The Best Happy Hour Spot in (Almost) Every State

This Gulf Coast restaurant, just across the bay from Biloxi, acknowledges its name at happy hour (2 to 5.30 p.m. weekdays) with half-price oysters and, on Tuesdays, $3 steak tacos and half-price drinks at the bar.

A Yelp reviewer enthuses, “Go for happy hour! Best deals and always space!” It’s an all-day affair every Monday, and then runs from Wednesday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. (Retreat is closed Tuesday.) The $6 food offerings include mac and cheese, fried risotto balls, and pork toasts. Beers are $4 to $5, house wines are $7 a glass or $24 a bottle, and there is a selection of classic cocktails (including old fashioned, Negroni, and piña colada) for $6.

Such unusual happy hour dishes as Spanish sardines with saltines, halibut and garbanzo fish sticks, and tamari-glazed pork shoulder buns are on the menu here. Selected cocktails are $5 to $9 and wines are $5 to $7. The hours are 3 to 5 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. to midnight daily. The same hours apply but the menu is different at Plonk’s second location, in Bozeman.

A gastropub serving “internationally inspired dishes with Omaha flavor,” Stirnella goes all out with its happy hour choices. There are cocktails for $6 to $7, wine for $5 a glass or $25 a bottle, draft beer for $3, bottled or canned beer for $4, even a choice of organic teas for $4. The food ranges from $5 chop salad to $15 burrata with peas and country ham, with a $6 ribeye and foie gras slider and some $12 popcorn chicken in between.

Mordeo calls its early evening discount sessions, held Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m., “social hour.” The food is a selection of pintxos (Basque tapas), like skewered scallops ($6), beef tartare ($5), or goat cheese with figs ($4). The drink deal is that if you buy one of anything at full price, you get a second one for 50% off.