Courthaus Social, in the Old Velocity Five Space - a Biergarten Concept in Courthouse

[DaveO]

Velocity 5 in Arlington was sold a short while ago and will be converted to Arlington Social Haus The sale took place a short while ago and the new owners have been operating the restaurant as Velocity 5 for a bit.

This particular space has gone through operator after operator after operator.  Good luck folks.  I think that space has bad karma.  

[SeanMike]

So this is NOT the place that's replacing Rabbit?

Anyways, I consider this good news. I never liked the V5 in Courthouse - the service was often awful except in the bar, the food mediocre, and the ambiance seemed to be going for a Hooters vibe.

[DaveO]

After making that announcement two years ago the restaurant has been under construction for about 2 weeks and looks to have another 2-4 weeks before they reopen.  They will be using a name different than Arlington Common Haus but something close, both in name and concept.

2 years.  Glad I didn't hold my breath waiting.  

[cheezepowder]

Courthaus Social is scheduled to open on April 13, 2015, with possible soft opening a few days before according to ArlNow.

[DaveO]

So it now looks like the soft opening is this Friday, 4/17 per their FB page at 5PM.   I am rooting for them.  The bar manager, Moe, is a former instructor at the bar school, really knows his way around a bar, (is not a mixologist I must admit), (but he will willingly test everything)  is very entertaining, and has and will build regulars.

The plan for this American beer haus has been a few years in the making.  Good luck.

[DaveO]

The name of this place is Courthaus Social, not Arlington Social Haus, which was a name they proposed probably over a year ago as they contemplated the conversion from Velocity 5.

It is definitely an Arlington Beer Garden.  The place has been tremendously busy since they opened; I suppose people enjoy the beer garden seating and beer!!!!!!!   In fact its been so busy it has caught the ownership, management and staffing by surprise.  They still need to staff up.

The environment is friendly.  To be honest I've mostly gnawed and devoured the "grill house" chicken wings that are grilled Peruvian style.  Juicy, reasonably plump and tasty on every visit to date.  I'll have to work my way through some other menu items.  Beer experts will have to provide commentary better than I can provide.

If you enjoy a beer garden setting this definitely fits the bill.

[dcs]

The name of this place is Courthaus Social, not Arlington Social Haus, which was a name they proposed probably over a year ago as they contemplated the conversion from Velocity 5.

It is definitely an Arlington Beer Garden.  The place has been tremendously busy since they opened; I suppose people enjoy the beer garden seating and beer!!!!!!!   In fact its been so busy it has caught the ownership, management and staffing by surprise.  They still need to staff up.

The environment is friendly.  To be honest I've mostly gnawed and devoured the "grill house" chicken wings that are grilled Peruvian style.  Juicy, reasonably plump and tasty on every visit to date.  I'll have to work my way through some other menu items.  Beer experts will have to provide commentary better than I can provide.

If you enjoy a beer garden setting this definitely fits the bill.

Good to know.  What is the deal with the construction on the plaza?  It seems a mess.

[JBag57]

I didn't get much of a beer garden vibe passing through the patio section, but we weren't planning on sitting out there since it was still 85 degrees at 7:45 last night.  We went inside instead, and over to the right, it did feel a bit like a beer hall.

They have a looooonnng way to go in pretty much every aspect of the customer's experience.  The place was only about 1/4 full, and it seemed like there were plenty of bodies on staff, but service was lacking.  The bartender opted to wait on our table, and looked to be mostly competent, but after checking on our appetizers, which had taken forever, he advised that they would be out in about 5 minutes.  He then disappeared for quite a while.  Needless to say, the apps were not out in about 5 minutes, but instead came to the table about 15 minutes later, accompanied by the burgers we had ordered.  We apparently caused some confusion by asking the food runner to serve the appetizers, but that we did not want the burgers yet.  The bartender/waiter appeared shortly thereafter an assured us that we would get freshly prepared burgers after an appropriate amount of time after getting the apps.  Well, that didn't happen  either.  We were barely halfway into the apps (and not eating slowly, by the way), when the same burgers reappeared on some very hot plates.  We did not send them back, deciding instead that it was time to just eat and get out of there as quickly as possible.

On to the food.  The menu is fairly extensive, and bar food-centric.  The spinach and artichoke dip was served with what looked to be a pretty paltry serving of tortilla chips, yet the chips turned out to be more than enough to finish off the dip, which was all of 1/4-inch deep in a pretty small, shallow serving dish. I think this was $9, was pretty marginal in taste, and way overpriced.  The other appetizer we had was the bratwurst fritters, served with a spicy remoulade-type sauce.  These were halfway decent.  The four of us each fell for the hype of the all-natural, grass-fed, hormone- steroid- and antibiotic-free beef used in their burgers, and we ordered three different versions of these among the four of us.  I don't know if it was because they took our food back initially and possibly put it back on the grill (hard to imagine, given the toppings on them), but two of the three burgers ordered "medium" were cooked down into hockey pucks.  The third, also ordered medium, had the ever-so-slightest thread of pale pink running through the middle.  The beef probably would have been good if properly cooked.  The bun was mediocre.

The beer program, in my eyes, was pretty weak as well.  They have about 15-20 craft beers on tap, available in 16 and 32 ounce pours.  They were out of two of the first ones that we asked for, and when I asked if anything had gone on to replace them (thinking they might be of a similar style), our waiter/bartender had a look of puzzlement, and responded that the draft list was a day or two old, and that it had not been updated to remove the beers we asked for from the list.  I again asked if other beers had been put on in their place, and finally was told "no".  One of the beers that we tried to order was Festina Peche by Dogfish Head, a bright, tart, berlinerweiss style.  When we were having trouble deciding on an alternative, it was mentioned that they did have another beer by Dogfish Head, the Indian Brown Ale.  That couldn't be any farther off in style from the Festina Peche if it tried.  When round 2 for beers came around, they were out of yet another beer that I had wanted to try (Morgazm by DuClaw), and for the first time in eons, I asked for water instead.  Overall, the draft list does not look all that well thought out, but is instead just an amalgamation of mostly local breweries' offerings.  The bottle list was a little better.

 We probably will not be going back to give them a second chance.  There is a much better rendition of what they are trying to do from a food (burgers, at least) and drink standpoint just up the street in Clarendon--Citizen Burger, which has not let us down in the several visits there.

[DaveO]

Good to know.  What is the deal with the construction on the plaza?  It seems a mess.

They are replacing "pavers" on the ground.  Its a mess.  I hear it is going to take months.  Not good for the first floor retailers inside the courtyard.

I didn't get much of a beer garden vibe passing through the patio section, but we weren't planning on sitting out there since it was still 85 degrees at 7:45 last night.  We went inside instead, and over to the right, it did feel a bit like a beer hall.

They have a looooonnng way to go in pretty much every aspect of the customer's experience.  The place was only about 1/4 full, and it seemed like there were plenty of bodies on staff, but service was lacking.  The bartender opted to wait on our table, and looked to be mostly competent, but after checking on our appetizers, which had taken forever, he advised that they would be out in about 5 minutes.  He then disappeared for quite a while.  Needless to say, the apps were not out in about 5 minutes, but instead came to the table about 15 minutes later, accompanied by the burgers we had ordered.  We apparently caused some confusion by asking the food runner to serve the appetizers, but that we did not want the burgers yet.  The bartender/waiter appeared shortly thereafter an assured us that we would get freshly prepared burgers after an appropriate amount of time after getting the apps.  Well, that didn't happen  either.  We were barely halfway into the apps (and not eating slowly, by the way), when the same burgers reappeared on some very hot plates.  We did not send them back, deciding instead that it was time to just eat and get out of there as quickly as possible.

On to the food.  The menu is fairly extensive, and bar food-centric.  The spinach and artichoke dip was served with what looked to be a pretty paltry serving of tortilla chips, yet the chips turned out to be more than enough to finish off the dip, which was all of 1/4-inch deep in a pretty small, shallow serving dish. I think this was $9, was pretty marginal in taste, and way overpriced.  The other appetizer we had was the bratwurst fritters, served with a spicy remoulade-type sauce.  These were halfway decent.  The four of us each fell for the hype of the all-natural, grass-fed, hormone- steroid- and antibiotic-free beef used in their burgers, and we ordered three different versions of these among the four of us.  I don't know if it was because they took our food back initially and possibly put it back on the grill (hard to imagine, given the toppings on them), but two of the three burgers ordered "medium" were cooked down into hockey pucks.  The third, also ordered medium, had the ever-so-slightest thread of pale pink running through the middle.  The beef probably would have been good if properly cooked.  The bun was mediocre.

The beer program, in my eyes, was pretty weak as well.  They have about 15-20 craft beers on tap, available in 16 and 32 ounce pours.  They were out of two of the first ones that we asked for, and when I asked if anything had gone on to replace them (thinking they might be of a similar style), our waiter/bartender had a look of puzzlement, and responded that the draft list was a day or two old, and that it had not been updated to remove the beers we asked for from the list.  I again asked if other beers had been put on in their place, and finally was told "no".  One of the beers that we tried to order was Festina Peche by Dogfish Head, a bright, tart, berlinerweiss style.  When we were having trouble deciding on an alternative, it was mentioned that they did have another beer by Dogfish Head, the Indian Brown Ale.  That couldn't be any farther off in style from the Festina Peche if it tried.  When round 2 for beers came around, they were out of yet another beer that I had wanted to try (Morgazm by DuClaw), and for the first time in eons, I asked for water instead.  Overall, the draft list does not look all that well thought out, but is instead just an amalgamation of mostly local breweries' offerings.  The bottle list was a little better.

 We probably will not be going back to give them a second chance.  There is a much better rendition of what they are trying to do from a food (burgers, at least) and drink standpoint just up the street in Clarendon--Citizen Burger, which has not let us down in the several visits there.

I had one of their burgers.  It wasn't great.  Probably should have spoken to it.  OTOH, thanks for mentioning Citizen.  I think I'll meander on over there.

[Genevieve]

Has anyone been here since last summer? Meeting a bunch of friends for dinner and a movie, and this is the place organizers picked. I was pleasantly surprised to see a cauliflower steak on the menu, so that may be my go-to even if it won't be as good as at other places. Either that or grilled chicken sandwich w/roasted peppers and arugula, probably can't be too terrible. From last year's reports, I'll avoid the burgers. 

[DonRocks]

49 minutes ago, Genevieve said:

Has anyone been here since last summer? Meeting a bunch of friends for dinner and a movie, and this is the place organizers picked. I was pleasantly surprised to see a cauliflower steak on the menu, so that may be my go-to even if it won't be as good as at other places. Either that or grilled chicken sandwich w/roasted peppers and arugula, probably can't be too terrible. From last year's reports, I'll avoid the burgers. 

There's a non-zero chance the Big Haus Pretzel comes from Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe (the pretzels at Sauf Haus Bier Hall do), and if that's the case, ask your server to put a Cauliflower Steak on one, and have it as a sandwich, maybe with just a tiny bit of butter - that sounds like a winning combination to me.

[Genevieve]

Someone had ordered the (giant) pretzel as an appetizer and I had a large piece of it - very tasty, good texture.

The cauliflower steak was pretty good, with romesco sauce, sliced almonds, and some roasted red pepper pieces. I prefer mine roasted longer, but it was all cooked through and browned nicely in some parts, and I would definitely order it again if we go back for trivia night. It was a generous serving (an entire head). Someone should have fully removed the leaves from the bottom, but no big deal, it's a bar and not topnotch cuisine - I'm just glad to have had a fairly healthy and tasty option for a main dish. I shared tater tots too (the not-healthy portion of the meal), which were presumably frozen ones but tasted good and made a good snack on the side.

The place was packed, but we didn't have service problems as described in some posts from last year. We were seated outside, ordered food at the outside bar and it came fairly quickly. I'd forgotten to get water at the bar along with my drink, and the food runner went and brought me water quickly at my request. Everyone we encountered who worked there was pleasant.