We went with another family to try this place now that it's been open
for awhile. We had an interesting experience, in all aspects of the
word.
For starters, you need to understand this "bar service"
concept before you go in. The idea is that you go in, choose a spot,
then go to the bar to order what you want. So far so good. But the
place has gastropub aspirations--it definitely encourages you to go for a
full meal, which is what we did. That means you are ordering a drink
(or in my case a flight), an appetizer and a meal, for multiple people,
all at the bar. I went up ahead of my party to order my flight and an
appetizer, and asked that both families be on the same tab. The others
weren't ready yet. I figured since it was a "tab" that they would keep
it open as the others ordered, but after they delivered the first items
they closed it. They organize tabs by a limited set of numbers, and
apparently handed that number to someone else before retrieving it when
they understood that the main order was still coming. Trouble ahead.
But
first the appetizer, which was their Dancin' Brussels Sprouts. They
are prepared with pomegranate, sesame seeds, fish sauce vinaigrette, and
bonito flakes. Some of you might quail a bit at the idea of Brussels
sprouts and fish sauce. Don't. The fish sauce is not too heavy and
helps to mitigate the bitterness of Brussels sprouts. They were nicely
carmelized and all the flavors worked wonderfully together. Delicious!
Two
of us ordered flights. The concept is great--you get to try several
beers and there's a good chance you'll find one or more you like. At
Thistle they price them by the glass, which is good for flexibility.
But these are craft beers so the price for a 4 oz. glass seems more
like what one would pay for a pint. They have a very broad selection on
tap and more in the case. Several folks in the party had selections
from their craft soda as well.
The party consisted of four adults
and four children. There's no children's menu but they will adjust the
burgers to order so most got by OK. There are also a couple of
vegetarian options, though we were warned off the Southern grits (kudos
to honest waitstaff!).
Our party mostly got burgers--mostly
classics, and one "bleu burger". And here is where the trouble
starts--we actually ordered two bleu burgers, and a waiter came out with
what he said were two bleu burgers, but in fact one was a classic. The
staff struggled throughout the rest of the service to bring us what we
ordered. Even though we ordered the food at the same time, it was about
25 minutes from the start of the service until they had all orders
delivered and correct. During this process the staff brought us random
food intended for other parties, checking to see if it was ours.
Painful.
The burgers were decent and nice to look at, but not
overly generous. The classic is pretty heavy on the cheddar and
pickles, so it's rather salty and strong. The person in our party that
got the bleu burger seemed to like it. One person got the bacon grilled
cheese. The goat cheese and provolone were pretty overwhelming, it was
hard to taste much else. And we couldn't find the bacon, which should
have been pretty obvious according to other reviews. The tomato soup
was bland and nothing special at all.
We got truffle fries,
regular fries, and pretzel knots with the burgers. The fries are the
breaded kind and were cooked just right. The truffle upgrade is done
with truffle oil and a garnish of parmesan. Very tasty, but I'm not
sure truffle oil really adds that much. The kids enjoyed the pretzel
knots.
When we settled the bill we discovered they had left off
one of the flights. It was an expensive evening, I am not sure we
really got value for our money. I recommend it mostly on promise--I think they will get this worked out.
But the combination of bar service and full gastropub meals probably
needs rethinking. It seems particularly ill suited to large parties,
meaning more than 3 people. I may go back, but will want to hear that
it's continued to improve.
My Yelp Review
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