Noel A.
Yelp
Fink has been on my radar and in my saved places for quite some time. The namesake owner, "The Fink," spoke at a mid-century modern design event I attended a few years ago, and I've followed him on Instagram ever since. So when he casually posted on NYE encouraging people to stop by--no cover, celebratory vibe, rad DJ--I was genuinely excited. We were already going to be in Napa for dinner and hadn't chosen a place for the countdown, so it felt perfect.
When we arrived around 10pm, we were greeted at the door by The Fink himself. After the obligatory thanks-for-coming pleasantries, he immediately tried to dissuade us from coming in, saying the bar was too busy, there was no seating, and we'd be waiting a very long time for a drink. This was odd, considering I've been in far busier bars on regular nights, and we had no issue standing. I mentioned we just wanted to have a drink by midnight. It was raining, and we weren't about to wander around Napa looking for another spot.
In reality, we waited maybe 15 minutes for a drink, and by 11:30 we had seats. People were actively leaving before it even hit midnight.
Then came the countdown, or rather, the lack of one. The DJ completely fumbled it. How hard is that? There were also zero New Year's decorations--no horns, no hats, nothing. This stuff is inexpensive and feels like the bare minimum when you're promoting a celebratory NYE vibe.
Around 12:15, possibly earlier, The Fink got on the mic and announced the DJ would play two more songs and that it was last call. He seemed visibly stressed, and the overall energy felt tense and inhospitable. The vibe was like being at a high school house party where the host spends the entire night worried someone is going to break their parents' vase or that the neighbors are about to call the cops.
It was one of the lamest New Year's Eves I've experienced. Maybe this place shines on other nights, but NYE is not it. Also the decor was nothing that I imagined. The image branding doesn't match - not a Mad Man retro vibe - more like a regular bar in anywhere USA.
Drinks were ok. One was genuinely awful. We did enjoy a pour of straight, well-aged rum, which my husband ordered specifically because we didn't want our last drink before Dry January to be bad. We even bought the bartender a pour, and that ended up being the best thing we consumed all night.