Hey we’re back!

I’m not sure who we need to talk to about not having major holidays like Christmas and News Years Day Fall on Wednesdays – it’s just rude, I know – but obviously that took us offline for a few weeks to close out 2024. Add in a work commitment to start the new year and we feel like we haven’t had a Wednesdays night out in … well, three weeks, I guess.

I mean it’s not as if we don’t see each other outside of Wednesdays. Please.

Anyway, why not kick off 2025 with a little trip over to Brunswick? Because clearly we’ve canvassed all of the sports bars in our immediate area, so we now need to drive upwards of 35 minutes for draft beer and bar food.

It was a game time decision on picking either this place or the Draft House Saloon a few doors down. Here’s the kicker: Sidelines had a steak special on Wednesdays, while at Draft House its wing night.

You see why I was torn. It’s almost like when we’re presented with the age old conundrum of which is better, burgers or wings?

And those of you who clicked on this post because of the name in the title already deduced that we ended up with the steak special, which at Sidelines involves a steak with side salad and fries or baked potato for $11.

Ted asked how big the steak was and got a hand measurement. I think what he really wanted was the weight, which is the traditionally acceptable way of describing the side of a steam, burger, or other meat portion. But hey, sure, “about this big” works, too. Maybe next time they can perform an interpretive dance, just to liven it up a bit.

Shane did eventually see a sign that advertised the Wednesday special and confirmed it was an 8oz steak. Now this was after Ted had already ordered it, so really didn’t do him any favors – but at least you don’t have to bring your “hand size to ounces” decoder ring on your visit now.

You’re welcome.

Ted also got an order of the drunken mussels, because, as he put it “you don’t often see those on a sports bar menu – and for $8 no less.”

I mean, you also don’t often see sushi on a sports bar menu either, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go crazy about ordering it when I see it there. But you do you, Ted.

They arrived in a plastic Leinenkugel’s beer pitcher. So take that as you will I guess. 

They honestly weren’t bad. I tried a few of them and other than being very garlicky they seemed fine. Both of us are also still alive as of this writing, too. So there’s that.

As for the steak, it seems garlic is the theme of the night because Ted thought it seemed to have been grilled with garlic salt after it was fully cooked. He said it tasted fine, but it was very tough and quite hard to cut.

Always high praise for a cut of meat, no? But hey, it was $11.

Those of you awaiting Shane’s review of his steak, well, you should know this: new for 2025, you’ll be seeing a lot more of our old friend “Healthy Shane” making an appearance on Wednesday nights, thanks to some unpleasant test results just before the holidays that indicated maybe, just maybe, eating entire sheet pizzas and full pound burgers with a side of chicken wings isn’t a great way to audition to be the poster child for healthy and low cholesterol numbers. Who knew?

In any case, he decided it’s time to make some changes.

Which is why he instead opted for a – wait for it – Cajun chicken wrap and a side salad.

That may be the saddest sentence I’ve ever written here.

Not surprisingly, Shane was unhappy with his meal. I mean, I think that was primarily due to the fact that it wasn’t a steak. And he had to sit across from Ted and watch him eat the meal he really wanted. It’s like taking a pregnant person to a bar on St Patrick’s Day and expecting them to just enjoy themselves.

But given what he ordered and why he said it was fine. He did say the sandwich didn’t need the mayo. But otherwise it was all pretty good.

I got the Philly chicken sandwich – which here is called The Mustang, because why not? – with a side salad.

This may be the first time in WTGW history that everyone at the table had a salad with their meals. At a sports bar no less. 2025 is going to be a time, apparently.

My sandwich was good. A little heavy on the onion, but good. 

All in all, Sideines is a cute little place with decent food and a great place to catch a game or something on TV. Be warned that it’s really loud in the place – like it was busy, but even so it seemed the music level was well above what would be considered normal given the crowd size. Maybe we’re just old, but regardless if you’re hoping to have a decent convo with your table mates then you might want to make a different choice.

It also seems like Sidelines has a good bank of regulars. Not that anyone made us feel uncomfortable, but there was a real Cheers feel to everyone seemingly knowing 90% of the people who came in during our stay. One person walked in alone and was immediately serenaded with the happy birthday song from one whole side of the bar, so either this was actually their birthday and everyone was waiting for them to arrive or that’s the strange new version of a handshake we’re doing at this place. Which given the way they use hand signals to describe the steak could actually be the truth – but we’ll have to wait for our next visit to know for sure.

Picked by: Steph