Being without a car, a visit to Anglers Bar and Restaurant, located in the hard to access purgatory of Redemption Road, has always been a steep order — like the steps to which one descends onto its dining area. In my mind, it’s always been a spot that is quite trendy, but exhibits culinary inferiority in comparison to Golden Beach, from which its coastal location is separated by the Executive Mansion and UNMIL’s Pan-African Plaza.
I had been to Anglers several months back. Then, I consumed a canned vegetable pizza that was on the outer fringes of acceptability while my dining partner made very minimal inroads on flaccid noodles masquerading as some sort of spaghetti — I can only suspect she was being charitable when she noted that she did not have a hearty appetite that evening.
The meal did not leave much in the way of inducements to consider navigating Anglers’ accessibility issues in the future. Yet when I heard — from another expat, of course — that a Friday happy hour offered bottomless draft beer and unlimited wings for $20, I was all in.
Joined by co-workers, we looked forward to an evening of revelry induced by the time-honored staples of male bonding, chicken munching, and beer quaffing.
The chicken wings came in two flavors – BBQ and hot. The BBQ was tolerable, on par for someone with modest expectations. The hot left a mildly disappointing sensation in one’s taste buds, eliciting echoes of a time I accidentally consumed a canned tamale with the wrapping parchment still on. Lightly breaded and simmered in a tomato sauce with very mild spice, it fell rather short of matching the smoky, savory sensation of its BBQ counterpart.
The draft beer leads me to a similarly mixed verdict. Served in pitchers with a tube of ice to keep it chilled, it was refreshing, but a bit limp. One of my dining companions ventured that it may have been cut with water. It was certainly not at the level of quality of draft beer available at FuZion D’Afrique or Sajj House. Nonetheless, we all got a bit of a buzz off it.
The service was okay – a bit slow at times, but over the course of the three hours for which the happy hour was valid, I got my fill. The house DJ was enthusiastically spinning tunes that seemed to have been released before Samuel Doe ever suspected that he would one day govern Liberia. When we departed soon after the happy hour expired at 10 p.m., the DJ had ratcheted up the volume on his speakers, making conversation a bit strained.
Anglers’ happy hour would get me to navigate its accessibility issues again, but only on an occasional basis. For the most part, I’d prefer to stick with its neighbor, Golden Beach, which despite being significantly less stylish, more than compensates with superior quality.
Featured photo by Jefferson Krua
