Aaron P.
Yelp
This past Saturday night, a group of us visited Free House after a busy day with family, in-laws, and friends (none of us are fussy eaters and every one of us enjoys exploring new and unique restaurants). The experience was incredibly disappointing owing to a bewildering change in the menu. Gone from the menu are the delicious flatbreads, most sandwiches and other pub fare that they did so well. Also gone are the traditional side dishes that you would expect to find any pub restaurant. Quite disappointingly, we were shocked to find that a new "sharables" menu, which was disjointed, massively overpriced, and by some measure insulting (i.e. see the $11 dollar Pringles and onion dip appetizer, which is an unopened small can of pringles and a bowl of uninspiring dip that tastes about the same as the store bought plastic containers). The only recognizable menu items were the hamburger and a Ruben ($18 dollars each) that come with no sides or garnish and, as I've noted you can't even order fries or anything reasonable on the side. Literally a hamburger on a side plate.
There are some more eclectic menu items that might be appropriate if you went to (and were in the mood for) a modern fusion tapas restaurant, but if you're in the mood for a relaxed pub atmosphere, most of these will miss the mark. The food itself is okay at best, but certainly not worth the exorbitant prices. It seems to me that management decided to go this sharables route to increase revenue (higher prices) and decrease costs (because there is fractionally less on your plate). The problem with this new income model is that I will never (ever) go to Free Houseagain with this clown-car of a menu, so any early increase in revenue will be short lived as I don't expect there would be many return customers. From what I can discern, management seems to be targeting $50 or $60 per customer for a meal and a drink, so expect to pay about that much or more if you are looking to walk away relatively satiated.
We chose Free Housefor a relaxed dinner with family after an important and busy day. The menu is absurd and none of us plan on returning. Overall, I do not recommend Free Housewith the menu in its current state - it is RIDICULOUS. When I am in the mood for spending this kind of money on this kind of food I will go to a restaurant where they know how to do it and do it better. A can of pringles? Really? Talk about mailing it in.