More isn’t necessarily better.

Restaurant Review: Nonesuch River Brewing

Don Taylor

It is rare that I think more of something isn’t better, but that was the case at lunch at Nonesuch River Brewing.

Thin Onion Rings at Nonesuch River Brewing

My wife and I arrived at an off time, about 3 PM, and were two of about eight customers in the restaurant. To get things started, we ordered drinks and an appetizer of thin onion rings. The onion rings came with a chipotle aioli drizzled on the top along with fresh slivered scallions.  I liked the scallions; they were flavorful. The chipotle aioli was tasty. I wish it had come on the side rather than on the onion rings because the aioli did an excellent job of off-setting the greasy onion rings – and they were greasy. It was one of the few times that we didn’t eat the entire order of onion rings.

Backyard Farms Tomatos BLT
at Nonesuch River Brewing

Before we finished our appetizer, our sandwiches arrived. My wife got the Backyard Farms Tomato BLT with a mixed green salad; I ordered the Beer Battered Haddock Sandwich with garlic fries.

Both sandwiches came on delicious ciabatta bread, toasted nicely. It is March, and although Backyard Farms Tomatoes promotes that their produce is good year-round, the tomatoes on her sandwich weren’t quite ripe. Also, there were two strips of thick cut bacon.  The bacon was thick and tough to bite through. We would have preferred thinner bacon, but more of it.  Likewise, my Haddock Sandwich came with a huge thick chunk of fish.  A thinner, but broader, piece that would have fit the bread, and my mouth, would have been much better. The coleslaw was okay, but there was too much tartar sauce for the sandwich. They should have served the tartar on the side.  The garlic fries were plain fries where someone apparently squeezed some minced garlic out of a jar and then mixed the fries slightly. They still had several clumps of garlic stuck together and weren't mixed throughout the serving. They weren’t worth the upcharge.

Beer Battered Haddock Sandwich
at Nonesuch River Brewing

The seating was hard wooden benches along one wall with hard chairs across from them.  Shortly after we sat down one of the wait people started moving the tables and chairs on that wall into a configuration they wanted them in.  Ten minutes later, a different staff person moved the table and chairs back to where they had been. I found the constant moving of tables and chairs around us interruptive and unnecessary.

I found the food pretentious in a beer pub environment. The price was also high for pub food. An $18 haddock sandwich and a $15 BLT should be amazing; they were not. I doubt we’ll be back.

Rating – 3.4

Ambiance: 4 (Clean and open, probably very noisy when they are busy.)
Food: 3 (Bacon was too thick, fish thicker than it should be and had too much tartar sauce.)
Service: 4 (Server was friendly.)
Price: 3 (Lunch was about $17 each, not including drinks)
Value: 3 (I thought the food wasn’t up to the amount charged.)

Final Comment. 

Nonesuch River Brewing has a mug club and brews eight different beers from an IPA to a Stout. I did not sample the different beers and did not have an opinion about NRB's various beers.

Location:

NRB
201 Gorham Road
Scarborough, ME 04074