Sardine Room : Plymouth, MI

Our streetside table + PBR Pint

My wife and I decided to ride our bikes downtown to grab a bite to eat at one of the various sidewalk seating restaurants that populate Downtown Plymouth.  Seeing the hustle and bustle of the setup for the Art Fair, we decided to try the new Sardine Room.   We placed our names for an outside seat, told we'd be waiting 1/2 hour, so we left with our Sardine Room buzzer to have a drink outside at the next door 336 martini bar (great $6 blueberry vodka mojitos!).  

Our buzzer went off, after 1/2 hour, and we arrived at our table - nice clean aluminum tops and chairs - I'm liking it already.   Our server, Alyssa was very friendly and cheerful and took our drink orders right off the bat.   The wine prices are a bit spendy per glass, but anytime you can get a can o' PBR for $3 bux, at a nice restaurant, is a treat (I'm a recovering beer snob), so I evened out my wife's spendy wine selection with a frosty draft PBR pint.  

I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so I needed some hearty fare.  The Sardine Room menu has a variety of intriguing items on it, and thankfully, they do live up to their namesake and offer "Portuguese Sardines", as a small plate.   I probably would have left, if they didn't have sardines!   If you've been to tapas places before, you'll know they can vary wildly in portion size, so I ordered somewhat more than I'd planned on.   My wife got the Chop Salad (she's a vegetarian so she left off the Sopressata meat).   She absolutely loved it - way more than the Cauliflower side order she also ordered.   For myself, I availed myself of the aforementioned Portuguese Sardines, the Chicken Livers small plate special, and the Pulled Pork Poutine.

The  Chicken Livers arrived first.   This is a tapas you really don't want a lot of, for chicken livers (or any liver) is incredibly filling.   The livers were sauteed, and mixed in with a brownish sauce, accompanied by a couple crustinis smeared with a cold chopped liver spread.  I like it when the little livers are cooked so they begin to break apart, and these little crumbles thickened up the sauce incredibly well - dab a little liver and sauce on the crustini, and prepare for major flavor - it was a wonderfully gluttonous dish, and I loved every bite. 

Portuguese Sardines appeared three on a plate, drizzled with a spicy olive oil, and some different style crustinis.   The sardines are those big chubby short ones, and after eating the chicken livers, I couldn't believe how full I felt, but endeavored to gobble up all three sardines.  I found it somewhat humorous that I struggled to ingest three sardines.....That said, I really enjoy sardines, especially the tiny little delicate "sprat" style smoked ones (Riga Sprats @ Hillers - the best!).   The Portuguese Sardines are of a more burly/meaty variety, and a bit on the salty side, but not objectionably so.   Still, they were quite good, and I would get them again (my wife said I couldn't get em' again because they smelled too 'sardine'ey' - ha ha!  As they properly should!).

Pulled Pork Poutine + neglected PBR

Now, I'm really feeling double full, and my poor PBR is neglected, for I really am really running out of room in my gullet.  I'm hoping the Pulled Pork Poutine indeed lives up to the portion size everyone associates with Tapas restaurants - small!......But, no - the Pulled Pork Poutine that I received was gigantic.  Normally, I'd be overjoyed, but there was no way I could gobble all that food.   But, I'll still try it.   The Pulled Pork Poutine fries looked really thin and crispy.  Large chunks of cheese curds populated the upper level, sharing the space with slivers of jalapeno peppers and plops of pulled pork, all of which was bathed in a thin brown gravy sauce.  It was quite delicious, and I could see myself ordering only the Pulled Pork Poutine as a full meal.

The Sardine Room has so many other interesting items on the menu, and I'll definitely be back to explore the menu.  If you can, wait the extra 1/2 hour to sit outside, weather permitting.   The service is great (plates cleared promptly, water refilled, and utensils supplied without needing to ask), and the the place definitely achieves an upscale, yet casual vibe that's so hard to manufacture - I like it!  The Sardine Room definitely surprised me, and really adds to the fun of Downtown Plymouth.  Try it!