UNFUNNY REVIEW ALERT:

The Pikey recently opened up in my neighborhood, replacing not one but two of my favorite haunts.

The old, craggy, smelly standby Coach and Horses and my favorite Indian food in LA, Curry Palace.

Coach was a dumpy dive and the locals loved it. Apparently, not enough cuz it’s gone.

Everytime I dined at Curry Palace, I was the ONLY one in there. It was so quiet you could hear a samosa drop. I’m shocked it stayed in business this long.

But I could walk to both places and this benefit trumped any issues I had with quality control.

While completely changing Curry Palace into a hip, upscale British pub on one side, they kept the aesthetic of Coach and Horses on the other side by keeping it dark, red, dive bar-ish. Just cleaned up and given a burlesque facelift.

Well, that’s what I gathered from the 5 seconds I poked my head in there. I saw animal horns on the wall, not sure if that’s a common stripper wall adornment.

I do appreciate the Gemini-ness of the Pikey’s split personalities.

While the burger and welsh rarebit were quite tasty (the burger was a tad rare for my liking), the cocktails were the main attraction.

Between Sonigram and myself, we tried three creative libations which were all equally delicious. If you go, get the Caravan. A rum and pineapple drink with habanero-infused peach bitters that’s out of this world.

My one suggestion, folks at the Pikey. Get a happy hour. And soon.

You’re not on a stretch of Sunset that can really demand $14 cocktail prices on a regular basis, especially when there’s El Compadre across the street where you can get a flaming margarita for almost half that.

7617 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 850-5400
http://www.thepikeyla.com