What I really like
about the layout of the main seating area is that there’s room. Some bars (that
maybe rhyme with “Snail Mouse”) pack you in too tight. Here, you’ve got room to
breathe. Speaking of breathing, you can’t smoke inside McWells. Neither could
my waitress, though I saw her slip out the side door a couple times for her
nicotine fix.
A game room on the side
has a pool table, a couple video games and a lonely bucket of Duplo building
bricks. (“Build Mommy a castle, sweetie, while I finish my vodka and cran.”)
There’s also a back bar with its own entrance that’s open only a couple nights
a week.
Scoping: The folks sitting at
the bar look to be regulars, the kind that have a particular stool worked to
their particular butt groove. I saw families and couples and lone
drinker-diners. On my second visit, a giggly bunch of high-school
cheerleader-type girls were eating chicken tenders and making jukebox
selections as only girls who crush on Chris Brown can.
Drinking: McWells has a solid,
if not adventurous selection of hard liquor. A Captain Morgan and cola is
$5. A bottle of Bud is $3 -- or $2.50 during happy hour (4-7 p.m.,
Monday-Friday). There’s Guinness on tap next to the Light and Lite.
One surprise —
McWells has its own ale that sells for $2 a mug. I asked my waitress if
this was truly a special brew or just a relabeled mystery beer. “I don’t know,”
she said. “I don’t like it.” It tastes OK to me, if nothing amazing. It’s light
brown —
lighter than Yuengling but darker than Bud. I’d say the flavor falls between
those brands too.
Chewing: McWells immediately wins praise for not hosing you on the celery and blue
cheese when you order hot wings. I understand charging for a second or third dressing (50 cents a pop),
but the first should be free and McWells agrees. The wings themselves include
both drummies and double-boned wing sections. Five will cost you $4. Twenty
will run you $12.99. The menu promises you can get 100 for $55.50.
Always looking for new appetizers, I spotted the fresh mushrooms and fresh garlic mushrooms (both $5.99).
They’re fried but not breaded, and served in a bowl with toothpicks for ‘shroom
stabbin.’ They’re not the prettiest things but good for a change-up.
The bacon cheeseburger ($6.99) comes with ripple chips and a limp pickle spear. The patty is
factory formed and painted with grill marks. While not exactly juicy, it wasn’t
dry or crumbly either. Fish and chips are “market price,” which is $10.95 the last time I checked. The chips
(fries) are decent and the fish is great, one whole side of the white fish
without a single stray bone. The batter is crispy. The fish itself is both
meaty and steaming hot.
The French dip sandwich plate ($8.55) and the hot roast
beef plate ($7.35) are made with the same meat, sliced
thin and rare. I’m guessing Boar’s Head or something similar. The roast beef
plate is the better deal; wrapped in the soft white bread of childhood and
covered in brown gravy (which they’ll also pour over the fries if you ask). The
French dip (also with fries) is served on a thick roll, but if I can trade a little
dipping cup of broth for gravy and save $1.20, I’m gonna do just that.
Remember that imaginary kid that mom left playing with the Duplo? A
drinking buddy of mine brought along his son and we ordered him the kid plate
of chicken tenders for $4.75 (or free on Thursdays 5-9 p.m. when Daddy eats too.) I was
surprised that the tenders were real, unprocessed breast meat -- and surprised
how quickly the damn kid learned his way around a pool table.
Going: I counted four
different brands and scents of air freshener in the men’s john – five if you
count the urinal mints.
Departing: It’d be nice if McWells
was open on Sundays, open past 11 p.m. on Saturdays, or open past 10 p.m. on
the other weeknights -- but you can’t have everything. I’ll have another mug of
McWells.
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Moxie from Orange - August 21, 2008 at 4:14 PM
I think it's a sign that the restaurant sucks if your waitress doesn't know what the beer is AND says she doesn't like it.
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