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| - Went for my first visit last night, which was a Saturday. Fantastic brew selection, friendly waiter with great suggestions. Ordered two tap specialties that were both delicious while waiting for friends. Wasn't starving for dinner, so ordered the "Snacks N'At" Mussels Diablo, while my friends ordered the entree Grilled Reuben and the Pot Roast Stack. We told them to bring them all out together, which was done after an unusually long wait. There's very little less enjoyable than cold shellfish, unless it's supposed to be chilled. There were about a dozen over-cooked (i.e., tough) mussels on the half shell, with barely a hint of temperature, served in a bowl with a handful of pita points. The sauce was reminiscent of a spiced-up duck sauce, with sliced jalapeƱos thrown in for heat. It may have been enjoyable at some point, like maybe when it had just been prepared, while the mussels hadn't overcooked from waiting and the sauce hadn't congealed into a stiff syrup, but by the point it was served it was barely edible. On the plus side, Friend One seemed to enjoy the Reuben, and it looked delish, piled high with lean corned beef and nicely toasted marbled rye. I distinctly heard Friend Two say that the Pot Roast Stack was one of the best he experienced. So maybe my Snack was held to the detriment of its "eatability", in an effort to sustain the unified presentation. Perhaps a little delay in cooking would have helped.
If there were two ratings, one for ambience/quaffability and one for the food, I would have assigned a 4.5 for the former, and a 1 for the latter, being a generous testament to my friends' remarks. BTW, Friend 1 ordered a Coconut Layer Cake for dessert (made locally but not on premises) which she absolutely adored. Since there AREN'T two evals but an average, and giving some weight to the fact that this is primarily an artisan brew joint (perhaps contrary to the owner's remarks herein), I'm giving it the dreadedly average 3. Perhaps teaching the waiters to have subpar dishes held would be a better policy. Timeliness at the expense of quality is never a good policy.
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