Gipper's Restaurant & Ale House — Restaurant in Milford

I came, I drank, I ate. The Gipper himself served me beverages from his eclectic draught list and they were delicious. Lines are clean and no off tastes were detectable as compared to the bougie beer bars one would find in Manhattan where notes of bananas and band-aids are synonymous with everything one orders from a tap.

I asked Mr. Gipper what is best on the menu, he told me “the ribs”. I said I’ll order “the ribs and chicken”. He said “the chicken is chicken”. I ordered it anyways and he was right. The chicken was sub-par but the ribs were bangin’. I ate them two ribs at a time instead of one because I’m a show-off and was one-upping the man who worked at the retirement home nearby that ate his wings in one bite. He used too much ranch so my showmanship was really just compensation.

At the end of the night the barman turned down the music and went to smoke, as well as call his old lady. He left myself and 4 gentleman of advanced age to fend for ourselves. Only one of them jumped across the table and drank from the tap like Homer Simpson drinking a slushie at Apu’s convenience store.

I left a lone and confident $100 bill and walked the 6 minutes back to the Hyatt hotel. The Gipper deserved it all and more. If only I had had 2 Benjamins instead of one.

jk no one violated any...

decent little joint.. good food & drink & good atmosphere (esp given the Panic).. reason for 3 stars instead of 4 was the strangely sub-par service from the bartender lady.. (has hand tats & lip rings).. i say strangely cuz when she DID interact with me she was nice & pleasant.. the problem was the inordinate amount of time between handing me a menu & seeing if i wanted anything to eat. I mean, it was REEAALY long, like 25 or 30 min., while I nursed my beer. And it's not like it was busy, she was mostly just fiddling with her phone, and chatting with the regulars.. I mean she must've walked by me 10 or 12 times, me with head up & menu closed back up. It was almost bizarre. I got the distinct feeling she would've acted differently if I was a familiar face. I was just on the verge of dropping a few bucks for the beer & walking out. Also, no check-back after serving the food. Bar service 101 stuff. Other than all that, decent...

Walking in I half expected clouds of cigarette smoke to be frozen in the air- the dimly lit room was only a glow with neon beer signs and numerous TVs across the walls. I settled into my barstool seat with the eyes of several taxidermied animals watching my every move. This is exactly what I wanted.

All this to say, I loved this place. It was a callback to the way local bars used to be- full of personality and local flavor. I felt comfortable immediately and knew I was not going to be disappointed by the burger I ordered...and I wasn't, especially with the crispy steak fries that came with it. Frosted glasses made the tap beer taste even better, too.

Know what you're getting into before you walk in, but the dart boards, video games, and TVs still have their hold on me and I'd love to go back. It's a sports bar, dive bar, "old man" bar, where people ask you your name and...