Prohibition At The Rathskeller
“We asked who he was and found out he was the owner/chef's father, "Big Daddy" Dave; he was just going to table to table, welcoming everybody to the restaurant.”
“From the appetizers to the entrées and dessert we were very happy.”
“I had the tuna sashimi burger which easily ranks as the 3rd best burger of all time.”
Prohibition At The Rathskeller
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Accepts Apple Pay: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
4 reviews
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Solid 3 stars.
Pros:
1. Fried pickles with aioli dipping sauce. SO GOOD. Best food item of the night actually.
2. Pork tacos – pork was very tender and had nice flavor.
3. Coconut curry deviled eggs – unique flavor and very tasty but at $5 for what equates to one and a half egg – a bit of a rip off.
4. Great happy hour drink deal. My friend ordered a stoli with sprite and it was $4.50 on the happy hour deal. I had been here once before for a cocktail and was disgusted by a small overpriced ($13 or $14?) moscow mule during their opening weekend, but wanted to give them another chance before complaining about it – looks like they have since figured out the proper pricing for drinks; so glad to see that. I also commend them for the happy hour extended time from 4-8 which gives more people a chance to come and try it out.
Cons:
1. First thing out of the server's mouth on a Thursday at dinner time was about 6 of their key menu items that they didn't have any more of.
2. Burger – I had the prohibition burger and wouldn't order it again. It had two thin patties on it rather than one larger juicier patty. The bun was too small and fell apart when I tried to cut the burger. It had the consistency of being frozen prior and was just not good. Sloppy and lacking in flavor.
3. Service – it sounded like we just had an untrained server because the server who was helping the table next to us informed the guests of specials, happy hour specials, etc… which we were not told at all. She seemed to not really know the menu when we asked about recommendations. She also asked us if we wanted our check and skipped over asking about dessert. She seemed like a very nice girl but the front of house training in basic server skills is definitely lacking.
4. Desserts had no prices on the menu. What's with the no price thing here?
5. I still don't quite get the theme here. Prohibition refers to a time when alcohol was illegal and you had to drink in hiding. I've been to prohibition style bars and they have been in basements, with dim lighting, jazz music playing in the background and old school drinks. The only thing that seemed to stick with the prohibition theme here was the fun door that looked like a bookcase.
I enjoyed most of the food and would definitely give the place another try but they still have a few fundamental things to work on.
Definitely enjoyed myself! Thursday night they do half price drafts and wine!? Yes please!! They even had a live musician who was fantastic. Our server was incredibly friendly and knew how to do her job well. The food was also really good and super unique. I thought the Mac and cheese could use a little salt, and I'm not a big salt person. The tuna sashimi burger was cooked perfectly but needed just a touch more moisture. Was a little dry, like could be perfect with a smidge more wet to dry ratio. Still I'd be back I'm just knit picking ! Their beer seems to change often and they carry a decent array of craft, their wine wasn't bad either (esp for half price!) I think they could use a couple good wine glasses, those hunky glasses (I get it they survive when cleaning and so on) but a few nice wine glasses for the rare group drinking wine would be a really good idea. I did over all really really enjoy myself. The food is tasty and the atmosphere is nice. Even with the live music or the house music you could have a conversation; huge plus! We just moved down the hill and wouldn't hesitate to make this our regular spot! We did order two obscure things on the menu and we plan to eat there again to provide an update! So far so good! Definitely a little gem. Check em out.
Our party of 6 went to Prohibition this past Friday for dinner. We made 6:00 reservations and were seated upon entry; as the night progressed, the upstairs area filled up, but not to capacity (we were there until around 8PM; I'm not sure how full the downstairs area became). When you walk in, you walk into the bar area, which has table seating off to the side. Having been to this building once before, as another restaurant, I never knew there was an upstairs, which is where we were lead. there's another bar, and more tables upstairs; it's a little quieter, more "cozy" feeling, if you will. We were given menus and our most-excellent waiter, Rob, took our drink orders. He had the greatest smile and a really fun, out-going personality. it was Friday, we were a bit 'punchy' after a long work-week, but he laughed along with us. We ordered some beers, a wine, and a mixed drink. Everything was fantastic and he made a few suggestions which were right on the money. (I like stout beers and he recommended one that they had, which was really good!) A plain-clothes'ed gentleman walked over to our table and asked how everything was going so far. We asked who he was and found out he was the owner/chef's father, "Big Daddy" Dave; he was just going to table to table, welcoming everybody to the restaurant. A very pleasant man, who gave us a little background on his son and the establishment (go for yourself, and find out the secrets!!)
We ordered some appetizers and those alone, would make any of us go back. We ordered the pulled pork nachos, which were loaded through-and-through (not just on the top layer), with a BBQ pulled pork, not over-powering, but just enough flavor to make us almost lick the plate clean; there was also some kind of cheese sauce, but not your regular canned cheese-by-product sauce…this was something special and very tasty. We also ordered pickle chips, which looked like french fries, but were salty and crunchy, and the cajun dip was the perfect compliment to the chips. My niece ordered the scallops -there were 3 scallops with a nice piece of pork belly (bacon??) on top. She said they were 'very tasty, but probably wouldn't get them again' (maybe because there were 3 for $15??). Next time, i will be ordering the waffles and chicken appetizer – because…sweet and salty?? what's not to love! As for our meals, I order the short rib macaroni, which had a few different cheeses going on and a bit of pulled short rib meat. My husband ordered the brisket over the waffle, smothered in cole slaw. It was amazing. There was also the Yellowfin Sashimi burger..i tried it and i don't think i'm a fan of the grittiness of the edamame hummus, but it wasn't a bad burger. There was also a salad with a piece of salmon on it, which was good and the pan seared salmon, which was also quite tasty… All-in-all, we were all really happy with our orders and doggy bags were brought home for Saturday lunches, because there was just so much incredibly tasty food, that our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, but we weren't letting any of this go to waste! So, as far as we are concerned, we'll all be back, and we'll ask for Rob – he was a really good server, very friendly, accommodating, knowledgeable, and cute, to boot!
This place has the utmost potential. I hate to even write reviews this early in the restaurants career because I'm sure they know just as much as every customer they have a lot of issues to fix. So please take this as constructive criticism, i will undoubtedly be back in a couple months to experience your restaurant again and to update my review! Hopefully for the better.
First off i only had drinks, no food. So this review is a reflection upon that circumstance.
Atmosphere:
I love the concept. These are the types of bars i always want to go to in NY they have such cool designs. Unfortunately this one falls very short. The only thing this place had going for it as a prohibition bar is the awesome bookshelf door at the entrance, also the stone walls on the inside could definitely give this place the "basement type" feel. Unfortunately between the music, lighting, and TVs its like a sports bar. Turn down the lights a bit, especially at night. When we were there at 10pm it was like Yankee stadium. Also, although the Juke Box is cool, people, including myself, playing Skrillex and 50 cent kind of throw off the atmosphere you are aiming for. Play your own music, something that sets the tone. Also, either turn off the TVs or maybe have them just display your logo or something. There is about 6 TVs playing sports and you can clearly see them right through the windows out front with the neon beer signs, it does not feel prohibition at all. Maybe you can black out the windows or something.
Drinks:
We ordered 4 drinks total, 2 Moscow mules, a whiskey and some other sour drink with maple syrup. the 2 Moscow mules were good, the whiskey was nothing special, the sour one was awful. Bartenders should taste each drink before they put them out, it could have definitely used more maple syrup to add sweetness, it was like eating a sour candy.
PRICES! Eww. $13/ drink -_- come on now. This isn't NYC. i feel $9-$10 would have been more appropriate. Too much competition in the area to be charging that especially for drinks that are NOT unique or mixed to absolute perfection. Also put the prices on the menu please, that's really annoying to most people.
Service:
The place was not full at all so service was great. The owner/chef's father was walking around and he was extremely courteous and very inviting. Great man. The waitress i could tell is a total newbie. She was very nice but any experienced waitress would have questioned why the Sour/Maple syrup drink was not even half way finished or when we asked for the menu to order a 2nd round of drinks why we never did. Obvious signs that should warn her to ask questions to the customer in order to gather information and possibly keep us there buying more or coming back.
Overall this place could be amazing. I love the concept, i love the location considering it is near my home. I am just very disappointed with the prices and execution of the concept. I know this place is still very brand new and i absolutely plan on coming back for drinks and food. I want this place to be 5 stars. Lets see in a few months.