Georgetown Grille
19 West Main St., Georgetown
978-769-3550
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. -
1 a.m., Sunday, noon - midnight.
All major credit cards accepted
Handicapped accessible
The restaurant formerly known as the Olde Towne Tavern is now the Georgetown Grille.
(Yes, this town has a thing for extra e's.)
Tom Walsh, who opened the place in January with his father and a friend, said that after running a liquor store, he wanted to step up his game and open a restaurant, an inexpensive spot for families and equipped with a bar for folks who want to watch Red Sox games and snack on wings (the Grille has a 35-cent wing special on Tuesdays).
Those who visited the Olde Towne Tavern back in the day shouldn't expect drastic changes to the venue's décor. What was once a raised seating area on one side of the restaurant is now a dining space that's level with the bar. The interiors have been spruced up but the atmosphere is similar. This is still a place where you can feel comfortable dining in sweatpants if it's that kind of night. It's still a place where you can expect to run into people you know.
My dining companion and I settled in at a table for four on a recent weeknight and took a few minutes to look over what we decided was an ambitious menu. The Grille could get away with offering a simple list of burgers and fries, but it goes the extra mile with vegetarian plates, sandwiches such as "Tuscan Turkey," and entrees that range from shrimp skewers to haddock in lemon herb butter. Just about everything is $15 or less.
We asked our server, Diane O'Neil, for appetizer recommendations, and based on her enthusiasm about the plates, we went for the nachos with chili ($10) and the bruschetta ($6).
O'Neil, who described many things on the menu as "awesome" or "wicked good," was right about the nachos. It was a plate of crisp chips topped with meat and beans that could have fed a party of five. This place doesn't skimp on the cheese either - almost all of the chips, even the ones stuck in the middle, were gooey and delicious.
She may have led us astray with the bruschetta, however. There wasn't anything wrong with the thick bread slices topped with cheese and tomatoes, but it had the look and taste of something we could easily whip up at home.
We forgave her, of course. Her service and smiles kept us in a good mood all night.
My companion, a meat lover, was disappointed by her entree, the 6-ounce New York center-cut sirloin ($13). Again, the plate was something she might have been able to cook herself, a thin strip of meat with just a bit too much fat. Perhaps she would have been better off ordering from the Grille's "burger board," which had six options including a "black and bleu burger" topped with bacon and bleu cheese. Based on the thick burgers I saw being served to other tables, that's the way to go. The most expensive burger is $8.
I fared better with the "mac & cheese with chicken" ($10), a dish of macaroni in a light, white cheese sauce that was topped with bread crumbs and tender slices of poultry. I promised myself that after the nachos, I'd only eat half of the mac entree, but I couldn't resist. I kept digging in until I was close to cleaning the plate.
Not surprisingly, O'Neil was excited about dessert, which got us excited, too. She had a long list of cake options, which she said came from the Alden Merrell factory in Newburyport. But she didn't hesitate when we asked which one was best. "Snickers," she said.
The slice of peanut-topped chocolate pie was thick and heavy - good to share.
As we left, we noticed the families had just about cleared out, and the Red Sox spectators had taken their positions for the Grille's second shift.
MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN
rising
falling 