Fez
Sitting on Agua's rooftop in Nali Patio, the relocated Fez is a more modest creature than the original bar above Agua's now-defunct Ch'ien Men 23 location. Where the original Fez had Bedouin-style booths to chill in, the Nali bar is restricted to more traditional table-and-chair arrangements. As a strictly summertime venue, Agua offers a quieter rooftop drink than the overflowing Migas terrace. The house specialty cocktails are drawn from drinks lists at the Aqua group’s Hong Kong and London venues. Try the Zacapa Pear, made with 23-year-old rum, Spanish sherry, bitters and fresh pear, or the Basilico, combining vodka, lemon, basil and blackberry liquor. There's also a selection of infused rums and vodkas. The view of 3.3’s advertising hoardings may only be a small improvement on being indoctrinated into the cult of Apple on the Blue Frog terrace, but sitting at the bar and watching bartenders deftly mixing cocktails against the backdrop of Sanlitun Village and beyond is intoxicating. It’s what Lost in Translation might have turned out like if Tom Cruise had been Bill Murray’s bartender.
Location
- Sanlitun 三里屯
- 6/F, Nali Patio, 81 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District
- 朝阳区三里屯路81号那里花园6层
- Sun-Thu 5pm-1am, Fri-Sat 5pm-2am
- 5208 6188, 5208 6198
- Chinese bank cards accepted
- ¥¥¥ 50-80 per person
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Map of Fez
User reviews of Fez
Poor Quality, Bad Value
- Joined: Oct 28th, 2008
- Posts: 19
Review of Fez
Don't get me wrong, the rooftop bar is a great place to relax and is very well decorated. First of all, I know that when I go to Fez, I am not going to get a value or a bargain, but that's fine because I am going for the atmosphere. But if I am going to pay 65-75 RMB for a drink, the drink better be awesome. However, the drinks at Fez are disappointing. I ordered a White Russian, and the amount of drink that was given to me was pitifully small. My friend ordered a frozen margarita. He was brought out a non-frozen margarita that was not even full to the top. And only half the rim was salted. He told the water to take it back and make it frozen, and of course the waiter brought it back 5 minutes later with a little bit of crushed ice poured into the drink. That was an unacceptable solution, and does not qualify as a frozen margarita. If this problem was due to a language barrier, then the staff needs to have more English training. Also, it's really annoying when you get your drinks and then the waiter rudely tells you that you must "pay now". Doesn't the management understand that I don't want to be hassled to keep paying for each individual drink? The manager/owners are foreigners! It doesn't give me much incentive to order another drink if I have to pay separately for each one. Just bring the bill at the end!
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Utter Disappointment!
- Joined: Jun 9th, 2005
- Posts: 1,284
Review of Fez
I really had high expectations of this place considering how much i enjoyed their previous incarnation. But I was left sorely wanting!
We went there as a group of 7 this past monday to enjoy the patio and a few drinks. We got there about 11:40 and the place was fairly quiet with 3 tables if even. We were promptly seated and orders taken.. no problem up to now... then the waiting game started!
The cocktails trickled in one by one and 6 of us had drinks after 15 to 20mn... as we were celebrating, we kept waiting til everyone had a drink to be able to toast, bad mistake! The final drink, a good old Mojito, took an extra 20mn to be delivered... All 7 of us had cocktails by 12:30
I wouldn't mind if the place was busy but they had more staff than customers at that point.
The waitress, when asked, threw in a half hearted "bu hao yisi" and walked away. She came back 2 mn later calling last call... we barely got all the drinks. No thanks, we replied. This prompted a "can you pay now" at this point we were getting a bit frustrated... for 70rmb per cocktail, i expect them to be served promptly, with good service and not to be watered down. I also do not want my bill slapped on the table.
when we asked for the manager, the reply was, and i quote: " Manager went home, can you pay now" We were in too good of a mood to start arguing, finished off the glasses and skipped over to first floor where service, drinks, prices were all better.
That kind of experience is unexcusable as well as unacceptable in a place that positions themselves at the high spectrum of drinks in Sanlitun:
- It doesn't take 20mn to make a mojito, especially when there's 3 people behind the bar and a wait staff of 10 or so on the floor. - Even if the manager has gone home, there should be someone in charge
- 1 out of the 7 drinks came out alright. Complaints about all the other drinks from a usually relaxed crowd do mean something. For that price, i expect better!
- The drinks tasted watered down with the Mai Tais tasting like light fruit juice. A simple Hendrick's Tonic turned out to be a complicated affair when we asked the staff for a slice of cucumber that traditionally goes with it.....
Not likely to ever set foot over there again which is a shame because the terrace was cool.
shame..
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Keep the rooftops coming
- Joined: Apr 22nd, 2008
- Posts: 24
Review of Fez
It is impossible not to compare this place to Migas right next to it. But with fez i think they have really stepped it up a notch when it comes to rooftops in Sanlitun. The layout and area is quite nice and perfect for just chatting with friends with a good drink or two, three.
But, the drinks is the lowpoint, they dont reach up to apo, qbar or dlounge standards unfortunately. Anyways, if I wanna go to a rooftop in Nali Patio and not be pushed around by drunk kids id rather pick fez over migas anyday.
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