Every neighborhood has its local spot, a watering hole where the locals all gather night after night to shoot the shit and get away from the troubles of reality. This is one of those so called places. Small tables crowded with people, all laughing, sharing stories, and drinking away their troubles. This is by no means a young persons hipster establishment offering fancy cocktails or gourmet tasting menus. No, this is for the real Adults, for the well aged, and the seasoned. No one is gonna do you any favors here, you want something? Get it yourself. You want something to eat, drink, want a place to sit, need your check? Get it yourself. You're grown. As you walk through the place you'll come face to face with a number of signs, telling you what to do or where to go, rules of the territory that regulars need not pay any attention, but for I the uninitiated, proved to be very important.
I am not a sign reader, I'm a go with the flow kinda guy and well maybe that's why I'm not the best driver in the world but usually I can navigate an eatery just fine. This time however, I found myself wandering around like a fish out of water. Eventually after reading the signs I headed to the bar where I stumbled with a couple of sticky old menus trying to decide what I wanted, while a bar tender awkwardly waited for me to make up my mind. The menu is mostly traditional bar fair. Burgers, fries, sandwiches and alike. They have a pizza section which was intriguing but not what I was looking for. I ended up going with the club.
I took a seat on the patio, to enjoy the summer weather and escape the noise inside. I overheard some people saying that this was just the beginning and it was only gonna get crazier as the night went on. Now, I live near by, I have definitely heard the patrons of the heading home after last call on more than one occasion.
It took a while for us to get our food, a salad and a sandwich and some fries and I wouldn't say anything was hot, maybe warm. Over all, I can't say I was impressed by the food. It had potential, flavors were mostly there. They used fresh ingredients it seemed, but it was clear that a novice chef was at the wheel of this ship. I definitely saw some major faux pas. The French fries were garnished with a mix of shredded carrots and cabbage. Useless garnish, that adds nothing to the dish, doesn't taste very good frankly and leave the plate looking like it was covered in scraps. I'll give them a pass for sprinkling parsley over the fries, because they used fresh parsley and it was nicely chopped and gave the fries a nice pop of color. The steak, while cooked to a decent medium rare was obviously cooked either too fast or from frozen. You can see the clear ring in the meat, it's the tell tale sign. A perfectly cooked steak has an even cook all the way through, a gradient of pink to brown. The bread on my sandwich was less toasted and more dried. It was like sandpaper on my mouth, it still hurts now hours later. I'm not sure what the toasting method is, but it might need some retooling.
For what you get, I don't know that the price is quite right. I see what they're trying to do here, but it's not quite there yet. We didn't get any drinks, we got a salad and a sandwich and it came to almost $40. That's pretty steep for bar food in my opinion.
Now, I don't like to get down on places or step on anyone's toes because I know someone worked hard on this, they're doing the best the can with what they got and I can't fault anyone for that. This is clearly a home away from home for many offering a much needed escape from the day to day grind. I can tell, everyone else in the place was having a good time. The staff were all friendly, the place is clean and decorated well to suite the theme. It wasn't tacky or outdated. There is a lot of good here, but maybe not for me.
If you live near by, you're north of 25, and looking for a friendly place to have some drinks with friends, maybe some snacks, this is a place for you. read more