As a general rule, Daily Drink Magazine usually abstains from writing about a location within the first couple months of operation.
This is because of these two reasons: first, we don’t want to be caught up in PR frenzy. That means that even when we do visit a location during a media junket or PR event, we won’t officially post about it until we can return several weeks later to verify if our initial post is consistent to the experience we had at the media event. The second reason why we wait around 60 days is because people often read our publication weeks or months after we visited the location, and that means that we should be confident that our assessment will hold up over time. Or on the other hand, that we can avoid needing to give a lackluster review sure to any mishaps that come from a bar or café team not yet able to hit their stride in terms of consistency. We find this to be a way that we can be fair to both our readers and the establishments we cover.
Yet today we find ourselves bending that rule a little bit for what is perhaps Makati Poblacion’s best bar of all time.
Some time mid-last year, OTO was forced to close because of an issue with the building that they were in. But after less than 6 months, they have managed to reopen right across the street, with an even better floorplan. And most importantly, the whole bar team is back and firing on all cylinders — even after only 30 days of operations. We had 5 drinks here and they did not miss a beat! The team is back, the iconic interiors are back, and the electric vibe is back too. If anything has changed, it has only changed to be better.
Congratulations to OTO, a bar that is now both veteran and new kid in town.
Follow @oto.ph on Instagram.
