As much as I wish the following statement weren't true, here it is anyway:

Certain nights just aren't conducive to heavy drinking.

The night before an exam, the night you enter your third trimester of pregnancy or the night you have to pick up grandma from the airport, to name a few. These nights all call for moderation, not lubrication.

As it turns out, many also choose to abstain on the evening of Jan. 1.

"The day after a holiday is always tough," explains a bikini-clad server named Taylor at Frankie's Sports Bar and Grill. "Especially after New Year‘s."

Looking out over the second floor of the only bikini bar in Washington, it's obvious Frankie's is suffering from Jan. 1 malaise. The expansive bar is like a ghost town. There are a few older patrons in cowboy boots and a small group of 20-somethings occupying one of Frankie's seven pool tables, but that's about it. No one playing shuffleboard, no one singing karaoke. The country music blasting over the speakers wails to a nearly empty room.

Since I've picked the mother of all off nights to review Frankie's, I'm forced to rely on bikinied server Taylor for recollections of busier days.  She says the second floor - a hospitality room that allows smoking indoors for a required membership fee - is the busier of the two floors. She explains that the bar usually brings in older drinkers in the early evenings and a large military crowd for late nights.

Taylor is generally friendly and forthcoming until I ask her about the chances of hooking up at Frankie's. 

"They're OK, I guess," she says, backing away from my spot at the bar. Whether it's my awkward phrasing (hey, uh, what about hookups?), or the fact that she might be lying (hardly a girl patron in sight), the hesitation in her voice is palpable. I take her answer with a grain of salt. Sure, Frankie's has a huge upside with its large space and servers in bikinis. But for guys looking for love, even on a fast night at Frankie's, single ladies might trickle in a little slow. 

Frankie's Sports Bar and Grill

$10 one-time membership fee for smoking upstairs
3663 Pacific Ave. S.E., Lacey
360.455.0352