What do you do on a Tuesday night in Spokane when you want something that isn’t a brewery taproom or a cocktail bar with Edison bulbs? That’s the question that eventually leads most people, somewhat accidentally, to the Safari Room on the second floor of the Davenport Hotel Tower.
First, orientation: the Hotel Tower is not the Historic Davenport across the street, which gets all the Instagram attention. The Tower, at 322 W Spokane Falls Blvd, is quieter, less trafficked, and has an interior that commits fully to its mid-century-meets-colonial-hunting-lodge concept. The Safari Room is decorated exactly as you’d expect from that description — trophy animal heads, dark wood, leather seating, low lighting. It’s a lot. Whether it’s a lot in a good way probably depends on your tolerance for themed rooms that take themselves seriously. Personally, I find it difficult to hate.
The drinks are the first honest reason to show up. The cocktail menu is shorter than it used to be, but competent — they’re not trying to reinvent anything, and the bartenders generally know what they’re doing with a Negroni or a proper Manhattan. Prices run $14–$18 for cocktails, which is fair for downtown and certainly for the atmosphere. The wine list leans heavily on Washington state, as it should, and there are a handful of solid by-the-glass options that won’t make you squint at the bill.
The second reason is the bar food. This is not a meal situation, but the cheese and charcuterie boards are genuinely well-assembled, the flatbreads are better than they need to be, and the warm olives are the kind of thing you order once and then can’t stop thinking about for approximately three days. Plan on spending $15–$25 on snacks if you’re staying for a round or two.
The third reason, and this is the understated one: the room is almost always calm. Spokane’s downtown bar scene can get loud fast on weekends, and the Safari Room draws an older crowd, hotel guests, and people who specifically don’t want to shout over a playlist. On a Friday evening you might find a small jazz combo. On a Tuesday, you might have the bar mostly to yourself, which is either appealing or alarming depending on your baseline social anxiety.
Parking is the usual downtown hassle — street meters cut off at 8pm, and the Hotel Tower has a paid garage if you’d rather not circle. The room opens at 4pm daily, though service can be slow if you wander in before the dinner crowd arrives and the staff is still setting up.
Is it a destination? Not exactly. It’s more of a reliable answer to a specific question: where can you sit in a dim room with a decent drink and not be asked to scan a QR code or listen to someone’s bachelorette playlist? The Safari Room handles that assignment without complaint. For a certain kind of evening, that’s more than enough.
