Before you cheer for the Resistance in The Last Jedi this December, spend a night drinking with the bad guys at The Dark Side Bar.
The unofficial Star Wars-inspired pop-up bar is a production of Zach Neil, who’s behind the Tim Burton-themed Beetle House in the East Village.
Dark Side Bar will soft open on Nov. 15 at 201 Lafayette St. in SoHo, where the sunny San Remo Cafe serves up coffee by day, then transforms into a speakeasy lounge by night.
By Nov. 17, the bar should be “going full force,” says manager Ben Kotler; hours are Friday-Saturday 6 p.m.-4 a.m. and Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6 p.m.-2 a.m.
“Anybody can open a bar,” he says. “It’s fun to do something a little bit interesting that fluctuates and changes.”
Forget Mos Eisley’s “wretched hive of scum and villainy” where Luke Skywalker met Han Solo. (Though if you like the cantina-at-the-end-of-civilization vibe, it exists as a permanent themed bar in California.)
The Dark Side Bar will be a properly moody affair catering to First Order members and Sith lords who want to let off some steam. The space, with its long dark banquette, DJ stage and ‘70s-style circular bar, already has a Death Star disco vibe; Kotler says it will be further painted and decorated all black with red accents.
Expect costumed staff and themed cocktails ($16) like the Imperial and the Mind Trick, plus a “galaxy-inspired” menu of small bites like tentacles on sticks (soy barbecue-glazed octopus) and Bantha fodder (vegan sushi egg rolls).
There’ll be themed entertainment too, like burlesque, “games of chance” and alien speed dating. Good luck with that interspecies hanky-panky!
New York’s Dark Side Bar — there are also locations in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. — will be open for two months, through Jan. 15. You can reserve a spot now for $33 per person (includes two specialty cocktails); walk-ins will be accepted for $40 at the door.
Costumes are encouraged but not required. You do remember what happens when you disappoint a Sith lord though, right?
