Happy
Hour M-Fri
4 to 6, Sun
4 to Closing!!
$1
off well liquor, house wine, draft beers
Appetizers:
$3
The Wedge
$4: Sliders: (Angus, Pork or Meatloaf) Fries :(
Garlic, Sweet Potato, Regular) or Bruschetta
$5:
Calamari, Chicken Wings
$6:
Three Chicken or Beef skewers with dipping sauce
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Julie's Review
The
Point Chophouse is located on Portola drive and has been there for about six
years. When Jo told me they had happy
hour on Sundays all night long, I was ready to go. It had been a rather intense day with a
healing circle and a friend’s memorial service, so I was ready to have a little
happy hour time.
Walking
into the bar at The Point has a definitely local feel. There are sport screens behind the bar and a
football game was playing. It has an
older crowd and you get the sense that these are faithful regulars.
I
met Ryan our bar tender and he explained about the happy hour specials. I ordered a well rum and coke and he quickly
brought my glass of water as well. By
that time Jo had arrived.
I was having technical difficulties with
taking pictures on my phone. I’m out of
storage, since I have so many photos. Jo
had her camera, but it was low on batteries.
I brought out a brand new pack of dollar store batteries, but the camera
still said low batteries. Sarah the other bartender nicely took the batteries
out of the remote TV and those seemed to help.
We don’t have a lot of good photos from this episode of the Buzz. Not a photogenic night, either!
Jo
and I looked over the appetizer menus.
During happy hour you have a range of appetizers, between $3 - $6. Jo and I were particularly excited about The
Wedge which is a wedge of Romaine lettuce with blue cheese and bacon for only
$3. It is rare to find a salad or
anything that is green and not deep fried on a happy hour menu. We ordered The Wedge, the wings, the calamari
and two angus sliders.
Jo
had brought the reindeer antlers, so we put them on to bring on the holiday
cheer. It’s become an annual
tradition. Jo ordered the house wine and
stuck with wine all night.
Our
food arrived shortly. My favorite was
The Wedge. Cut into chunks, it made a
nice little salad. The chicken wings
were sweet and tasty, but there were only five, which seemed a bit skimpy, even
for a happy hour. The sliders were okay,
nothing to write home about however. The
calamari was pretty basic. Overall, I
would rate the food as standard and reasonably priced.
I
had a gin and tonic next and Jo had another glass of wine. The drinks were strong and tasty. I was disappointed however, that there wasn’t
a fancier drink special. I’ve been
spoiled by other happy hours like Hulas or Cafe Lucio where you can get a
froufrou drink for $5.
The
service was good. Ryan was friendly, but
not overly engaged . Sarah was helpful,
but we were left up to our own devices.
The
atmosphere at the Point didn’t do much for me, not being a sports fan and there
wasn’t much in the way of eye candy for this old cougar. What are we doing hanging out with the old folks? It was easy to lose track of time. Being inside The Point made me think it was
10 at night when it was really only 7:00 p.m.
It felt like a smoky local bar without the
smoke.
In
its favor, an all-night Sunday happy hour combined with a salad on the HH menu
is worth an honorable mention. If you
are out and about in Live Oak on a Sunday evening looking for a bite to eat and
a drink, pop into the Point. Otherwise,
what’s The Point, eh?
Julie’s
rating: 3.5 shots
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Jo's review
The Point Chophouse is a fine restaurant and bar located
on Portola dr. in what we refer to as the Live Oak area of Santa Cruz. I have
lived on this end of town for most of my time here in Santa Cruz. I like this
area a lot.
So Julie and I are trying to get one more happy hour in
before the holiday season and trying to find time has been challenging. So
kudos to The Point for having happy hour on a Sunday from 4pm to closing. It
was a cold and cloudy day and I was very happy on my couch catching up on my
programs, but happy hour calls us and must answer. I run a few errands and get
there to meet Julie early so I decided to take a walk down 30th to
the beach and back. It’s nice to see all the different Christmas lights out in
this funky little cottage beach area. I get back just in time to meet Julie.
The Point use to be The Portola House. It has stayed with
it’s traditional history of a steak house.
The place is dimly lit with a nice long bar, some booth seating as well
as tables and chairs. Julie’s at the bar chatting up the bartender Ryan and I start
in snapping pictures of the place. I’m having technically difficulties with the
camera today, all of my batteries are dead.
Julie has some she just bought and
they wouldn’t work either so the other bartender Sarah graciously give up some batteries in
one of the remotes they aren’t using and that seems to work at least for a bit
so we are a little light in the picture department this time around. We start
right in on the menu and decide on wings (of course), calamari, beef sliders
and the wedge. I was pleasantly surprised to see a salad on the appetizer menu,
not something you see often.
I decide to go with wine for the evening and Julie
has her rum and coke to start.
The place has what appears to be a regular crowd and most
everyone’s watching the game. Once the food arrives we dig in. The wings are
ok, a little sweet for me and not that many.
The calamari is tender with all
the right dipping sauces. I think I enjoyed
the sliders the most, juicy and the bun was nice and soft. I guess when you go
to a steak house the beef is probably the best thing to order. I could of gone
for a big burger. They actually had a burger and beer special on Sunday nights
as well.
So the point is a fine place to go for happy hour. I
wouldn’t jump up and down about it but it was nice, food was fine and we had a
good time. I believe that’s what happy hour is all about.
Jo’s rating: 3 shots
