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| - We visited Brocach's on Monroe Street on 4/9/14. Overall, the food was extremely disappointing. The service was adequate, but average.
We arrived and were promptly seated by a host who seemed a bit cranky. However, it was about 8pm on a Tuesday night, so the lack of waiting was not surprising. The restaurant does look very nice. The decor is similar to their original Capitol Square location: dark wood paneling, cozy and warmly colored walls, and a very welcoming "Irish-Pub vibe".
We ordered the Beer Cheese Dip appetizer, which came with soft pretzel sticks for dipping. The dip arrived with a congealed "skin" on top, as though it had been sitting out and cooling for awhile before being served. The liquid cheese underneath the solid surface had a bitter, almost metallic, aftertaste. I imagine that the goal was for the dip to have a pronounced beer flavor, but it didn't work for me. It hardly tasted cheesy at all, and the taste it left in my mouth was gross. My dining partner didn't seem to dislike this dish as much as me, so this could be a matter of my personal preference. However, for a $9 dollar appetizer, it should have at least been served piping hot, rather than lukewarm. Unfortunately, this item provided an ominous preview of what was still to come.
My partner was in the mood for something light so he ordered the American Club sandwich with french fries. He commented that the sandwich, which contained ham, turkey, cheddar, swiss, lettuce, tomato and mustard, was "extremely average", and rated it "5 out of 10". He liked his fries a lot though, and thought they were the saving grace of his meal. The fries looked and tasted a lot like McDonald's fries, and everyone knows how tasty those are!
In the mood to splurge with no regard to calories, I ordered off of the "Mac and Cheese" section of the menu. I got the Bacon Bleu Mac, which the menu claimed contained: "trottole pasta, bacon, scallions, cream, bleu cheese, cheddar cheese curds"
What came out to me was: under cooked (hard and chewy) pasta in an extremely dry (nearly non-existent) generic cheese sauce. The vast plate was topped with about 3 blue cheese crumbles, which was not enough to impart a discernible blue cheese flavor to the dish. There was an overwhelming amount of crumbled-up bacon and no scallions.
The only flavor in the dish was bacon. I like bacon as much as the next person, but the flavor was overpowering. I gave half of it to my bacon-loving dining partner so that I could attempt to taste the other flavors. I was unsuccessful, as there were no other flavors to be found.
When I ordered, I was envisioning a luscious, rich, and creamy dish with a variety of subtle flavors and lots of cheesy goodness. What I got was a boring plate of plain dry pasta with too much bacon crumbled on top. It was not good, and I would have been more satisfied eating Kraft from a box.
I was a fan of Brocach's downtown location so I was surprised by how much of a let-down this was. I also hear they have a site in Milwaukee now too. I fear that Brocach may be sacrificing quality for quantity in their recent expansions, and sadly, I cannot recommend this restaurant anymore based on the quality and flavor of the foods we tried. Step it up, Brocach!
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