It’s happening, people!
The Buddy the Elf pop-up bar at the Commoner is officially open… for two days, at least.
Today and tomorrow (December 13 and December 14), the Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh’s the Commoner is transforming one of the hotel’s event rooms into a winter wonderland inspired by the movie Elf, complete with a sea of sparkly snowflakes, candy cane-striped tables, festive balloon trees, fake snow, plus a life-sized holiday card, and lots of fun and tasty cocktails – and a few surprises, too. (Maple syrup spaghetti, anyone?)
The menu (see below) features cocktails like the Son of a Nutcracker, with Cap’n Crunch Crunch Berries cereal milk washed Old Grand-Dad Bonded Bourbon and Wigle Organic Maple Liqueur, en electric blue Buddy the Elf, What’s Your Favorite Color? with pineapple-infused vodka and Hawaiian Punch Berry Blue Typhoon, and the Bye Buddy, I Hope You Find Your Dad, a sweet malted hot chocolate with Génépy des Alpes and Angostura marshmallow.
The pop-up bar’s creatively-decorated interior was designed by Alexis Allen from Shayla Hawkins Event Design, and the bartender Alex Dando is responsile for the festive cocktails.
The doors to Buddy’s Bar open at 5:30 p.m. on both nights.
[pdf-embedder url=”http://goodfoodpgh.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Elf-Pop-Up-Menu-1.pdf” title=”Elf Pop Up Menu (1)”]
The Commoner (458 Strawberry Way)
Very disappointed in the Buddy the Elf Pop Bar. We waited in line for about an hour (not a big deal if it’s worth the wait) but it was not worth the wait. There was an expectation after seeing the movie and reading the marketing but it fell way short of my expectations. It looked like the the room was put together and decorated in a very short period of time. There were a few balloons, one area for a photo op (I think it was a large Christmas Card w/ two face cutouts, some paper snowflakes, and some lights. I was expecting a ridiculous amount of over the top decorations (like Buddy did w/ the dept store – obviously within reason). I think it had a lot of potential but fell short. Just my opinion but most around us had the same opinion.