More Than Meets The Eye

Last night we went to the recently opened (two weeks as of Friday) Hawthorne Hophouse and thinking back about it this morning I didn’t think there was really anything to talk about. Overall, my thought was “meh” but when Mag and I were talking about it I realized our visit deserved more thought than just a quick morning-after thumbs up/thumbs down review.

Being newly opened there hasn’t been a ton of reviews but one of the comments I had heard repeatedly was that some people weren’t pleased about the beer pricing. Basically, the thought is that their beer is pricier than it should be. Having this in mind I made sure to take a look at the beer menu closely and I can’t disagree. That being said, the first two pints I had were less than $4 each (one from Natian, one from Alameda). In my mind the biggest point of contention is that there were some beers served in 10 oz that other places serve in pints and although I didn’t whip out the calculator to verify, it did seem that the pricing was a bit steep.

Looking past price and on to the 20 or so beers on the menu I remember my first thought was that nothing really caught my eye, whereas generally I see something that I just can’t wait to try. However, they had a solid line up with the majority being local beers. More importantly I realized (this morning) that if we had gone to another establishment and they had the same beers, plus some that jumped off the menu at me I probably would not have ordered what I did last night. And that would have been an unfortunate thing indeed because the stout, porter, and IPA (from Laurelwood) were all excellent beers.

Finally, as is becoming fairly commonplace in our experience, the service was subpar. It appears that we may have caught the staff on a shift change but that’s really not much of an excuse, especially considering that they were not that busy. In the future I would probably seek a seat at the bar in hopes of more attentive service.

My verdict: I wouldn’t have reservations about going back but unless someone else suggested it, it might be a while before I do so. They have some interesting looking food items on the menu that I’d like to try and it is relatively close to our house however poor service memories are long lasting and with the small size of the Hophouse I could see it being difficult to find a seat on a more popular night. Any guesses on how long it'll take me to make it back?