By Stacy Hammac
December 14, 2010
After several months of waiting, the Carolina Ale House is finally open on Main Street across from Two Chefs. No more peeking in windows and hearing rumors of retractable roofs and space ships, you can actually check it out for yourself! And I highly recommend that you do.
Let’s start with the décor. Think festive yet classy. The stairwell is covered in brightly colored, sports themed illustrations that scream fun. And both bars, upstairs and downstairs, have comfy barstools, big nice booths, and a lot of dark wood and bricks. The whole place just feels warm and inviting.
And you can’t talk about their décor without acknowledging the televisions. There are about 70 tvs in this place. And that’s not an exaggeration. Trust me, there’s an empty Best Buy somewhere. In addition to all of the tvs, there are also a couple of big screens for big games. If for some Godforsaken reason tvs or sports aren’t your thing, there are even pool tables on the way.
I was also really impressed with the food. The menu’s pretty extensive and inexpensive. From typical bar food like wings and burgers to blackened tuna salad and flatbread pizzas, they’ve got something for everybody. And it’s good stuff. Definitely try the bleu cheese dressing. I’m not typically a bleu cheese fan, but they make their dressing in-house, and it’s amazing. Especially with the wings.
As far as a watering hole goes, this one is definitely a hit. There are plenty of beers on tap, tons of booze, and they make a mean vodka martini. The prices are pretty reasonable, too. They offer $2 and $3 beer specials and the Happy Hour specials are actually pretty special. I do have one complaint, though. They don’t have Red Bull. They have some weird stuff called XL or something, but I assured the bartender that it is NOT THE SAME.
All in all, the Carolina Ale House is a great addition to Downtown Greenville, and it’s definitely worth checking out. I’m sure you’ll see me there!