Restaurant/Bar Review

A speakeasy bar in Tallahassee, Florida? You bet, but only if you can find it and know the secret word.

First make an online reservation and receive a special return message. Arrive at the Midtown Filling Station and pass a storefront of blacked out windows. Then, locate the correct doorman and say the code word. Ours was “Fitzgerald.”

You’ll be led down a clandestine alleyway to a gatekeeper. The gatekeeper stands before an unmarked door. He explains that Alchemy follows traditional speakeasy etiquette: proper attire, no men in hats, and gentlemen must go through the bartender to ask for an introduction to a lady.

Following the rules is the only way to be admitted into Midtown Tallahassee’s Alchemy: a revival speakeasy bar paying homage to those who found a way to circumvent outlawed liquor during Prohibition. A speakeasy is actually defined as,”an establishment that was used for selling and drinking alcoholic beverages during Prohibition (1920-1933, longer in some states), when the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol was illegal.” The term comes from a patron’s manner of ordering alcohol without raising suspicion – a bartender would tell a patron to be quiet and “speak easy”.