Eating Our Way Through The Year

Dane and I, along with two of our friends Scott and Shane, visited Mead Hall in Cambridge awhile ago. I held off on writing this post for a bit because this is actually the first place I visited with the intention of reviewing that I did not have a great experience with. I kept hearing about the restaurant on different blogs and Twitter. Meadhall boasts an impressive beer list, which was enough to entice us in.

We headed there for dinner on a Sunday evening and got to a fairly empty restaurant. Not necessarily out of the ordinary, as I assume Friday and Saturday nights are busier and probably even weeknights with the after work crowd. There is a huge board listing the close to 100 beers they claim to have on draft, which I was really excited for.

Our hostess seated us and gave us the bar menu. All four of us were a little surprised and I asked about getting a full dinner menu. The hostess let us know they do not serve a full menu on Sundays. OK, no big deal. None of us had encountered a restaurant with such a limited menu on a Sunday before, but we could overlook it because there were still some options.

We ordered our first round from our server along with an appetizer of Bacon Caramel Popcorn. Three of our four beers came out and about halfway through our drinks our friend was informed that his beer choice wasn’t available. Again, not a huge deal and he ordered a second choice. Service was slow for a night when we were one of the only tables of people at the restaurant. It seemed pretty clear that the beer menu was not kept updated and that the server did not know what was actually available until he put in our order. That board of 100 beers wasn’t looking quite so great anymore.

Out came our Bacon Caramel Popcorn, and with it the news that our friend’s second choice of beer was not available either. So he ordered a third, which he eventually got. All of the beer was served in the proper glassware from the corresponding brewery, which was a really nice presentation.

Southern Tier Pumking

The Bacon Caramel Popcorn was the highlight of the night. It was absolutely delicious and made with maple syrup, peanuts, and bacon. The popcorn was crispy and sweet, with just the right amount of bacon flavor. The four of us devoured it.

We ordered our dinner next off the bar menu. We had a choice of pulled pork sliders, a burger, or fish and chips. Three of us ordered the pulled pork sliders and then we were told they couldn’t actually make sliders, so it’s really just a sandwich. Another no big deal moment, but they were starting to pile up. The last in our group ordered the burger.

Unfortunately the popcorn was where the great food experience ended. When our food came out the pulled pork sandwiches were on stale buns. It just ruined the sandwich entirely so we ate the pulled pork off the bun with a fork. The fries looked promising, but were mushy and not well seasoned. The burger was mediocre and “unremarkable” as our friend explained.

We won’t be going back anytime soon. Since we went I’ve heard mixed reviews from friends and on different review sites. Some people seem to love the beer selection and others have had experiences similar to our own. Sorry Meadhall, just too many little issues which all together left us unimpressed.

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