Where specialty cocktails meet gemstones, Bernadette’s Crystal Gardens radiates positive vibrations within Market Square’s bar scene.
Located directly next to Preservation Pub, Bernadette’s Crystal Gardens opened on March 1 of this year. It took three years to complete since the building was acquired. Technically, it is a part of Preservation Pub, with access between the two on the rooftop to carry drinks from pub to bar. However, it’s a non-smoking, vegetarian and cocktail based bar. It’s open from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on most days, opening earlier on Saturdays and Sundays.
This bar is owned by the Preservation Pub Company. Scott West and his wife, who the bar is named after, own Bernadette’s Crystal Gardens. One of the general managers, John Colquitt, talked about the bar and its opening.
“It’s our newest bar that we’ve opened on Market Square, I believe it’s number four now,” Colquitt said. “It’s supposed to be a little bit prettier, a little bit more where you can walk in and have a nice cocktail and sit down. It’s got a whole bunch of rocks and gems that they’ve collected from all over the country.”
The rocks and gems make up the crystals, fossils and stones that decorate the entirety of the bar. West talked about the quality of gemstones and items that are on display.
“It’s Museum quality pieces,” West said. “I could have opened a museum with these crystals, but instead we opened a fun place to go hang out and eat and drink with your friends.”
In total, there are around 45,000 pounds of crystals throughout the bar, totaling to about 94.2 million carats worth. West put this number in a unique perspective.
“The distance to the sun in miles in karats in this building,” West said.
Bernadette West designed everything in the bar, from the painted tables to the gemstone butterfly wings at the entrance. She received help from some designers that work with gems and crystals for the actual bar, with Scott West’s brother acting as a contact and crystal expert for them.
These designs comprise the four floors of the bar. The first floor, known as the Amethyst Lounge, has a huge bar that runs opposite to several booths. The second floor is the Quartz Lounge, which is still being finalized, but will feature DJs and other musical events. The third floor is the rooftop Gemstone Forest, filled with tables, crystal trees and a huge collection of gems and crystals. Finally, there’s the fourth floor right above the Forest called the Citrine Mezzanine, which is still open air but has a covering. In a sense, it’s a little more formal and intimate.
“If you want to talk to a significant other, then Preservation Pub is pretty loud,” West said. “The live band is cranking some punk rock music on the stage and the guy smoking is next to you. It’s not as romantic as you come over here, it’s non-smoking, it’s got really cool more EDM style music, you can get a booth and have some privacy and you can hear each other.”
Along with that, the menu is reflective of Bernadette West’s taste. The food is vegetarian, with cauliflower pizza and veggie sliders. The cocktails are all specialty made, each with a different alcoholic base and natural ingredients. For example, the Moonstone cocktail is made with rum whereas the Peridot is made with gin. West talked about these cocktails and what makes them special.
“In here, I think the best tasting cocktail around is the Moonstone, but they’re all named after stones and they came up with these really cool ways of making these drinks, like we use natural flowers to make the Moonstone have a blueish layer,” West said.
Everything surrounding the bar, including how the business operates, is meant to set it apart from other bars in the area.
“Bernadette’s Crystal Gardens is the latest manifestation of our creative endeavors and entrepreneurs of the artist of the business world,” West said.
With these cocktails and the revitalization of Market Square, they’ve been successful since opening in March. Even though it took a few years to get everything finished, they worked through the COVID-19 pandemic to finish it all while making sure that everyone was being taken care of.
Inside of Bernadette's Crystal Gardens, a crystal-themed bar in Market Square constructed using 45,000 pounds of crystals, on Wednesday Nov. 10, 2021.
“We closed as a business to customers during the pandemic, but we used that time to fix the (Preservation) Pub up, to finish building Bernadette’s, to get Bernadette’s ready to open,” West said. “So all of the problems that we accrued over the years, we fixed those and we were ready to hit the ground running. As soon as the unemployment ended, we re-hired everybody and we restarted.”
Even without a sign on the window, they’ve been getting good traction since opening after the COVID-19 pandemic. According to West, the newer bar has both met and underperformed in different areas of his projections, which he is using to get more people into the bar on different days.
He plans on finalizing the Quartz Hall and the kitchen soon. Along with that, he wants to acquire more regulars over time. He wants people to come in and share everything that they serve, like trying all the pizzas within a group.
He hopes that this sharing along with the crystals, EDM music and formal intimacy that the bar offers resonates with customers while establishing the Bernadette’s Crystal Gardens own identity.
“It’s an elevated happy hippie bar,” West said.
Interior of Bernadette's, a crystal-themed bar in Market Square, on Wednesday Nov. 10, 2021.
