Heavy Seas Alehouse

We had a birthday in the house this weekend!

Noel is celebrating being another year better, and his request was to go to the new Heavy Seas Alehouse in Harbor East, if possible. We knew that the restaurant was in soft opening so on Thursday (when it looked like I wouldn’t be at the day job all weekend) I tweeted the restaurant to ask if they were open to the general public. They told us they were, so we arranged a group of friends to hit the Alehouse on Saturday night.

This is the hardest “soft” opening I’ve ever seen! We got to the Alehouse around 7pm and the place was packed! Luckily we had called ahead and had a reservation for our party of 10 for 8pm. The staff was nice enough to let us congregate at a table in the bar area and enjoy drinks there while we waited for our table.

The beer selection was excellent, and the birthday boy enjoyed several cask conditioned ales that aren’t part of the regular Heavy Seas lineup. Our biggest problem of the night was that the restaurant kept kicking some of the beers we wanted, but there was enough selection that everyone stayed happy. In addition to the Heavy Seas beers on tap, the restaurant also has a nice selection of wines and other beers in bottles.

We had a lot of time to check out the main bar area while we waited. Heavy Seas made minimal changes to the old Diablita space–everything seemed the same, with the addition of some big Heavy Seas banners and wall hangings. When it was time to go to our table, we were lead to a seating area in the back that looked like it could be a private party room. It was still pretty loud, but there was plenty of room for all of us at our table. Our wait staff was with us immediately, and they were really polished for being in soft opening. We ordered right away, and although our starters took a while to come out, once they started the food was all out promptly.

And what food it was. Everything we had was great, starting with this creamy and well seasoned oyster stew, through to the dessert. The oyster stew was just the right consistency. I didn’t love the croutons, but overall it was very good.

The other end of the table ordered a bunch of appetizers for their meal, including these pork sliders and mushroom risotto. Overall the portions were a pretty good size, but these sliders were HUGE. Like just a tiny bit smaller than normal hamburgers!

The birthday boy ordered the hanger steak, served with pureed celery root and he really enjoyed it. His tip would be to order it medium rare, because someone else at the table ordered it medium, and they both agreed that it was better cooked a little bit less.

I had the mussels, along with two of the other ladies at the table. We all agreed that these were some of the BEST mussels we had ever had, and definitely the best mussels in Baltimore city. They’re done in Golden Ale and cream and they were cooked PERFECTLY! Not a single one overdone. They were served with a side of delicious fries, that must have been double cooked because they were wonderfully crispy and really good with the malt vinegar dipping sauce they came with.

Noel and I shared a side of brussels sprouts. They were pretty good, with the right amount of caramelization, but they were one step away from being mushy, which isn’t a good thing for me.

Someone else ordered the short ribs, which he said were good, and a good amount of meat, especially for being bone in.

And last but not least, the tables was rounded out with a burger and the chicken with white beans and kale entree. They were both rated as good, but I think there was some envy of some of the other items on the table!

And since we had all that food and we were celebrating a birthday, we had to get dessert right? The dessert list was pretty small, but we managed to make two selections. The first was this Pimlico Pie, which I didn’t think was anything fantastic–it really just seemed like pecan pie with chocolate chips and a side of some really bizarre pomegranate sorbet that really reminded me of orange sherbert.

The real winner of our dessert selections–and an excellent end to this great meal–was this ginger stout cake. The cake was like a really moist flavorful gingerbread, served with candied kumquats and a spiced whipped cream. So good.

We had a really great night at Heavy Seas Alehouse. We were impressed with the menu, the food quality and the service, which were all very good for the restaurant being in soft opening. Like I said earlier, our only issue was that they kept running out of some of the beers that we wanted, just because they were selling way more than they had expected. Nothing that a bit more supply couldn’t fix. And if the crowd Saturday night was any indication, this place is going to be a huge hit. Noel is already asking when we can go back!

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