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| - Despite the casual dining concept, the service staff here are truly on the ball- literally. Not only are there servers responsible for taking orders and delivering food, but they also have a crew whose (potentially dangerous) task is to pick up and deliver back all the balls in the room. Our server for the night was an absolute doll and incredibly accommodating. We began our adventure at one of the picnic tables, moved when it was our time to play, and then headed back to a table for more eats and drinks, and every time, she transported everything for us as we moved. The kitchen was also accommodating in making sure we had at least a good start on our meal before our table was ready to play. In the 25 minutes we sat at our picnic table before our game, we received six savoury dishes, and had at least one drink each, and somehow never felt rushed or overwhelmed.
Speaking of drinks, the bar menu at SPiN feature about 14 international wine offerings (from $8-12/glass), approximately 12 local and imported beers by the bottle ($5.75) or can ($6.30) or draft, 7 fruit-forward cocktails ($10.60-15.50), and three 32 oz "punch bowls" ($54.50) to share. Ha, and unless you want to forfeit your game due to an inability to hold yourself up (nevermind successfully hit a ball), you're going to want to share. Over the course of the night, we sampled the Cucumber Margarita (Cazadores, Cucumber, Basil, $12.40), Hurricane (Bacardi Black & White, Passion Fruit, Pomegranate, $10.60), the Peach Pit (Bulleit, Peach, Vanilla, $12.40), the Bottom Heavy Bowl (Grey Goose Le Poire, Pinot Grigio, Pear, Raspberry, $54.50), and the iPunch (Tequila Tromba, Pomegranate, Smashed Blackberries, Agave, $54.50). Of the single glass cocktails, the winner was the Peach Pit- it was sweet, fresh and aromatic without feeling cloying or artificial. The Hurricane was nicely balanced but not as addictive as the aforementioned, while the Margarita packed a serious tart punch. I personally adore sour drinks, but do yourselves a favour and drink this one before any of the fruity sweet bevvies. Speaking of punches, I loved the idea of the punch bowl, as it easily yielded 8-10 small glasses over the night. If you like a smoother, less sweet offering, then the Bottom Heavy would likely be the best choice, but for me it was all about the iPunch. It was tangy from the pomegranate, and sweet from the agave, and biting into a blackberry yielded a bit burst of tequila spiked juice. I definitely would come back with a group of thirsty friends for a bowl of punch alone.
And whenever I drink, food I usually soon to follow. Designed by Jon Lovett (whose instragram photos have been making me hungry for months now), the food menu focuses on local, sustainable ingredients, all prepared in house and served with playful flare. Actually, throughout the night, Chef Lovett was gracious enough to pop by the table a number of times to deliver food himself. Appropriate for it's purpose (aka. to potentially be consumed one handed during a head-to-head ping-pong showdown), the menu is made up of 14 small plates meant for snacking and sharing. To round everything out, one can also choose from 5 sandwiches, 4 awesome sounding desserts, and 2 salads (which probably should be reserved for the picnic tables. Working a paddle in one hand and a fork in the other may lead to some potentially dangerous accidents. Me hand-eye-coordination? Apparently, not so much). Sticking to the small sharable type plates on the menu, over the course of the night we sampled:
Poppers- Jalapenos, Atlantic Rock Crab, Buttermilk Ranch Dip ($9)
A nicely balanced popper with some mild heat from the jalapenos, sweetness from the rock crab and a tangy kick from the cream cheese filling. I also liked that he used panko, which kept them much lighter than the typical stodgy bar-menu staple
Cast Iron Prawns- Inland Farmed Prawns, Old Bay, Garlic, Chives ($12)
If you're a garlic lover, you're going to love these. The prawns were really nicely cooked and seasoned well and tossed with a sweet vibrant garlic sauce just waiting for a good sop. The standard white toast that accompanied probably wouldn't have been my first pick for a sauce-eating vessel, but in in pinch, it did the trick....
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