Ah, the place formerly known as the Town Tavern. And something else before that. And I think something else even before that.

All that to say that we’ve been here several times before, but this is the first time as Cheers.

So Cheers!

This time we won the lottery for sitting at the coldest table in the place. Yay us! I mean, sure, it’s 50 some degrees outside in January this evening, but it’s a little preemptive to turn the AC back on just yet, no?

Despite the name changes, the place actually looks, well, exactly the same as we remembered it from our last visit. Well, while we could still see to look around the place anyway. They dimmed the lights down not long after we got our first round, so much so that Shane jokingly reached for Ted’s beer instead of his tequila soda because he claimed he couldn’t see.

Must be that 6:30pm ambiance we all strive for in a sports bar. Got it.

But what they lack in lighting, they make up for in cooking speed, as our food arrived at our table in quite literally less than 10 minutes after we ordered. Is there a race in the kitchen? Did they turn down the lights to save more energy for faster ovens? Damn.

Ted got an order of the Buttermilk Bites, which are chicken pieces battered like fried chicken but cut into bite sized pieces. (First pic). They’re tossed in wing sauce so he chose the Old Town Hot.

He said they had some definite heat to them. He liked them, but the sauce was definitely bordering on making them inedible in volume.

He also got the Hair of the Dog Burger. Which is about the worst way to describe what is essentially a breakfast burger with egg and bacon and usually cheese – but no cheese in this case because, well, Ted.

Let’s make a mental note that the words “dog” and “hair” in the title really don’t make a burger sound more appetizing.

Although in this case that appeared to be foreshadowing, since Ted was not a fan of burger. He said the patties were thin and not flavored well. He actually didn’t finish it – partially because he was full from the other food he ordered, but also because it was just not the best.

Shane got 12 garlic parm wings. He also got a side of onion stack – which if you’re wondering is kind of like what would happen if onion rings and onion straws had a baby.

So far we are not giving props to the person trying to be clever with food names. Like we see what you’re going for here, but it’s also not really working.

But at least what was working was the taste of the oddly named food, as Shane said the onion stack was really good. And that my description was truthful the best way to describe them.

You’re welcome.

However, the wings were just OK. Like middle of the road. Not the greatest but not the worst. In his words, “it’s hard to screw up wings” – although we’ve definitely had that happen in the past, so that’s not entirely true. But they seemed to try real hard here.

I got the Philly sandwich with chicken instead of steak and a side salad.

I had been debating getting the rice bowl with chicken and cilantro. And let’s just say I should’ve gone that route, because I was not a fan of the sandwich. The mushrooms on it were sour tasting, and the chicken was dry with zero flavor. When melted cheese and the side salad are the best parts of the meal, you know there’s an issue.

The service was OK – other than Ted getting served the wrong beer on his second round, and Shane’s third tequila soda getting downgraded to well tequila because they were out of pretty much every other kind by that point (we must’ve missed a wild weekend?) – but as I’m typing that it kind of sounds a little less than OK given those issues, doesn’t it?

Overall I think we all agreed we liked the food better when it was Town Tavern. And so far all signs point to us not returning. At least not until the next name change anyway.

Picked by: Ted