The Columbia Ale House - Soft Opening

Last night I went to the soft opening for The Columbia Ale House with my friend Emily. She got a VIP invite and I was her "plus one," lucky me!

My experience 

Directions (because I think they are important)

I'm familiar with where the location is and you can see if right off Route 175 if you are coming south from Route 29. It's also in the same location that "Rocky Run Tap & Grill" was in if you are familiar with that old restaurant, I loved that place and used to get their "Crabby Patty" all the time. If you put the address in Google Maps it drops you off at the end of the street once you turn at the light, so just continue all the way to the end down by the "LA Boxing." It's a new restaurant and not in Google yet, hopefully they will get that fixed soon. I'm not sure about anyone else's navigation system, but mine wanted me to go over near the MVA express when I put in the address, so just another thing to be aware of with the directions.

Food & Drink

On tap The Ale House is serving Oliver Breweries, I had the "Irish Style Red Ale" and Emily had the "Pagan Porter." I believe we both enjoyed our beers and they went well with our meals. As our appetizers we ordered Mussels with Cilantro & Jalapeño and Flatbread with Goat Cheese & Prosciutto, both were absolutely delicious! The flatbread was quite a large portion (as you can see from the picture) and definitely large enough for two or three people to share. The mussels were also a generous portion, but I wouldn't say they were large enough to share with more than two people.

The food did take a while to come out to our table; however, we were having a good conversation and didn't mind the wait. We also knew there would be some "kinks" that needed to be worked out since this was their "soft opening." As our entrees, we ordered the Braised Filet Tips (note: these have to be ordered medium) with Mashers and the 8oz Filet with Mashers and Brussel Sprouts. Again, the food was delicious and we had no complaints! 

Overall
Overall I would give The Ale House 4 out of 5 stars. I'm curious to see what the menu pricing will be like when they open. Since it was a soft opening our food and drinks were complimentary.