When restaurateur Michael Stanley first toured the building at 2465 East Sunrise Boulevard, it wasn’t just the generous downstairs dining room and expansive kitchen that caught his attention. Upstairs, tucked above what would become Sunness Supper Club, he found something more intriguing: a warren of anterooms and hidden chambers that felt charged with possibility.
“I was already sold on the space for the restaurant,” Stanley says, “but the second floor had so much potential and spirit that my desire to turn it into a speakeasy and lounge was immediate.”
Sunness Supper Club opened in the winter of 2024 to both critical and popular acclaim. Now, nearly a year later, Stanley has unveiled the long-planned second chapter: Bar Betty, an upstairs speakeasy and lounge that feels intentionally removed from the world below.
Open Tuesday through Saturday beginning at 7 p.m., Bar Betty—named for Stanley’s grandmother, much as Sunness honors his grandfather—is accessed via a discreet interior staircase or elevator connecting the two floors. The transition is deliberate. Once upstairs, guests are transported into a layered, cinematic space that nods both to the building’s past and its present reinvention.
The foyer leans into the site’s history as Jade Palace, a once-well-known Chinese restaurant. Red lanterns glow softly overhead, and a monumental stone Buddha—rescued from the original space and carefully refinished—anchors the room. Dramatic dragon wallpaper frames the entrance, setting the stage for what comes next.
Beyond a red door, the mood shifts. The main bar evokes a distinctly Gatsby-era sensibility, from dropped tin ceilings and inky black walls to moody lighting and Art Deco–inspired wallpaper. It’s shadowy, intimate, and built for lingering. The room comes alive nightly with entertainment, including Roaring Twenties–style torch singers and a Thursday night burlesque show that leans into the lounge’s theatrical spirit.
The drinks program is equally considered. While the bar delivers impeccably executed classics, it’s the signature cocktails that have quickly become standouts. Favorites include James and the Spicy Peach, a bold blend of Ghost tequila, Ancho Reyes, and peach syrup, and Fluffy Dream, a silky gin-based cocktail finished with aquafaba, elderflower, and citrus bitters. Non-alcoholic options receive the same attention, including Black Betty, a layered, flavor-forward NA cocktail featuring Black Market THC liquor, guava purée, and lime.
Bar Betty completes the Sunness experience not by competing with the dining room below, but by extending it. Where Sunness Supper Club is convivial and energetic, Bar Betty is darker, more intimate, and intentionally escapist—a place designed for the night to unfold slowly.
Bar Betty is located upstairs from Sunness Supper Club at 2465 E. Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant opens daily for dinner at 5 p.m., with happy hour offered from 5–7 p.m. Bar Betty is open Tuesday through Saturday from 7 p.m. to midnight. For more information, visit sunnesssupperclub.com/bar-betty or follow @BarBettyFTL and @SunnessSupperClub on Instagram.
