VinDivine

PRO: Nice space, lotsa TVs, upscale pub atmosphere
CON: Food is pretty uninspired, back-to-back bars cause a bottleneck, they’re open for lunch but don’t serve lunch…

Yes, we were actually here on the opening day. Opening day! Yes, opening day, bitches. And after all that fanfare, I just got around to writing this review. But we have good reason! Wait, what was that lame-ass excuse I had for not writing this previously…hmmm. Oh yeah! We went all Bauer-like (minus the bitchy attitude) and came here three whole times before going off half-cocked (shut up) and giving you the dish. Un-Bauer like, we didn’t wait a few months to let Traci des Jardin (is there a cooler name?) and crew work out all the kinks though. I mean, at this stage she should be rockin’ places like this blindfolded and with both hands tied behind her back, am I right?! Yeah, yeah, I know it is f’ing hard to open up any new place even semi-smoothly.

So, Bauer, I get ya. No, I did not say I like you, quit sniveling for VdV acceptance. it’s unbecoming. I mean, if I had all day and night to visit each place 3x before I reviewed them, I’d do it too. I wouldn’t fit into my 30″ Seven jeans, but hey neither do you. Just kidding, just kidding. I’m just one of those annoying gnats that revels in…being a pain in the ass, I guess. Pathetic? No, not if I don’t dwell on it, anyway.

I’m sure you’ve all heard this is the old Acme, blah blah, so I’m not going to waste my incredibly crappy typing skils on all that. Right to teh review! I may even spare you lame baseball analogies.

So, it’s the Tail of Three Visits to Public House, is what I’m getting at. Looking back at the notes my stenographer recorded, my 1st-3rd one-liners for ‘PRO’ and ‘CON’ were as follows:

Visit #1:
PRO:Another good sports bar in SoMa! Upscale, lots of TVs, good grub
CON: Open pass-through to Mijiti, weird you can only get liquor at one of the 2 bars, so need to run separate tabs if you booze it

Visit #2:
PRO: Good ice cream from Humphrey Slocombe
CON: Spacey and slow service even though plenty of staff, little knowledge of menu

Visit #3:
PRO: Hmm. We got a drink
CON: The food preparation is blah, staff has flat personalities and sometimes quarrel. Fun!

So that’s not a good chart, if ya get my drift.

Environ: Cool Keg Wall, lotsa TVs’, heat lamps outside, a nice space. ‘Nuff said. Gonna try like hell to stay focused and keep my reviews under 500 words. Anybody wanna bet on the over/under on that!?

They serve a couple dozen beers, many local and boutique as well as a full bar. What kinda chaps my hide though, is the fact the ‘beer bar’ serves only beer and the full bar doesn’t serve all the beers they have at the beer-only bar. Which means…you have to run separate tabs if you are sitting at the beer bar but also want to have a shot or three of booze. Bummer. Logistics, logistics. The Devil Is In The Details! Plus, it creates a bottleneck that drives everyone to…drink. Genius!

So the chow is gastro-pub-y. Philly Cheese Steak sandos, Fish & Chips, Sliders, Burgers, lots of appys. A well-rounded sports bar type menu. And they use 4505 Meats, which are outstanding quality meats. So good move there. We grabbed some Chicken Wings ($7.50), a 1/2 dozen pretty meaty wings. Not at all Buffalo-style but they weren’t meant to be. They have a nice heat, zippy grilled flavor and are moist and tender wings. Served straight up with the obligatory blue cheese and sides of carrots & celery. We’d get ‘em again.

Nest we had some Jalapeno Poppers ($5), four of them deep fried in batter, and all-in-all OK. Decent heat. They did the job. What can I say. If ya like poppers, these are OK. If ya don’t these won’t change your mind.

Deviled Eggs ($3), were not that great. I mean, we’ve had some killer DEs at places like Spotted Pig in NYC. On the other hand, these eggs were too mustardy. And just nothing ‘wow’ about ‘em. Traci, get that Chef of yours to kick it up a notch!

The Mac & Cheese ($5) was…JHC I’m getting sick of hearing it too…y’know, Mac & Cheese. Elbow Mac and melted Chedda. I mean, how bad can it be? Not bad. How good can it be? Better. There is nothing Ba Da Bing about it.

What else? We had the BLT ($10), which I was hoping, since I love love love BLTs, something pretty f’ing extraordinary. I dunno, surprise me! With the bread, with the quality and cooked-ness of the bacon, of the kick-ass tomatoes, something. This was my moms BLT. Thin, average bread, semi-overcooked bacon, normal ol’ tomatoes and not much of ‘em. I mean, try some killer bread, maybe mix in a little (little) arugula, kick-ass tomatoes, feel me? I mean, arugula may overpower it, but I’m no chef. just get creative and make the dishes yours!

The Potato Salad ($7), is different. In a good way. It is really chunky and pretty dry. It’s better than I prolly made it sound. It has a good spicy mustard to it, the spuds were tender but firm and it was pretty enjoyable.

Bottom line: Hey I know, this is a ballpark pub. And it’s brand-spankin’ new. I Get It. But, 1) 365 days/year – 81 home games = lots of days and nights Public House has to appeal not just to a bunch of cheap drunk slobs with ordinary food. b) Traci. Traci, Traci, Traci, I know you’re keepin’ the menu cheap, I mean after Acme…but challenge your Chef to get more creative fortheluvofgod. Make that BLT something people are gonna really talk up. Make that Mac & Cheese compete with Paragon’s. Make that…oh you get it. You are better than this. Tough love. Bam. But remember this – we are rootin’ for ya! We’ll come back and post a (hopefully) more upbeat review.

Hours:
Sun-Sat 12p-12a (kitchen 4p-11p)