Satisfactory ending to rough evening at Brown’s
Courtesy of Brown's Brewing Co.
Last night I had the pleasure of being treated to a steak dinner at Brown’s Brewing Co. in Troy, NY.
The evening started out a little rough. After being seated, the waitress had to fetch items such as extra silverware and menus (not to mention the dessert/wine/soft beverage menu, which was brought to us after we had ordered our drinks). She also failed to recall what types of hot tea Brown’s carried, so I finally ordered the Brown’s brewed Root Beer, which was very good so I won’t complain.
While deciding what to order, I was mildly confused by the ambiguity of the dinner menu with regards to what sides come with an entrée.
All entrees served with a pub salad, Chef’s choice potatoes or pasta and brewer’s spent grain rolls baked exclusively for Brown’s Taproom
First of all, when the waitress asked what sides I wanted, she started by asking if I wanted soup, which obviously was not listed as one of the included sides. Then when I asked about the rolls, she said that rolls normally come with the meal if you order the salad (another rule I wasn’t aware of from reading the menu description). Also, apparently asking if I could have potatoes and pasta is a slightly more complicated question than I thought.
My main concern though was with “potatoes.” What I ended up ordering from Brown’s was the Delmonico steak (not listed in the online pdf version of the menu). Normally when I order steak from a restaurant, it will come with a side of either a baked potato or mashed potatoes. Since the menu said, “potatoes” plural, I assumed it was the latter, not knowing that I would be receiving multiple small red potatoes.
My final order was the Delmonico steak (rare) with soup, potatoes, penne pasta and hard rolls. The soup was some sort of a chicken with pasta concoction. It tasted fine, but really wasn’t my type of soup.
The penne pasta was sub-par. They were tough and lacked flavor.
I haven’t eaten the potatoes yet (took them home), so I can’t really say anything about them.
The steak was cooked to my liking. It was very tender and had lots of flavor, though my date felt that the seasoning was a little bit too salty. The steak also came with a creamy horseradish which was mild, but this was appreciated.
To finish this up I would like to mention something that’s probably a little less talked-about in restaurant reviews. Instead of supplying me with a single napkin, Brown’s gave me three. This was particularly useful since I find keeping a napkin on my lap, and having to lift it up to wipe my mouth and hands, rather awkward and inefficient. You’re essentially taking the napkin, which is meant to catch the food you drop on your lap, and you’re lifting it up, so any food that did fall onto it is now falling right where you didn’t want it to go in the first place. At Brown’s I was able to keep one napkin under my silverware, one napkin on my lap and then used the third to wipe my mouth and hands. It just makes sense to me, having three napkins, though apparently I’m the only one who thinks so.
Overall the night went well, despite the numerous miscommunications which occurred between myself, the menu, and the staff. And, considering the perfection of the Delmonico steak–and the fact that my date didn’t use all three of his napkins–I will forgive Brown’s for stealing one of my napkins before I finished.
I almost forgot, the meal was a little bit on the pricey side. The Delmonico steak was about $21 and the total bill for the two of us ended up being roughly $55 (only about $20 cheaper than the River Street Café, located a few doors down from Brown’s.
Rating: 
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