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| - In an effort to take over Calgary with interesting bars and restaurants, the owners of Model Milk give us National.
Complete with popcorn for your table, tatter tots with Franks Red hot dipping sauce, floor to ceiling windows with views of 17th Ave and long picnic tables forcing you to mingle with strangers, National is a pub rethought, and I like it.
National is loud, clangy, huge and crowded with a beer menu that is extensive, sourcing all their brew as locally as possible, and their food menu impressive featuring great salads mixed with old-fashioned bar favorites like pickled eggs and nuts and all-day breakfast.
Although the beer and food selection is striking, they neglected to put as much love into the cocktails and wine lists, leaving the occasional beer drinker a bit lost. I wish I could give National 3.75 stars, since this stumble only deserves 0.25 marks off a four-star review; but alas, it cannot be overlooked.
I don't think I will be a bar-fly on the wall at this place since I like a little more selection for drinking and I only occasionally like to be accosted by strangers in a pub; But when I am looking for beer, I like the beer selection at National, the crowd it attracts, the location it sits in and the food on the offer, so I think I'll make a habit of going to here, sometimes.
T.
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