Friday, June 01, 2012

Farewell to Fruit Bat

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 Early this morning the owner of Fruit Bat (and Church and State, and Wisdom) sent out the email below announcing plans to close Fruit Bar and open a new bar in the space with a different concept.

Dear Fellow Drinkers, We opened Fruit Bat two years ago as a way to share my Colombian heritage through fresh South American cocktails and food. It was a fun experiment, a fusion of great drinks and complementary cuisine. H Street NE continues to evolve, and I'm eager to build a new idea. Saturday, June 9th, will be Fruit Bat's last night. We'd love for you to join us to celebrate and say goodbye to Fruit Bat. Beginning next Tuesday, June 5th, we're offering every drink in the bar for $5 from 5-7 p.m. and Summer Punch for $4 all night, every night until we close. Sincere thanks to all our patrons who have dined and drunk with us over the last two years.
We will close for renovation and reopen July 1st. To welcome the new concept, we will hold several private opening parties the first week. Please stop by Fruit Bat next week to add your name to the guest list! If you'd like to track our progress, we invite you to follow us on twitter @mysterybardc. Church & State, upstairs at 1236 H, will be open during renovation and will now be open Tuesday-Saturday. Follow @churchstatedc to get info about upcoming events and specials for the summer. We are humbled that Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur extraordinaire and owner of Virgin Airlines, named Church & State his favorite place to get a drink in DC. Come try our new "Seven Deadly Sins" - the cocktail menu that satisfies even jet-setting billionaires! If you would like additional information about the exciting changes afoot, please e-mail DCWisdom@gmail.com.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hopefully the food prices will match the laughable portions this time....

Anonymous said...

I can't believe it lasted this long. The drinks were absolutely disgusting, the ordering process was confusing, and the concept got muddled. I can't imagine Church & State is doing any better.

I'm sure the owner is a nice guy and all but as far as I can tell he's a self-proclaimed mixology "genius" who charges $12 for practically undrinkable cocktails. It's a good space, however, so I hope they are able to reinvent it and do something interesting.

Anonymous said...

I'm not normally super picky with drinks, but they were SO inconsistent. The first drink I got was wayyyy too weak/just tasted like juice (which annoys me for the price). The 2nd was so strong it was barely drinkable, and I like strong drinks. The food was just okay. Nothing bad, nothing that'd bring me back.

Anonymous said...

This place was solid when Roxanne and Sandrea worked behind the bar, they made great drinks and kept it live friendly. They also made great drinks!! The place went down hill fast once they no longer worked there, too bad. I hope the owner well with the new concept.

Anonymous said...

Went there once for drinks and was put off by bad service (even though the place was mostly empty) and the prices.

Anonymous said...

Have always had bad service at Fruit Bat, drinks were inconsistent, yet oddly, I always liked whatever appetizer I got. I kept going back because it was often convenient to pass the time waiting for a table for dinner elsewhere on the block...

Still, for a place that suposedly specializes in cocktails, they were suprisingly inconsistent... same with Church and State, which the last time I visited on a Thursday night was empty and the bartender served us our cocktails from pre-made pitchers, which was kind of gross. I mean, we were the only customers for a 45-minute stretch, and she couldn't mix the ingredients fresh???

Tennessee Ave said...

I don't understand Church and State at all. The cocktail prices are as high as any in the city, and the quality is absolutely not there in the least. I enjoy the space, and the staff has been friendly, but they simply can't or don't deliver on the quality that they profess to provide.

I'll admit that I'm not a fan of extremely fruity cocktails, so I didn't frequent Fruit Bat, but I hope that whatever they put in there is better than their current two establishments.

Anonymous said...

Totally agree with Tennessee Ave-- super expensive, terrible drinks. I love a martini and have given these guys numerous chances, but after having to literally choke down a basic martini gone horribly wrong (craft vermouth? please) on my last visit I decided that was it for me. I just don't get it.

The menu is so overblown it's difficult to even understand what's going on to even reach the point to order your terrible drink.

The space and staff are super nice, though. Too bad they fail at the thing that matters most.

Trinidaddy said...

mr diabeetus says nooooo to fruit bat!

Anonymous said...

In defense of C&S, I've had some excellent drinks, and really enjoyed it, especially soon after they opened. More recently it has been rather empty, and based on these comments, maybe that's why. I think it all comes down to who is behind the bar. Must be hard to keep things consistent night after night if your mixologists are leaving or whatever.