The Public House

Visited this establishment twice and had two very different experiences.  The first time, we were seated in back for dinner.  We had excellent service and our food was very good.  We had the scotch egg and the white collar mac 'n cheese.  Neither was mind blowing but they were both solid.  In other words, worth a try once but certainly not worth the calories having them regularly.  hahaha  We also had good beers which filled us up too much for us to try dessert.  It was pricey for what we got but again, the server was pretty good and sometimes a place is worth it for good atmosphere and service, too.

That was the PH's failing on our second visit.  We sat at the bar this time and received just about the worst service a bartender could give.  No smile.  No welcome.  Just threw a drink menu at us and asked what we wanted.  At first, I thought it was some kind of funny shtick, but she was seriously a bartender in a hateful mood!  She took the menus back, made our drinks and served them and they were fine, but I also wanted to get some water and order food.  We sipped for a few minutes and then hubby and I tried to get eye contact so we could ask for water and order.  Nope.  Not happening.  She was making drinks for others (it was NOT busy in there this night, BTW) and every time she came down anywhere near us, she would keep her head down and back to us.  We didn't want to be rude and snap our fingers or something and since she hadn't said her name, we weren't quite sure how to call out to here.  Meanwhile, we're sipping and now we're so irritated we decide we'll go eat somewhere else, but we'd still like some water because these are some strong beverages and hydration is a good idea!  We just could not get her attention at all.  I waved at her a few times when she would turn our way but got no response.  What the heck!?!  Then we hear her down talking to others about how she's getting ready to move to California and we're thinking she must not care about this job any more.  We were hopefully we would find out when she was moving because we won't go there again until she's gone!  Finally, we gave up on ever getting her attention and were lucky that a table server happened behind the bar.  We asked her if we could get our check, which she did, and we paid (with super meager tip to make our point) and left.

So until the world's worst bartender moves her lazy self to San Francisco, I recommend that if you go to PH, you sit at a table and be taken care of by servers who care.  As a former bartender, I usually do my best to reward people in the service industry who are good at what they do.  Had I gotten her name, I really would have spoken to a manager to make them aware of the situation.  My score of PH reflects a 4 on one visit dragged down by a less than 1 star on the second.  I will be happy to revisit this score if future visits are better.

I just moved to the tidewater region from NM.  I have not been impressed with the local fare.  That is, until I cam eto Public House.  I love this place!  The menu is mouthwatering! I want to try it all. The cheese sticks are sublime.  The Burger was good but maybe overpowerd from all the fixins on top.  The choc cake was yummy!  I AM coming back to this place. Oh, they have a great beer slection too.  Just drive a small car b/c parking along this st is hard to find:)

The first time I went to Public House was for brunch. I had the waffle battered chicken and it was uh-mazing. This last time I went was for dinner and it was just as good as the first time. This time I started with bacon wrapped tots with smoky ketchup and they were as delicious as they sound. The tots were enough to fill a shot glass and were oh so perfectly cooked. The ketchup was subtle but with a kick at the end. I could eat them all day. For my meal I had the crab cake on ciabatta. I'm very picky and this crab cake was all I hoped it would be. There was absolutely NO extra filler and it was delicious as well. My ONLY complaint about it would be the size of the crab cake versus the size of the bun but it just took a little spreading to cover the empty area. I am particularly fond of the back area of the restaurant that has another bar and pool tables and is open to smoking.  It gave my friends and I a place to continue enjoying drinks without taking up a table and it allowed us to smoke freely without dealing with the heat outside. All in all the restaurant hasn't disappointed me yet. The service has always been great and the menu has something for everyone. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone.