Yard House at Mizner Park in Boca Raton has been open for about three years now and I’ve been there a few times since its debut. I’ve also been to their Palm Beach Gardens location a few times and the food has always been consistent and good. For a casual (chain) restaurant, it’s much better than a TGI Friday’s, Ruby Tuesdays, or… well, you get it.
For the most part, you don’t really come to Yard House for the food. You come for the beer. And there’s a lot of it. The huge bar is home to nearly 150 different local craft brews and plenty of televisions throughout the restaurant to catch your favorite game.
Each time I’ve been to a Yard House, the restaurant was pretty full and the bar was always packed. Sometimes two, three, or more deep. It’s not all beer though, you’ll still be able to enjoy a cocktail or a glass of wine, but like I said earlier, beer is the star at Yard House.
My latest trip to Yard House was on a Monday night. Mizner Park was pretty dead with most restaurants empty around 8:30pm, but Yard House still had a decent bar crowd watching football and there were tables occupied inside and out.
We opted to sit inside and were given a large comfortable booth and a very pleasant server by the name of Kelsey. Write that name down, because you’re going to want her to take care of you during your visit to Yard House! She was delightfully pleasant.
First thing I noticed was the menu. The last time I was at a Yard House the menu was a book with multiple pages. Almost reminiscent of the confusing and overly complicated menu you’re given at the Cheesecake Factory. Too many items make it too difficult to settle on one. I’m all for simplicity and a “compact” range of menu items.
The next thing I noticed was the menu. Yep, while condensed to two sides of an oversized page, it still contained the same number of offerings, just in a different format.
If you want a burger, you can have it.
Fish of the day? Yep, you can have that too.
Jambalaya? Did someone say, “Jambalaya?”
We started out ordering a new addition to the menu, bacon and beef jerkey. Designed to be a snack you nibble on between draughts, the bacon was sweet and crispy and the jerky was chewy (but not too chewy) and teriyaki like. The bacon clearly won this battle of the cured meats and we ordered another round of the snack that’s served in a mason jar. While good, it’s a little pricey at $10 considering there are a few appetizers priced much less. There were two pieces of bacon and three pieces of jerky in each serving.
When it came to selecting an entree, the menu proved to hold way too many options to make decisions easy. My dining companion chose a rack of St. Louis Style BBQ Ribs with french fries. The ribs were liberally slathered with BBQ sauce and were a bright pink. Almost a little too pink for my comfort level, even though I know they’re smoked and there’s no chance of them being uncooked. While I didn’t sample them, he told me they were “good.” Not as good as Park Avenue BBQ “good,” but good none the less.
I was torn between sea bass, a hamburger, the French dip sandwich, the new seasonal chicken schnitzel sandwich and about four other items, but ultimately settled on something that you don’t see too often on a menu – Jambalaya.
Kelsey rattled off the different types of rice I could get with that dish and suggested the “Spicy Rice” as a great compliment to the “Spicy Jambalaya.”
Sold.
The Jambalaya comes in two sizes and of course, I opted for the full portion.
It was loaded up with chicken-andouille sausage, peppers, crawfish, and topped with two blackened shrimp. The cajun cream sauce is what gives the dish it’s kick but it wasn’t as spicy as I thought it would be… until I bit into one of the peppers.
Overall, a great dish that satisfies that craving for something just a little different that you don’t get to have often.
The restaurant was clean, Kelsey was one of those servers you want working in your restaurant, and it was a good night out.
On a side note, Yard House is the only restaurant I’ve seen that has a selection of menu items made from Gardein – a chicken substitute made from soy, wheat, pea proteins, vegetables and grains. Selections include wings, strips, mac and cheese and more. Not exactly my cup of tea, but for your tofu loving friends who may accompany you for a night out, Yard House has a dish just for them.