I’m so sad.
I love Chef Zack Northcutt’s work.
I love his new restaurant, Haddington’s.
I enjoy Mulberry and was very excited when Haddington’s finally opened.
My first visit to Haddington’s was on Saturday night, Valentine’s weekend. The experience was stellar. The table was good. The atmosphere energetic. The service was flawless. The wines and cocktails were tasty and well recommended. The food was creative and fabulous. It was a perfect evening. I’ve been dying to go back.
We went back on a Thursday evening with Ben’s sister, who was in town visiting. St. Patrick’s Day during SXSW. One might consider that a trying night for the restaurant to perform up to par, but Haddington’s is located far enough down west Sixth street that it didn’t appear particularly affected by the festival or the holiday. The house was generally full, but not at capacity. Some bar seats opened up right as we arrived and we took our seats at the center of the bar, near the beer spickets.
We initially got our menus and waters. I was thirsty and wanted a beer so the bartender let me try a few before I made my selection. Ben ordered a beer and his sister ordered a whisky soda. We learned that there were happy hour specials until 7pm. It was 6:59 so I quickly ordered the scotch eggs and some pickled vegetables to get us started.
The scotch eggs came quickly and were a great bar starter. A good match for the beer. Made with quail eggs, they are rolled in sausage and served with a sweet sauce, almost reminiscent of an Asian plum sauce. The yolks were creamy and they were the perfect little bites to share. A good start. The house-pickled green beans and carrots were also a healthy and flavorful item for munching on with drinks.
Knowing that Chef was going to prepare some type of St. Pat’s food special that day, Ben stepped back to the kitchen pass-through to chat with Zack. He ordered one of their last remaining specials for us to share. A shepherd’s pie topped with green mashers – colored green from green garlic, not food coloring. Inside was a mildly spiced ground meat. A simple peasant-style dish, made with quality ingredients, and easily enjoyed.
One of the other items on the menu which caught my eye was the British meatballs. They were a house-ground beef in a braised vegetable broth. But what piqued my interest was that they were wrapped in caul fat, which is a webbed membrane of fat found in the abdominal cavity of a pig and is often used for a wrapping to keep foods moist when cooking. (I had recently seen caul fat on a recent Iron Chef episode, “Battle Pork Fat” and was very intrigued!) I fingered the menu for some time trying to catch the eye of one of the many servers behind the bar. As one gentleman in a casual printed shirt helped the customers next to me, I called out to him and asked him about the meatball dish. He stated, “I had that for dinner last night.” OK – but how was it? I didn’t get any more information from him as he helped my neighbor and moved on. A few minutes later, with me still holding the menu and trying to catch his eye, he asked me if I needed something. Yes, I’d like to order the meatballs I asked you about.
The food again came quickly, but there was one problem. My beer was gone and the empty glass had been removed, but I had no replacement drink nor any offers of one. I perused the wine list, thinking it was time to switch to a glass of red, and two options seemed viable for the upcoming dish. While I was pondering, the meatballs arrived. I held the list and scanned the myriad of bartenders meandering behind the bar. I waited and looked and waited and looked, eventually looking to my husband with a pleading and frustrated glance so he called out to one of the bartenders who was simply standing purposelessly in front of him and told her that I wanted a glass of wine. She came over and asked which one. I asked about the two in question and she just regurgitated the description on the list, so I asked her if I could taste them. Looking a bit put out, she brought them out, poured a sip, and disappeared to the other end of the bar to chat with a coworker. After a lengthy pause, while my meatball was rapidly cooling, she came back and poured my chosen wine. Unfortunately by this time, my share of the food dish was lukewarm and I was frustrated. I can tolerate slow service when folks are hustling. But today the delay in service and attentiveness was not because the team was overloaded – to the contrary, I’ve rarely seen such aloof lollygagging in my life.
There were up to seven bored looking bartenders behind the bar at any one time. Yes, seven. Two in particular, a gal with a chest tattoo and a Russell Brand-looking guy were the biggest offenders. While we were desperately seeking service, they were literally leaning back against the back of the bar with their arms folder chatting or just gazing vacantly out into the room. Some of the bartenders were actually doing a little bit of busy work - polishing glassware and avoiding customer eye-contact or gathering in a circle to watch casual-shirt guy try to change out a keg. During this time, my sister-in-law sat with an empty glass. And continued to sit with an empty glass. The final straw was when they cleared our plates without asking if we wanted to order anything further, but left her empty cocktail glass without acknowledgement. She sat dry while the seven (SEVEN!) bartenders milled about aimlessly.
I had hoped to order several more food items to share and cocktails or wine to accompany them – I wanted to make an evening at Haddington’s showing off Chef Zack’s talent. Unfortunately the utter uselessness of the bar team far overshadowed the food and otherwise fun and boisterous ambience. We asked for the check and sadly decided to move on.
I’m confident that this display is not and will not be the modus operandi of Haddington’s on an ongoing basis. In fact, Ben took a few minutes to chat with Zack and express our regret at the events of the evening. I was bothered enough that I wanted to speak to him myself and express some additional constructive feedback, but Ben assured me that Zack took his comments seriously and I believe that the problem will be corrected. I hope to return soon to find out for myself. There are still many items on the menu that I’m eager to try. But for today, I’m just sad.
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