For those of you who are adamant that Thanksgiving be celebrated thoroughly before the Christmas decorations go up and Mariah Carey hits the radio, this may not be the review for you. Go enjoy your (probably dry) turkey, you Scrooge.
For everyone else with Christmas cheer and a love for themed pop-up bars, boy, do we have some good news for you.
Mariah Carey’s Black Irish Holiday Bar is now open and slinging festive holiday food and drinks at the Virgin Hotel.
From now until Dec 29, you can join in on the fun for $20 per 90-minute time slot. Wait, don’t click out. That $20 guarantees you a free drink upon entry.
Sure, there are lots of Instagram ops in Dallas, but how many with the Queen of Christmas?
Jordan Maddox
With cocktails topping $18 each these days, you can girl math that to be the cost of the free drink and a tip. So, you actually get in for free if you think about it hard enough.
The ambiance is incredible — you’ll definitely want to dress on theme and snap some Instagram-worthy photos.
The amount of tinsel dangling delicately from the ceiling is tasteful. You never thought you’d see that sentence, did you? Yes, the tinsel decorations actually add a moody and elevated flare to the space.
You can even send your holiday wish list to the Queen of Christmas by inscribing your desires on a postcard and dropping it into a little red mailbox inside the bar.
With multiple photo ops and no shortage of beautiful cocktails, your social media will look impeccable after one visit.
Obviously, the shining star of the experience is the cocktail menu, which is chock-full of drinks centered around Carey’s Black Irish liquor.
We tried two drinks with Black Irish liquor: the What More Can I Do Martini and the Queen of Christmas Cocoa.
Both of these drinks were at the upper end of the price range for the cocktail list, sitting pretty at $18 a pop.
The martini, complete with Black Irish Salted Caramel Irish Cream Liqueur, Wild Turkey Bourbon 81, Borghetti Coffee Liqueur and cold brew, all rimmed with crushed chocolate covered pretzels, was a chocolate bomb. The salty pretzel brought out the caramel notes in both the Irish cream and the whiskey quite nicely. It is sweet and strong and comes in a glass with a little red bow.
The cocoa is an elevated spiked hot chocolate with Black Irish Original Irish Cream Liqueur, Jameson, cocoa and coffee. It's topped with whipped cream and sprinkles and served hot. As the temperatures slowly start to dip, this drink is a tasty, toasty treat.
Though the special cocktails range from $15 to 18, they are part of the experience. They're high-quality, tasty drinks, and both the food and drink menus are sprinkled with odes to Carey.
If you decide to go, see if you can find the Easter eggs hidden around the space and on the menus.
Though the drink menu takes center stage, the food menu is not to be ignored.
We tried two of the dishes on the menu: the crab cakes and the spicy salmon crispy rice.
Get the damn crab cakes. They will run you about $26 for two cakes, but if you have expendable cash and you want to treat yourself, this is what you’ll want to order. It is a flavor explosion. Do you know that scene in Ratatouille when the rat bites into the cheese and strawberry, and the background comes to life with swirls of color? That’s exactly what it feels like to take a bite of this dish.
With just enough spice to bring a nice heat to the dish, paired with the rich, bold flavors of the crab and the avocado-mango relish, it is definitely worth the price tag.
The spicy salmon crispy rice ($18) is light and has a little kick from the spicy salmon. We wouldn’t necessarily consider it “spicy.” As the name suggests, it is somewhat sushi-adjacent. It's a plate of multiple small squares of crispy rice topped with a creamy spicy salmon sauce and tobiko. Good, but not nearly as life-changing as the crab cakes.
Overall, we think the experience is worth a visit if you love the holidays and Mariah Carey, and if you have a bit of unneeded cash with which to treat yourself.
The pop-up lasts through Dec. 29 at 1445 Turtle Creek Blvd.
