The Castle: Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Beverly

I’m fairly certain I have left a review for The Castle before, but they have moved to a new location and I want to share how lovely they are! ((I wrote this up weeks ago but procrastinated on posting - but you know what, new year, new me!))

Of course, I should be transparent: I am friends with the owners and have been a supporter of the business since it was merely a gleam in the founders’ eyes. So am I biased? Yes. But to quote my mother whenever she says she is proud of me, “Just because I’m biased, doesn’t mean I’m wrong!”

Are the french fries amazing? YES.

Is there a great variety of games? YES.

Are the drinks delicious? YES.

Is the staff friendly? YES.

These are objective truths in which no bias can appear.

But I write today to commend the staff for specific actions they have taken in recent weeks and to share just how wonderful they are and to urge you to go visit them at their new location!

Situation 1: Fun Drink I went to The Castle to support the fundraiser they had for the families of Lewiston, ME. Like several of those who work there, I have connections to Maine and wanted to be a part of the fundraiser. So I hit the bar!

But, as typical, my desire to support a cause through purchasing drinks significantly outweighed my ability to hold said drinks. After drinking a whisky smash, perfectly-mixed with what I think I remember accurately as apple cider, I scanned the list of seasonal drinks longingly, knowing that after one I had hit my limit.

Turning to the bartender, I asked, “Could you make a mocktail version of the apple cider mimosa?”

Instead of saying no, he jumped to the challenge and experimented with the ingredients, testing out how he can best make a mocktail that tasted great.

And guess what? It was delicious. And I appreciated so much the extra effort he put into making my very off-menu order.

Situation 2: Birthday Did I write “It’s my birthday!” in the instructions on my online order? Yes, of course I did, that’s what you do. Did I have expectations of special treats? Yes, a few extra fries.

Did I expect an entire tiramisu cake??? Of course not! It was a wonderful, delectable surprise.

Now, I know what you are thinking: “Hurr durr, I’ll just say it’s my birthday so I can get a free dessert too!” And to that I say “NO!” Do not commit deceit to take advantage of those who delight in making people’s days. Seek not undue advantages, but be open to the little graces of the hours and days. Grace is not earned or expected - it is a gift, a surprise, a tiramisu when you expect a few fries. It is candles and smiles and sweet messages written by strangers who want to light up your day, however briefly, on a cold and rainy November evening.

So if you are wondering where to go, where to eat, what to do, I say, “Go to The Castle...

Such a confusing experience! I love games and everyone knows it so when one of my friends heard about the Castle we arranged a limo to take us there for my birthday and a night of games, dinner, drinks, family and friends. Knowing we were a potentially larger group I reserved the private back room from 4:30-8:30 pm. Upon arrival, they seemed confused by 6 professional working women in their 40’s and 50’s. Although the back room was extremely lack luster we were excited to hang and play and the selection of games was impressive. We ordered appetizers right away and their interesting alcoholic milkshakes. We played a few games and had some great laughs. Half of us ordered round two whilst 2 others ordered tea and water. But then it got strange...the tea was delivered luke warm; our server disappeared replaced by a young lady who then came in at 5:45pm and said our time in the back room would be up at 6:30pm because they had other patrons. We said ‘no’ we paid for the back room for 4 hours until 8:30pm and had the email confirmation but then offered for the other group to share the back room with us as there was an extra table we were not using. The young waitress then came back and said nevermind. She then disappeared for quite sometime and when she did return we asked if we could order a bottle of white wine for the 6 of us to share. The waitress disappeared and returned saying there was a 2 drink minimum. WHAT??? No where does it say that, we paid for our own space, we were quietly playing board games AND trying to also order dinner after our apps. Oh and by the way the menu has 4 pages for alcoholic beverages. Feeling age discrimination at this point one of our guests went to the BAR and asked to speak to the manager. After excuses and bologne comments about arriving in a limo and having had Champagne in the limo he said he would allow us a 4 drink minimum. Well after receiving our bottle of wine an hour later and playing a few more games and never seeing our now new young waiter, who was my sons age, so never able to order dinner. We took our patronage to an establishment without stereotypical gaming discrimination! PS En Fuego is AMAZING, staff is friendly and accommodating, thank you Sue, food was incredible, and the cucumber habanero margaritas were delicious. - I’ll write them a five star review separately and was so happy to spend the $000.00’s there instead...

Great idea with terrible execution.

The beer menu had 3 options.

$12 nachos that were burnt and lifeless. There was probably 20 chips on the plate, an entire shipment of jalapenos, some okay tasting meat and what looked to be Kraft Singles melted on it.

$9 Caprese salad consisting of a not-quite-ready tomato sliced really thick, low quality mozzarella cheese and DRY basil seasoning obviously from a McCormicks shaker. This was topped by the thickest Balsamic gel I have ever seen.

12 Bacon Chicken Ranch panini.... this wasn't bad, but it wasn't really a panini either. I could tell that it wasn't pressed like a panini normally is. The other problem was getting served the equivalent of a 75 cent bag of cape cod chips on the side. Other places will give you the same sandwich at the same price, but with an order of fries on the side; this place wanted another 2.50 for that.

The cook and servers were not dressed at all like I feel they should be, the dude in the kitchen (who was very pleasant but very rushed) was wearing shorts. The other server(?) needed to get a hair cut like 6 months ago and spent more time shaking the hair out of his face then he did offering us services.

$5 per person to play Scrabble while eating some below average food seems like a bit of a stretch as well. I really think they need to change this pricing scheme.

Very disappointed in this place after being very excited to go. Maybe its fallout from the Covid scare, but the other restaurants on the street all looked busy while this place was dead. Either way, if you cant provide better food, be prepared to not last long.

edit to respond to the owner

I find it hard to take a restaurant seriously that cant produce at least a decent caprese salad. I wish I had taken pictures of the panini because the bread was white, which leads me to believe it wasnt pressed. There are some restaurants struggling with the pandemic sure, but if you dont have quality ingredients then dont serve the items. 86 some things, limit the amount of you are prepping and let things run out. I would much rather hear a server/cook say that they arent happy with the quality of items they are putting out, then take the order and serve something that is subpar at best. I've been a line cook, prep cook and a manager in food service, I know what the expectations are when it comes to...