The Matador

Seattle's best nachos cost just five bucks during hapy hour.

The Hours: Daily 4-6 p.m. and 10 p.m.-1 a.m.

The Digs: Think South of the Border saloon - infiltrated by Microsoft minions. Based near the corporation's campus, the Eastside branch of this local chain is a far cry from the frat boy dominated Ballard spot. In short, you can carry a conversation without it being interrupted by a terrible pickup line.

The Hours: till 6:30 pm(daily) & 10pm-12am (Sunday - Thursday)

The Digs: Poco Wine Room is a haven for discerning winos. Intimate and warm, with low lighting and a modern meets rustic elegance, this joint is posh enough to make you feel like a big spender even when taking advantage of the budget friendly happy hour.

Photo by Matthew Piel

The Hours: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close Monday through Friday.

The Deal: Well drinks for $5, featured wines for $7, and every one of the 12 items on the small plates menu is $3 off.

At full fare those "small" plates will run you between $8 for nuts and $17 for pork belly and scallops, so it's not exactly a grad-student-on-a-budget dinner. That said, "small" (notice all the sarcastic quote marks) isn't the right description for the plates. They are piled with enough food to make for an entree all on their own.

The Hours: Happy Hour is from 4-6 and 11-close every day and runs all day on Monday. Happy Hour food specials are served from 4-6pm, daily.

proletariatpizza.com

The Hours:4-5:30 p.m., Mon.-Thurs., dine-in only.

The Deal: Whole 18" pies for the price of a half. For instance, an 18" Favorite (sausage, garlic, Mama Lil's peppers) that would normally set you back $19 only costs $11 during happy hour.

The Digs: When it opened a couple years ago, Proletariat Pizza, which serves mammoth New York-style pies and local pitchers of beer in an ultra-kid-friendly environment, seemed to cement White Center's conversion from a seedy, oft-violent southwestern fringe to a diverse epicenter for working-class families of all colors and creeds. But then the neighborhood suffered an unfortunate string of gang violence and drug busts this past fall, and people were reminded that White Center won't quit being White Center without a very sloppy bar fight.

The Hours: Monday-Saturday, 3:30-7pm

The Deal: The Diller Room offers pretty standard happy hour pricing on their drinks, with $3.50 drafts, $4 house wines, and $5 well drinks. The food is a slightly better deal, with cheap snacks and $5 individual-sized 'pizzas.' Our Pizza Bianca proved the dish is really more flatbread than true pizza, but that didn't make it a less savory snack. A soft, round flat bread sprinkled with fragrant rosemary and good olive oil is nothing to complain about, but without the charred bottom, airy crust, sauce, or cheese, I'm hesitant to say what we ate was a pizza.

The Hours:Daily, 4p.m.to 6p.m. Closed Monday

The Digs: Cure is an intimate bar specializing in the understated. Clean lines, natural woodwork and generous windows set the tone in this little gem. Sparkling votives illuminate the tables making for a warm vibe and flattering lighting on typically grey Seattle days and an impressively subdued retreat for grownups on Capitol Hill. The seasonal, regular menu is full of nibbles and small plates that give the experience of sampling at an upscale deli. They also feature a list of well-chosen, complimentary wines offered at a reasonable price.

The Hours: Monday-Saturday 5-7pm, Sunday all evening.

The Digs: Cocktail-driven small plates restaurants crop up en masse in nightlife hot spots like Belltown, Ballard, and Capitol Hill. Oliver's Twist takes the same upscale bar formula and turns it into a friendly neighborhood spot, equally appropriate for a girlfriend gab session, a boisterous holiday gathering, or an adorable date night. All of these things were going on during a recent happy hour, the gales of laughter from the large seating area in the back carrying to the bar in the center, and even to the front lounge area, bringing seasonal cheer to everyone.

Julien Perry

Wot's with the Manny's?

The Hours: Daily, 5:00 - 8:00 pm, closed Mondays

The Digs: Seattle is mostly known as the city with a Starbucks on every corner. But in some neighborhoods, the Starbucks are replaced by something tastier; in this case, Ethiopian restaurants. The intersection of Martin Luther King and Cherry features three favorites: Assimba, Lalibela, and Ras Dashen. Ras Dashen drew our attention on a recent Friday night with its small signboard touting "Happy Hour 5-8" and its nearly full parking lot.

The Hours: Sunday & Monday: All Day, Tuesday - Thursday: 4:00 - 6:30pm & 9pm - Midnight, Friday & Saturday: 4:00 - 6:30pm

The Digs: List, like its older sibling Barolo Ristorante, downtown, has a distinctly un-Seattle feel about it, in the best kind of way. As the always-packed Barolo has shown, Seattleites--despite their jeans and fleece uniforms--do like to squeeze into intimately-lit spaces with plush white couches, rich red tones, and modern styled furniture. List, as the baby sister, provides much of the same feel, minus the intense happy hour crowds. It supplies a sophisticated, almost 'LA' feel, yet isn't quite as over the top in ambience as Barolo. So many other places in Seattle are missing opulent feel of List's open space and sleek design; it's nice to feel a little spoiled sometimes. If that's not enough, you'll surely feel luxurious when you sit down in the loo--ladies, those seats are heated.