A new bar opens in Raleigh’s Smoky Hollow — and there’s no tipping
A new kind of bar will open Friday night in Raleigh’s Smoky Hollow development with everything on tap.
The new Neighborhood bar opens its doors on June 28, coming from the same owners as the Spanish restaurant Madre.
Inheriting the space left by defunct brewery New Anthem, Neighborhood has put its entire drink list on tap.
There are 16 draft lines, pouring beers, wines, batched cocktails and a pair of frozen drinks — a cucumber mint margarita and Aperol spritz to start.
That means that bartenders won’t be mixing up vodka-tonics on the fly while the bar is a half-dozen people deep.
The all-draft drink lineup is a first for the Triangle, which Neighborhood co-owner Tyler Helikson said draws its inspiration from bars around the world.
“We’re doing kind of a Frankenstein of our favorite bar concepts from all over,” Helikson said.
The drink prices all include gratuity and tax, Helikson said, so the price customers see is the price they pay.
“It’s tap and go,” Helikson said. “With tipping anxiety today, we thought it was best to not have to think about it. Everything’s included.”
Beyond the drinks, Neighborhood will have a DJ opening night from 9 p.m. to midnight, plus board games, a ping pong table and weekly trivia on Wednesday nights.
“This is a spot for the community to hang out and meet friends, watch the game,” Helikson said. “The pun is intended — it’s a neighborhood bar, it’s nothing fancy.”
Neighborhood is the sister bar to Madre, which opened last year as one of Raleigh’s best new restaurants, serving small plates in a stunning dining room.
The bar is the latest to join Smoky Hollow, which has seen a couple notable departures since the Kane-owned development opened, including New Anthem’s taproom and the cafe J. Lights. This week, the cooking studio Hone-Sharpen announced that it would open in Smoky Hollow.
“We’ve never been more optimistic,” Helikson said about Smoky Hollow.
There will be the occasional celebrity bartender, like Carolina Hurricanes players in August, Helikson said. The first celebrity bartender is Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, who will appear next month.
