Tucked down an unassuming side-street off of Louisiana Avenue sits The Alibi, an equally unassuming-looking attempt at a British pub. It makes me wonder how a British restaurant might interpret an American bar and grill because we Americans sure like to dress up any place serving Guinness as some wannabe Hobbit hole. So The Alibi is cutesy.
Of the three TVs in the main dining room, one was showing soccer. Fine. Another was showing those fast-motion cooking videos popular on Facebook, which is a weird choice for a restaurant and was distracting to say the least.
They have a good draft list, with both British and American beers. My husband had the Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne from Right Proper, which is a staple in our drinking repertoire. I had Atlas’ Silent Neighbor. The Alibi has a spy theme which starts at their menus disguised as dossiers and extends to their utility closet nicknamed “Interrogation Room” and doesn’t really affect anything else.
My husband and I split a Scotch egg, which was a new experience for me. Fried sausage-eggs seems like such a special occasion treat that I would never produce it in my house. The mustard it came with was super delicious (twist: it’s probably just Grey Poupon), but the sausage was kind of bland. It had a nice crunch but didn’t feel particularly decadent. Kind of a disappointment.
My husband got the chicken tikka masala, which was a brave choice. I know tikka masala was invented in England and not in India, but considering he had–in his words–“the best tikka masala of all time” last weekend from City Kabob and Curry House, I wasn’t sure that The Alibi could get it right. Americans making a British dish that’s faux-Indian is a bit like Seth Myers’s impression of a Brit doing an impression of a Bostonian (which, if you haven’t seen it, you really should).
It’s definitely not the typical, and it wasn’t nearly spicy enough, but it was creamy and comforting.
I had the spinach salad with the chicken add-on. It was actually super delicious and hit the spot. The chicken was moist and the sweet apples and red onions made the goat cheese pop. It was a good size for a dinner salad and very satisfying.
My mother-in-law had the shrimp po’boy. The shrimp was cooked well and it looked like your standard po’boy. It’s nothing ground-breaking, but, you know, if you want a shrimp po’boy, it’s here for you.
Price: $25 per person.
Bottom line: The Alibi is cute, fun, and pretty okay. The food is nothing special but it’s fine, the prices are reasonable, the beers are on point, and you can satisfy a lot of people.
Ward Five Foodie 