It was my best friend’s birthday so I treated her to an afternoon inside the Winterlust domes at H Tasting Lounge.  Here’s how it went:

When we arrived we were led toward the back of the restaurant through doors to get outside.  We saw the domes and we were in awe.  My friend and I maybe instantly got a bit carried away taking a few photos before we entered our dome and put our stuff down “messing it up”.  Our server, Jennifer, was so patient and once we were seated told us how she’s pretty used to that reaction.

The domes are gorgeous.  They are decorated so elegantly.  They are luxurious, but also give you cozy winter vibes at the same time.

A little tip – we booked our reservations for a Monday at 2:30 p.m.  If you book for an evening setting, there is a minimum spend I believe of $400.  It should be pretty easy to hit with a large group, but with it being just the two of us, we opted for the weekday afternoon slot with a minimum spend of $200.00.  However, we found more perks than just this for the 2:30 time slot.  The biggest being that we got to experience the domes from day to night.  They are two different vibes.  When we arrived it was still daylight, we saw all of the details of the domes and how they were decorated.  The views of the water and boats in the day were calming.  Then when night fell, H Tasting Lounge turned on the fireplace border and all the heat lamps and Christmas lights went on – just stunning.

H Tasting Lounge has some incredible cocktails.  I had a cool pink one with a smoke bubble that popped, one that came in a can with an apple slice on top, and another tropical one.  I wish I could remember what they were called, but they were yummy and strong enough to give me a good strong buzz.  The menu doesn’t offer these cocktails currently as they’ve switched over to their Christmas cocktails, but those sounds equally fun and super festive.  I’ve been to H Tasting Lounge several times (although this was my first time in the domes) and I’ve never met one of their cocktails that I didn’t like.

For food we had a dozen oysters and the carmelized onion and cheese dip to start.  The oysters were fresh and delicious.  The onion dip was one that I was hesitant about, but my friend was interested in trying it and our server also highly recommended.  It was so good and addictive!  I would order it again and again.

For our mains, my friend had the vegan rice bowl and she added chicken to it.  She enjoyed it.  I had the smash burger and fries and it was delicious.

I did wish that they had a smaller steak option on their menu.  After the oysters, I wasn’t quite in the mood for more fish.  I wanted a yummy steak, but I wasn’t starving after our appies and cocktails.  They had an option of a 10 oz or a tomahawk steak that I’m assuming by the $200-something price tag was probably massive.  I would have loved a 5 or 6 oz steak or a surf and turf option.  I opted for the burger and it was more casual then what I was going for, but it was yummy so I was happy.

The service we received was absolutely incredible.  We loved Jennifer.  She was fantastic from beginning to end.  She was friendly, down to earth and personable.  When she learned we were celebrating my friends birthday she brought out welcome birthday cocktails to start our experience and a birthday cake with a candle to end our experience.

Winterlust was just magical.  From every little decor detail, to being able to adjust the heat inside the domes, to being given an ipad to play any music that we wanted in our domes – they literally thought of everything you could need.  There was even a surprise in the middle of our meal where they made it snow for us and it was such fun and festive moment.  We had so much fun that time flew by and we were pretty sad that it was time to go.  We loved it so much.  If you have a chance to check it out, you should!

https://htastinglounge.com/winterlust/