230 Forest Avenue Happy Hour

Downtown’s longest-running upscale destination, 230 Forest has been a Laguna Beach institution since the early 1990s. The HH program centers on the martini bar — twenty-plus martini variations, all priced at the lower end of the menu during HH — and a seafood-leaning small plates list with oysters, crudo, and a tuna tartare that regulars order on autopilot. The room reads classic American supper-club: low light, polished bar wood, attentive bar service from career bartenders who remember faces. Weekday HH (Tuesday through Friday, 3pm to 6pm) is the most reliable window; the bar gets busy with the regular dinner crowd by 6:30pm and HH service tapers off. Reservations aren’t taken for the bar — first-come, first-served — but the bar room rarely fills before 5:30pm even on Fridays.