Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant — Restaurant in Newport

Had dinner with my bride here on a cool night in early December.

Went based on the reviews of the food. Not a big drinker (ordered a beer but can't share any insight on the bar); arrived at 5:30ish and were immediately seated at a small table for 2 in the room near the salad buffet (across from the red truck). We went early as we were worried we might have to wait for a while and we were hungry.

My wife ordered the steak medallions and somehow doubled up her potatoes as she had thick steak fries that were served with (under) the meat with a baked potato on the side. I got the cup of clam chowder, side salad (Caesar) and the scallops over angel hair with lemon and capers. My wife said her meal was fantastic - all 3 filets were decent size, seasoned and cooked perfectly and all the potatoes were good. She only ate two of the steaks and all her baked tater. My scallops were equally good if not better; among the best I have had. There were 8 of them, most of them quite large, cooked perfectly with ample lemon (picatta type) seasoning and capers, just fantastic. The chowder was also great as was the salad. My Allagash White made for a perfect accompaniment. Couldn't rate the food any higher - it all came out piping hot, filled with flavor and cooked perfectly - hats off to the kitchen.

Service was very good as well; Alex was professional, courteous and a seasoned vet. When I asked her which scallops she recommended she did me a solid with suggesting the one with the pasta ("it comes with more food for the same price and tastes great"). The young man who was busing the tables for her in our area was quick and professional as well.

Ambience is good in an eclectic way. Not a huge fan of memorabilia everywhere but a lot of what they have is unique and cool. The truck was pretty neat. Place was clean, not too loud but had a good vibe, etc. Windows looking out the front give a nice view of the busy street, shops and passerbys outside.

Only complaints I have, and they are VERY minor, were 1. the table we were at was small. I am pretty large and would have preferred a little more space - but wasn't going to complain as we were seated immediately. 2. I asked for parmesan cheese for the angel hair; I got a grated cheese shaker. I would have preferred to have had the parmesan flakes that I had on my Caesar (and were also available on the salad bar). 3. The salad bar was meh...nothing exciting on it. Lots of fresh veggies but I would have gotten it if there were more choices. Everything looked fresh and there were a lot of dressings but not worth $10 (unless you are a vegan I guess).

I paid $105.16 total; $85.16 plus $20 tip. Worth every penny

Overall a GREAT meal and I would definitely go back (since we are here two nights we may be there tomorrow...

Truthfully, there's not much to add here that others haven't already. We had the little neck clams (zuppa di clams), shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque, and the tomato, mozzarella, and basil baguette -- asking with a variety of mocktails and beer. Let's break it down:

Disclaimer: I gave this restaurant 5 stars across the board, but I'm going to be intentionally nitpicky. For the general consumer, just read the stars and move on -- for those with culinary curiosity, read on:

Clams di zuppa: really delightful and very flavorful. If I'm being critical, I think the bread served with it should be flash grilled, toasted, or lightly charred along the crust to provide some texture and elevated flavor. Otherwise, perfect.

Mozzarella, tomato, and basil baguette: the baguette was a garlicky, buttery, Parmesan-y delight that was soft and crusty! The balsamic dipping sauce made the sandwich. That said, to be nitpicky, baguettes are tough sandwiches to eat because how firm and chewy they are. When we bit down, everything squeezed out the side. No worries though, because we had a fork!

Mocktails: delicious, once we figured out they needed to be stirred. That's probably my bad, but a tip for all of you, otherwise you'll get a heavy syrup flavor at the end, contrasted with a heavy club soda flavor at the front.

Lobster bisque: very smooth, very un-fishy, very well balanced. If I'm being nitpicky, I like some chunks of lobster in my bisque. It would also add a really nice visual statement to throw a little bit of claw meat in the center for visual aesthetics and to keep the annoying critics like me from having any minor critiques.

Shrimp cocktail: big, succulent shrimp with a very good cocktail sauce to accompany. I didn't have any complaints here, besides -- I like my shrimp cocktail very (very) chilled. It felt like maybe they sat for a second or two before serving -- possibly near a heat source. They were cool, but not quite the temperature that would be "perfect" for me.

Alright, there you have it! At the end of the day -- this place is 5 stars. The service was very friendly and attentive. And the atmosphere is perfect for the Newport, RI vibe. Would...

Went on Saturday, November 30th at 6:15 we did not make a reservation but being a Newport local and coming to this restaurant for years I expected a wait. We waited about 45 minutes with no issue walked around and enjoyed the Christmas lights. When being seated we waiting over 10/15 minutes to even be introduced, and ask for drinks. To the point the hostess had to take our drink order and then the server (Adian) young male came up to us again to ask what we ordered. We understand it’s busy but being a front of house restaurant manager myself there’s do’a and donuts in this type of business. We eventually ordered our appetizer. It was just mild buffalo wings which took 45 minutes to come out. And came out wrong. No sauce just plain wings. He sent them back and covered it in sauce (barely) about half the wings had buffalo sauce on them. Oh well we ate them. We sat for about another 35-45 minutes for our entrees to come out. Just a steak w broccoli and an order of calamari. The steak technically was a medium and not medium rare (oh well my fiancé ate it) the broccoli to the steak was like they took it out of the grocery store and put it on the plate. It was awful. my calamari on the other hand was freezing cold. I asked for it to be taken off because at this point I’ve had 3 sodas, 4 over cooked wings and sat for an hour and a half and don’t care to eat here anymore. I am a bit upset over the fact this happened because this was supposed to be my last dinner with my fiancé as he’s leaving for South Carolina for the next 3 months. He was angry for me because I didn’t get to eat, I told him it was okay we just won’t be back. Been coming here for years and loved this place until my experience that happened tonight. No apologies from our server about the multiple mistakes or unexpected leaving with no food. Just a “I tried my best) personally if this was his best I recommend the manager finds someone else. I never in a million years would have a server like this...