I’ll admit I’m biased: I miss Triple D’s, the JP townie bar turned biker hangout turned lesbian karaoke joint. As my friend remarked last night, “How Boston is it to take a place that’s fun with an interesting mix of people and replace it with some bland notion of what a ‘big city’ restaurant should be?” Indeed the design cliches cross into blandness… the obligatory hardwood floors, the black concrete bar, the thick matte paint. Imagine a combination of Middlesex Lounge and Nightgale in the South End. It passes because it’s original for JP.

Alchemist is primarily a restaurant, but a sizeable bar area and a full liquor license make it the only full-service, non-pub bar in the neighborhood. (I’d reviewed Zon’s which has to make do with a cordials license.) Alchemist brands itself as a “lounge,” but it feels like a bar to me.

What do they do right? The host and bar service were all friendly and attentive. They have a decent beer selection; not unusual in a neighborhood of good pubs, but still a nice touch. And the cocktails themselves are decently good. I ordered a straight-up daiquiri made with a Nantucket aged rum. It lacked in fresh lime juice, but on a sultry summer night hit the spot. The bar, too, gets some of the details right, such as the nice concentric spirals for the lemon twists and the sleek, well-proportioned old-fashioned glasses. Finally, and importantly, the prices were quite reasonable. A seven dollar cocktail makes you glad for JP Exceptionalism.

Oddly enough, the bar doesn’t stock a full range of liquors, which seems a waste of a rare full license. Happily, they had Luxardo, though the bar staff didn’t know what it was nor were they aware they had it; it certainly didn’t touch my daiquiri, like it would have in an ideal world. The omissions, meanwhile, were glaring. No Campari?

Alchemist is still new and still packed (someone has to explain to me fire code regulations which would keep the bar area half empty). I’m curious to see if the bar grows and improves with age.

Alchemist Restaurant and Lounge is located at the corner of Moraine and South Huntington Av., at the intersection with Center Street in Jamaica Plain.

As a restaurant bar, Stella’s, on the edge of Blackstone Park in the South End, is in many ways ideal. There’s enough room in their front area to accommodate destination bar patrons, and on Tuesday night the mostly gay clientele filled the area. The bartenders are friendly, and the crowd has a real neighborhood camaraderie to it.

Some would praise the scene and the decor, but I found it too LA in spirit. Lots of off-white Corian surfaces and beige fabrics; heat lamps outdoors for those wanting to pretend we’re living in a warm climate; and half the bar patrons chatting away on their cell phones. Rather than have a full-stocked bar, the powers that be had put long glass shelves with underlighting to feature brand name bottles of vodka, whiskey, etc. It’s a mentality inherited from the 80s (let’s call it Absolutism) that prefers conspicuous consumption over quality; I find it affected and antithetical to fine drinking.

Given the limited stock of the bar, I went simple in my order and got a gimlet. The prices were reasonable for Boston ($7.50 for Bombay gin cocktail, $9.50 for top shelf). Unfortunately, the bartender made it with sour mix instead of strictly Rose’s lime. Bleh. To his credit he noticed a mint sprig floating in the drink and remade it, with a complimentary upgrade of liquor (what’s up with stray mint leaves these days?), but that didn’t save an unappetizing gimlet. The manhattans were better, but with too much of an unrounded bite, I’d put it in the OK rather than great category.

The affectations cut across other areas, too. Stella’s used a tub of crushed ice to chill the cocktails glasses, putting them top down in the ice until they needed one. Great idea, I thought, until I saw them pull glass after glass out, large bits of wet ice clinging to the inside of the glass and watering the cocktails down. The glasses didn’t even seem all that cold for all that fuss.

It seems that Stella’s has some atmosphere going for it, but is trying way too hard. Like the reviews that call the area SoWa, even though Stella’s is clearly north of Washington.

Stella’s is located at 1525 Washington St., in the South End.

It’s been many years since I’ve been to the bar at Harvest - the Harvard Square regional-haute restaurant, that is, not the food coop - but I’ve always wanted to go back. The decor is traditional, with dark wood bars and paneling and leather seats, but it’s not stuffy. And given the paucity of decent places to go in Harvard Square, getting a good cocktail holds great appeal.

And they can make good drinks. I went with my old favorite, the sidecar, and wasn’t disappointed. I couldn’t see what make of brandy the bartender used (what other place has brandy among their well bottles, by the way?), but it was followed by Cointreau and a sour mix that had to have been made-in house, the result was just too good. Poured into a properly sugared glass, it was a finely made drink. The bartender, too, had the right combination of friendliness and professionalism.

Big drawback: it’s a restaurant bar with not a lot of space (about 10 stools) and others have already discovered it. I barely snagged a stool during Wednesday dinner hour. It also carries a tonier atmosphere than a casual drink out might warrant; I was glad I’d come still dress in office attire. The prices aren’t cheap - 11 bucks a cocktail - but that’s what I paid at Vinalia for a lousy drink. Might as well get quality and atmosphere that’s not faux-chic.

Harvest Restaurant is located at 44 Brattle Street, Cambridge, tucked away in the passageway behind the Crate and Barrel.

There are a number of restaurant bars which function fine for people who aren’t even dining, or who just want to come in for cocktails and casual bar food. Then there are those like Icarus, where the bar is really meant as a side attraction to the food. Part of it is the layout. The wood paneling and Ethan Allen furniture made it feel more like a Maryland country club lobby and less like a tony South End eaterie. The bar itself is small and awkwardly situated en route from the entrance to the dining floor and is conspicuously visible to half the restaurant. When I went there were a number of nondining patrons lingering around their drinks, but I’m not sure they weren’t the exception.

So, no, I’m not expecting a destination restaurant bar like the Franklin Cafe, but even by its own standards, Icarus’s bar could probably do better. More importantly, the food at Icarus is excellent, but the drinks menu seemed mismatched, trading in many of the sweet vodka sensations that flashy nightclubs do. Space constrictions result in a smaller selection than you’d want and expect; they didn’t stock my favorite gin – normal enough, but the lack of a high-end rum surprised me. I ended up going with a gimlet and was served a watery, unbalanced cocktail that made me wonder if the bartender used the misguided “fancy” recipe of squeezing actual lime juice into the drink. Maybe I should have stuck with the glowing yellow mango drink the woman next to me was having.

Zon’s, a small restaurant in Jamaica Plain’s Hyde Square, bills itself as gourmet comfort food. If that seems a contradiction in terms, you don’t spend much time in JP. The appeal of nice dinner out in a place that’s not intimidating or too expensive captures the ethos of the bohemian bourgeoisie perfectly. It’s dress-down fancy.

Zon’s pulls it off, fortunately. Eat and Destroy has a review of the food, but after a recent visit I thought I should mention that its bar itself is unfairly overlooked in a part of the city where Irish pubs are thick on the ground but where there are few other drinking holes. It’s a small space and the bar section is even smaller, but even on a Thursday night it wasn’t crowded and my friends and I were able to snag seats at a prime hour.

They do not have a full liquor license and instead are limited to cordials and sweetened liqueurs. Amazingly, given the limitations, they’ve been able to craft an appealing cocktail menu. It gave me a chance to imbibe sloe gin, which I’ve not had in years. The Charlie Chaplin cocktail was a nice after-dinner drink, sweet and fruity but an unexpected combination all the same. I haven’t tested the recipe out at home, but guides list the following:

Charlie Chaplin

1 jigger sloe gin
1 jigger apricot brandy
1 jigger lemon juice

Shake and pour into an old fashioned glass, garnished with lime.

And of course, instead of a cocktail you can always take one of their cordials neat or on the rocks.

Their beer selection was limited, but a seasonal Harpoon hit the spot. The wine selection seemed fuller. The bar staff were unfussy, friendly and capable. Definitely one to add to the mental rolodex of places to go for a nightcap, digestif, or even a glass of beer in a place that doesn’t smell like what you’re drinking.

Zon’s is located at 2 Perkins Street at Centre St. in Jamaica Plain, near the 39 bus.