It's a Parisian cocktail bar in the middle of King Street, and it leans into that identity without being a costume of it. The owner is the son of French parents, the menu reads French, the room is chic and cozy, and the drinks run on a French-liquor base - absinthe, Chartreuse, a cognac-and-local-tonic house drink called the Felix & Tonic - with rum on draft to keep a foot on Charleston soil. It's one of the more serious cocktail rooms in the city, and the espresso martini has a standing recommendation. The food is proper French too: gnocchi à la grand-mère, a raclette burger, fromage fort to start, all of it in the right price bracket.
We went at dinner and the whole thing felt like being in a small bistro that just happens to have the best bar in town. The crowd was on the older side, well-dressed, on the quiet side of the King Street noise. It's the more expensive end, which is the only real argument against it, and it's not one that holds up once you're holding the glass. If you want cocktails that were actually made by someone who knows what they're doing, this is the room.