REVIEW: $40 martinis are a loud luxury, but are they worth it?

Taco: Delicious drinks served on special little trays with sides like caviar that turn heads as they move through a bar or restaurant.

“Yes, it’s an upscale martini, and what really makes it upscale is the caviar-stuffed olives on the rim,” Trevin Hutchins, bar manager at San Francisco’s Aphotic, which sells a 30-ounce martini, told Business dollars and make the cocktail on the table. Insider. “Otherwise, it’s a pretty classic martini.”

BI tried five martinis in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, ranging from $30 to $52, and was surprised to find that some actually justified the price.

Dante, Los Angeles: $52

In Los Angeles, we headed to the posh side of town to try the Caviar Martini at Dante, the West Coast outpost of the old New York coffee shop and craft cocktail bar. Located on the rooftop of the Maybourne Beverly Hills Hotel, Dante is the kind of place you’d expect to get delicious cocktails.

The menu description for the $52 Caviar Martini included gray goose, roasted rye, white peppercorns, dolin blanc, bitters and 14 grams of caviar. It was served on a pretty silver tray with a small tin of Calvisius caviar over ice and five blinis – tiny pancakes often served with caviar.

Dante told BI that the martini is based on the Russian tradition of enjoying cold vodka with caviar.

The drink tasted a bit sweet with a malt flavor, unlike a traditional martini – but it was very good and came with a pleasantly surprising amount of delicious caviar, making the price seem justified.

Overall, the drink was a really fun, luxurious treat and seemed worth the price.

Saltie Girl, Los Angeles: $35

At Saltie Girl, the Los Angeles outpost of a popular Boston seafood joint, I tried their namesake Saltie martini, which is listed on the menu for $35. The menu description is simple: choice of vodka or gin, Castelvetrano olives, pickled onions and caviar.

We went with gin and were served a classic martini and a sidecar on a shiny silver tray and an olive and onion toothpick, each with small pieces of caviar.

The martini itself was solid, but the accompaniments were a little overpowering. Serving caviar on onions and olives took away from his taste.

We were also unknowingly sold. After choosing gin, the bartender asked what kind and listed a few options, including Monkey 47, which we chose. Turns out that made the martini $47 instead of $35. I found it strange that there was no fixed list of ingredients for drinks sold at that price, which should in theory reflect the price of the ingredients used.

All in all, this looked a bit more luxurious than it actually was and might not be worth it for most people. A better option would be to go for a regular martini and separately order the Saltie Girl Caviar if you really want it, or just some canned fish.

Aphotic, San Francisco: $30

Inside a discreetly marked black building in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood is Aphotic, a Michelin-starred seafood restaurant known for its cocktail program and in-house distillery.

The restaurant’s eponymous martini is made with its seaweed gin, vermouth and manzanilla sherry. On the side is a single olive filled with caviar from Tsar Nicoulai, who collaborated with Aphotic, Trevin Hutchins, the restaurant’s bar manager, BI said.

Although the ingredients stay close to the classic dry martini, it hardly tasted like it. The botanicals inside the drink gave it a lot of flavor and it was salty, but not as salty as you’d expect from a dirty martini.

“It has this kind of brine, but not olive brine,” Hutchins said. “It’s more like an ocean brine.”

The saltiness of the caviar-stuffed olive complemented the drink’s oceanic theme well. Hutchins told BI that she likes to eat olives as a mid-drink palette cleanser. Martini is also made on the table for guests at the table.

At the end, the bartender served a small piece of lychee bon-bon, which took away all the saltiness of the drink. This was not necessary but was certainly appreciated.

If you’re looking for a simple martini, this is not. But we recommend it to any cocktail enthusiast or someone who wants to try something different.

Monkey Bar, New York: $34

Two blocks east of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is the Monkey Bar, a dimly lit restaurant where the bright yellow walls are adorned with paintings of card-playing primates and flying zebras. The unit is connected to the Hotel Elysée, a French-style hotel built in the 1920s that was once frequented by actor Marlon Brando.

The restaurant offers various options — including a $74 Añejo Negroni — but I tried the $34 Monkey Bar Martini. The menu description listed just four ingredients: Ki No Bi gin, Dolin dry vermouth, Castelvetrano olives and a lemon twist. The olives were served in a small bowl on the side while the bartender fixed the lemon twist on the martini glass.

Some gin-based cocktails have earthy flavors, but a Monkey Bar employee told BI that the signature drink leans toward floral and fragrant notes. After one sip, we couldn’t agree more.

The Monkey Bar Martini’s floral notes were reminiscent of a garden, making it a great summer drink for gin enthusiasts. However, the martini was too dry for our tastes and the floral notes became overpowering halfway through the cocktail.

While we wouldn’t buy the drink again, we understand how gin lovers might justify the high price. Ki No Bi gin is a premium spirit distilled in Kyoto, Japan, where the distillery was named International Gin Maker of the Year in 2018.

People who like dry martinis and are willing to pay for a high-quality gin will enjoy the Monkey Bar Martini, but only one glass and four olives for $34 is a bit steep for us.

ILIS, New York City: $50

Next, we traveled to Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood to visit ILIS, a spacious restaurant with an open kitchen with a wood fire in the center and contemporary artwork on the walls.

Since opening in October 2023, the restaurant has quickly developed a reputation in the city for its elaborate cocktails and sustainable ingredients. Earlier this year, the restaurant’s Citrus Martini garnered ads in major publications like Food & Wine and Grub Street.

We originally planned to try the viral $45 Citrus Martini, but soon realized the drink was out of season and no longer on the menu. Instead, I tried the $50 ILIS Ocean Martini. The menu listed five ingredients: Ki No Bi K Edition Gin, Iichiko Frasco Shochu, Acid Sugar Kelp, Sea Bean Brine and beach products.

“The Ocean Martini is somewhere between a Gibson and a dirty martini,” ILIS bar manager Bobby Murphy told Business Insider.

Murphy acknowledged that some people might balk at the $50 price tag, but that’s before they realize all the perks that come with the drink. We wholeheartedly agree.

A bartender poured me a mammoth martini glass before pouring my cocktail table, which wins points in my book. The glass looked big enough to hold at least two servings, which made me feel better about the expense.

Unsurprisingly, the martini tasted like the ocean, but in the best possible way—each sip felt like soaking in the sun by the sea as a breeze drifted by. It was one of the most unique flavors I’ve ever come across.

The forage ingredients that accompanied the martini helped justify the price, even if we were initially hesitant to taste them. The dish that was served on the side of the drink it contained plant-based products such as sea caviar, oyster leeks, pure kombu and sea beans.

“One of our chefs went in and looked for about 10kg of sea beans,” Murphy said. “It was like Scrooge McDuck diving into his gold and coins. I said, “I can’t believe we have all this.”

Murphy said he was a little nervous about launching the Ocean Martini after the success of the Citrus martini, but has received good feedback from customers so far. He said the restaurant has about 40 servings left after selling about 100 glasses of that cocktail.

“At the very least, I hope you enjoy it and feel the value in it,” he said. “For example, ‘it was very interesting and I’m not unhappy that I bought this.’

Ordering the Ocean Martini is an experience that invites guests to expand their palettes. Considering the pour size and the taste, we’d say the price for the Ocean Martini is worth it.