New Year's Eve @ Dogfish Head Alehouse - SAD
Date: January 01, 2020 05:16PM
SAD!!!!!
New Year's Eve "festivities" at the Dogfish Head Alehouse... What a sad decline this place is experiencing!
In years past on NYE you would have a fully meal, 3+dessert bar or 4+dessert bar, and it would fill you up. You would have 4 or 5 decent beers, some "half pours" but not all. If you were there for the "late seating" you would even get some quality entertainment.
Those days seem to be in the past.
Last night's food (9pm seating) $35 + tax (tip not included)
Duck Salad - 3 pieces of Duck Breast, small serving... I guess Duck and lettuce is more expensive than I thought!!!
NYE Soup - really?!?! This was broth with some beans/ham/kale.... big $$$ there!!!! (If you have the opportunity to order this from Dogfish Head Alehouse, please hit your head against the wall 5 times before you order.... maybe you will forget to order it!) This was such a small serving, almost the equivalent of a "Rocks Glass" filled to drink level.
Lamb Chops - 4 of them with some stuff on the side... Tasty, yes... sides were nothing special.... oh well
Dessert bar - sugars for everyone!!!! This will hide that you did not get filled up from the 3 courses, but with all that sugar you will think your hunger was satisfied. (Same trick All You Can Eat places do with pushing bread on everyone!!!)
Drinks.... $26.32 (Guess they had to make the final price $65 somehow!!!)
Half pour of Flesh and Blood - really, this is not a "high end" beer.
Half pour of Hazy Ripple - yet another middle of the road beer.
Half pour of 120 Minute IPA - Finally a beer with gusto!!! But at menu price, this half pour would only be about $6 or $6.50.
Half Pour of Super 8 - does this even count as a real beer?
"Special Midnight Drink" (advertised to be part of the dinner, but everyone in the place got it, so it was not part of the direct cost!)
Entertainment - "The Frontier"... look them up for yourself... They played for a decent amount of the time last night. They played covers... They played them decently... They would not be back if I was doing the booking.
$5 Uber credit with the 9pm seating --- how do we get this credit? The waitress didn't know and it was not automatically deducted when Dogfish Head was the pickup location. That's something special!!!!
Food - Maybe BOH costs are high for this menu, but since it was the same menu as the $45 6pm seating, I don't see this as being the driving factor. The food was good, just serving size was disappointing. If you skipped the dessert "course", you would be sadly unsatisfied with this $35 meal.
Drink - Really sad price, and yet again, it's the same menu as the $45 6pm seating, without the "Midnight toast" (which everyone got, not just the dinner folk, so that's not the reason!)!!!
Entertainment - basic background bar band... nothing special, but I guess the extra $20 for the 9pm seating paid for them.... (I joke... Dogfish only pays a few select bands decently, everyone else gets minimum with a little bar tab bonus.)
I remember the days when you got value for your money at Dogfush Head Alehouse Fairfax for these special event nights (and all the other "beer dinner" nights), but it seems that those days are in the past. It's a shame!!!