Nightlife Review, Buffalo News, July 2006

Simme’s Martini Bar and Restaurant

You don’t often find a place like Simme’s Martini Bar and Restaurant on a little residential street in a town like Lancaster. But that’s exactly where this stylish bar and restaurant is located, a little surprise in the middle of suburbia. If you live nearby, it’s a great spot for a date or drinks with friends. If you don’t live nearby, it might just be worth the drive to switch up from your usual local nightspot.

The “restaurant” part of Simme’s Martini Bar and Restaurant might be a bigger draw for most folks – the dining room is fairly large and beautifully decorated, very much a date atmosphere. The menu ranges from casual to finer selections, and the prices, while not cheap, are reasonable. But it doesn’t appear the dinner crowd stays very late: by 10 p.m. on a Saturday night, the kitchen was closed and the dining room was empty. Outdoor seating on the second floor patio is ideal for the warm weather, but that section also closes at 10 p.m.

The bar area is much smaller, with a few clusters of tables and very limited seating at the actual bar. There may be room for ten people, and that would be cozy.

But the smallness of the bar area lends to the overall charm of the place – Simme’s clearly caters to a laidback, local atmosphere. You won’t ever fight a crowd here. Instead, it’s ideal for an evening with friends or a date, and you’ll actually be able to hear each other. The age of patrons is pretty diverse, but the youngest were in their mid-to-late twenties: a mature, easygoing clientele.

The prices at the bar are easy to live with. Generously-sized cocktails hover around $4 and domestic beers are closer to $3, and the variety of beer and wine available is impressive for such a small place. The beer they have on tap is worth the trip alone – from Newcastle to beer brewed in Springville. At a bar this size, you’d be lucky to find that kind of beer in bottles, let alone on tap.

But the real reason you come to Simme’s Martini Bar is, of course, the martinis. Ask for the thick menu, and give yourself a time to go through it. If you’re looking for any particular kind of martini, Simme’s will likely have seven or eight varieties. From classic gin to fruit or chocolate-flavored, you could spend a lot of time at Simme’s and not try everything.

Prices for the martinis range from $5.75 to $7 – not bad, especially after you’ve tasted them. The Chocolate-Covered Strawberry martini, for example, was unbelievably rich and full of distinct flavors. These are not the syrups or mixes found at other places. Simme’s clearly takes martinis very seriously. For that kind of dedication, it’s worth the drive.