So, in an effort to scope out a sports bar that will satisfy both my wife's two conditions of being able to watch sports with me in a place that is non smoking AND a location that has good bar food with plenty of TVs in all the right places, we decided to check out Blackfinn Saturday night.
First, can someone please tell me why on a Saturday night when most people might want to venture out into Uptown do the city officials insist on putting "No Parking" signs on every G-damn street. All "no-parking" signs in Uptown lead to overcharging garage attendants confident that you will throw down extra cash just so you can spend even more money on beer and some tube. So much for free street parking on the weekends, WTF...Country K, how was that for being bitter?
Anyway, enough about the awful parking situation in Uptown, let's get down to brass tax - how is Blackfinn? I have to say, the front bar when you first walk in on the first floor is about everything I would want out of a sports bar (except the smoking which will be a huge deterrent for coaxing a female companion into wasting her Sunday watching football). Big plasma screens are everywhere and the bar tables each have their own TV as well (similar to ESPNzone for those familiar). Bartenders were really friendly and the hostesses were, how could I put it, nice to look at for long spans of time?. The problem now is that they don't serve food in that front room yet so we were escorted to another room (the "dining room"). It's almost like they spent all their great ideas on the front bar and then let the rest of the pub fall into place. Awkward layout makes watching the projection screen or the 1 plasma TV a challenge. NEED MORE TVs IN THE DINING ROOM. Lesson #1: Projection screens work for large, open banquet-style rooms like Stoolies...not L-shaped rooms where half the patrons are turned completely around to try to get a glimpse of what all the people that have a premier seat are watching. The food, which is supposed to be an upscale version of typical bar food, looks the part on the menu but falls a bit short at the table. My table had the Spinach & Artichoke Dip and the Pork Sliders to start. The S&A dip was a little bland and needed additional seasoning (not to mention that unless the artichokes were pureed, there were none in this dip) but who does not enjoy dipping tri-color chips into a bunch of cheese. The bbq Pork Sliders were pretty good and they give you a little slaw to throw on top as well which is a nice touch. The bbq pork is crock pot cooked so don't get any hopes up that you are getting Mac's smokey pulled pork on mini buns. We also tried the Blackened Chicken Sandwich (I would take one of those down again - great blackening seasoning), the Grilled Buffalo Chicken Sandwich (yes please) - (both served on really good ciabatta bread), the breaded Buffalo Chicken Tenders which we got medium spicy (pretty soggy which made the breading on the tenders a bit disappointing but thank god someone in town is making hot sauce that is meant for someone other than Sally...will like to try the hot next time but the medium was pretty spicy) AND the Seared Ahi Tuna appetizer portion (not bad tuna but WARNING: the menu may say it is served with wasabi aioli and soy ginger glaze but there was literally no sauce with it ...I actually thought about trying to rub the chicken tender on it to give it some spice). We did try the dessert sliders (chocolate chip cookie sandwiches with a chocolate dipping sauce) that were pretty tasty but I would have liked to have the cookies come out warm and soft instead.
Servers and managers were very attentive and were quick to change the channel on the ONE plasma TV or grab a side a bleu cheese that the foodrunner had missed.
As for the upstairs and I don't really want to even talk about the upstairs which we ventured to after dinner, floors that felt like they mopped them with Elmer's glue, not enough seating to make it worthwhile for sports watching and a crowd that, if asked, I would peg for Charlotte 5 years ago. There was a couple of parties up there that I could have done without and which I swear could have doubled as the animals at the Gastonia petting zoo (not sure if Gastonia even has a petting zoo but if they did, I am sure these animal printed princesses would be out on display). Bottom line, the upstairs feels more like Whiskey River than a place to watch sports so not worth talking about here in a sports bar discussion.
Blackfinn overall - while the menu looks more upscale, the food still comes out of the kitchen as pretty good bar food (I do like that a British pub is serving Haddock & Chips but would probably steer clear of the Surf & Turf special on Saturday nights in fear that what would come out of the kitchen would more closely resemble the food I get at the TGI Fridays in the Newark airport when I have missed my flight) but there are still some standouts that I would get again like the sandwiches on ciabatta bread. One notable missing item on the menu was Chicken Wings - I guess they don't eat wings in NY, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas or the Nati which is where Blackfinn's other locations are but that might be a mistake here in CLT. I can see Blackfinns being added to the "Fried Friday" lunch tradition and an occasional football game but the "signature drink being Guiness" and the upscale "look" of the menu will not be enough to make this a regular hangout for me....yet. Change the less than optimal ratio of seats to TVs in the dining room and add some wings to the menu with that good spicy wing sauce and we may have something here folks...at least downstairs. RATING: 2.5 BURGERS (out of 4 BURGER SCALE)
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