Never Turn Down A Cupcake: Againn - Rockville Pre-Opening Mock Dinner

Friday, August 6, 2010

Againn - Rockville Pre-Opening Mock Dinner

J was nice enough to invite me along with her friends to a pre-opening dinner at the Againn Tavern- Rockville location (the original is in downtown DC). I have not yet been to the DC location so I was excited to check out the restaurant, since this one is v. close to me.

This won't be a really formal/extensive review, since technically the restaurant wasn't really open for business at the time. Since it was a pre-opening, it was expected that there would still be some things that needed work. Service from our server was somewhat indifferent and scattered, and I felt like overall it could've gone more smoothly. We repeatedly had to ask for new silverware (taken away with each course but new ones were not brought over), water refills, stuff like that. On one hand, that's what these pre-opening events are for (to work on these service errors), but on the other hand, you'd hope that by this point the servers would be sufficiently trained to handle most issues.

Anyway, those issues aside, the food was good enough that I'd like to try it again, especially now that the restaurant has been open for some time. It's always nice to have a new option in the Rockville Pike area, which is more or less overrun with chain restaurants. The gastropub menu concept is a welcome change from the typical food in the area. The highlights for me included the prawn cocktail (cute presentation) and the Banoffee Pie dessert (delicious). I'd like to try some of their other menu items as they all sounded pretty interesting.

So for now, just some photos to give you an idea of the food they serve here :o)

Just as a side note: Our meal (excluding drinks) was free of charge, due to it being a pre-opening invitation.