Food reviews: The armpit of the Elbow

I ventured down to Fiddler's Elbow for a meeting with the staff from, The Forum. I haven't been to Fiddler's in a while. I always find the food mediocre, the menu lacks focus and the service is well--let's just say you know that Fiddler's is an equal opportunity employer.

As soon as I sat down a wine menu was shoved in my face because as a girl I must not drink beer. Of course, I promptly ordered Wasatch Apricot Hefeweizen ($4.50 on tap). The server informed me their keg was broken so they may not have it available. She left to go check. About five minutes later, she appeared empty handed and let me know the hefeweizen was available. "Would you like the hefeweizen?"

Uh...yes, please.

I ordered the garlic burger for just under $7 without cheese. It came with fries and no choice of how the burger was cooked, it showed up well-done. The burger was easily the best thing I have ever had from Fiddler's Elbow. It was garlicky without being overwhelming, juicy and an even burger to bun ratio. A nice positive change for a brew pub. I was so impressed by the flavor that I ignored how absolutely messy the burger was (my ketchup stained shirt is in the washer as I write this).

Strangely, they didn't serve fry sauce and at this point I was avoiding any further interactions with my server so I just went ahead and had fries like a non-Utahn with ketchup. The fries needed some serious salting, but they were cooked just right and I believe hand cut. Moving their fries from a previous rating of "crap" to "yum."

As always, I love the micro-brewed apricot hefe from Wasatch. It's a great light beer. Refreshing, sweet and delicious without being too light for even the darkest beer drinker.


So I must conclude that service is the armpit of this otherwise great pub. But, I'm still looking forward to the next staff meeting at Fiddler's as long as we can just once have a server who doesn't make me question their ability to fill out the application. Oh and for beer, burger and fries it was just under $15. Not too bad for a sports bar in Sugar House.