Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 516-7688
www.rockbottom.com
Visited: May 28, 2010
Man, time sure changes a place...
Had I reviewed RBB two to three years ago, I would've given them a SOLID 4 stars. Their food was delicious, the service was great, the beer was amazing and the servers were all cool. Plus the crowning part of the "old" RBB was that the Wednesday pints were only $1...what a friggin bargain!
The wife and I are members of their Mug Club which periodically puts $5 to $10 on our Mug Club card. They recently put $5 on each of our cards which was the driving reason to visit RBB before the $10 expired at the end of this month.
We stopped by the RBB in Ballston this past week and didn't notice any difference in the decor layout...but it felt different, something had changed. Opening up the menu, some of my old bar favorites were still there...but the descriptions had changed. The wife and I were HUGE fans of their nachos which were always too big for us to finish as they were topped with generous amounts of chicken, guac, sour cream, refried beans, onions and tasty jalapenos.
Thinking the food was the same, we ordered the nachos and waited anxiously for our food to arrive. In the meantime I ordered my old favorite brew (Mother Martha's Light) and the wife tried out a Dark Vanilla flavored beer. The wife's beer was good, it was dark and creamy with a good kick and a deep vanilla flavor. On the other hand, my Mother Martha's Light tasted odd...it wasn't the same full bodied flavor I remembered and it left a weird aftertaste in my mouth.
Finally the nachos arrived! The serving vessel for the nachos was no longer a huge hot porcelain plate, but a thin piece of wood topped with a piece of was paper. The size of the nachos was noticeably smaller and the biggest change was in the chips. The chips were no longer a rainbow of blue red and which chips, they were all thin white chips.
The toppings had change too. Refried beans...no longer! They were replaced by scant scatterings of black beans and the chicken had a "pre-cooked bagged" flavor to it that wasn't too appealing. Most of the serving tray was taken up by a huge oval shaped salsa dish and again I was just disappointed at the small size of the nachos. The guac wasn't up to par and parts of it had a brown color that made it less appetizing.
There was some melted cheese, but the chips were so thin that any attempt to pick up a single chip was met by a broken chip or picking up a huge mass of chips stuck together by the cheese. Its as if the new chips didn't have the strength to stand up to the melted cheese and also broke if you tried to scoop up some guac or salsa.
Ugh...major disappointment...
We asked the waiter why they had changed the nachos and he informed us that the new management was pushing for nacho chips made in-house. Great selling point to make in-house nacho chips, but they are too oily and just waaaaaay to weak/thin. Our waiter (a very nice fellow) also shared our disappointment in the decision to change the nacho recipe...especially in altering the toppings and the discontinued use of the multi-colored chips.
I also noticed on the menu that the Wednesday $1 pints had now changed to $1.50. Hmmm...if the nachos, changing menu and change in beer quality (and prices) says anything about the RBB under new management...I don't think its worth my time and the trip to come to this RBB. Hopefully the other RBBs (the one in MD) are still decent and haven't changed their nacho recipe too.
Just not a fan of this place anymore...sorry RBB. Had some great times in the past, but now i'm all grownz up and I'd rather head somewhere with better beer and much better food. But if you decide to visit RBB, sign up for the Mug Club and keep an eye on your emails for free money.
So for now, hasta la pasta RBB! At least until you put some more money on our Mug Club cards. :-) Maybe we'll try the MD RBB next time.
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