Reid's Apothecary — Restaurant in Brunswick

Real score: 3.8 Food: 3.7 Drinks: 3.7 Atmosphere: 3.5 Service: 4.2

Reid's Apothecary was on our "haven't tried yet" list, so it got the call last night for our first visit. This place appears to be positioned as one of the nicer places in Brunswick, with craft cocktails, a speakeasy element and somewhat premium food offerings, even if it's not a large set of menu choices. By all appearances, the type of place we visit around Jacksonville and cities with more choices than Brunswick.

The overall experience for us was "okay". The good: prices were moderate for the types of offerings, and the steak was very tender. The not so good: some food lacked seasoning and flavor while others were overpowered, and for a place that seems to market a higher end drink offering, less than half of our drinks were balanced appropriately. The old fashioned was okay, but the whiskey sour - while being a proper up with egg white - was almost all sour and not good. However, the rum espresso martini my wife had was pretty good, the other gin drink just okay. I saw a younger female behind the bar making the cocktails and the drinks had the vibe of someone still learning how to make a consistently good cocktail. Whiskey and cocktails are something I'm more involved with due to my work and memberships in food and social clubs, so when an establishment markets itself as a higher end craft drink establishment, they get ranked accordingly.

The food: the arancini were tasty, but lacked slightly for the cheese element (no pull apart cheesy experience). The mussels had a nice flavored broth they were prepared in, yet it was extremely overpowering, so mostly you were just getting the flavor of the heavy spicy broth. My wife and I both got ribeye steaks with crab cake and 6 "local Georgia" shrimp on skewers. The ribeye was big and tender and cooked perfectly, but was completely lacking in salt and seasoning. They send a house made steak sauce with the entree, which was like a house made Heinz 57 meets A1, but I'm not a steak sauce type of person, especially at an establishment like this. A steak should not "need" sauce to have flavor. The crab cake was delicious, but the shrimp had almost a poached consistency on the skewers, not grilled, no char, and again no seasoning. In fact, however they were prepared had removed any hints that they were the sweet Georgia shrimp flavor we're accustomed to, and were fairly bland (but not overcooked).

The atmosphere: the front eating area is small, lots of hard surfaces, so just kinda loud but not a lot of character otherwise. I would not classify this place as a romantic setting for date night.

I'm glad we tried Reid's and even if my review appears less than glowing, the overall experience was okay, it wasn't bad. It just didn't hit the level of expectations based on how they present themselves. I imagine this place is a "Brunswick 4.3" based on our experience, for us it was more of a 3.7-3.8. I'm unsure if we would try again, as there are other establishments still on our...

Oh! How I wanted to love this place. I gave it three chances. I even gave it a chance after a terrible experience. That's how badly I wanted to love it but in the end it's just not worth it. I'll tell you about all three times. Time #1: I've recently moved here after ten years of traveling the world. I'm a big city human and feeling like a fish out of water in Brunswick. I did what I always do and turned to Maps for help. It directed me to Reid's Apothecary. It looked to be exactly the type of place I love so I was eager to try it. I opened the door just to take a look but was convinced to sit down at the bar and have a drink. The bartender was incredibly friendly and provided excellent service. He made me feel a little less anxious about living in such a small town. Round two: the menu looked good so I went back the next day for lunch. That was a terrible mistake. One can eat on the river Seine with a nice glass of wine and a view of the Eiffel Tower for far LESS MONEY than what one pays for a meal at Reid's Apothecary, but you know what? It's not really about the money...I'll spend the money on fine food and fine service....I received neither. I ordered the crisp apple salad and added chicken or was it strip of leather from the bottom of a shoe I added extra? It was so overcooked and so dry I didn't even eat half the chicken. Had I been in some mom and pop place with sticky floors I wouldn't have thought twice about it but if you're going to charge me NYC, LA, DC- like prices then I expect that type quality as well. The service was a step down too. While I was served by the same person it was as if he was a completely different person. Unfriendly. Unwelcoming. Attempt to like the place number three: April 4. The 75th anniversary of NATO. I decided to celebrate by having a fine whiskey. I did not feel welcomed at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It was more of a why are you here type vibe. I almost turned around and left. But I didn't. I stayed. I had my Macallan. I was almost completely ignored. When I wanted water it took a while to flag down the bartender. In the end, I will not be returning. I wanted to love it. I gave it three tries. I'm friendly, I'm polite, and I tip well yet the service was markedly worse each time I went in and the food was atrocious. Oh! How I wanted to love Reid's. Alas! Reid's is not for me. I've lived in this small town one week and so far I've experienced people yelling and throwing things in Target, an employee yelled at me in Walmart because I didn't know I needed the Walmart app to pay, in a different restaurant I received the wrong order and the server rolled his eyes at me when I ever so politely asked for the correct order, I joined a gym and a guy made fun of me directly under the "judgement free zone" sign for not knowing how to adjust the weights, and this. I hope it gets better. I've always heard people in small towns were nice and were afraid of big city people. So far they're making me...

I used to live in Savannah GA and have been meaning to try REID'S APOTHECARY for several years. I always seemed to have free time to drive through for a meal on Mondays when they are closed. So I planned a Foodie Mini Weekend Vacation to finally try their dinner menu.

Normally, I save a 5 Star Review for a Michelin Star Restaurant but this was better ambiance, food, and service than some MICHELIN RESTAURANTS.

The restaurant is located in BRUNSWICK'S OLDE TOWN DISTRICT Buildings which is Circa 1908. Reservations highly recommended as it's a small restaurant and seating at the tables were at capacity by 6PM for a Sunday Dinner. Patrons run the gamut of young to older. The bathrooms are gender neutral and handicap accessible with two sets of railings.

For Appetizer, we selected BUILD YOUR OWN BOARD which comes with BREAD & BUTTER. I selected LOCAL HONEY, CURE MEATS (SOPRESA & SALAMI), & HOUSE PICKLES.

My dinner was easily a 20oz RIBEYE topped with an a la carte CRAB CAKE along with GOUDA MASHED POTATOES, SEASONAL VEGETABLE (BROCCOLI), & HOUSE STEAK SAUCE. The RIBEYE was well butchered with nice pockets of fat. It was properly cooked to my requested temperature. I was surprised to have it served with a butter knife but it was tender enough that a steak knife wasn't required. I liked the GOUDA MASHED POTATOES. They weren't fully Whipped and had a great texture. In hindsight, I'd ask to swap the BROCCOLI for one of that night's sides which was ROASTED SWEET POTATOES & BEETS. HOUSE STEAK SAUCE kinda tasted like A1 but was quite good. I had half a steak left over.

My dinner companion had a budget friendly $15 SUNDAY DINNER. This is an ample plate of a PROTEIN, 3 SIDES & a DESSERT, or 5 SIDES & a DESSERT. He selected TERIYAKI FRIED CHICKEN, MASHED POTATOES, ROASTED SWEET POTATOES & BEETS, & GREEN BEANS. Dessert select was PEACH BREAD PUDDING.

While we didn't order alcoholic beverages, there is an ample drink menu. This is definitely a spot to try if you like BOURBON, WHISKY, RYE, & MALTS. Limited ZERO PROOF BEVERAGES but a few can be made.

We did a simple sweet tea that had a stronger brewed tea than liquid diabetes.

Our server tonight was EMILY. She was pleasant and while she didn't know the answers to my myriad of FOODIE QUESTIONS did secure them for me.

Definitely a...