Reception Bar — A Girl's Guide to Drinking Alone

45 Orchard St btw Grand and Hester Sts, Lower East Side

The Place: A Korean soju bar that feels too cool for me to be here.

The Time: Tuesday April 26, 6:30pm. I’m meeting a friend for dinner nearby and decided to stop somewhere for a drink first on this rainy night. I know very little about soju, a Korean rice spirit, so Reception Bar seemed like a good choice to have a cocktail and maybe learn something. Drinking can be educational too, okay?!

The Vibe: It’s a small space with a big horseshoe bar in the middle. Most of the seating is made of booths, and they’ve got a nice outdoor seating area too. Everything is rounded: round bar, round windows, round lamps, round bar stools. There are lots of big billowy plants everywhere. There are three people at the bar: a duo at one end, and a solo woman on a laptop with a cocktail nearby. Two people appear to be working here; making drinks, serving tables, mixing something in a giant cambro. There are pictures from what seems like a disposable camera on the two columns in the bar which adds a bit of a fun, hangout-y feel, like we’re in someone’s college housing. I’m kind of assaulted by the music though - it’s some loud intersection of rock and EDM and it’s really aggressive. I feel like either I should be in a video game, or on drugs, or in a video game on drugs, instead of trying to drink a cocktail and read a book at a bar on a quiet Tuesday night.

The Bartender: She’s kind of gruff and unwelcoming but she’s just doing her job, I get it. I don’t know much about soju and I would ask her a lot of questions but she’s clearly not interested in engaging in conversation. The staff is kind of clumped together in a corner with maybe other members of staff not currently working, and the guy at the end of the bar is also in the group. Does everyone work here? Do they know each other from other places? Am I actually in someone’s college housing? I don’t know but the left side of the room is clearly not a part of it.

The Drank: The menu is made up almost exclusively of soju-based cocktails (with a lot of house-made soju infusions) and it seems like they don’t have any other liquor, which is pretty amazing for a cocktail bar in NYC. I choose the Matcha Meadow, and the bartender kind of scoffed when I ordered it, so I guess it’s a pretty basic order? (Like, don’t judge me for getting a drink off your menu, it’s not as if I tried to order a vodka soda.) The cocktail is made of matcha soju, Korean pear shrub and sparkling jasmine. It tastes strongly of matcha but is still light and tart, the way I always want a matcha latte to be but it isn’t because it’s just tea and nut milk. At one point, I take too big of a sip because it’s so easy to drink and some of the matcha powder garnish gets stuck in my throat and I cough loudly and my eyes water and I can feel all 10 people in here look at me like I must have COVID.

Was I Hit On?: No, I’m left so alone that it’s almost lonely. It starts to fill up around 7: a duo next to me at the bar, a friend meets another friend right behind me, the “staff” in the corner are still having a grand ol’ time. And everyone is hot and well-dressed and somehow comes in from the rain not looking like a drowned rat. At one point, I overhear a guy say “I don’t date people in my neighborhood,” and when his friends ask why, he just says, “I know myself.” Wow, if only we could all have the confidence of someone who can eliminate an entire neighborhood from their dating-search preferences because they know they’re hot shit.

Should You Drink Here Alone?: For me, Reception Bar didn’t feel very, well, receptive. After one drink and half an hour, I get the vibe that I’m not cool enough to be here, and once I get that sense, I kind of just want to leave. This isn’t the bar’s fault, and could just be a reflection of my own headspace, but there are too many other places to drink in this city where I don’t feel like an unwanted freshman at a senior party.