Location:2 A StreetHull, MA02045Style: BrewpubContact: (781) 773-1840Reviewed by: David RoshinskiAfter interviewing with a brewpub before it opens, what is the next best place to have lunch with a old friend? Another brewpub of course! My friend Chris and I wanted to catch up since he just returned from Florida. Upon arriving the first small issue arose, the parking for the restaurant is quite small and I had a large boat trying to slowly push past cables into the water. However the view of the water from where I did get to park was well worth the minor frustration. The brewpub is located on the 3rd floor of the building and you can either take the stairs or industrial-looking elevator.Upon entering the pub you open up into the main dining room with a twenty person bar, a couple of tables inside, and a bunch of tall tops outside. My first impression was that the dining space was kind of small. Shrugging that off, we sat at the bar and pondered our beer choices. Looking around I saw some other things I liked: the place was extremely clean, the hand painted seadog you see in the picture of the elevator door above was super cool, and the mug club mugs lined the bar's overhead banister.
Our very cute waitress came over and my friend ordered the Sea Dog Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter and I ordered the sampler as I do at most brewpubs. My sampler was $10 and included blueberry ale, summer ale, IPA, hazelnut porter, apricot ale, and was all of decent size equaling about two pints in total.
Upon finishing those we ordered coconut shrimp, I ordered a BBQ burger, and Chris ordered grilled salmon. How was each? Well, let’s just say that the meals we had were two for three.
The coconut shrimp were delicious. Big succulent shrimps, a total of five were nested on the plate with a pineapple mango chili sauce. The shrimp were cooked perfectly and the tempura and shredded coconut gave the appetizers a real nice bite to them with a touch of that great coconut sweetness. After we finished those our food came out.
My burger was just ok, I had requested it medium and it was a little overcooked and therefore a touch dry even with the BBQ sauce. The french fries were perfectly crispy and had an appropriate amount of salt already on them. Chris’s salmon was grill broiled and was cooked fine and came with two mounds of overly buttered but smooth mashed potatoes with grilled vegetables of all sorts on the side. His meal was $15 and my meal was $9.
The service was very good. There were only two employees on at the time but they were both attentive and refilled my water and cleared dishes in a timely manner. They were both friendly and served with a smile.
Does It Hit The Spot?
Maybe. If I lived a little closer to this brewpub it might be a place I visit often. The parking and my burger were two issues I have to take into account. Entrees range from $8 all the way up to $32 and beers were $5 per pint and $10 for a sampler. The meal that I really wanted, a lobster dish, was too expensive and I could have gone much closer to my house for the same type of feast. The service was great and the two other dishes of food were good. The other thing I considered in this opinion was I came when it was dead, but it still wasn’t a bullseye. If you going to sell something as simple as burgers for about thirty percent of your menu they better be near if not perfect. I hope restaurants listen to this next part; you don’t have to put parsley on everything! It doesn’t add flavor and is just silly sometimes. I can not give my double thumbs up for this place; but if you live nearby or are visiting the area it would be worth a go.
