Wallingford Washington’s Babalu

Babalu is a place that I would not choose to go to on my own.  I don't really have a reason or desire to go into a place that looks so plush on the inside and so much like a cheap cookie-cutter copy of a night club on the outside.  It was my friend's birthday, so I obliged along with four others.  Immediately upon entering, around 7 or 8 pm, we were met at the bar by a very friendly bartender who was extremely eager to sell us the most expensive booze on the shelf.  After we assured him that all we wanted were a couple mixers and a couple of shots, he tried to sell us on the idea of doing multiple rounds of tequila shots.  Not just once, but numerous times.  It got a little annoying having a bartender act like a used car salesman, but we got our drinks and found a seat near the old fireplace. 

The interior is orange.  Everything is orange or has some sort of orange glow to it.  The seats were leather but all vertical surfaces were upholstered in quilted orange leather.  I thought the atmosphere would be nice if I was looking for something a little swank or a little pretentious, but I tried to just stay focused on the conversation.  The drinks were pretty good, average I'd say.  We lingered and talked for about an hour and every 15 minutes or so the same car salesman bartender would appear and ask us if we wanted more alcohol.  It was getting pretty bad at that point so we decided to leave.

We were again met at the bar by the sale alcohol salesman and each rung up.  The cheapest price for anything involving hard alcohol was $8.  $8 for a well gin and tonic, $8 for a well rum and coke.  But it gets better.  The minimum amount any person can charge t their credit card there is $10, thus either forcing a $2 tip or another drink upon you.  But we were smarter than that.  Since we all had one drink, we paired up and decided to settle out each $16 bill separately.  We'd take care of who owed who a drink later that night, at least it got us out of the forced tip or second drink debaukle.  The bartender didn't seem very pleased but there was nothing he could do but happily ring us up. 

I would say that the ringing up went smoothly except for the fact that the bartender got distracted by a pretty face and decided to help her before he finished ringing up any of our bills.  It wasn't the fact that making her drink would likely take less than 30 seconds, and therefore we would be able to wait as he served her between credit card swipes, it was just annoying that the bartender spent a good 2 minutes talking to her instead of focusing on the task at hand.  None of us were pleased, and in the end, I honestly think that none of us will ever go back in the foreseeable future.  I highly recommend that anyone looking for good drinks, a good value, great service, or great ambiance