Tailgator's at Timberwilde

This is the first time I've been to Tailgator's since it was at the 2920 and Kuykendall location.  I never got to review it there, so I looked forward to my lunch at the new location (in the Timberwilde center where McArdle's used to be) on a Friday.  It was pretty busy in there for a weekday, so I'd say they are doing OK.  The service is casual, you pick your own place to sit.  I chose the bar.

I started off with some Gator Bites.  Alligator is usually a novelty item on a menu--I've had it a few times and it tends to come out like dry chicken.  Tailgator's actually makes the novelty worth eating.  It has a wonderfully crunchy outside, and is tender enough inside.  It comes with a spicy mustard sauce that complements the crunch well.  I liked them a lot.  You can get gator as a protein in other items as well, it's obvious they are confident about it.

For the meal I got a Bayou Po'boy with house chips.  I absolutely love house chips, just about no matter how they are done, but these are done quite well.  They are thick and crunchy, done to a uniform brown.  Definitely try them.  The sandwich was an overall good but interesting experience.  The combination of Andouille sausage, chicken breast, grilled onions, cheddar cheese and mustard is unusual.  Overall I'd say it worked--the chicken was flavorful and tender, which is always the main challenge--but there were some construction issues.  The cheese was kind of all in one spot.  I like that they try things but would probably order something different the next time.

The atmosphere is standard sports bar, unremarkable but there's plenty of TVs and good sight lines for them.  They run viral videos on one TV for non-sports fans which is fun.  The rest rooms were reasonably clean and ready during a busy time.

The main reason for marking it down at all would be the slight food issues above, but mainly the service.  My experience was fine, I was served politely, but it was overall pretty slow.  I was sitting at the bar so was hard to miss, but others complain of being ignored, which can happen in a seat-yourself place.

I didn't have a beer this time but it looks to be a real strength.  They had an impressive set of local and national craft beers on tap.

Overall, while it isn't perfect it's quite good, and deserves to make it, so I hope they hang in there.

My Yelp Review