Shortneck's Bar & Grill

Shotgun bar on south Monmouth St (away from the Levee). Laid back atmosphere, 6 decent sized flat screen tvs, daily food/drink specials, touch screen jukebox with a wide selection. They're trying to get karaoke nights going on Mondays and Thursdays that hasn't quite taken off yet. As per usual for NKY bars, it's smoky smokestacks so don't go if you're not a fan of the secondhand.

I've been to Shortnecks on nights when there were only two customers in the place and night's when there weren't two seats free, but one thing is pretty constant: service is sloooowwwwww. On one memorable UK Elite 8 appearance and the joint was packed, there was only one bartender and one server! Everyone knew their drinks would take a long time so we started loading up on buckets but we still had to wait.

I give Shortnecks three stars because I have been surprised by how good their food for bar food. They serve a buffalo chicken quesadilla that is amazing and get their potato salad from Ebert's meats. And unlike the bar service, I've never had an unusually long wait when dealing with the kitchen.

Buh buh buh buh burgerquest

Shortneck Burger
"through the garden" $4.99
Cooking Style/Temp: medium well, griddled
Additions/Subtractions: american cheese

Burger: 2
6oz hand formed, fresh ground beef with custom spices is all well and good, but when you cook it to a dry medium well and overwork the meat it just kills the burger. It would help if they gave you the option of cook temp.

Bun: 3
a standard commercial potato roll, lightly toasted. perfect proportion to the burger. held up well.

Toppings: 3
basic burger toppings with a choice of a few different cheeses. nothing fancy but fresh and done well. no option for bacon.

Accoutrements: 3.5
we were ranking favorite fry types and krinkle cut came in second for me. these were very very good. the menu is small and has all the bar staples. wings cheese fries, etc all looked good.

Atmosphere: 4
the area around the bar is a run down block of monmouth, but probably will be getting better in the next few years. the inside is cozy with high ceilings and a good ratio of flat screen TVs. They have really good beer specials ($8 buckets during uk games) and the staff is very friendly. its KY so there is smoking and its a smaller place so remember that.

Overall: 3.1
OK burger, alright place, better than average. They claim to be known for their burgers but right now they rank below Zip's and Bard's for burgers of that size/style. Here's hoping the cooks get better in time, because I'd like a good burger like this a little closer to home.