So I visited my brother's workplace - the not-quite-review of the Revival Social Club
As I mentioned in an earlier post, my brother, vladiatorr, recently started working as a mixologist at a newly opened Revival Social Club restaurant/bar. Vlad invited my mom and I to a special, pre-actual-opening friends-and-family-only night, but I wasn't able to make it because I had work. But, since Revival is literally less than a block away from my apartment, I decided to pay a visit on the Monday it opened.
(Technically, it didn't have an official opening yet - that didn't happen until Wednesday of last week. But it was already opened de facto, if not de jour, and I wasn't going to wait for technicalities)
Before Revival moved in to the space, it was home to M.Henrietta, a breakfast-and-lunch place I ate at a grand total of once - when Vlad was helping me move. We only went there because it so happened to have our mom's name. Our mom offered to pay for our lunch, and we thought it would be very amusing to eat at a Henrietta's on a Henrietta's dime.
Anyway... The Revival didn't actually change the exterior all that much. The sign was repainted to reflect the new name, and exterior walls and windows were just repainted and mildly altered.
But the interior was changed fairly substantially.
The bar area
The sit-down restaurant area
The light fixture by the door.
The podium, where, presumably, the staff would be stationed to take reservations. Since I visited before the official opening - and in the middle of the day, no less - there wasn't even remotely really enough customers to justify it, so it stood unused.
Revival serves breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. Since, as I said, I arrived in the middle of the day, I would up ordering lunch. Lemon Pepper Salmon sandwich with fries, to be more specific. Mostly it was because, out of all the lunch sandwiches, it struck me as the most... not exotic, exactly. Just different from the more standard-sounding stuff like Grilled Cheese and Sloppy Jose.
The salmon didn't disappoint. I wasn't sure where the lemon and the pepper parts were, but I quite liked the salmon part. And the fries were... decent. I had better fries at several hole-in-the-wall eateries and hot dog stands, but I've also hard worse. Much worse. These ones fall firmly within the "decent" spectrum.
I also had some tea - which was just standard out-of-the-teabag stuff, really. Not bad, just - standard.
Other than that - the service was fairly attentive, and I actually quite liked the ambiance. While there weren't a lot of people, the people that were there seemed to be having enjoyable conversations. And I sat there, reading a newspaper, waiting for my check, I couldn't help but think - I could get used to this.
Speaking of a paycheck - after I finished up, my server (waitress?) - told me that someone else was going to take care of it. I didn't realize what she meant and kept waiting, until I got bored and asked for a check. Which is when I found out that it was just her way of saying that Vlad was going to cover the bill.
As anyone who's been reading this blog - or following me on social media for any decent length of time - will tell you that subtlety is not my forte.
Vlad wasn't actually at Revival when I arrived, and I didn't expect him to be. Since he was a mixologist, I figured he would be working later. He came in around the time I started to head out. We managed to hug and exchange a few words, and Vlad was off to do work related stuff. And so was I.
A Bit of a Postscript
This morning, I wound up stopping by downtown early in the morning. Well, for me. And because there were certain time constraints, I didn't really grab breakfast on the way out. As I was heading home, a thought occurred to me. I have been meaning to check out Revival's breakfast offerings, and I figured - why not do it now.
I wound up getting "Standee's Breakfast" - eggs, sausage pieces, some hashbrowns and a toast. Plus coffee. Because, at that point, I was barely awake enough to make an order, let alone carry on a normal conversation.
It may be a weird thing to say, but, more than anything, it reminded me of the kind of breakfast I usually get on Amtrak long-distance trains. I rather liked the potatoes, and the toast was good... But Amtrak has better eggs. Or something. And while the sausage was good, it felt like there wasn't enough of it. But maybe that's because of Amtrak breakfast associations.
In the end, Revival is still in a slightly higher price range than what I'm comfortable with. I could see myself going there every once in a while, but if I did it regularly, the costs would add up, and quickly.
Now, would I recommend it to anyone else? Setting aside the money, I liked the atmosphere, and the service was good. Since I don't drink, I can't really comment on the bar part. As far as food... So far, I feel that it's good, but nothing extraordinary. Nothing that really grabbed me, the way Byron's Italian Sausages or Jimmy's Original Maxwell Polishes did. If someone asked me if they should go, I'd say they probably should, but it's not like I would urge them to rush out the door and grab the table ASAP.
But I am going to hold off my final judgement until I have a chance to try something from the Revival's dinner menu. I'm kind of intrigued by the North Side Meatballs. And Diatelli Pasta.
Plus, it would be nice to have a dinner with my brother. Or at least a dinner in the same room as my brother. If you don't count holidays get together, it's been years since I've done this.
(Technically, it didn't have an official opening yet - that didn't happen until Wednesday of last week. But it was already opened de facto, if not de jour, and I wasn't going to wait for technicalities)
Before Revival moved in to the space, it was home to M.Henrietta, a breakfast-and-lunch place I ate at a grand total of once - when Vlad was helping me move. We only went there because it so happened to have our mom's name. Our mom offered to pay for our lunch, and we thought it would be very amusing to eat at a Henrietta's on a Henrietta's dime.
Anyway... The Revival didn't actually change the exterior all that much. The sign was repainted to reflect the new name, and exterior walls and windows were just repainted and mildly altered.
But the interior was changed fairly substantially.
The bar area
The sit-down restaurant area
The light fixture by the door.
The podium, where, presumably, the staff would be stationed to take reservations. Since I visited before the official opening - and in the middle of the day, no less - there wasn't even remotely really enough customers to justify it, so it stood unused.
Revival serves breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. Since, as I said, I arrived in the middle of the day, I would up ordering lunch. Lemon Pepper Salmon sandwich with fries, to be more specific. Mostly it was because, out of all the lunch sandwiches, it struck me as the most... not exotic, exactly. Just different from the more standard-sounding stuff like Grilled Cheese and Sloppy Jose.
The salmon didn't disappoint. I wasn't sure where the lemon and the pepper parts were, but I quite liked the salmon part. And the fries were... decent. I had better fries at several hole-in-the-wall eateries and hot dog stands, but I've also hard worse. Much worse. These ones fall firmly within the "decent" spectrum.
I also had some tea - which was just standard out-of-the-teabag stuff, really. Not bad, just - standard.
Other than that - the service was fairly attentive, and I actually quite liked the ambiance. While there weren't a lot of people, the people that were there seemed to be having enjoyable conversations. And I sat there, reading a newspaper, waiting for my check, I couldn't help but think - I could get used to this.
Speaking of a paycheck - after I finished up, my server (waitress?) - told me that someone else was going to take care of it. I didn't realize what she meant and kept waiting, until I got bored and asked for a check. Which is when I found out that it was just her way of saying that Vlad was going to cover the bill.
As anyone who's been reading this blog - or following me on social media for any decent length of time - will tell you that subtlety is not my forte.
Vlad wasn't actually at Revival when I arrived, and I didn't expect him to be. Since he was a mixologist, I figured he would be working later. He came in around the time I started to head out. We managed to hug and exchange a few words, and Vlad was off to do work related stuff. And so was I.
A Bit of a Postscript
This morning, I wound up stopping by downtown early in the morning. Well, for me. And because there were certain time constraints, I didn't really grab breakfast on the way out. As I was heading home, a thought occurred to me. I have been meaning to check out Revival's breakfast offerings, and I figured - why not do it now.
I wound up getting "Standee's Breakfast" - eggs, sausage pieces, some hashbrowns and a toast. Plus coffee. Because, at that point, I was barely awake enough to make an order, let alone carry on a normal conversation.
It may be a weird thing to say, but, more than anything, it reminded me of the kind of breakfast I usually get on Amtrak long-distance trains. I rather liked the potatoes, and the toast was good... But Amtrak has better eggs. Or something. And while the sausage was good, it felt like there wasn't enough of it. But maybe that's because of Amtrak breakfast associations.
In the end, Revival is still in a slightly higher price range than what I'm comfortable with. I could see myself going there every once in a while, but if I did it regularly, the costs would add up, and quickly.
Now, would I recommend it to anyone else? Setting aside the money, I liked the atmosphere, and the service was good. Since I don't drink, I can't really comment on the bar part. As far as food... So far, I feel that it's good, but nothing extraordinary. Nothing that really grabbed me, the way Byron's Italian Sausages or Jimmy's Original Maxwell Polishes did. If someone asked me if they should go, I'd say they probably should, but it's not like I would urge them to rush out the door and grab the table ASAP.
But I am going to hold off my final judgement until I have a chance to try something from the Revival's dinner menu. I'm kind of intrigued by the North Side Meatballs. And Diatelli Pasta.
Plus, it would be nice to have a dinner with my brother. Or at least a dinner in the same room as my brother. If you don't count holidays get together, it's been years since I've done this.