The Pub

Cyberspace: www.thepubmckinney.com Where to Find It?: 204 W. Virginia Pkwy, McKinney, TX
The Grade: C
Food Group: Pub Food
How Much to Fork Over: $½ (entrees range from $7-$12)
The Faves: Beer and Wine, Ambience, Plentiful Seating for Thirsty Groups
The Peeves: The Food



The Jibba Jab:
Pseudo-Polished Brawny. If a Lumberjack were to go to Finishing School, but didn’t quite graduate then The Pub would be its equivalent as an establishment. This place has been our Happy Hour Headquarters ever since it opened just over a year ago and for good reason. It has a great selection of beers on tap and by bottle, decent wine, which hasn’t had me sending the glass back because it has turned to vinegar ….good sign, a full bar that provides sufficient cocktails, and tolerable appetizers to tie you off until dinner time. Also, and of great importance, a large clean and comfortable seating area to fit a crowd of over-worked and always under paid white collar workers. Don’t come to The Pub for anything else. Unless you are so ravenous that your co-drinker is starting to look like a pork chop or if walking the 3 steps to Square Burger seems like running a marathon, then I suppose its fine to eat here because at that point anything will taste good. Otherwise, walk a short distance and go to one of the other restaurants on The Square for some good food because you aren’t going to find it here. I’ll never make the mistake to have a meal here again. Just stick to the booze and you’ll be a happy patron!

Baked Brie - About the only thing I would eat
here again

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.