NYC 2 BIG D: Holy Grail Pub

Holy Grail Pub
http://www.holygrailpub.com/

Location: 8240 Preston Rd, Plano, TX

Rating: C

Category: Pub Food

Pricing: $$

Pros: Beer, Ambience, Service, Price

Cons: Food

Beer, Atmosphere and Service are the top contenders at Holy Grail Pub, not the food. I was dying for this place to be a One Stop Shop for a phenomenal beer selection and delicious food to pair with it, but it just wasn’t. The ratings and reviews for Holy Grail are some of the best I’ve seen, so I was really excited to visit, but nothing that we tried came even remotely close to good food.

On the other hand, the service was impeccable. Immediately after sitting down outside our waitress, Jenny, greeted us, took our drinks orders and had them on the table in less than five minutes, and our appetizer, the Hummus Plate, came lightning fast soon after. Their wine menu is selective, but impressively decent, and the beer, well if I knew much more about beer then I could babble about it, but I don’t. Let’s just say their collection is extensive and almost tear worthy for all of you beer snobs, although, MT wasn’t feeling too adventurous and just ordered a Stella. I need to take my beer snob friend, David, here. Back to the food. The Hummus plate included Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper Hummus, Feta Cheese, Kalamata Olives, and Pita bread. I didn’t taste any Roasted Garlic, but it was the favorite hummus over the Red Pepper, which wasn’t saying much. The Red Pepper hummus had this horrible after taste that I couldn’t quite put place in my taste bud vocabulary. I didn’t try that one again…..maybe we should have ordered the cheese plate.

Next, I ordered the Pork and Beans, which are beer braised pork ribs with baked beans and candied jalapeños because I read that they slow cook them for 2 days. I’ll take succulent braised meat over a steak any day. MT and I didn’t split an entrée because A) the price point was very affordable and B) MT saw “Ghost Pepper” Chili on the menu. We are what you call “Fire Mouths” according to our friends, so we are quite daring when it comes to spicy food. A Ghost Pepper is the hottest pepper in the world, and Jenny told us that the chili was definitely spicy, so MT was giddy with excitement to try this challenge. Then he saw Truffled Mac and Cheese, so of course, we had to order that as well. If you don’t already know, we can’t pass up anything that had the word “Truffle” next to it, and not the chocolate kind. Our entrees were on the table in less than 10 minutes and I was drooling over my gi-normous plate of Pork and Beans. I couldn’t believe this was only $10. MT’s Chili and the Mac and Cheese were a bit less extraordinary in size, but still appealing. We dove in. My pork had a nice char of blackened sweetness on the outside, and the meat fell right of the bone, but somehow it was tough. The beans tasted as if they came right out of a Bush’s Baked Beans can, and then disguised with a few bits of bacon. MT’s chili was quite below par on the Scoville scale with no choking, runny nose, or a need to grab for the water in sight. Finally, the Truffled Mac and Cheese was the most disappointing of all with absolutely no trace of the pungent unmistakable earthy Truffle aroma and, of course, none of that flavor either. It even lacked the wonderful savory melted gooey elastic cheesiness that all good Mac and Cheese should possess. It was absolutely horrible. I couldn’t even finish the first bite I took, but MT was on a mission to find that Truffle flavor, even a hint of it, but never did. Nearing the end, we asked for a To-Go box and the check. I knew that we would not be coming back for the food, but at least our dogs would be happy with the left-overs.