El Chupacabra

To this day I have trouble saying the name “El Chupacabra.” It’s also difficult to type, so I’m just going to refer to this place as “El Chup.” With the phonetics out of the way, I have to say the West Seattle El Chup happy hour was one of the saddest hours of drinking I’ve experienced.

Neighborhood/s: West Seattle (where El Chup was reviewed), Phinney Ridge

Food: So……El Chup does not offer happy hour food. That’s right–nothing. My handsome companion and I decided to split some $8 nachos anyway. While the addition of  fresh avocado was lovely, the nachos were pretty ho hum. Luckily, the table was furnished with an array of hot sauces, so I was able to douse my chips with Cholula and all was well.

Drinks:  $1 off wells and draft beers. Another El Chup let down. No hh margaritas?!? Not even a cheap glass of wine? Come on, guys throw me a freakin’ drink here! I ended up going with Elysian’s Night Owl Pumpkin Ale, which was fabulous, but those props go to Elysian, not El Chup.

Atmosphere: Picture this: a trendy tex mex restaurant/bar on Alki Beach, which offers arguably the best view in all of Seattle. You’d think the hh time slot on a Friday evening would be pretty popular. Alas, my dashing date and I were one of only 2 or 3 couples in the entire place. PERHAPS if El Chup put a little effort into their hh menu they might attract a few more locals and even make some extra cash. Novel idea.

Service: Our server was nice and attentive. I noticed that despite the fact that there were so few people in the restaurant there were 4 servers standing around waiting for patrons. Again, if you pour it (and take off a buck or two) they will come.

The Happiest (sort of) Hours: 4pm to 6pm and 10pm to Midnight

Website: El Chupacabra does not have a website. I think it is pretty ridiculous to run a business in the year 2012 without a website. They do offer a Facebook and a MySpace (does that seriously still exist??) page with limited information.

While the W. Seattle El Chup has the potential to be amazing, I think their real downfall is being a little too cool for school. They could stand to cater towards the customer a bit more: a better happy hour with discounted food and drinks. Also a jump into the 21st Century with an actual website would be a good thing.