I’m beginning to change my tune about how much I hate having volleyball Downtown. Sure, the 6 pm games are nearly impossible to get to on time and I hate battling traffic through Shadyside and Oakland to get there, but on the plus side, I’ve been trying a lot of new-to-me places lately. It’s not the best thing for my bank account, but it has been really nice hanging out with people other than my coworkers. Not that there’s anything wrong with my coworkers (there’s not, from either workplace), but it’s nice to shake things up a bit.
Tonight, despite the fact that I’m still pretty lame (potentially with an infected wound), my team fought hard and we won all 3 games. Even I played pretty well, which came as a huge surprise to me. I was really expecting it to be an “off” night.
To celebrate, we decided to head to Winghart’s Burger & Whiskey Bar in Market Square. The first thing we noticed was that the place is pretty tiny. For real – 5 of us were crowded around a table that would’ve struggled to hold 2 people.
Only one of us ordered whiskey, but I did try some – I’d say it was my first time trying whiskey, but I did buy a bottle of Banker’s Club one time in college and I hated it. I’d really hesitate to call Banker’s Club whiskey and the whiskey at Winghart’s the same drink, though. While to me it was deadly strong, I did notice that there was actually some taste to the drink instead of just a straight alcohol taste. I’m not sure I’d order my own, but it wasn’t awful like the Banker’s Club.
I opted for a pear cider that was ridiculously good. A friend who tried it remarked, “It tastes like a sour apple Jolly Rancher!” Right up my alley!
For my dinner I chose the Shipwrecked burger I’ve read so much about and a side of fries with beer cheese. The intent was to have leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch; I’m not a piggly wiggly. Well, okay, maybe I am…
The fries arrived first and they were really good – crispy, well-seasoned, and delicious. The beer cheese was much less impressive than the fries, and considering the order of fries with the cheese amounted to $5.50, I was a bit underwhelmed. I mean, they’re potatoes. Cut up and fried. With a side of cheese. Not even really good cheese. I’d happily pay the $2.50 for the fries again, but the cheese was not worth an extra $3. It arrived cold and congealed, and was rather tasteless. No thanks.
My shipwrecked burger was good – I loved the brie on it – but again I was a little disappointed. There hardly seemed to be any cheese on it, and I couldn’t taste caramelized onions for the life of me. When I got a bite with everything all at once, I was impressed. The burger itself wasn’t dry (I always go with well-done… pink meat freaks me out), and the bun was fresh and tasty. The thing is, there were hardly any bites that had a little bit of everything.
And going back to the fact that I ordered a lot so that I could have leftovers for lunch – let’s just say I walked away still hungry. I ate over half the fries and half of the burger and made myself box the rest up, solely on principle. My bill came to over $25 for one drink, one burger, and one order of fries with a side of mediocre cheese. I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I just can’t afford to spend that much on one meal – I have to split it up into at least 2. Maybe I’m just cheap. Or underpaid. ::Ahem::
Service-wise, our server was personable, but brazenly pushy. When one of my teammates asked about the available whiskeys, she talked up only one option (in all fairness, she was a good salesperson), and when he ordered it, she brought it and said it only came as a double. He ended up paying $11 for that one drink when he really didn’t want a double. In addition, she kept pressuring everyone else at the table to get more food – she even went so far as to insult another teammate’s pizza because he didn’t want anything special on it. I get it – I work in the industry too and I understand how tips are calculated – but she went a little overboard.
Personally, I won’t be too excited to go back. If I want a burger, I’m happy to go to Burgatory, where although the burgers aren’t cheap, they’re more substantial and come with a side of homemade chips. Plus, I’d pick a caramel pretzel milkshake over an alcoholic drink any day of the week. The food was pretty good, though, and I won’t exactly turn the place down if my teammates want to go again, but Winghart’s isn’t going to be a place I actively seek out.
Whiskey Bent by lsnod ยท 365 Project
