"Ava's has a lot going for it. The interior has an edgy rustic farmhouse feel (it reminds me of The Barrow House in Clifton), and the menu has a gastropub/Neapolitan pizza parlour vibe, with some hipster mixology options to boot. It has something for pretty much everyone, and it's only two minutes off the Parkway with plenty of parking options nearby. My Millennial Chum and I came here for dinner this past Friday around 5:30pm. We'd only decided on this place in the late morning, so an attempt to secure a reservation on OpenTable was unsuccessful because of the time crunch (not a regular OpenTable user, so not sure if that's their policy or if that was specific to the restaurant). As a result though, we didn't have the option of sitting at a table and instead supped at the bar. I'm usually pretty ambivalent about eating at the bar the service tends to be better and you can easily develop a rapport with the barkeep, but it can be a little awkward logistically if space is limited. This experience was no exception. We had a very good bartender and no service issues, but because it was crowded, I kept bumping elbows with the guy next to me. Everything is a balancing act. I opted for the Red Pie, which was just a standard Margarita pizza. It was pretty good, but I wouldn't classify it as great. I'm a big fan/consumer of Neapolitan pies and I think there should be an expectation that the crust is going to be a more significant presence than with mainstream pizza, but this was too much there were slices where I literally had two or three bites with cheese/sauce, and then 10 bites of just crust. That's not a winning formula, in my opinion. It's tasty but could be noticeably improved by adding another inch of toppings around the perimeter. The Millennial Chum (who earlier in the day made a big production about how she was going to behave and barely eat) ordered the wood roasted brussels sprouts and the wood fired chicken parm entree. She liked the brussels, though some of them were soggy/soft, and also enjoyed the chicken parm. For the price though (about $22), she felt it should have come with a side, and I agree. The star of the show was the cocktails. If I see someone behind the bar who looks like they listen to the Arcade Fire in their spare time, I know I'll be in good hands. Ava's has a great happy hour special where, for $9, you get the bartender's choice of cocktail. This is the kind of place where that ends up being close to a 50% off deal, and it's tough to find Happy Hours that a) include cocktails and b) include all of the normal cocktails on the menu, not just their plain Jane, generic rum and cokes. The bartender probably made an educated guess on the palate, saw my unruly hair and edginess, and made an Army Navy, which was delicious. It tasted like the love child of a creamsicle and a roasted Starburst, and consisted of gin, lemon, orgeat syrup and angostura bitters (I had to look those last two up). I had a second one after Happy"
