We had a surprise birthday party to attend in Amelia this past Saturday night. While spending the better half of the afternoon in a pool, my brother helped to research restaurants in the area for us to try. Eventually we stumbled on Great Scott! My mother overheard this conversation and recommended giving the restaurant a shot before heading to the party. She said that she has been a couple of times before and enjoyed it. With that recommendation my brother’s girlfriend called to make a reservation for 5:45. We were told a reservation wasn’t necessary at that time, but went ahead and gave our name anyway. After-all we had a time constraint for the evening.

My wife, son, brother, his girlfriend, and I all arrived shortly after our reservation time and found a table waiting with menus and silverware already in place. This was a nice touch. We all commented that the restaurant was much different from we had expected, most agreeing that we thought it was going to be a British style pub for some reason, must be the name. There was a large back deck that I couldn’t see much of from the entrance. The inside had low tables with cheap tablecloths and a bit of tacky furnishings. We also had an air conditioning vent pumping chilly air on our legs, but other than that it was comfortable and we were happy to be in a cool room.

Great Scott!

The beer list was really good, though mostly in bottles. They do have a couple of taps dedicated to craft beer, but I stuck to the extensive bottle list on this visit. Similarly the food menu was pretty large and took some time to go through. We all skipped over the salads, though in hindsight that could be one of the better sections on the menu. We saw some of the entree salads come out of the kitchen and they were very large, filled with quality ingredients and interesting toppings (such as egg rolls).  We all ended up selecting items from the sandwich section of the menu.

Pulled Pork Sandwich And Onion Rings

I went with the pulled pork BBQ sandwich with the optional Habanero BBQ sauce and onion rings. My wife ordered hot ham and bier cheese on a pretzel roll with french fries. Like we often do we decided to split the two sandwiches. I started with the pulled pork and overall was pretty pleased with the sandwich.  I could tell that the pork was prepared and pulled in-house, though it may have been cooked awhile before being served. Some sections were a little tough, but mostly it was tender and the BBQ sauce was great. Unfortunately the onion rings did not go over as well. I liked the thick cut onion but the batter was much too thick and bland. I think it’s the same batter used on the fried fish.

Hot Ham And Bier Cheese On Pretzel Roll

The hot ham and bier cheese was also a pretty good sandwich. One quick complaint was the amount of bier cheese they put on it which was way too much and made it really messy to eat. By the time I started to eat my half of the sandwich, the extra cheese on the plate had begun to solidify. That wasn’t the worst problem though. The cheese that had seeped under the roll and made it impossible to eat the sandwich without getting the partially solidified cheese all over my fingers was the major issue I had. The pretzel roll did stand up well and didn’t get soggy, which was good. The fries were better than the onion rings, and cooked to the ideal crispness.

I won’t go out of my way to try Great Scott! again. However if you find yourself out in Amelia and hungry, it isnt’ a bad choice, especially in an area that seems to have few options.