Mel's Craft Beers & Diner

Review

Four fists for a Double IPA

Photo: Heribert Corn It took a relatively long time for "Mel's Craft Beers & Diners" to be finished, but a lot of effort was put into it. At least as far as the design is concerned, a floor consisting of floorboards and cement tiles was laid, diner-style benches were installed, a lot of oak wood was used and a beautifully designed bar with hundreds of colorful beer bottles screwed to the wall. Of the six pubs belonging to the Viennese pub group Paddy's & Co., the new Mel's is certainly not the ugliest. They have also made an effort with the design of the beer list, which has even become a masterpiece: 25 highly interesting craft beers are openly available, the drinks are relatively well described so that even the craft beer rookie can get to grips with them. A further 350 are available in bottles from 0.33 to 0.75 liters, nicely divided into the categories Ales/Lagers, Pale Ales/Brown Ales, IPAs, Porter & Stout, Belgian beers, others (Pilsner, Kölsch, Weizen, Wit ...) and Limited Editions. Let's move on to the third point, namely the menu, and this is where the will to design diminished very dramatically. There are - surprise! - Burgers, sandwiches, baguettes, tartines, a few salads and a few desserts. If the common thread here is beer-related "cereals" or "bread" - after all, there is an Italian bread salad and pancakes and French toast among the desserts - then this is at least not so insanely comprehensible. Apart from the fact that the burger called "Sweet Heat" wasn't much else apart from dry-fried and large (€ 9.50) and that the pulled pork sandwich was the blandest pulled pork sandwich you can currently get hold of in Vienna (€ 8.50). It has to be said that the two things looked pretty much the same, because they were stuffed into the same buns, heaved onto the same plates and framed with the same bad fries. I must say, however, that I was glad to get something to eat at all after about 50 minutes, because there was "stress in the kitchen", as the service man somewhat sheepishly stated. Specifically, the two chefs were shouting at each other at an increasingly loud volume, at some point dishes were flying, physical assaults seemed only a matter of time and overall it was a rather unpleasant situation. Incidentally, Paddy's restaurants have admission criteria for guests, which stipulate that they will be turned away if they "attract negative attention", "disrupt the smooth running of the restaurant", "are violent or unfriendly". It's a shame that a week after the opening, there was no manager present who would have applied these guidelines to their own staff. Summary: A new beer bar where you can drink good beer and eat less good food. Mel's Craft Beers & Diner 1st, Wipplinger Str. 9 Tel. 0676/706 81 24 daily 10am-2pm

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