Pubcrawl – The East Bank Saloon -$$-
Just a couple blocks South of MFP, the East Bank Saloon can be found on the West side of Grand at #727 – just North of the Morrison bridge, so parking sucks out loud. You’ll probably end up walking a block or two, and it’s that long stretch between crosswalks so transit-users may walk even farther.
I’ve driven by the place three days a week for years now and it wasn’t until Friday that Tolerant and I finally decided to swing in. The decor is very nice – brick and wood, and the ceiling is painted a lighter color so the room doesn’t seem as dark. There are a pair of bookshelves on the North wall stocked mostly with filler (old encyclopedias and the like that look good together, ya know?) but there are a few gems in there – like an actual Settlers of Catan box! I’ll have to bring the boys here sometime…
I’ve seen other reviews call the place a dive, but it isn’t – it’s a sports bar more than anything, but also has a very restaraunty-feel to it. The food was good, and had a few gems in the menu – I had the Hawai’ian Burger, and Tolerant had her usual fish and chips. One of the best parts though, was finding tater tots on the menu! Both meals were tasty and too much food, so the price (more in line with a McMen’s) wasn’t so bad.
Service was good, but I was a little disappointed to see dreadlocks on our waitress. I know that it is perfectly possible to wash dreads and keep them clean, but they have always struck me as messy and unkempt, and I can’t for the life of me understand why any self-respecting girl would deliberately do that to herself.
Overall I’ll give the Saloon a ‘B’.
Hollerings