Bethel Woods – Wellington

So this came up on a Grabone deal and since I have never been here, I thought I would try it out.  My friend V goes there quite often but has never eaten there as it is the official bar of the Wellington Phoenix and usually goes there post game.  This place is more a Pub than a restaurant.  It has tables downstairs to sit and eat downstairs but also has an upstairs dining area and open balcony.  Bethel Woods is another place that is following the trend of American food, which has been increasingly popular in Wellington.

So the menu is simple to read.  It has barbecue meats as it’s main selling point and burgers.  I decided to go for the Beef Brisket, which also includes two sides that you can chose from.

Beef brisket.

Nicely cooked very tender and cooked for a long time as the meat nearly falls apart when you put your fork to it. Had a nice underlining flavour. However it did need more salt as it was under seasoned. Had a faint smokey flavour, I also added on hot sauce and bbq sauce and it tasted a lot better.

Mac cheese

The pasta was gluey and over cooked. The sauce had some stringyness to it from the cheese. However, again under seasoned and really needed salt. However I decided not to add any.

Onion rings

Nicely cooked crispy edges and onion nice and sweet. However had too much salt on it and was a bit hard to eat hence why no salt on the Mac and cheese. At the bottom it was easier to eat and was a lot more satisfying.

Chocolate Brownie

Was alright bit was far too sweet. The summer fruit coulis made it bearable and so did the ice cream. However when I did finish it, it then got too me as being too sweet and my asthma started playing up.  Not entirely sure why they put so much sugar in the brownie.

Overall, I was disappointed with the main, mainly with the lack or over use of the salt.  Another thing to comment on, was the food lost it’s heat very fast.  My food ended up being cold two thirds through my main meal, it just had no heat left in it.  V had a burger and she also had the same comment while eating her main.  Sadly for this place, I do not think I would come back to eat.  For a drink yes and maybe bar food, but not for a meal.  On the up side this place has a great atmosphere and can see it going off when the Phoenix win a football game at home.