Sometimes happy hour is a reward for a job well done. Sometimes it’s what you need to make it through a long week. It can be getting together with friends or meeting with business associates. It can be a more socially acceptable way to say you’re day drinking.
But the common threads among the best happy hours are good drinks and tasty bites at a great discount. Colorado Springs has no shortage of happy hours — chances are if you’re out having a drink in the midafternoon or early evening, your tab will be a little lighter. But the Springs magazine team set out with the grueling task to find some happy hours that really stand out. We know — tough job.
Here are our favorite happy hours in Colorado Springs.
Best Happy Hours Downtown
The Famous
Happy hour at The Famous is a way to get a taste of high-end dining that doesn’t put too big a dent in your pocket, and the real standout of the happy hour menu here is the BOGO appetizers. We’ve heard their Oysters Rockefeller has been requested as a final meal. The carpaccio is delicately shaved, and the colossal shrimp cocktail is served with the most perfect fresh horseradish. Whet your whistle with BOGO glasses of wine or their signature cocktails. The full happy hour menu, including four entrees, is available Sunday through Thursday at 4-6 p.m. only in the bar and on the patio (weather permitting). —Carrie Simison & Laura Eurich
Odyssey Gastropub
Odyssey, the welcoming downtown gastropub, hosts happy hour seven days a week from 3 to 6 p.m. featuring $2 off all beers and $4 house wines and well liquor. Patrons can find more than just drink deals too with hearty food specials that include four wings for $5, crispy mushroom wontons for $6, Odyssey’s famous green chili cheese fries for $7, a cheeseburger and fries for $10 and three shrimp tacos for $11. —Dionne Passacantando
Nacho Matrix
Shareable appetizers are a staple of a good happy hour, and perhaps nothing shares better than a plate of nachos. The new kid at the Lincoln Center is all about nachos and margaritas to wash them down. For happy hour at Nacho Matrix, you can get Classic Nachos for $10 (that’s $5 off menu price) and a house margarita for $6 (that’s half price). Trust us, the nachos are enough for two to count as a meal, or it’s a hearty snack for a few friends more to share. Other deals include $5 wells, $2 off beer, $4 chips and salsa, $9 chicken quesadilla and $3 beef and veggie tacos.
You might not be surprised to learn their happy hours are 3-6 p.m. Monday through Friday. You might be surprised to know they also have happy hour 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Seems like weekends are happy enough on their own, but we are here for extra hours of happy. —C.S. & L.E.
Red Gravy
Chef Eric Brenner opened Red Gravy in 2016 and is currently nominated for Chef of the Year in the Colorado Restaurant Association’s Hospy awards. (You can vote here.) His downtown Italian restaurant hosts Monday through Thursday happy hours at 4-6 p.m. with half-off wines, wells and local draft beers. On the food side, smaller orders of Cheese Garlic Bread, Arancini (crispy cheese stuffed risotto balls), Toasted Ravioli and Meatball Sliders are available for happy hour snacking. All day Wednesday is extra happy as Wine Wednesday, featuring a $10 wine tasting with samples of three wines, then a glass of your choice from the selections. Bottles are half-price all day. That’s something we can say “Cheers” to! —C.S. & L.E.
Sushi Row
When Sushi Row first opened, lines were around the block, and wait times were hours long. While the newness might have worn off, the quality and ambiance have lasted. If you have always wanted to try Sushi Row, but couldn’t stand the wait, come for their daily happy hour from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. You can nosh on artistic plates of $7 salmon, tuna, unagi and yellowtail nigiri and sashimi, $9 spicy tuna, spicy salmon, shrimp tempura or spicy avocado rolls and $11 Temaki Tacos. Drink-wise, sake takes center stage with $7 sake bombs, carafes of sake or Samurai Rice Ale. Choose the gorgeous indoor space that transports you to a cosmopolitan city and highlights their open kitchen, or settle in for an experience on the large front patio with fire pits. —C.S. & L.E.
The Warehouse
If you were on a deserted island and only got to bring one happy hour, it should definitely be The Warehouse’s. Tuesday through Friday at 4-6 p.m., half-price wine by the glass makes it easy to “wine taste,” and Billy the bar manager gives great suggestions based on your taste preference. If grapes aren’t your jam, get $2 off draft beer and $6 menu or classic cocktails. Then add in half-price appetizers and dips — four seasonally rotating dips, available as a flight if you wish — and dinner is taken care of. The vibe is warm and inviting, and more often than not, you’ll get a visit from Chef James Africano to check on you and thank you for your patronage. —C.S. & L.E.
Wobbly Olive makes the list with both its downtown and east-side locations. Read about it below next.
Top Happy Hours North and East
Wobbly Olive
Wobbly Olive’s happy hour is a secret that shouldn’t be kept. Both locations (the original on Powers and the one-year-old downtown spot) share an enormous cocktail menu featuring around 130 cocktails and mocktails plus a selection of wine and beer. During happy hour, Monday through Friday 4-6 p.m., all cocktails and beer are half off. Organized by type of alcohol to make the decision easier, you can pick your poison and for $6.50, work your way through a list of creative drinks from the whimsical Malibu Barbie to the Michelada tequila martini to a twist on classics … or for that matter, a straight up classic. Each location has different weekly food specials but share a permanent menu. —C.S. & L.E.
Jarrito Loco
At Jarrito Loco, the authentic Mexican restaurant located in Monument, Colorado, Happy Hour isn’t confined to 60 minutes or even a few hours. Instead, the deals extend all day long when seated at the bar, with $7 house margaritas (normally $12) available Monday through Friday. On Wednesdays, guests can enjoy happy hour specials from open to close in the dining room as well as at the bar with $7 house margaritas, $8 Cadillac margaritas and $2.50 off all beer and wine. Salud! —D.P.
Salsa Brava
Salsa Brava at Powers and Dublin doesn’t have a happy hour — they have Powers Hour 2-5 p.m. and 8 p.m. to close Monday through Friday. We’re happy to call it whatever they want since they offer $3 wells, $5 grande import drafts and $7 house margaritas. We drool like Pavlov’s dogs just thinking about their housemade chips and salsa (ask for the fire-roasted pineapple habanero salsa), served complimentary at each table. The Power Hour food deals are also budget friendly: tacos for $3 or $4.25, $4 enchiladas, $4.25 tostadas, $6 chile con queso and $7 housemade guacamole. —C.S. & L.E.
Favorite Central/University Village Happy Hours
Cowboy Star
Don’t be surprised if you find people sitting in their cars, waiting for the Cowboy Star’s doors to open. Seven days a week from 4 to 6 p.m. — but only in their bar and patio areas — Cowboy Star’s “Best Happy Hour Ever” has long lived up to the name.
Mix and match food and drink selections from $6 to $9 ($6 craft beer and cider, $7 wells, $8 hand-selected wine and $9 specialty cocktails) with bites at each price point as well. As of early October, a refreshed menu of happy hour bites continues to feature the mouthwatering C-Star Deviled Eggs and Roasted Shishito Peppers but adds prosciutto with rosemary roasted grapes and toasted hazelnuts to the popular burrata and pesto. There are other options too, and most are gluten free. —C.S. & L.E.
Ambli Kitchen + Bar
The drinks are normally the draw for happy hour, and we will get to those in a minute. But the food options on Ambli’s happy hour menu are the stars of this show. Of the 15 items listed on their happy hour menu, we want to order every one of them. But twist our arms, and we’ll start with the Lobster Shooters, two lobster dumplings served in a lemongrass red coconut curry for $8.
The drink list is shorter than the food, but the $10 cocktails range from a classic Manhattan to gourmet takes on gimlets, mojitos, and gin and tonic. When you consider their regular cocktail prices are $16-$18, this is a great deal.
Happy hour is 4-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and served in the bar and lounge only, but you could serve us from this happy hour menu in the alley and we would not complain. —C.S. & L.E.
amblidenver.com/ambli-colorado-springs
Best of the Westside Happy Hours
503W
503W’s Asian fusion kitchen and bar is known for its elevated cocktail program, and happy hour is the best time to capitalize on killer sips. Tuesday through Friday at 3-6 p.m., guests can cash in on $10 house cocktails (excluding the Korean Zombie and Cat Call) and $7 Chareau Margaritas, an aloe and tequila riff on a traditional marg. Spirit lovers rejoice with $5 well offerings, with notable brands like Woody Creek Roaring Fork Vodka and Dos Santos Tequila. Oenophiles can find $4 house wines, featuring Astica Chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon and malbec from Argentina. And craft beer aficionados will appreciate a buck off all beers, including any of the 30-plus cans and eight draft beers currently on deck. —D.P.
Crystal Park Cantina
If it’s the middle of the week, and you’re looking for a place to start happy hour early in Manitou, follow the locals to Crystal Park Cantina. Tuesdays through Thursdays from 2 to 5 p.m., get their classic, mango or fruited margaritas — or their Fighting Sue, the signature margarita with Pacifico in it — for $7. Beer is $4 for bottles and cans or $5 for drafts. Free chips and salsa provide the snacking you crave, or order tapas from the full menu (the steak nachos are the cheesy bomb). Stay past the end of happy hour, and it will become obvious why they start early. Business is good for dinner at the cantina, going onto a wait at least once a night. —C.S. & L.E.
Benny’s Restaurant & Lounge
OK, do you really need a happy hour at Benny’s with everything already as cheap as it is? No. This is already one of our Best Dive Bars in Colorado Springs. But from 5 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, they still offer “half a buck” off all drinks. To put this in perspective, a pint of Coors Light is normally $3.50. A pint of Goat Patch is $5 (cheaper than at the brewery). Basically, the most expensive drink you can order is a well Long Island Iced Tea that will put you out $12. So happy hour at Benny’s is really about experiencing a 71-year-old legendary dive bar with a great — and cheap — kitchen and bartenders that fill your day with sass and your glass with a well-earned, end-of-the-day beverage. —C.S. & L.E.
Supreme South-Side Happy Hours
Hatch Cover
Hatch Cover has you covered with 3-6 p.m. Monday through Friday happy hour, and for night owls there are the Tuesday-Thursday hours of 11 p.m. to close. You’ll find assorted appetizers for half price — that’s if you make it past the fact that all day, every day their wings are just 80 cents each. Domestic beer bottles, cans and drafts are $3.50, or you could go in for the better deal: a domestic bucket of five bottles for $13.50. (We mathed that out for you; it’s just $2.70 a bottle.) But perhaps the best deal is the $16 domestic tower — with 100 ounces of beer. We’ll let you work out that math on your own. —C.S. & L.E.
People’s Choice: Vote for Your Favorite Happy Hours in the Springs
We know there are lots more happy hours and killer deals out there. So where is your favorite? Vote for the best happy hour from our list — and write in the ones you think we missed.
