Scallywag Suds N' Grub

We went here a few weeks ago, but I'm just now getting a chance to spill out a review. We drove by in happenstance, and were thrilled to see this place's OPEN sign up, as we have been anticipating this place for quite awhile. We arrived pretty early on a Friday evening, around 5 or 530, the crowd was still realativly small and laid back. Which is a good thing, when trying to feel out a new place so you're not rushed through the menu. We were pretty happy with the variety of the beers, and the staff was more than patient with us as we explored the chalk board, bringing us samples and telling us what they knew about each beer. They only offered one sandwich for food and we passed on it so I can't comment about how it was for dinner. Overall it seemed like a cool place that we will definitly go back to. We did notice on very big positive and one very big negative about the place that stuck with us.

Positive: There is no smoking inside! A huge win for the Kemah bar scene, you can finally enjoy a drink without choking the entire time. I wish the rest of the bars there would follow suit. We used to frequent Monkey Bar, but finally stopped going at all because the smoking is out of control.

Negative: There is no where to sit. A bar stool along a wall with a 6 inch shelf, sucks when your with a group of friends. No one wants to talk around someone elses head, and stare at the wall when your being talked to. Add a few table so my buddies and I can have a conversation while we drink!

I had the chance to try Scallywag with a few friends on a Saturday night.  Overall, I thought it was a decent place with a lot going for it, and I will be going back in the future.  However, there definitely is room for improvement, and I hope that as they settle in, they fix a few things.

We arrived around 8:30 PM and stayed through about 10:30 PM, which gave us a nice cross-section of when it wasn't too busy to as it picked up for the late-night crowd.

First, the good:
Scallywag has a pretty good selection of craft beer - the chalkboard had at least 30 different brews listed, and they had a refrigerator with some more bottles.  The service was quick and friendly, and the bartenders were fun to chat with.  They were also big on giving you samples (in shot glasses) of some of the beers you were interested in.  This was a really nice aspect, since a board of 30+ craft brews can be a little daunting to make your way through.  While the service was great, you could definitely tell that they have recently opened and the bartenders are still learning.

Scallywag serves liquor (and it looked like they had at least one wine available, too), so just about everyone should be able to find something that they want to drink.

They've also started serving limited food.  For now, that consists of a pulled pork sandwich, a hotdog with gyro chili, and street corn.  Both my friend and I ordered the hotdog with gyro chili, and we both agreed that they were really good.  It had a good amount of spicy kick to it and was very filling.  You can tell this place is owned by Bakkhus with the tasty gyro meat.  The food gets served in a styrofoam to-go box, so if the food continues to be this good, there's no reason I won't occasionally just go to Scallywag to take out some delicious food...

Finally, when we closed out our tabs, we were all pleasantly surprised at the damage.  Three craft beers and the nice-sized hot dog ran me a total of $22, which I could definitely get used to.  

As far as the negatives go:
I think the biggest problem with Scallywag is it still isn't sure exactly what it wants to be.  Right now, it feels like it's half-craft beer bar, half-sports bar, half-gastropub, and half-dive bar (don't question my math), and it just wasn't quite all jiving together.

Seating was somewhat limited.  They had bar seating (~10 seats), a few barrels as tables with chairs around them (another ~8 seats), and a long shelf along one wall with high chairs along which made up the majority of the seating.  When we were there, the barrels and bar seats were all taken.  Unfortunately, this meant that with a group you had to try to cluster your chairs together with everyone still in reach of the shelf to place drinks on, or stand the entire time.  Usually, when I think of a craft beer bar and gastropub, I plan on relaxing around a table while enjoying my beer with friends, and this wasn't really possible at Scallywag.  

There was no listing of bottles they had available.  They definitely need at least a paper printout of their current bottle selection, as looking into the refrigerator and having to ask the bartenders what each bottle was is not really productive for anyone (but to the bartender's credit, she would pull out any bottle I asked about to show to me).

They have a large, touchscreen jukebox, as well as some sort of shooting arcade game set up near the bar which takes up a bit of space.  In the earlier part of the evening, the bouncer was spending his time playing the shooting game (it was a little weird having your ID checked by a guy playing an arcade game...).  Other than that, I never saw anyone touch either of these machines, and I'd recommend getting rid of them as they take up space and clash with the rest of the feel of the bar.  

Finally, they had at least 5 beers that were tapped out, including the one on cask.  I understand that they're new and probably haven't been able to fully anticipate demand yet, but it would be nice to see them rotating out tapped beers as quickly as some other Houston establishments do.  

Overall, Scallywag is a refreshing addition to the Kemah area and I'm excited to see how it grows.  The service was great and I will certainly be going back (partially just due to convenience of it being only a few minutes away).  I'll update this review accordingly in the future as they settle in.

Finally a true place for craft brews in Kemah. From the folks at Bakkhus comes Skallywags. For the time being it is just a bar with a lot of cool craft brews on tap and in bottles. I'd say over 30 taps including some hard to find ones. The decor is super cool and the crowd is fun and boisterous. They have full bar as well.  In the future they will be offering burgers and such and by that I mean top notch burgers including wildgame from what I hear. In the meantime drop by and sample the coolest selection of craft beer in the Kemah area along with a great(and attractive) staff. I will update once food is being served. Until then try a burger at Bakkhus(just a few doors down if you get hungry.