Evans Public House – Altamont, NY

This past Sunday, Cassie and I couldn’t decide upon a place to have dinner. Her mom recommended a place she had heard some good things about in Altamont called Evans Public House. We inspected the website and were immediately astonished by the selection of beers they had. We also closely looked at the menu and decided to eat there. Our thought was that it couldn’t be much different from The Judge’s Inn, aside from the legal gimmick; the menus have many similarities.

When we entered, we were slightly thrown by the appearance. To the left, there is a formidable bar area, but to the right was a very banquet style dining area, complete with white table linens and upside-down glasses. The place is actually huge, and it looks like a large portion of their business model is catering, which explains the banquet style dining area. The menu has you believe that the place is supposed to be an Irish pub, but, with less than a handful of classic Irish dishes, it is more of your American fare.

The menu has a large number of standard American appetizer selections such as buffalo wings, chicken tenders, and mozzarella sticks. There were Irish Nachos (Sliced potato chips fried to a golden brown and topped with cheddar cheese, diced bacon, and hearty homemade chili) on the menu. Before we decided on appetizers, adjacent diners were served their meals. It looked like they all ordered the baby back ribs, which smelled incredible!

As an appetizer, I decided to order hot buffalo chicken tenders. They were exactly what I expected. [all photos taken with cell phones. Sorry. You get the idea.]

Cassie ordered the Irish Nachos with the chili on the side as her appetizer. She was thoroughly pleased. I tried the chili and liked it a lot. I thought it would add a lot being on top of the chips, but, considering Cassie has a tomato allergy and this chili was red due to tomatoes, it was a good idea she excluded it.

For dinner, both of us ordered chicken sandwiches. Cassie had the Westminster Chicken Sandwich, and I had the Jerk Chicken sandwich, a special of the day. Both sandwiches were presented in visually similar ways. Here’s a shot of my plate:

The food was average. I had quite a few complaints. First being that the fries were seasoned to the point where they were inedible. It was almost like they were brined in salt water prior to frying and then seasoned with solid salt after being fried. Also, the bread that my sandwich was served on was not fresh, and they didn’t even reheat or toast it to bring back any freshness. My chicken was severely over-seasoned with jerk spice. I enjoy a good jerk seasoning, but this was a little much. I was also disappointed that they have not adopted the “Free Refills on Soda” policy that the rest of the world has. I had one refill and was charged for two sodas. Luckily for them, both sodas came to about $3.50 which is slightly more than what most places charge for free refills. But, c’mon guys, let’s get on board here. (Especially with as much ice as you put in my glass — see first picture above — that was a full glass!)

If I were in the area looking for some cheap eats with a good selection of microbrews, I would definitely return, but I would be cautious in what I ordered, and, most likely, I’d go with the baby back ribs, which look like might be the specialty of the place, or maybe a burger.

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