Bar/Club

From Capitol Hill nightlife guru Linda Derschang — the bleached-blond, fishnet-garbed iconoclast behind the terrific Capitol Club, Baltic Room and Linda's Tavern — comes Viceroy, a cozy Belltown ultra-lounge that looks like Henry Mancini's records sound.

The 1960s modern furniture, the dark walls and mirrors, and the boar's head mounted on the wall conspire to make you feel like you're somehow trapped in a Peter Sellers film, or any one of a number of bars in modern-day New York.

Unfortunately, the cocktails almost break the reverie. For every well-made, new libation — the Singapore Sling variant named for architect Rem Koolhaas is a winner — there's an old-school blunder: A simple Tom Collins is mixed with something that tastes a hell of a lot like powdered lemonade.

The crowd at Viceroy is young, too young to remember who Henry Mancini was, or to know if a classic cocktail is incorrectly mixed. Our advice is to make your order as explicit as possible; the bartenders are pretty sharp and can pull off a good drink if you guide them through it. If that sounds like too much trouble, just order a basic martini, settle in with the sexy and aloof hipster crowd, and wait for the Pink Panther to come home.

By Geoff Carter
NWsource staff