Living It Up in U.P. - Hotel Murano and Zara Mediterranean

Since my blog is called Living It Up in U.P. I decided I should start posting about places/things to do in the University Place/Tacoma area.  Tacoma gets a bad rap by Seattleites and east-siders, and it's undeserved.  Most people who say negative things about Tacoma haven't spent much, if any time here.  Yes, Tacoma is grittier than Seattle or Bellevue, but I think it adds to the character of the city and it gives it a much more unique feel than any ol' average metropolitan area. 


I live in University Place, a small city of 30,000 bordering south Tacoma.  University Place is a suburban town with a lot of families and yuppies.  The women I've met in Junior League of Tacoma mostly live in North Tacoma and University Place, so point made.  I don't really like yuppies, but then I realize that I totally am one, and so are all my friends.  So I guess I do like yuppies. 

Back in November I met up with some ladies from junior league for a night out.  We started with drinks at the Hotel Murano bar. 

In the Hotel Murano lobby

Hotel Murano is a modern hotel in downtown Tacoma that has gotten press in Conde Nast's top hotels list.  We had drinks in the downstairs lobby bar, but there's also a restaurant and bar upstairs called Bite that I've been to once before.  The bar had quite a few different martini's and mixed drinks on their menu and the atmosphere is excellent.  We had great service as well.  Our friend Jessica ordered the "Pregnant Lady" martini and it was complementary. 

source: Apartment Therapy

source: Apartment Therapy

We finished our drinks, then walked a block to Zara Mediterranean restaurant.  This restaurant just opened up a few months months ago and we all really enjoyed it.  The dining room has an open feel, and while we were there (on a Friday night) there were belly dancers.  Which was kind of cool, and kind of funny, but they were very talented and fun to watch.  I had the lamb shawerma, and it was excellent.  I cleaned my plate.

source: Zara Mediterranean

A fabulous ladies night out!