Lowdown: The Blue Martini in Newburgh

(Credit: Chris Serico)

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Close your eyes and picture a place called The Blue Martini. Chances are it's on the water, flaunting a bar with a straw canopy and serving plenty of the choice alcoholic beverage mentioned in the name of the place.

If you open your eyes and find yourself at The Blue Martini in Newburgh, you'll be pleased to see it's all of those things. Granted, the water that The Blue Martini overlooks isn't exactly the Caribbean, but the Hudson River doesn't provide too shabby of a view, either.

Vibe: Tucked between Torches and Front Street on the Newburgh waterfront, The Blue Martini is one of Newburgh's go-to hot spots — especially when things heat up during the spring and summer months.

After the requisite ID check at the front door, you walk into a long, narrow hall, with a functional bar running nearly the length of the left wall, which holds countless bottles of liquor and a few TVs showing sports and other late-night programming. Drinks are slung at a brisk pace and if you're lucky you can grab seats at one of a few tables that run along the right wall.

At the end of the hall is a door that leads to a wider room that features a dance floor in the middle, a few tables and chairs on the perimeter and a second bar — the one with the straw canopy — on the right. The dance floor is shoulder-to-shoulder on Friday and Saturday nights. And if the weather is right and management allows, you might want to duck go out the back door and check out the gorgeous view of the Hudson below.

Back inside, there's one obvious drawback to the layout when the party is packed: The bathroom line in the main hallway is not only long but crowded due to the narrow hallway, particularly so for the ladies' room. The line on one Friday night snaked well beyond the doors, around the corner and into the place where bar dwellers were just trying to stand or walk through. A couple of women resorted to using the men's room one night that Metromix stopped by, and you couldn't really blame them.

Attire: It seems like anybody and everybody is at The Blue Martini on Friday and Saturday nights during warm-weather months. Whether your style is preppy, hip-hop or hipster, you'll fit in here as long as you look somewhat put-together. And while the vibe is casual, people are dressing — in very different styles — to impress.

Mood: One of the best aspects of The Blue Martini is that it has the feel of a small club in the back room, but more of a bustling bar vibe in the narrow hallway, offering the best of both worlds in that respect. It's flirty without being fussy.

Pick me up: Singles will like the place for its meat-market potential, but by no means should it be an uncomfortable experience for couples, either.

To aid in the pick-up artistry, perhaps offer to buy or be bought one of the bar's many namesake drinks, including the indulgent white chocolate martini. And be careful not to spill them on your prospective date, because he or she might drown. At about 16 ounces apiece, they should keep you in the conversation long enough to get past the initial "Come here often?" jitters.

If you get some digits and want to come back to The Blue Martini under somewhat more romantic circumstances, perhaps a dinner date would work. Not surprisingly, seafood is tops on the menu here.

Entertainment: As far as nightlife goes at The Blue Martini, weekends are the ideal time to check it out and be checked out. K104.7 has thrown its share of dance parties, setting up shop to the left of the dance floor when you walk in the back room.

Rumor has it they are opening a new Blue Martini in Middletown. Check back with Metromix for all of the details.

Want a look inside? Check out All Access: The Blue Martini in Newburgh

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