On Thursday, I took Geneve to to Apps, an upscale “American Tapas” restaurant in Hartford. Apps came on the strong recommendation of my friends Karen and Vince, who had good things to say about the food, martinis, and ambience (“very New York,” says Karen). Seeing as how these three are all components of a quality dining experience, and that I had never heard of Apps before (novelty is always appealing, especially in a burg like Hartford), I decided to hit it up instead of going to one of the more traditional “nice” restaurants in the Hartford area.

We were not disappointed. The martini list was extensive—their menu consists of 60+ choices. Geneve’s “Milky Way” was good, if a little sweet, and my “Green Monkey Butt” was excellent. The food was great, particularly the sesame-encrusted tuna and the pork spring rolls with mango chutney. The dessert was less-than spectacular, but we made a mistake with the $8 cookie platter. Try the crème brulé or the molten chocolate cake instead.

The service was attentive without being annoying, and the waiters were very friendly. The ambience gets mixed reviews. The highlights were the secluded tables by the windows, which featured leather chairs, and walls which had picture-framed sized holes cut out of them, exposing the red-brick walls behind the drywall—very unique. The Rothko prints on the walls were somewhat generic, and the lowlights were the high-backed grandma chairs at all the tables other than the ones by the windows.

Apps has a fantastic policy of paying for a cab if one doesn’t feel good to drive. It was not a policy that I wanted to take advantage of, and so unfortunately I only had one martini. It is not really located within walking distance of many residential areas, which is too bad—it would be a great place to go for a few drinks, and would benefit from being located in an area like West Hartford Center.

That being said, it’s a great place to eat, and really delivers on bang-for-the-buck compared to any other “nice” place that I have been to so far in the Hartford area.

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