Cuisine: American
Price: $3 - $24
Separate bar: yes
Takeout: yes
Coke or Pepsi Products: Coke
Address: 416 West Liberty Street, Savannah, GA 31401
Phone: (912) 236-1722
Website: http://www.distillerysavannah.com/
She Says: I'll be grabbing a beer there more often
Today was worth celebrating for numerous reasons. It was the last day of classes after a rather long school year (insert glass of wine here), it was the last furloughed pay period (insert more $ here), and it was Friday (insert Will and Lola here). So Will and I decided to spend the cool Savannah evening at The Distillery, a historic American pub nestled in between Martin Luther King Drive and Liberty.
We'd been to the brick building once before to sample bites of their burgers on the Savannah Foody Tour (a great tour that takes food nerds to all the well-known and hidden Savannah eateries), but we never sat down and ate a full meal. So we went back to get a big bite of the local hot spot.
You always know a place is good if you go to eat at 5:30 and more than half the restaurant is filled. If we'd gone anywhere from 7-8, I'm sure we would have been put on a rather long wait list, especially since there's live music every Friday. We decided to sit outside at one of their four iron tables, although it was tempting to sit inside, as it had a cozy pull-up-a-chair-and-grab-a-beer type vibe with its brick walls and booths.
Our waitress Karen was prompt to get our drink orders, and helped me pick out one of their many beers on tap. I went for the Bells Oberon, a belgium white ale with a little more of a hop kick to it than the average belgium white, which went perfectly with the pretzel bites we ordered for our appetizer and the fish and chips I ordered for my entree.
I was really surprised at how fast the food came out, and thought that the quality was going to be low since we waited so short of a time. But I was wrong. The pretzel bites were fresh out of the oven. They were accompanied by a spicy mustard that lived up to its name and a cheese sauce that had the slightest bit of beer mixed in, which made for a great dipping sauce.
The light fish had a nice crispy beer batter that complimented it perfectly. The heavier batter, mixed with the delicate fish was absolutely perfect in my eyes. Not to mention, the two sauces I got to dip my fish in were amazing. One was a house version of creole remoulade - a sauce usually made with mustard, ketchup, tabasco sauce, cayenne pepper, shallots, garlic, and green onions - that the Distillery twisted by adding a bit of mayo and some other spices that made it perfect for dipping my fries and fish in. The other was a homemade tartar sauce. Usually, I'm not a tartar sauce kind of gal. But this sauce had a perfect hint of lemon in it that made it fresh.
All in all, if you're looking for well executed, traditional bar food made with really fresh ingredients, The Distillery is where you need to go. The prices, ranging from 3 - 20, are perfect for all types of patrons. They have higher priced meals for those in need of a good seafood dish and lower priced meals (located on the back of the menu and all under $6) for those who don't want big portions or don't want to spend big bucks. For an appetizer, a beer, sweet tea, fish and chips, and a 3/4 pound burger with sweet potato fries, we paid $37. I'll definitely be going back for more.
Taste: 5 noms
Plating/Appearance of Food: 5 noms
Service: 5 noms
Cleanliness: 5 noms
Atmosphere: 5 noms
Overall Noms: 5
He says: An exception to the rule
The Distillery is a one of the cooler restaurants I've been to since I've lived here in Savannah. It's tucked away just off MLK behind the Old Savannah Trolley Tours building, so it could be easy to miss if you weren't looking. The building itself has quite a story behind it (which is told in their menu and too long for me to explain on here) going through several facades before becoming the pub it is today.
We first learned about this place during one of my first weeks in Savannah when I decided to play tourist for a day, and Licia and I made a date out of going on the Foodie Tour thinking it would be a fun way to spend a day and maybe find a restaurant or two that we didn't know about yet. The tour was great and I'd definitely recommend it even if you're a local (I think over half of the people on our bus actually were locals, oddly enough).
We decided to sit outside on a nice evening. I saw the wrought iron tables and chairs outside and thought, "Oh man, this is going to be uncomfortable, but it will make the girlfriend happy." But I was pleasantly surprised when I sat down and the chairs leaned back. Maybe it's the fatty in me, or maybe it's just a guy thing, but there's something about leaning back in a chair that makes you feel good and when I'm comfortable, I'll probably give your restaurant a higher rating on this blog (Figure 1). However, for every chair that reclined, there was a cigarette in the ash tray. This grossed me out to no end. Seriously, just dump it out when you bus the table. I don't want to see someone else's half smoked cancer stick and all of their ash staring at me while I eat. Again, it's the small things that go a long way with me.
Yes, you can buy my love, along with my "Noms"
So, on to the food. First up, the tea. If you've been following our blog you know I instantly judge your restaurant by your tea (Figure 2). The tea here was definitely....funky? It's like, I could tell there was a good batch of tea in there somewhere, but it had this weird after taste like maybe the urn wasn't washed properly and I was getting the bouquet of a thousand old batches of tea. It was drinkable, but not great. I also had issues getting a refill. Maybe it's because we were sitting outside, but I don't think our waitress came to check on us until she brought our check.
I don't care if you've owned this restaurant your whole life, THIS TEA IS SUB PAR!
We ordered the pretzel bites and they weren't great either. They lacked flavor and were tough to chew rather than soft and more bread like. Maybe it's something to do with them being bite size that gave them the different texture, but they weren't something to write home about.
This is where my exception to my rule comes in. Usually a restaurants tea is a good barometer of how the overall experience is going to be. Good tea = good food, bad tea = uh-ohs. My entree was the Big Mike Burger: 3/4 lbs burger hand pattied on a certified organic bun with a side of sweet potato fries. Not gonna lie, this is probably the best burger I've ever had. This thing was cooked and seasoned to perfection and I guess it's because it is hand pattied, but it was also incredibly tender and juicy.
Artists rendering of me eating the Big Mike Burger
All in all I'd give The Distillery my seal of approval and recommend it. My only suggestion would be to avoid the tea and order the deep fried moon pie they have on their dessert list. It took all of me not to order it, because I knew it would be a two man job to eat that thing and I knew there was no way I was going to talk Licia into helping me.
Taste: 4 noms
Plating/Appearance of Food: 3.5 noms
Service: 3 noms
Cleanliness: 3 noms
Atmosphere: 5 noms
Overall Noms: 3.7
