Pocono Brewing Company - Swiftwater, PA

Pocono Brewing Company
PA 611, Swiftwater, PA

☆ ☆ 2/5 stars

What a shame Pocono Brewing Company can't capitalize on the assets at their dispose. PBC, as they call themselves, offers a great environment for a night out with friends. With a big open floorspace, game room and weekend entertainment, PBC COULD be an awesome place.

I am partially reminded of the Ice House in the Pocono Pines (which is now closed down) when I think of PBC - great environment with lots of room for a great night out.

Okay, onto PBC. We went on a weekend night and it was appropriately crowded for such a night; not too busy, but busy enough. We ordered a beer sampler and enjoyed a few of their own microbrews - unfortunately, their website doesn't work (in a digital world, that's unfortunate) so I can't name the beers that were included (they weren't that memorable I suppose).

We had a few different servers; one male and one female - I suppose this means they pool tips. The female server was quite nice, though her low-cut v-neck shirt was inappropriate for a restaurant filled with families. We had their appetizer sampler - nothing special. It had jap. poppers, mozzerella sticks, southwest eggrolls and onion rings. It was good, but reminiscent of a Friday's-Applebee's-Chili's type of thing. Quality was mass produced and it was standard bar food.

My partner ordered the chicken fajitas for the main entree and I had a buffalo chicken wrap. Again, nothing to write home about; just bar food. My wrap did have fresh mozzerella which was a nice surprise and not something typically found in a buffalo wrap. The fajitas came in a very large portion and served their purpose.

For dinner, we ordered accompanying beers. It was not long after we finished eating and almost-full beers that the male server asked if he should drop the check off. We smiled and said no as we planned to go into the game room, enjoy some games and finish our beers. Before we were able to get to the game room, he returned and asked again.

He must have asked us about 4 times if he could drop the check. Our drinks were not drank and our table hadn't even been cleared. I used the nearby restroom and when I returned, the check was on the table. Apparently he dropped it anyway even though my partner said we weren't ready.

At this time, the restaurant was less busy - we were surrounded with open tables but the persistence of this server to rush us out of the restaurant ruined the entire experience. I don't believe I finished my beer and I certainly didn't even get to go into the gameroom.

If a restaurant, like PBC, offers an entertainment experience (with a game room and comedy show that evening), they shouldn't play the fast table turnover game. It defeats the purpose. If you want to turn your tables over quickly then don't have additional features. For sub-par bar food; a rushed experience and a server without bed-side manner, PBC gets 2 stars.

For the entertainment alone, should I had been able to enjoy it, it could have earned three stars. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet here. I would recommend you go to enjoy the cool atmosphere but at the same time you may not get a chance to do that if you do dine there - so instead you will be paying for bar food which could be more cheaply obtained at a chain restaurant.

Bailey's Steakhouse - Mt. Pocono, PA

Bailey's Steakhouse
604 Pocono Blvd.
Mt. Pocono, PA

☆ ☆ ☆ 3/5 stars

Where to begin? I have mixed feelings about Bailey's. My partner, myself and two of our guests visited the steakhouse this past weekend. Right off the bat, the host walked us around in a maze attempting to seat us at different tables that weren't ready. We finally were seated - the restaurant wasn't as busy as we anticipated for a weekend night but the service was incredibly slow. We waited quite awhile for a server to see us, then longer to get our drinks.

Once we did have a server, she was quite friendly so all was forgiven. We were pretty hungry at that point so we ordered soup and an appetizer; the sesame seared ahi tuna. While the tuna was great quality (better than most places), the serving was nothing short of a half-sized appetizer, with 4 very thin peices.

I ordered the petit filet mignon, medium-cooked with a loaded baked potato on the side and the salad bar. My partner ordered the rib sampler which included St. Louis spare ribs, Memphis Baby Backs and Dinosaur Bones.

The salad bar was interesting - it wasn't as big as anticipated but included delightful other small sides (egg salad, pasta salad, etc) - things that if you were to add seperately to your meal, you would pay extra for.

The petit filet was just that; petit. However, it was cooked to perfection and the quality of meat was very good. In terms of price, it was $24.99. Not outrageous but not exactly reasonable. The rib sampler was great with the exception of the dinosaur bones which, from what my partner suggested (I did not try them) were very fatty, cow-derived bones of some sort. He tasted one and did not eat any.

All in all, a dinner for four with a few cocktails was about $170.00. Unfortunately, the restaurant would be much better served if it had lower price tags. Like most places, it had a lodgy feel, base-line furniture and slow service. The food quality was good (minus the dinosaur bones) but not $25 an entree-good.

Again, I would suggest buying steak from a local butcher or going to the Village Squire. I did enjoy what I ate but don't feel that it's prices matched its decor and menu.

Check out the menu (notice the lack of prices listed).