Horses Lounge

1 Reviews on “Horses Lounge”

• Roger K

  This was a reconnaissance run for a potential TTTT (third Thursday tavern time event). My wife called from work and said she needed a break from eating leftover turkey and side dishes. I was game and she knew I wanted to check out the Horses Lounge, so I leaped at the chance.Street parking is limited, however the Price Chopper lot is not too far away. Maybe we were early enough, or maybe Tuesday is not that busy, but our 6:30 arrival encountered only about 5 or 6 patrons, all of whom were at the bar. But our very first impression was actually the smell of old cigarettes and stale smoke as we opened the front door. The place is not large, it has room for about a dozen people at the bar and two four-seat high-tops among the pool table and electronic darts. Our stools at the high-top wobbled. While the barmaid covers both the bar and the two tables, our arrival did not seem to warrant any personal service as we chose our table and seated ourselves. We were neither approached to obtain a drink order nor to be given menus. Since we could read the drafts from our table, we made our choices and I approached the bar just as the barmaid headed into the kitchen. Fortunately, there were two menus propped up against the beer taps so I took them to our table without any beer.After the barmaid returned to the bar and began conversing with other patrons I decided to approach the bar again to place our order. And that gives you a flavor for our first impression of service.From the seven beers on draft we selected the Legend IPA and the Goose Island IPA. While the barmaid was pouring our beers she informed us that Tuesday is $1 Taco Night. That only slightly changed my wifes planned order. She decided to try one taco along with her original plan to have a pizza with mushrooms and onions. I requested a burger, but was informed that they had run out of burgers the night before since Monday was burger night. So I decided to order the Horses Heart Attack Hot Dog.Weve never before had a Legend IPA, so we have nothing to compare it with, but my wife thought it tasted like the tap line was dirty. I just noted a citrusy flavor. My Goose IPA was not quite as hoppy as the Legend and was very good other than the excessive head that had been poured.For the taco, we had choices of pork or beef, and soft or hard tortilla. We chose a soft pork taco. It actually was decent. They use flour tortillas and not corn tortillas. The pizza however, was a different story. This personal sized pizza had nothing that said order me again. It reminded me of what Ive always thought was how one of those pizzas you see rotating in a heat lamped display case at a gas station along the highway might taste like. Ive never had one of those and I now know Ill never have another one of these.My Horses Heart Attack was the highlight for me. Its a hot dog wrapped in bacon, deep fried, and topped with chili, cheddar cheese, and horseradish mustard. The roll was fresh and soft. The flavors of the chili, bacon, cheese, and mustard blended nicely and had me thinking of ordering a second one. But my wife suggested I try the wings.They have many different flavors for their wings. I was tempted to try the peanut butter & jelly ones, but in order to be fair in a comparison to others that Ive had at TTTT events I decided to simply go with medium, extra crispy, and whatever sauce they needed to arrive at the medium level of hotness. I should point out that by this time the shift for the barmaid had changed and our new barmaid, Hannah, was a breath of fresh air. Well, not really for this place, but we had grown accustomed to the fragrance, the first barmaid wished us a good night as she left, and Hannah was checking in with us periodically. She also poured a better pint.I assume I ended up with a full order of wings and not a half order since we were served 10 wings with the requested add-on of blue cheese and celery. The wings were definitely crispy on the outside, the sauce had a reasonable amount of hotness for medium, the wings had an average amount of meat on them, and there were large chunks of cheese in the blue cheese. As would be expected, extra crispy wings tend to be a bit drier, and even more so as they begin to cool. Overall, Id say they were average. But who knows about those other flavors!The patrons here are friendly, you can strike up a conversation with them, and if you are into pool, darts, or even karaoke, this might be the place for you. The bathrooms are even decent. Maybe the biggest downer was having to pass through the gauntlet of smokers outside the front door upon leaving.The additional .5 rating is for The Horses Heart Attack and Hannah!

  March 3, 2016, 7:45 am

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