to lounge poolside, this could be your place.

Overall – I was impressed with Solaire – I like that happy hour goes until 7:00 Sunday through Thursday, the service was excellent and attentive, the food and drinks were delicious at reasonable prices and the ambience was unique and entertaining.  All they need is their liquor license. I left feeling  the intoxicating buzz of a new happy hour discovery.   I will definitely be back to try the other appetizer offerings and can’t wait ‘til they have a full bar.  I say check it out!!

Julie’s Rating:  4.5 shots!

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 Jo's Review:

The Solaire Restaurant & Bar is located in the new exquisite Hotel Paradox  off of Ocean Ave., the main strip into town from highway 17. A lot of detail has gone into putting this hotel, restaurant & bar together.  The whole theme of the building is based on a  tree that is located near the pool area. When you walk into the lobby  the front desk is a large tree trunk, very stunning . As you walk through to the restaurant you pass a beautiful glass panel enclosure of the redwood forest, a conference room by the looks, it has a very warm and calm feeling to it.  The restaurant and bar area has a hostess station also made up of a tree trunk and a long flowing sculpture of tree branches making waves as it moves down the walk way to the pool area.  

I was clicking pictures left and right and it seemed like a very natural thing to do there because all of the staff would just smile at me and if they caught my attention explain about the different sculptures and art work, and the idea behind it. All of the staff were very friendly and attentive.  While I waited for Julie to arrive, the bartender was asking me what I wanted. I hadn't even looked a t the menu yet so he offered water which I gladly accepted. 

They are still waiting on their full liquor license so for now they have a few specialty cocktails, beer and wine.  The cocktails are made with a Soju drink, a type of Korean sake. Julie started with the Santa Cruz 75. This drink was served in a champagne glass, I didn't taste it but Julie seemed to like it. I had the house Cabernet sauvignon, a generous pour which is always appreciated when ordering wine. I hate those giant glasses of wine with a sip of wine in them. Food wise they had a great selection.  We went for the chicken wings that had 3 different sauces to choose from. I chose the hot one (I happen to be a connoisseur of chicken wings being an east coast girl brought up close to Buffalo NY), so I have high standards when it comes to chicken wings. 

We also ordered the Won Ton Prawns and the fired Calamari. The wings were great, very tasty, they had a nice crunch and were juicy inside. The sauce was hot , but not too hot, I wish it had come with some blue cheese or ranch to dip with and you really need a celery stalk or 2 for garnish. The fried prawns were o.k. but it had too much breading on it and not enough flavor. The calamari was very good with both the tubes and tentacles . A citric aioli was served with the calamari that Julie just went crazy for and it was good, but I prefer the standard cocktail sauce for my calamari, also yummy. The owner suggested the chipotle sauce with the calamari which we tried.  It was good, had a nice little kick to it.

We munched and laughed with big smiles on our faces and after another glass of wine for me and the Paradox Cosmopolitan for Julie, we were happy with a nice buzz going on. Julie's drink came in a  martini glass with a twist.  It was nice, Julie prefers a sweeter drink but I liked that fact that it wasn't that sweet.

All in all it was a very nice happy hour.  The bar is next to the pool and part of the bar extends outside so you could sit out there and enjoy happy hour as well.  They had an event going on at the time so we couldn't sit there this time but next time ( and there will definitely be a next time). The food was tasty, the drinks good and the atmosphere warm and inviting. I look forward to visiting the Solaire Restaurant & Bar again when they have their full liquor license (should be around July) to see what fancy drink cocktails they will come up with.

Jo's rating 4 shots!