Bar Review - Whiskey Park

WHERE: The newly renovated W Atlanta Midtown, which has become one of our city’s most high-profile locales, with outposts of the New York-based Bliss spa and the cuisine of chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

THE PRETENSE: While we love the notion of luxury bars, Whiskey Park simply tries too hard to be chic and doesn’t deliver. A bouncer guards the entrance with a velvet rope even when the bar is completely empty.

THE LOOK: The decor is supposedly “Versace-influenced,” but the decorator shows little of the maestro’s skillful restraint. Each area is decked out in a dizzying and disjointed mix of mirrors, lots of Lucite, leather and gold.

THE CROWD: Whiskey Park bills itself as a gathering place for “fashionable clientele,” but patrons don more Dockers than Dolce.

THE DRINKS: The bar menu has numerous designer cocktails to choose from but most — such as the raspberry caipirinha — are unbearably sweet. We suggest you stick with the basics. Bottle service — a rising trend in Atlanta — is also available.

HINT: If you do go, skip the hotel’s hefty $8/hour parking charge and hit the Colony Square garage instead.

Whiskey Park, 188 14th St. 404-892-6000. Mon.-Sat., 6 p.m.-2:30 a.m.; Sun., 6-11 p.m. www.starwoodhotels.com.