Forget the drinks for a moment, because the first thing that grabs you upon entering the lobby of the Monterey Tides hotel is not the menu of fresh cocktails and gastropub bar bites. It’s the floor-to-ceiling windows with an expansive view of Monterey Bay, waves crashing just below you through the panes.
This, thankfully, remains unchanged. Ongoing renovations most recently impacted the lobby bar from December until April 26, when it reopened. (The physical space is relatively unchanged. There are updated decorations and furniture, but the major features – those windows! – remain untouched.)
What is new is the cocktail menu, currently in testing mode. The Moon Light Affair is brisk and refreshing, shaken and served up. This bar has long done an excellent job of executing fruit-forward drinks (in this case, passionfruit) without making them too sweet. The scotch is obscured, but that’s OK because cucumber, lemon and elderflower offer lively tones.
Lively is perhaps the best description of the test drink menu. A nonalcoholic raspberry lemonade is similarly fruity but sour and bright, not too sweet.
Construction continues, with piles of lumber in the outdoor extension of the lobby bar. This hotel, perched precariously on the beach over rising sea levels, is one of those places that could never be built today. Its very existence is a relic of another time, but its drink menu is definitely of the moment.