Nettie's Tavern — Restaurant in Arlington

The food was OK. The star player of the menu was the pepperoni roll (they have a cute sign up telling you about how it came to be), which has it's own origins but is basically a calzone. It was OK as bar food goes, but I'd rather get a Calzone from a pizza place if I'm ever in the mood for something that heavy.

Our bartender let us know excitedly that none of the food contained seed oils, which was weird (the whole crusade against seed oil is kinda nuts to me) but that does mean there are pretty limited options if you can't have butter or beef tallow. We got a house old fashioned, which was steakhouse style with muddled fruit. It wasn't bad, but an Old Fashioned isn't a muddled fruit cocktail, or at least hasn't been since the 00s cocktail revival. We also got a house margarita that was bad, bafflingly infused with ginger. Completely drowned the tequila and needed sweetness, and at that point, just make a Mule or Dark and Stormy.

I really liked the decor and design of the place. The space was really well lit, and the greens and tile were nice, as well as the wood paneling. With a better selection this seems like a place I'd love to hang out in.

This whole place is in line with the owner's other restaurants, average to below average food, average to below average service, with a really impeccable sense of decor and atmosphere. I'm not even mad at the guy, he seems very nice and obviously has more successful restaurants than I've ever had. But he's never had a place I'd want to return to.

As a long time attendee of Whitlow's who really wanted this space to shine, I really hope it finds its footing, but I'd recommend eating and drinking...

As a WV native, I appreciate what Nettie’s is trying to do in creating a WV-inspired restaurant. While they’ve correctly picked up on the importance of Italian food in WV culture, they’ve fumbled the iconic state food—the pepperoni roll.

A true pepperoni roll is characterized by its simplicity—soft, white bread and pepperoni. Usually no cheese, and definitely no tomato sauce. It’s all about execution. The pepperoni fat should infuse some of the bread as it bakes, creating a pleasant fusion of sweet bread and savory meat. Serving the pepperoni roll room temp brings out the sweetness.

What was served at Nettie’s? A glorified pizza roll, filled with as much cheese as pepperoni, piping hot, and served with a side of tomato sauce. The worst part was the bread. Far from fluffy, the bread had the appearance of an egg roll, and was crunchy on the outside and doughy on the inside. It dripped grease as I bit into it. I mostly skipped the sauce, which masks the flavor...

This place is a super fun vibe. The interior is cool and it’s in a great spot, but the food is just not good. Today I had the Barada long bread and the crust was doughy and the sauce tasted like chili… I came earlier this week and had the pepperoni rolls which were very average bar food, the ricotta toast, which was pretty decent, the brussels sprouts, which had a bit too much prosciutto, but had good flavor, and the chicken cutlet Caesar salad, which I actually thought was pretty good, but the chicken cutlet was so large and uncut. It was almost impossible to eat, and we were given a butter knife to cut a hockey puck like chicken cutlet underneath the salad. The food is all kind of odd, but the happy hour deals are...