Diana D.
Yelp
This brew pub should be an unrivaled success with its heart of Lakewood location, right on the Santa Fe trail and mere steps away from White Rock...who doesn't want a cold beer and bar food after a ride or run (or in my case, walk) around the lake? What a great place to share a patio afternoon drinking with friends or to meet a fellow mom for a midweek lunch? Who doesn't long for a reliable restaurant where you can take out a smorgasbord of fried meat and starch that will satisfy the myriad of cravings, food aversions and downright eating disorders that have made you despise the thought of cooking dinner? If the order isn't ready when you arrive to pick it up, there is beer! How could it fail?
But fail it does, on almost every level imaginable.
The menu is uninspired and falls short of even the most modest standards of variety. It appears to be driven by last year's food fads, with little intention put in to offering dishes what people actually want to eat. Yes, they have three versions of flatbread, but none that a preteen would be interested in ordering. They also have three versions of burger...beef, turkey and bean-based patty, and chicken sandos in both fried and grilled varieties. All of the above are described on the menu without an ounce of inspiration. Your remaining entree options are either salad, or fish and chips. The single dessert offering is fried brownie bites. No thank you.
Even the most I'll-conceived menu can find redemption in well-executed and tasty food, but White Rock Ale House misses the mark here as well. The fish and chips were heavy on batter and light on fish and the accompanying fries were on the cold side and tasted as if they'd been cooked in overused oil. The salad we ordered was over-dressed. While we didn't try them, we watched two other patrons leave the ahi tuna nachos they were sharing practically untouched.
Some may question the motivation behind this dismal review, and trust me, I am getting there. Putting aside the crappy menu and the poor quality of the food, the ultimate reason I (and I suspect others) won't return is the obnoxious employee attempting to hold court at the bar, distracting the bartenders from serving patrons with jokes and comments that were consistently in poor taste. I'm not sure if he is a manager or a cook, but whoever he is, he wasn't doing his job, was keeping others from doing theirs, and seemed to be taking delight in offending the customers. I can't guarantee that he was drinking, but it would surprise me if he wasn't.
For a business that has so much going for it, White Rock Ale House is squandering opportunity on a monumental level.