THE MINGLE BAR

The Mingle Bar, on the ground floor of the Eden hotel on Wellington street is an intimate bar with colorful green and purple walls and Euro-style molding on the celing. Candlelight, velvet curtains, dramatic paintings and sexy Middle-Eastern/Cafe Costes kind of music adds to the romance of the place. There's a private seating enclave toward the back where you can draw the velvet drapes for complete privacy. Sometimes out front, they set up a small garden area with a few outdoor tables under green canvas umbrellas. It’s very cute.

The masterpiece of Mingle is the incredibly large bathroom. The bathroom has two chandeliers in it and a flatscreen TV. “I don’t know what people do in there and it’s none of my business. Quite a few times I’ve had to knock on the door though to get people out of there because they were there for too long!” says the manager. “The Mingle bar used to be a waiting room where people could hang out before their  love motel rooms were ready, but after the gorgeous renovation, people actually just come here to drink. They're busy on weekends with a 50/50 crowd of men and women. Lots of French people, urban professionals, couples and groups come here. It’s becoming very popular.

The drink of choice is the Eden martini. It has three different types of rum and pineapple juice. The drink is a journey into the cane fields of Cuba with a big sweaty black man toiling in the fields. They also have nice wine and other yummy cocktail concoctions.