Planet of the Tapes

Planet of the Tapes takes its name and its whole aesthetic from the video rental store, and operates as a comedy club, live venue and bar on Barret Avenue in Phoenix Hill, on the edge of the Highlands. The cocktails are named after films, the walls are stacked with tapes, and the calendar runs stand-up, open mics, showcases and touring comics most nights of the week.

It belongs in this guide for two reasons that have nothing to do with mixology fashion. The first is the policy: any cocktail on the menu can be made as a mocktail for a flat $5. That is unusual and it is worth being explicit about why it matters. The standard practice at bars with good zero-proof programmes — including several elsewhere in this guide — is to price alcohol-free drinks in line with the cocktails, on the argument that the labour and the components cost the same. That is defensible, but it also means a non-drinker pays $14 for a drink with no alcohol in it, every round, all night. Planet of the Tapes goes the other way, and over an evening the difference is real money. The second reason is the house sodas — mango pineapple, raspberry pomegranate, lavender lemon — made in-house rather than poured from a gun, which is what stops the $5 drink from being a compromise. Named builds include the Shirley Temple of Doom and The Mangolorian.

The comedy programming is the third thing, and structurally the most useful: an evening built around a stage is an evening not built around a bar, which is most of what makes a night out workable for someone who is not drinking. Hours run to midnight Monday through Thursday and 2am Friday through Sunday, opening at 4pm daily. Check the calendar when booking, since ticketed shows change the room's rhythm. Epiphany is a few minutes away in the Original Highlands.