| rev:text
| - I wanted to believe the hype, but I was underwhelmed by meal's end.
Naked City Tavern is an outpost of local favorite (and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives featured restaurant) Naked City Pizza. Some notable differences: this one is 24/7, and they provide more menu items than just the namesake pizza, which I hadn't tried before and was really looking forward to.
I met up with several Yelpers for dinner, which notably didn't include brunch items (perhaps refer to other reviews for more on those, or look for my eventual brunch visit). We were able to share multiple items from their standard menu as well as a separate "Enchantment Under The Sea" menu.
We started off with some of their specialty fries ($5.50 "small" size, $7.50 large). The TV-featured Suicide Fries destroyed my palate during the first and final bite, so I wrote that off. The Poutine Fries were disappointing in several ways, starting with the lack of sufficient salt, continuing with the overall blandness in the mozzarella, gravy, and ending in the relatively boring soft texture of the fried potato. I couldn't write this one off.
The Braised Short Rib Stroganoff ($14.95) was a large, shareable plate that also suffered from lack of salt. It got better after we located a salt shaker, but the initial impression was hard to shake. Even given proper seasoning, I disliked the recipe because the overly shredded/minced preparation does not give proper respect to the short rib that was purportedly used.
I was finally impressed by the Lobster Pot Pie ($18.95), which consisted of delicious puff pastry and creamy tomato filling, the essential solid chunks of lobster, and the hard-to-find-at-this-place proper level of seasoning. I also tried the Pizza Logs ($7.95) - think crispy egg roll-like pepperoni pizza with cold red sauce dip, and proper seasoning for a second consecutive menu item.
I was so excited to try their specialty pizzas ($14.95 for a 1/4 sheet, which has 6 solid rectangular pieces), and both pizzas which we divided were great. The Naked City (sans olive per one person's request) is akin to what would be a "combination" or "supreme" on takeout/delivery pizza menus, and the Guinea Pig (another TV-featured dish) is a white sauce pizza with slices of their huge meatballs. Toppings were all delicious, and crust style is a little thicker and hence less crispy, but I loved eating every bit of it anyway.
At the end, I was able to sample a bit of the Strawberry Short Cake ($7.95), which eats about the same as it sounds but feels fairly light in texture. It's not too sweet either. That said, it was a little boring and didn't seem to have enough punch to be a post-pizza dessert, so I likely wouldn't order it myself next time.
I really wanted to give them a higher rating on the strength of the pizzas, but the service was lacking. Our server seemed to be stretched on the busy floor, and we couldn't help but wonder when our pizzas were coming out, among other concerns. Perhaps bar seating would have resulted in better service than at our table? I would've given points for some of the music that was playing, and the sports-filled TVs around the room, but that's not exactly why I came here tonight.
As I alluded to earlier, I'll likely be back to Naked City Tavern for their pizza and for a look at their brunchy items, but I was let down tonight. Despite enjoying the pizza so much, I need a little bit more before I can feel comfortable with calling myself a fan of the offerings overall.
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