Pub 42 — Restaurant in New Hope

We were concerned there wouldn't be enough room, the parking lot was pretty full, but the inside is huge! There was plenty of room left, we didn't feel crowded. We didn't have a reservation, week night, and there was no wait for a table. There was a large table setup near the host stand for food delivery services. So it must be easy (and popular) to get their food delivered. I also saw a sign that says they do weekly meat raffles on Thursdays at 5:30pm, which sounds fun.

All staff wore face masks, there was hand sanitizer available, some standing areas in the bar were "closed", and some tables have been removed for more distancing. To prepare for the summer, they have added a large new (second) patio for outdoor seating, but it's not open yet. Crayons didn't come with the children's menus, which was ok because we had some on us. Maybe they don't have crayons during the pandemic.

They have a large food menu with lots of food food options. I was also impressed with their beer list. I especially liked that there was a column that listed the beer style to make it easier to pick what you want.

The server brought out oyster crackers for my kids to help them wait for dinner and brought out their food before ours, which was nice.

Their kids slider meals came with a lot of french fries and surprisingly large buns for sliders. The popovers were good, light and airy. The pretzel appetizer was good. The Cajun fettuccine and Italian chop salad were good. The server was attentive at refilling ice tea.

The only downsides were that the server didn't know we were seated in her area, so we had to wait quite awhile to get drinks/our order taken. It was also a long time between our kids getting our food and us getting our food. Maybe they aren't used to handling large dinner crowds anymore? The women's bathroom has three stalls, but unfortunately one stall was out of order, one had a written sign on it that it was out of toilet paper (they apparently didn't have any extra??), so only one was ready to use. I'm not sure if smoking is allowed on the patio, or in front of the restaurant, but there was atleast one time we got a huge smell of smoke (assumed when an outside door was opened), which was surprising and...

We walked in what was apparently the side door and stood there for quite a while. A server finally walked over and was walking past us without even acknowledging us and I had to get his attention to ask if it was seat yourself because there was no signage. He pointed us to the host stand which was in the middle of the restaurant. The host had been standing there talking to the server and looking at us with the whole time. So obviously they had no sense of urgency. Our server was kind of flighty and seemed like he was in a big hurry the whole time. He rushed quite a bit and was talking really fast. Also he did not offer to get us drinks before taking our order which is kind of strange. My mom and I both asked for water with lime and he brought back waters with no lime. When he walked by again we stopped him and I asked for lime. He seemed bothered. The person that delivered our food came to her table and just said "nachos?". I responded and said she had the nachos indicating my mom. She stood there for another second and then said "who had the nachos?". She seemed annoyed. Overall it felt like there was no real sense of urgency or attention to detail. Seemed more like we were being a bother then like we were guests in a restaurant. The food was good. But I've been there before and like service was way better. Had this been my first experience, I probably wouldn't go back unless I was meeting a group or something that had already decided on...

Visited this evening for the first time and was most impressed. It was quite busy, but that had no impact at all on the service, which was fast and friendly. Very professional.

Had the shrimp skewer entrée. It consisted of least 15 shrimp, and they appeared to be the 26-30 count kind, so at least a half pound of shrimp. Very generous, as were the portions of both the rice pilaf and mixed vegetables that accompanied it. And it all tasted great!

The only negative was that they were holding a raffle for a youth hockey team. Kids are great, so fine by me, and we are in Minnesota, but the volume when the ticket numbers were called was painfully loud. I’m an old guy, so I can only image how loud it would have seemed to younger folks with better hearing. There really was no need for it to be that loud. And this is coming from a guy who used to mix sound for rock bands in auditoriums all around the country.

Despite this, I am still giving them five stars, because everything else was great and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back, even if I knew in advance they were holding another raffle. It was that good! And everyone else in the joint was having a good time, just as we were.

They have a very large and varied menu to explore, and it all looked interesting, so I will definitely go back. If you’ve never been there, check it out. You won’t be disappointed. And if you have been there, I don’t have to tell you that. Because you...