Redlight Bar

I have visited twice now, once on a Thursday, once on a Friday.  Both nights were surprisingly busy and also surprising, was staffed by only one person each night.  

Redlight is a cool little bar, there is seating for about 35, and a cool menu with handmade cocktails, and interesting beer, and wine choices.  We have enjoyed the fruit and cheese boards that also include some cured meats and nuts.  

The drinks are expertly made and tasty.  The wine I have had is tasty and appreciate that they offer varied choices.

We like this little bar.  It is in a cool space (a early 20th century storefront) and, on our second visit, a very cool local band played (there was no cover for the entertainment).    We have enjoyed ourselves a great deal when we visit the Redlight and will return again.

Consistently comfortable, and kinda quirky, the redlight has become one of my favorite places for a drink and comfortable conversation.   Some original drinks, winebar style food, (in a good way), and a small, but good selection of beers.  The staff, at least on my visits, has been great.  

A great place to hang out with friends and share a bottle of wine.

I stopped in here for the first time a few weeks back and was really, really impressed with Redlight. I was so pleased with my experience here, actually, that it prompted me to download the Yelp app to my phone just so I could tell you about it. This is my first review, so please bear with me. And if you don't read to the end, no problem. Just go to the Redlight.

From the get-go, the place was comfortable: soft booths, wood floors, nice lighting.... it's a warm, good lookin' place and even though it's small (maybe almost as small as Cap's) it never felt overcrowded among the mingling of younger and older patrons.

Next, there was live music: Redlight has a good sounding room which is easy on conversation, and great for the local music that they seem to book quite regularly. That being cool in itself, the bands that were booked that evening were fantastic: The Actual Odds reminded me of a super sludgy Go Slowpoke. Very catchy. And Palisades -- B'ham's best post-punk/post-rock/post-whatever outfit -- totally rocked, too. A dance floor opened up, a little bit of beer spilled, but the good folks bartending seemed un-phased, pleased even.

Finally, and probably the most important part of a bar review: their drinks. In short,  they we're some of the best I've had in this town.  This is coming from someone who works in a bar, and ok, I'll say, drinks in bars quite often. All of my drinks were made from scratch, on the spot, and perfectly mixed too. Service was friendly, and everything came up quick considering the care put into the prep. My Whiskey Sour was made from fresh muddled citrus, not that cat pee that comes out of the gun. And my friend's Greyhound was made with 100% juice, not from concentrate. Where in Bellingham does that anymore? And my other friend's Old Fashioned was as great tasting and as good looking as an Old Fashioned oughta be. They had a wide selection of top-shelf liquor, and all of my drinks were 5 dollars, which I thought was very reasonable considering I was drinking Bulleit.

They've only been open for a year, and maybe I caught them on a particularly glowing night, but I left with the impression that Redlight really gives a shit about making decent drink at a decent price. Which makes it a great place to go as an alternative to the many other places in town slinging cheap flavored-vodka whatevers at any college kid. I definitely plan on heading back to Redlight soon, and if you haven't been, I absolutely recommend a visit. They're on State Street (near Pepper Sisters, next to Green Frog) a few blocks from Holly, but it's worth the walk.