Hurricane Half-Yards- Yard House (American, Coral Gables)

Last night one of the last steps for Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac preparation was dinner and going out before holing up for the storm. My friends and I went to Yard House in the Village of Merrick Park mall in the Gables for drinks and dinner. Yard House is a really large American bar/restaurant with a really wide selection on the menu of food and beer. They also have their famous half-yard drinks (check out the pics below) which are even duplicated as the handles on the door to the restaurant. It’s a chain with locations around the country but I hadn’t been to a location before this.

Yard House was really busy last night, perhaps because others were going out before the storm hit, but I also bet it’s regularly busy. We headed straight to the bar instead of waiting for a table, but even though there were a lot of people waiting the restaurant is pretty large and it didn’t seem the people waiting waited that long.

We started off with a half-yard each of beer or cider. There are tons of beer options and two ciders on tap that you can get in half-yards, “six-pack” sampler (small glasses of six types of beer), and regular pints. There is a really long list of snacks and appetizers and for a bit we were talking about doing a collection of those for a meal (the spinach cheese dip and nachos were definitely catching our attention). We stuck with getting entrees, but got an order of the truffle fries and deviled eggs to start off. Anyone who has read a few of my posts know that when anything truffle related or deviled eggs are on the menu they get ordered. The truffle fries were good and the deviled eggs at Yard House came with a twist- with spicy tomato sauce on top- which I really liked. It reminded me of ravioli sort of in taste and texture with the tomato sauce and the creaminess of the inside of the deviled eggs.

For the meal I definitely was craving a burger and got the pepperjack burger protein style. It came with green chiles under the cheese and a garlic aioli sauce. The burger was juicy and good, although a bit small, but I really liked the combination of the pepperjack cheese, green chiles, and garlic aioli (the aioli sauce was also awesome to dip the fries in too!). One of my friends got the buffalo wings (which were pretty spicy he said) and the other got the grilled cheese and tomato bisque soup. They also got the shrimp ceviche spoons, which are reflective of the options Yard House has. They have a lot of American bar food but also a lot of upscale options like the ceviche and sushi. Beyond the burgers and bar food they also have a variety of salads, sandwiches, street tacos, pizza, seafood, and steak/ribs. Like I said a huge selection of food and beer to pick from.

Yard House was a solid choice for a night out, especially before a storm, with all the food and beer choices. The service was good at the bar and the food came pretty quickly. It’s a place I’d like to go for a Dolphin or Heat game because it has a great atmosphere to sit, eat, and drink and watch a game. If you’re looking for a place to watch a sports game or are shopping at the Village of Merrick Park and looking for a place Yard House would be a great place to go.