Pub at Rookwood Mews update:

David and I went to the Pub Rookwood last Sunday for lunch. We went at around 2, and it was very quiet.

It's 2 O clock on a Sunday, beer is perfectly acceptable

David got an Old Speckled Hen, and I stuck with a Belhaven Twisted Thistle.

Onion ring tower

I got the chicken wings with barbecue sauce on the side. David got the battered mushrooms and onions as well as a burger with goat cheese for an entrée.

The mushrooms and onions were very good—David actually convinced me to try one, it was my first onion ring ever. Yes, ever. I'm weird about onions.

yummy

even overcooked burgers make good macro subjects

The wings and burger, not so much. Someone may have gotten distracted in the Kitchen, because the wings were a little dry and the burger overcooked. The steak fries were delicious as usual.

The overcooked food was out of the ordinary for the pub—we’ve been many times and we’ll be back, so I wouldn’t let our experience today scare anyone away. Stick with the fish and chips, you can’t go wrong.

The Polo Grille:

David and I have been to DeSha's Lexington, DeSha's in Montgomery, The Pub Rookwood and Nicholson's, but the only local tavern restaurant we have not been to has been The Polo Grille in Mason.

inside

We generally don't go that far north unless we are visiting our Dads (who live in Loveland and Fairfield) so when we met David's dad for lunch last Sunday I jumped at the opportunity to go.

tavern restaurant group customized sugar packets

If you have not noticed, Mason Montgomery road has mutated and expanded to gargantuan proportions. I'd classify driving in that area as pretty hazardous, as people in minivans and SUV's on cell phones make turns without signaling and drive across three lanes of traffic often.

But despite that, we reached our destination unscathed and took a seat in a booth on the far left. The Polo Grille has a large bar, and a lot of booths and tables. It's fairly large. I saw a lot of tavern restaurant group influence.

We all ordered diet cokes and looked over the menu. They had a limited Sunday Brunch with waffles and eggs benedict, but we opted out of that for lunch food.

David and his Dad got pizzas—David chose the tandoori chicken pizza with yogurt dipping sauce, tomato, onion, olive oil and three cheese blend ($8.45) and his Dad chose the spinach, mushroom and goat cheese pizza. ($7.45)

I wavered between the burger ($8.95) and the club sandwich and opted for the club with bacon, ham, turkey, cheddar, swiss, lettuce, and tomato with avocado mayonnaise on multi-grain bread. ( also $8.95) (Yeah, I know. it was a big sandwich) and a side of tomato scallion rice, since David wanted to try it.

We also got a side of Yucca fries. ($2.95) Because we were curious. What are yucca fries? We weren't sure. But we were up for it.

We received our food pretty quickly, David got a salad which I liked with ranch and bacon.

blurry but delicious salad

I got my club, which was gigantic—one of the sandwiches where you have to plan how to eat it without getting it all over your lap—and David and Derek got their pizzas.

monster club sammich

I promptly told everyone to "not touch anything! I have to take pictures!" and they patiently waited while I took pictures of their pizzas and my sandwich as well as the fries. (Thank you!)

Goat cheese and mushroom pizza

tandoori chicken pizza

I finished taking pictures and was still determining how to attack my sandwich when David somehow managed to drop his pizza on the table. Oops. Oh well.

Oops....five second rule!

We tried the Yucca fries and they are ….interesting. David didn't like them too much, but I didn't mind. They are firmer than potatoes and just a little bit sweet. Other than that, they are kind of bland.

Yucca fries

David didn't really like his Tandoori chicken pizza, and I really didn't either. It had dill in it and tasted a little like cedar. The chicken was kind of tangy, but all the flavors clashed in a funny way that was not pleasant.

meh.

Derek was much happier with his pizza, which he said was very good. He liked the goat cheese especially.

I liked my club. I found it very tasty. I thought it was very good and I would get it again.

I would not get the tomato scallion rice. It mostly just tasted like tomato rice. Once again, meh. I'd rather have the yucca fries.

Our total bill was about 40.00, which was not bad for lunch for three people.

Service was a little slow, but we were there for lunch on Sunday and had some time to kill, so we didn't mind. Because of Ohio's silly liquor laws I could not get a martini (they have 18 different types!) until 1.

Since we had some other places I wanted to visit in the area, I convinced David to come back around 4. I figured that if we were going to drive all the way out here, I would certainly need to scope out the food and the drinks. I submit it's only fair to my readers.

David and I went to whole foods for a while, then to spin again music, and came back to Polo Grille for what we thought was happy hour. On the tables, the menu states "happy hour 4-7 daily) but they neglect to tell you it does not include Saturday or Sunday. Ok. Fine. I was not about to let that stop my research.

Because I am….

a crocodile dundee hat is essential for hunting cocktails

We went to the bar and I gave David his ee pc netbook—polo grille has nice wifi.

I decided to get the bing cherry martini to start off ($7.75), with three olives cherry and apple vodkas and cranberry juice. The martinis are a little on the small side to be so expensive, and they weren't the strongest I've had. I'd say Polo Grille's strength lies in the variety of the drinks, including lots of Islay and single malt scotches.

bing cherry

They have Strongbow on tap as well as Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale—which the Nicholson's and the pub also have. They also have Hoegarden, Guinness, and a rotating pub ale.


My bing cherry was very pleasant. I liked the apple vodka in it. I made short work of it and ordered my next choice, a Key Lime martini. I think it is hard to go wrong with pineapple, midori and a graham cracker crust rim. It was delicious and it was my favorite drink I tried.

yum!

The third was a blue wave with blue curacao, peach schnapps and pineapple …..I really loved the color of this drink and it was very tasty.

I am a total sucker for this color blue

I couldn't resist ordering one last drink and got the polo punch. I told David it tasted a little like a flintstone vitamin. He thought it tasted like pretty good screwdriver. It was probably my least favorite.



I like the Polo grille, but we are far enough away I wouldn't make the trip to go up there specifically (like I would for say….Dave and Busters). I'd say that I rate them better than the Ohio DeSha's in tavern restaurant ranking, but below Nicholson's and the Pub. It lacked the personality that Nicholson's and the Pub posses, but I think they are working on it. I'd say that the Polo grille would be a solid place to take someone for lunch. I recommend the club but not the tandoori chicken pizza.

Nicholson's:

David and I go to Nicholson's often. David loves his scotch, and Nicholson's has plenty of that.

Nicholson's is a Scottish themed Bar, and they actually have one real Scotsman working there that we know of. His name is Duncan, and he is our Scotch advisor. If you like Scotch, try to track him down and ask him for his recommendations. The Scotch Sampler is 17.50, and you get to try 3 different types of scotches. It's a pretty good value.

The Drinks:

They have plenty of beers on Tap and in bottles. David and I have tried many of them. Some are pretty common, some are not. Strongbow Cider, Guinness, Boddingtons, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale: 7-9.5 % ABV, and rotating cask ales. Last time we visited I tried the three hopped beer, Loose Cannon from Clipper city brewing that was very good and a martini—Nicholson's has a list of about 8. I've also enjoyed Goose Island's Matilda and David sometimes orders an Old Speckled Hen. And of course, plenty of Scotch.

The food:

If you come at dinner time you get scotch toast and butter, which I prefer to rolls. I'm all for crunchy little toasts.

The Scotch Egg ($7.95) is good—it's pretty much like it is described on the menu, a hard boiled egg that is wrapped in some sort of bread/sausage combination and served on a "nest" of crunchy fried noodles with mustard in artful little squiggles around the plate. If you are considering ordering it, ask yourself the following questions: Do you like hardboiled eggs? Do you like sausage? If the answer is no to either one of those questions, I'd avoid it, even if the crunchy noodles look appealing.

David tried the Wood Smoked Mussels ($10.95) on one of our trips. He said they were decent, but not very fresh. Maybe we caught them on an off day, but we haven't tried them again, so it remains a mystery.

I've gotten the Spinach and Artichoke dip ($9.95) once, it was OK. I think my feeling towards it is "Meh". Could be better. It was good, but nothing really stood out. It says it has Guinness in it, but I felt it didn't really make too much of a difference.

The Red Pepper Hummus ($8.95) is very good and served with lots of vegetables and pitas. I'd recommend it as a vegetarian friendly option.

The Pub Crisps ($7.95) are served in a giant pile—seriously, if you order them, it's probably going to take two people to finish them. As I remember, they are kettle type chips. They reminded me of the Saratoga chips served at Montgomery Inn.

If I don't want dinner, I usually get an order of Fried Pickles ($7.95). Their batter is slightly spicy, but I'd say if you can handle ROTEL dip you should be safe with these. These would probably be my favorite appetizer. I like the creamy dill dip.

As for entrees, David and have tried the Pub Grinder—a sandwich with turkey, salami bacon and a variety of other toppings, which he said was good and not too expensive. ($10.95) The Prime rib is also very good as well. David got it and liked it.

The Fish and Chips (13.95) are very good. They are breaded, not beer battered and fried, but the fish is fresh and crispy and very yummy. They are served with nice big steak fries.

The best entrée we've gotten has to have been the Cinnamon Roasted Pork Loin that's only available after 5. It's served with a sweet potato casserole that is delicious. If you're hungry and like pork, I'd recommend it. David got it and I got something else and once I had tried a little, I completely ignored what I'd gotten and stole it from shared it with him.

The Pub at Rookwood Mews, the best battered fish in Cincy:

The same group that owns The Pub owns Nicholson's. The Pub, however is British themed as opposed to Scottish.

The pub has a wide selection of beers available. When we went last week, I stuck with a Belhaven's Twisted Thistle for some nice hops, and David got a regular Belhaven. They also have Boddington's, Fullers London Pride, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale and a variety of others. They have a nice cocktail list as well if you are not a beer fan. They serve Pimms which a friend of mine went bonkers over—apparently it's an ingredient in a drink that's served in the UK called a Pimm's cup. We ended up searching for the place where Pimms can be bought –the pub must get it from somewhere-- and found it at Hyde Park Wine and Spirits. You wouldn't expect it, but The Party Source in Bellevue does not currently stock Pimms.

The Pub had a seasonal menu where they used Lindeman's raspberry framboise beer to make a float with vanilla ice cream. It's delicious and David and I made it at home for about a month before we decided enough with the ice cream already.

By far The Pub's most popular dish is Fish and Chips ($11.95). If you sit by the kitchen, half of the dishes coming out of it are plates of the crunchy, beer battered golden yumminess. David and I agree it is the best that we have had yet in Cincinnati. They will even split it for you if you like.

David and I have gotten the British Dip Platter ($14.95), as well, which is very good and recommended for sharing. It includes Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Crab Dip and Goat Cheese Dip with some Marinara.

On our last visit, I opted for the Chicken Wings ($8.25), which I like. I'd place them right behind Dilly Deli.

David and I have tried many of their other entrees—Shepherds Pie, ($10.95) Bangers and Mash, ($10.95) the Pub Burger ($8.95), but I'd say that if you are going there and you like fish and chips, get the fish and chips.

They currently have a bread pudding that is phenomenal. The bread pudding at Nicholson's is covered in a super sweet sauce that puts you in a sugar coma before you are home, but the Pub's is not as intense and much more original. David and I shared it last week. The tipsy laird ($5.95) is fried poundcake with berries, also delicious.

Some other things about the pub:

It has some of the same dishes as Nicholson's but they are very different depending on where you are. Nicholson's fish and chips is breaded, the pubs is beer battered. Nicholson's bread pudding is served in a martini glass with lots of syrup, and the pub's is on a plate with a milder sauce.

Monday night is quiz night and it is packed. If you go, it's half price fish and chips, but be prepared for it to be slammed.