Rising Eagle Publick House — Restaurant in Melrose

Melrose is a bit of a food wasteland, and even more of a drinks wasteland. So I was excited by the prospect of a "gastropub" type place in town. A bar! With great drinks alongside great food! And with the Turner's team behind it, I expected flawless execution.

Alas, I'm sorry to say that Rising Eagle has delivered on none of what I expected. It's a sorry excuse for a pub and not at all "gastro." It's an uncomfortable and strangely designed space with middling food, badly made drinks, and awful service.

A longer review than this place deserves:

We began our Rising Eagle experience at the infamous ordering counter. I wanted to sample the clarified milk punch, listed on the menu as "limited supplies only" or something odd like that. Apparently Melrose residents are not assumed to be in-the-know enough to understand what clarified milk punch is. And that was true of the person at the counter, who gave me a blank look until I asked specifically for the "limited supplies only" drink, which I was informed was not available. I'm not sure why this drink was even printed on the menu?

After ordering drinks and a couple of starters we were given our spoon, told our order would be delivered, and were then shown to a high top in the bar, with backless stools. Why backless stools??? This seating arrangement is not comfortable at all. I also noticed that the bar is absolutely tiny. If there's something Melrose needs more than anything else it's a proper bar. I'm disappointed that Rising Eagle won't deliver on that.

Once seated, we waited, and waited, and waited... No drinks arrived. I finally returned to the counter and was told that I was supposed to have picked them up at the bar. They were indeed there, sitting in front of a bartender who was unsure of who they belonged to or what he'd made. I grabbed what I assumed must be ours. Frustration number two. The ordering system is stupid and poorly executed.

The cocktails themselves, various attempts at riffs on colonial-era drinks, were poorly executed and not well balanced. I would recommend having a beer or a glass of whiskey if you visit. And I would recommend that Rising Eagle hire a cocktail consultant.

After quite some time -- it was a busy night -- our starters arrived. We were told that we did not have to return to the counter to order mains, and that the server would handle things from there on out. That seemed to be an odd change of pace after the whole spoon experience, but quite a welcome one.

The starters -- French Onion Soup, a kale salad, and the charcuterie board -- were merely decent. The soup was over-salted yet a bit bland, and the charcuterie was good enough if a bit of a dull selection. I did not try the kale salad but was told by my dining companions that it was decent. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the highlight of our meal.

From this point on dinner became a waiting game. The server who said she would take our main orders (and bring some more drinks, besides -- beers this time, after the cocktail experiment) simply never returned. We finally got the attention of a different server and ordered a burger -- outrageously priced at $14 without even including a slice of cheese without a surcharge -- a BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato) sandwich, and a chicken pot pie. And then we waited, and waited, and waited...

Almost an hour later our mains arrived. The BLAT, promised on warm naan, was about on par with something I'd expect to be served at a hospital cafeteria. A tiny wrap of dried out flatbread, made edible only thanks to being smeared with a bit of mayo. No accompaniment of any kind. Perhaps a pickle wouldn't be colonial enough? The burger, I did not sample, but my dining companion gave it a hearty "meh." And the chicken pot pie was a complete miss: An overly salty gravy consisting primarily of potatoes was served beneath an overcooked slab of puff pastry.

Payment? That's a story I won't belabor after already typing so much. But suffice it to say that if you're going to add 5% on my bill, at least don't make me wait yet...

Although the food was very tasty, The food is also VERY expensive.

And even though the hostess at the front was very gracious, there is ZERO customer service beyond them pointing you to your seat where you then scan a QR code and basically order for yourself. Why should I have to do your job for you if I'm still going to be paying top dollar?.

Next I got charged not only for the initial order but there was also a hold (which is normal) for a similar amount of money. THAT HOLD IS LASTED DAYS.

Clearly this isn't a restaurant for anyone who doesn't have a third job or is on Daddy's trust fund. say if you're going to plan on spending 50 dollars for lunch they're going to charge you twice.. so have $100 in your account just in case.

there was a lot of patriotic music in a row and then a long stint of non-patriotic music that was also annoying but I got over it pretty quick. I was just enjoying the company I was with. fine...

Never got a call back cuz I'm assuming they were busy when I complained and they said specifically they would call me back in an hour or two. I'm just going to leave this here I'm sure I'll get in contact.

-decent but VERY expensive food -annoying music (I'm not at a fair) -self-serve despite outrageous pricing

-everyone I talk to who worked there was very nice at least and understanding. like they know their business model isn't the best and they're being forced to endorse a broken system.....

-I understand a hold going on my account but not for an excess of 3 days for a meal that was paid for 2 days ago. Maybe it's your POS or maybe it's a banking issue..

-lastly, why should I have to learn your POS to order for myself so you can save money on labor just so you can NOT past those savings onto the customer through the food? Even though I had spent a lot of money I still tipped the waitress at the front because she ended up helping us out with ordering. I'm sure they pool their tips too and I'm positive they don't get tipped well enough because of the business model the Rising Eagle has chosen for itself.

I'm an introvert, I think I'm also defined as a millennial and I think this business model is garbage. If your solution to having people sit down order their food and get up and walk out (CHEW N' SCREW-ers) is to charge the cards for people who do eat honestly, you must think your business model is perfect.. and therefore I am talking to a wall that's covered in red, white and blue paint and has sparklers sticking out of the cracks... woo

Sorry for the rant but when I have money in my account I like to have access to it.. all of it... and I'll be damned if I'm going to let this fly and not say something about it.

I'd give one star but the people who work there don't deserve that and the food was actually good. BEYOND THAT, THIS IS A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!

update: 2 days later the money was back...

I almost never leave reviews unless I love an establishment, but I can’t stop thinking about my experience at Rising Eagle. I had dinner here last night with 3 others. Upon walking in we were forced into a long dialog with the owner regarding the "new" service style of the restaurant. It's basically this: you order everything at the bar as soon as you come in, they give you a number to display on your table and a staff member brings you the food. There's nothing new about this model in and of itself, what is new is that they are still charging you the same price you would pay for a full service sit down dinner. High prices for dishes that have been designed to maximize profits to the detriment of flavor and portion aside, being forced to listen to the owner of the restaurant go on a long diatribe of anti labor law rhetoric, complaining that paying a living wage to their service staff is breaking the bank for them, all against the backdrop of Turner's having downtown Boston prices despite being a restaurant in Melrose, and having just purchased the restaurant across the street, was unbearable. Cry me a river. Basically at every interaction we had we were told this was a good thing for us as diners: having significantly reduced service when compared to restaurants with similar prices, waiters that refused to give us water because there is a self serve station in the corner, and then still expected to tip. On top of this they charge an automatic 5% service charge on every bill, after they explained to us we wouldn't be getting standard table service... Very limited wine and liquor menu, 8 and 10 dollar beers, sandwiches with slivers of meat in between over-sized pieces of bread, a $20 chicken pot pie which was basically butter soup with half a can of peas dumped into it and a pastry on top: “We are giving you much worse service and bland food for the sake of our profits”. Dial down the living wage protest rhetoric and adjust the value of the menu and I'll happily try again and adjust the review, but this was a particularly bad experience. Believe it or not most diners don't want to hear owners express their disdain for paying their employees a living wage while waiting...