O.H.S.O. Eatery + NanoBrewery: Oh, So That’s It?
Featured Posts,Table Talk
Once again, we’ve been getting a lot of the “hey, why have you guys been so soft on everyone lately” type of comments. Since we don’t want to disappoint people, we asked ourselves, 1) who can we say something mean about? And 2) How can we say something mean in the meanest way possible?
The answer to the latter is easy: you review somebody that’s been open for four minutes, hardly enough time to even Windex the windows (which they clearly haven’t, because some of the glass was filthy). The answer to the former is place right inside our vicinity—O.H.S.O. Eatery + nanoBrewery.
First, just look at these words: “O.H.S.O. Eatery + nanoBrewery.” Remember that story about stupid frozen yogurt place names we wrote a while back? What’s wrong with calling your place “Jim’s” or just something that people can make sense of? Is it pronounced ‘ohso’ as a word? Do you say the letters themselves individually? The answer doesn’t matter simply because we had to ask the question in the first place. (And they’ve already made the sign, well, signs – their name is everywhere.)
Subconsciously, we’re thinking the place is more about the food menu than the beer list because the word ‘eatery’ comes first. And we’re also thinking that beer isn’t that big a deal here because they’re less than a microbrewery, they’re a nanobrewery. With all the new restaurants popping up on Indian School, it seems the only thing missing now is a sub-atomic-particle brewery. That would be ohso cool. But by nano they mean smaller than small. Still, there’s a ton of beer on tap. A ton. Plus there’s a great wine list, neat cocktails, and it’s all priced right.
We were excited. The remodeled construction looks great. Cheery pops of bright orange juxtaposed with raw rebar and industrial elements – design-wise, this place was speaking our language … from afar. But then we parked on the west side of the building, which is where a good portion of the parking is located, and had to hope a fence to get in. Hop. A. Fence. It was that or walk to the opposite side of the building, even though our friends were sitting right there. Just kinda don’t know why there isn’t another entrance to get on the patio.
Then walking through, you find a room still being designed (we wondered if the old Phoenix Metro Retro furniture store had moved in because mid-century modern furniture was just sitting around as if it were waiting to be sold). Ohso you’re open without being open?
To our pleasant surprise, they were offering $5 pitchers of about half the beers during the day – great opening move to get people hanging out longer than a pint. We ordered a few beers and the entire small plate side of the menu. Priced from about $8-$15, these items included “shrimp fritter kebabs” (skewers of fried shrimp that were not fritters in our opinion because fritters imply something ground and combined and formed into a circle and then fried, these were just shrimp), “crispy calamari and spicy seared ahi” (not crispy, not spicy, and not good), ribs “smoked out back” which were great but tasted like store-bought Lloyd’s (and the smell of smoke was nowhere to be found), gnocchi Bolognese that was a Hamburger Helper doppelganger, some goopy hummus dip that came out with that dark top layer like it had been sitting, and some guac which was pretty good actually.
As you can see from the pictures we took, the burger we received WAS NOT the burger that appears on the menu page of the web site HERE. We’ve got to admit, that feels a bit like a bait and switch, however, the plate the burger came on was the same as the one in the picture. Dishionados will be happy. As for the fries, definitely not the same. Ours looked and tasted like frozen potatoes, whereas the web site fries look like russets, with a little skin left on. Burger, fries, plate – hey one outta three ain’t bad. How was the burger? Needs some work.
The grilled cheese tasted good, but we wished they had propped it up so the underside didn’t get so soggy. And the pork belly arepas were inedible – the arepa itself was like an old English muffin and the pork was bland.
Listen, the place has been open, like we said, for 30 seconds, so a review review is cruel and unusual punishment. But we just wonder that when you open a restaurant and it seems like most items need a tweak, and not just a couple items, that something’s up, and not in a good way. One Yelper said: “I’m giving them an A for effort and 5 stars because honestly, I’d leave my office late….and would see these guys STILL working at 2 and 3am…just to get the place open. It’s apparent there is some serious sweat equity, late nights and blue collar effort to get this place going. I highly respect this and give them props.”
Really? Really?! I studied my ass off in chemistry and still got a C. You’re telling me I actually deserved an A? If that’s the case, then I got ohso screwed. The grade is what you get when you take the test, not a measure of how late you stayed up the night before.
We just hope the folks here take an ohso closer look at the things coming out of the kitchen, that’s all. We’ll totally be back to drink (if they let us back in after this). The bar seems like a downright pleasant place to meet up and knock back a few. Like we said, GREAT beers on tap. We’ll just remember to park on the east side, because our fence-hopping days went the way of chemistry tests. Which is to say an ohso long time ago.
O.H.S.O. Eatery + nanoBrewery4900 E. Indian School Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85018
602-955-0358
www.ohsobrewery.com
One Response to “O.H.S.O. Eatery + NanoBrewery: Oh, So That’s It?”
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Hey All,
I am one of the partners in OHSO and would like to thank you for your honest and informative review. We did do a lot of late night study sessions and have been taking plenty of input. The fries have changed, the arepa dough is now a different brand of corn flour for better, fluffier consistency and the ribs have also changed a bit among other things. The shrimp fritters are also now fritters and our menu pics will be our pics soon. The calamari sauce has changed a bit and the runner bean hummus although not true hummas is changing as well. We love the feedback and we have been slowly altering many things and will continue until all is better.
You are always welcome and please always feel free to let us know how we can make a better dining experiene for all. I am grateful for all input and hopefully we continue to improve and become a better restaurant as we move forward. You are always welcome in and I am sorry that we dissapointed you on your first visit, but we will improve and change. Some things will always be better for some than others, but hopefully our quality, consistency, and flavors will steadily get better. We also hope to continue to grow with local AZ beers and food as much as possible!
Thank you,
Jon from OHSO!