I got into the "soft" opening of Alewife tonight. Great beer selection (even if some of the beers, such as Dogfish Head and Stone's beers, were not on yet) and good food, and a staff trying its best to please.
Crisp Maltings for Lager, Barleywine, and Porter
13 hours ago
8 comments:
It's a much, MUCH shorter walk from the Lexington Market Metro, especially before 8:00 PM when the south entrance is still open.
The maps say the difference is about half a block. And I've been "screwed" by that entrance closing early on me enough times that I'll take Charles Center first. Besides, I can swing by Pratt Street Ale House en route as well......
Alex... what were prices like for this place? I've seen their on-line menu, and while everything sounds pretty good, I also felt the pricing was a bit high. Wine prices are really on the high side (will have to think twice about bringing the girlfriend here), which makes me wonder what a pint of craft goes for, or a glass of Chimay.
Add to that whatever valet or local parking cost, and it sounds to me as if you have the makings for a very expensive evening.
I'm just not sure that area of town is going to swallow (pun intended) that.
Now that I'm back from vacation:
The menu is here: http://alewifebaltimore.com/menu.php
Dude, it's downtown. Expect "downtown" prices. The prices I saw on the "limited" menu at the "soft" opening were in line with what you'd expect for The Brewer's Art, Max's Taphouse, PSAH, or (if they were still around) Baltimore Brewing Co. or Cap City Brewing in 2010. Even Alonso's or Metropolitan will "sticker-shock" you with an occasional (albeit rare) $7 or $8 beer if you're not careful. Ditto Max's.
Having said that, it appears that if you're trying to eat on a budget, you can, just as you can "pig out" on $4 rosemary-garlic fries at BA. I ordered food at the soft opening as if I were paying for it, and left a healthy tip (about 50% of what my tab would have been) in partial compensation for the invite for free food/beer. The Cubano sandwich was tasty but the contents needed toothpicks to stop attempting to escape the confines of the roll. They served a very good salad with it, but the sandwich needed a better starch (fries) to balance the sandwich, IMO. I recall the sandwich being priced at $12.
I recall being "billed" $6 for a full pint (no "cheater" tumblers, these) of Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout--then calling "foul" on it as what showed up in the glass was dark amber. They finished flushing the line and served up the real thing.
Alex.
Agreed, those prices are not unreasonable. Given the outrageous (in my opinion) wine by the glass prices, I was worried that we might see $6 or more for pints (which I believe is what one can expect at the Moan & Dove). My understanding is that prices are more like $5 for a full pint, and as you said, for a downtown establishment, that is not bad at all.
Still have not made it down, but based on some of the things I've read on the Midnight Sun blog, one gets the impression that food is very expensive here. I'm glad to hear that's not the case, and that in fact you can order something off the menu for under $10 a pop.
Actually, I see on their Facebook page that they were promoting "$2 Natty Bohs/$3.75 Stone Pale Ale". No, the Natty Boh is not on draft. So pass judgment accordingly.
Looks good! Wonder if they'll catch on.
I stopped by yesterday for my first experience and was quite pleased. As for the Natty Boh specials, the bartender basically said "We are just trying to give these away." Sounds like it was a promo case given by a distributor (my own reading between the lines). Definitely won't be a regular beer on the happy hour menu.
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