Sunday, April 8, 2007

Historic District Restaurant: Pete's

Pete's Cafe & Bar
4th & Main St.

What is it?
Pete's is one of the anchor establishments in downtown. Pete's is a restaurant and bar with gravity; a heavy oak bar, brass fixtures and vintage black & white tile floors. The back of the restaurant is encased in long dark velvet curtains, it is quieter and while the menu is similar to the bar menu it's definately spiffier.
The front is a warmly lit bar with an fenced in sidewaly patio that plays late night host to nieghbors and locals. During the day however from lunch through happy hour, Pete's is a City Hall favorite where suits and the top brass from police and fire kick back.

What to eat?
If you like mac & cheese they have a 4 cheese mac and cheese that's really good.

What not to eat?
I think the bacon they use in the BLT - is a really smokey applewood bacon that I find really tough and the flavor is overpowering.

Advice for the owner?
This is a tough one for me. I am a huge fan of Pete's. I think the design, the vibe, the atmosphere everything is really pleasant and I love that they are open every night until 2AM. So it pains me a bit to criticize, but there are a few things that I have experienced there enough to warrant some feedback.

First, the service is slow. I've experienced it firsthand and heard about it from friends. But if you aren't in a hurry it's not a deal breaker. My other critique is that the food just generally should be better overall. I think I've tried everything on the menu and it's all okay, but beside the mac and cheese nothing really stands out. For example, two times I ordered eggs benedict for breakfast. The first time the english muffin was burned, the last time it wasn't toasted at all. In addition, they serve fruit with the Benedict, except the fruit is always really bad. I hate that. It just means you have low standards.

My advice to the owner is that the service could be better especially in the bar area and considering that your food is not super inexpensive - it also could be better.

1 comment:

Raven said...

First Cup Caffe at 333 spring street, in between spring and broadway has great eggs benedict, atmosphere, friendly staff and super deserts. I highly recommend this place for breakfast, lunch, or coffee.