- JOSH MORGAN
- Chicken and Waffles at Union Public House has plentiful chicken, but even more batter than there is meat.
So after all that talk of Union Public House, I was excited to check it out for lunch. I mean, the one menu item that screamed at me was the Pork Belly. Who doesn’t like pork belly? When prepared properly, it is melts-in-your-mouth delicious. And it was! The house-made pretzel bread was also a great complement to the dish.
BUT for $9, the serving was a bit small – two 2-ounce pieces served with veggies and some toasted bread pieces.
- JOSH MORGAN
- The soft shell crab sandwich was soggy and the flavor of the sauce, etc., overpowered the crab.
For lunch, we ordered the chicken and waffles and soft shell crab sandwich (which I had) with a side of tots. Both were mixed bags.
When the chicken and waffles came, the dishes (Josh and Chen ordered the same thing) looked enormous. But once you cut into the chicken, it was almost an immediate disappointment with how much batter was on the chicken. The meat was tender and juicy, but the consistency was off. The waffles were thin and soggy from the butter. There wasn’t much of the bacon-induced syrup either.
My plate was an instant disappointment. The soft shell crab BLT was a lot of BLT with very little crab. The flavor was also all BLT and the soggy bread was more noticeable than what I expected should’ve been more crunchy soft shell crab.
At the end of the meal, I was full, but not satisfied. I think the style of food is sort of comparable to Pasco Kitchen on University. If I had to choose, I’d most likely go with Pasco the next time around and skip Union Public House.
- JOSH MORGAN
- Chen Ziniu takes a bite of his chicken and waffles.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2011.
I haven’t tried this place yet, so can’t comment on the food. But the pork belly was in the category labeled “small plates,” which would suggest the portion would be, um, small.
I’d give them a minute before expecting perfection. It typically takes new eateries weeks, if not months, to get everything tuned in.
Be careful about not LOVING this place. Adam will get mad and call you names.
Edie, I do realize that it is under the “small plates” category. HOWEVER, they might as well have added the pork belly into the appetizers category because it was nothing but a glorified appetizer. And I agree, Adam, it does take a while to perfect things. Today was the third day the place was opened. I didn’t even mention how they didn’t have hot tea, took a little long to get the food out, etc. As I said, it was an okay experience, but could be much improved.
I went there the other night, and I did eat there so I can speak from experience. Sure, they like to say it’s a soft opening, but I’ve been to plenty of places that in the first week had their food and systems already working. That’s why you have a week to train staff.
What I found was a barn like atmosphere with a really cool oval shaped bar and impressive taps all lined up. Standard wine racks and some “reclaimed” materials like the chairs and tables. The patio feels like an afterthought and really should incorporate the bar more. The food is tasty, but I felt like they set their prices low to make it seem like they are inexpensive, but all it does is match the small portions.
Now if you are going to follow trends, at least follow GOOD trends. Yeah I tried the CUEball thing. Other than looking really cool, it was not good. Ok so slap on some English cheddar on a burger and you can charge $11? Chicken and Waffles? Hell even Mays can’t get that right and that’s all they do. I love a good Gastropub and trust me I’ve been to The York and Father’s Office. The owners need to go visit those. If this is the best Tucson has to offer, I’ll just stick to BJ’s (yeah I know the food stinks there, I’m making a point) where at least the tv’s are big enough to see.
John,
Thank you for taking the time to visit our restaurant. We really appreciate the constructive criticism and are always looking for ways to continue to improve our food and service. Look forward to seeing you in the future!
Grant Krueger
Union Public House
I agree, it’s pretty ridiculous to publish any review after a business has been open 2, count ’em 2, days.
local biz supporter: As a policy, the Weekly doesn’t review restaurants until they’ve been open for a few months, but John was providing some first-impression type notes of his own for the blog. It can see where the distinction is probably a little unclear and maybe needs to be discussed, but there you go.
Not fair to opine on any business open less than a week. Would you want to be evaluated at your job on day three? Let alone have it made public?
We give restaurants a minimum of three months. The guys here have put together a pretty ambitious menu so there are bound to be some things that need work. I think you owe them some sort of apology.
When I write a less than favorable review, as a professional, I am very careful how I present the criticism. I’m honest but try not to be cruel. This was cruel.
So Rita, in your opinion there should be a 3 month grace period on reviews? Maybe perhaps during “soft openings” they should put disclaimer stickers on their menu’s and give a nice discount. I’m pretty sure it was full price they charged for John (and me as well) so therefore they deserve scrutiny.
How about yelp reviews? Maybe not allow people to review until the 3 month window closes? Janos seems to get 4-5 star reviews within the first week at his places. It’s totally possible.
As a professional Im glad that you wait. I have a LOT of respect for your and Jimmy’s reviews and I think that’s why. But isn’t the OP just a blogger and not a professional? That’s pretty much the same as posting something negative to his Facebook. I thought his report was brutally honest rather than cruel.
With respect. At least you’re not a cheerleader like Adam.
No, it’s fine to have an opinion -like the sage’s say everyone has one – but to put such a negative opinion on line within days of opening make me wonder if these persons (and it sounds like there may be more than one) have some sort of agenda.
Even the New York Times gives restaurtants several weeks before they slam them.
PS a “soft opening” is when a restaurant invites groups in to practice, not the first few nights or weeks of opening. It happens before the public opening. I didn’t consider this a “soft opening.”
I’ll enter the fray by saying that people don’t expect Yelp reviews to be by professional reviewers; ditto opinions on personal blogs. But when you blog under the aegis of a publication like The Weekly, there’s a certain level of professionalism that’s expected. My snarky comment about the small plates was a — probably misplaced — response to the general unfairness of reviewing a place two days out. I agree with Rita that there should have been a waiting period.
So lets be clear about the importance of having access to a medium where we are free to express our opinions. However, my observation with this particular case is clearly the fact that it was a very personal account of one experience and thus told in that manner. Would it have been better to wait some time to write about an experience of a new restaurant, sure. Would it have been ideal to take someones word about a restaurant who actually reviews them for a living, absolutely. Would our world be better by giving new restaurants the benefit of the doubt on being able to iron out wrinkles in their first week before concluding that the next time they would take their business elsewhere, you bet. But that is not the case here and Im sure that when John talks about this to his friends and family they will agree.
Considering that people are actually paying $$ to eat at a restaurant the first 3 days then it is perfectly ok to review them in the first three days. Three days is plenty enough time to lose a lot of customers (and create bad word of mouth) with bad food and/or service.
you are all welcome.
I agree with Edie Jarolim’s comment.
There are plenty of places where people are “free to express their opinions” about restaurants. They are called Yelp, TripAdvisor, Zagat, and personal blogs…. Anyone wishing to get a review of a place hot off the presses can go there. Perhaps if this review came with a “this is just my personal opinion, not that of The Weekly” disclaimer, I would be more forgiving of it. It is, rather, under the heading “Chow.” Not John’s Chow blog. And it has professional looking pictures. The Weekly has a lot of paid reviewers. How would any reader know that John Dedios was not one of them?
P.S. Facebook. Twitter. Chowhound. More great places to express a personal, rather than a professional, opinion. I have no beef with the review, which makes many observations that seem astute, just with the venue for it at this early stage.
I’d far rather place my trust in an “opinion” in an official publication where someone uses their real name like John did, rather than the “mad_eater” on Yelp.
If the “opinion” had been glowing nobody would be complaining.
Sangria nailed it. It seems that the owners have a lot of Kool-Aide being served to their friends and even Adam from this paper. The place is average, not as ground breaking and earth shattering as they would have you believe. Instead they get all their friends here to bitch and complain… well guess what boys this isn’t the Arizona Star. We don’t get censored here.
To the dude…Huh?
Well, I think I’ll change plans for a friend’s birthday lunch for next week and go someplace we know is decent.
I agree.
How about doing a story why the founder Jason Anderson was run out of the business and forced to sell?