Thursday, July 8, 2010

Scotty's Brewhouse

A day off together always calls for an opportunity to review.  We considered making the trip to Fishers to Scotty's Lakehouse, but thought better of it...too close to nap time.  So, instead, it seemed like a good opportunity to try Scotty's Brewhouse downtown.  We had been to the location in Bloomington a couple of years before, but had no memory of it.  From the website, we saw they had an extensive menu and today, burgers were sounding pretty good.

We had heard several good things about this location.  After finding street parking, we were immediately impressed by the large amount of outdoor seating, including a very comfy-looking crazy-large couch encircling an equally large fire pit.  Sounds like a great spot to enjoy a nice summer's evening to us!  Since it was mid-day and 90+ outside, we chose to keep it all inside this trip.  We were immediately seated in what appeared to be a semi-private room which could be closed off for larger parties.  Upon first sitting down we were impressed by the incredible amount of flatscreens.  It was like eating in the electronics department at Best Buy.  Each extra-high booth had it's own TV plus several 50+ inchers on every wall.  Talk about an incredible place to watch a game! Fred pondered if he'd rather keep our Colts tickets or have a season ticket to our own booth here, if one were offered.

While waiting for Stella's highchair, we wondered how it would fit as the booth was raised a good foot above a normal table.  Never fear!  Scotty's has thought of that!  Soon a very tickled Stella was happily munching away in her equally-tall chair.  Nice work, Scotty's.

On to the food, but not without a couple of thirst-quenchers.  As expected, Scotty's boasts a really spectacular draft menu.  Fred eventually chose New Albanian's Beaks Best Bitter while Libby went with the Sun King Wee Mac Scottish ale.  It's not often you find an English-style bitter around as they're often misunderstood here in the US.  Lots of great hop flavor but with only a hint of bitterness.  We both agreed it was a perfect brew to stand up to the belly-buster to come.   

As we had just reviewed the fried pickles from Parky's, we decided to get them again for some contrast.  Sadly, these paled in comparison.  While they still had a nice tang, most were stuck together causing the batter between the pieces to be uncooked an mushy.  Once un-stuck we found that the batter fell off the pickles making them hard to eat.  While they were served with 2 yummy (and artery clogging) sauces, horsey & ranch, this was not a good start to the meal.

The rest of the meal came out quickly.  Ozzy's mac n' cheese looked great and both mom & dad thought it was mighty tasty.  Unfortunately the extra cheese placed on top was enough to turn him off of it.  A real shame, but we are certain that any less-finicky kid would love it.


Libby's Atomic Mo'Fo burger was very good.  A large burger at half a pound, dressed with montarey jack, jalapeno slices and the burger seemed to be dipped in the mo'fo sauce it was so well coated.  All served on a kaiser roll.  I would always prefer a toasted bun, but the taste of the burger itself made up for it.  She chose a side of blue corn chips with salsa.  Oddly, she only received around 2 tablespoons of salsa to go with half a plate full of chips.  While she wasn't too hot on the salsa, there still needed to be about 4 times the amount.

Fred chose a build-your-own bison burger with pepper-jack and mo'fo sauce.  The burger was perfectly cooked and juicy.  Not the easiest job with bison.  A real winner, especially with the mo'fo sauce to light up your tongue.  Unfortunately his waffle fries had the same problem as the pickle chips.  We're not sure if it's an oil temp problem or just a lazy fry-chef, but this is a big issue.  They were a jumbled mess of stuck, half-cooked fries;  a real shame, especially at a beer & bar-food establishment.


http://www.scottysbrewhouse.com/

Wrap Up
Price-$$, Right around average for a downtown bar.
Atmosphere-****, Yeah baby!  On gameday we might show up even if they were serving sandpaper!!
Service-****, Absolutely no complaints here.  There were plenty of servers and everything came out quickly.

Overall
Fred -B, This really should have been an A- if not for the fry-problems. 
Libby - B, Top quality beef, cooked to order correctly.  A fantastic mo'fo sauce.  The bun could have stood to be toasted.  It was a little soggy with all the extra sauce.
Ozzy- B+, Although he didn't care for the mac 'n cheese, he loved the tv and there were plenty of other kids options on the menu. 
Estelle- A+, She ate up not only Ozzy's applesauce, but even had a taste of a fry. 

Scotty's Brewhouse on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

scottysbrewhouse said...

Thanks for the review, I appreciate reading the comments. I will personally look into the issues with the Dill Chips and Waffle Fries. Dill Chips are something we are known for and we created over 10 years ago. We make them in house, hand-battered and are a specialty item. So, I'm disappointed we didn't execute this well. Don't forget your kids eat FREE Sundays and Tuesdays at Scotty's and Saturdays (til 4) and Mondays (4 - close) at the Lakehouse. FYI. -Scotty (owner)

Mallory said...

Yeah, it must have been an off night, because I have LOVED the dill chips each time I've been to Scotty's. I've tried Parky's as well, and in my opinion, Scotty's dill chips are better hands down. Hopefully you'll give them another shot.

I've never had a meal at Scotty's I didn't enjoy, but I would really like it if they'd add some healthy options to their menu.

Jenny C said...

I have never had bad dill chips at Scotty's. That would be so disappointing! I do find them to be a little too salty when you eat too many, but that is probably a good thing. Good choice on the mo'fo burger... it is fabulous Every time I go in. Scotty's downtown used to be known for terrible and really slow service, especially at lunch time. But it seems they have addressed the issue and found a solution!

I was just at Scotty's yesterday for lunch taking advantage of their devour downtown prixe fix menu, and the new menu is great! There is even an entire gluten free section now.

Great review. Very informative :)

Anonymous said...

Next time you should try the Cajun seasoning on your waffle fries... those with ranch for dipping may be horrible for you but they are wonderfully delicious.