Happy Hour Review - Xtra's Cafe

Xtra’s Café was listed as one of the top 15 best new restaurants in the January issue of Richmond Magazine, so I had to try it.  I have walked by this place a bunch of times.  It is above the bead shop on Cary St. kind of across from Mary Angela’s. 

The thing I like about this place is that they really do have a Happy Hour spceial, every weeknight from 4:00-7:30pm, $5 glasses of house wine, $1 off draft beers, and $3.50 well drinks.  They also have a different special every night of the week, like $10-$20 Sparkling Wine Wednesdays and $3 Blue Hawaiins on Fridays.   No messing around, they want to attract people to happy hour and they will with what they are offering.

We were there on a Tuesday night, which is ½ price wine bottle night.  I can’t drink a bottle of wine unless I am ordering dinner, so we passed on that.  We each got a drink and shared one of their unique appetizers, the “Savory Crème Brule”.  The bartender had to warn us because it is served cold and I would never have expected that. We are still a little baffled at how that worked.  It came out looking just like a Crème Brule, with the sugared torched top, but when you break the shell, it is melted “cheddar” underneath.  It was served with granny smith apples and garlic crustini.  I really enjoyed it.  My husband says he thinks it is cheez wiz, with some seasoning.  I guess we will never know.

The other nice thing about this place is the patrons were really friendly.  It was busy, but not overcrowded.  We had couples on both sides of us with an empty chair in between.  When one of the couple’s two friends joined them, we all jumped up to make room.  It was a good feeling that you don’t always get when fighting for seats at the bar at some of the more crowded spots.  I would say this place is good for small groups, a girl’s night or a low key guy’s night or a casual drink with your significant other.

Also, did you know that they serve PBR in a bottle?  I sure didn’t, but the guy next to us had one and it was on the drink menu for $2.50.  Photo credit.