Dropped in for dinner before heading off to THEDOCKS birthday fest and I’ve been meaning to drop in a fair bit – we’ve actually gone before and had drinks; and quite liked it then.

This review is going to be about the food + dining experience at THE DIP.

The food experience however was a different proposition. I’m not sure why is this reviewing so well, and why this is heralded as one to watch. Is it because the guys are drunk? Or because the venue is kind of cool that the glamourification of Americana/divey mexican barfeel  makes it appealing?

descending off the street into the den that is good god small club. The danceteria is at the back far off the food hall. Stuccoed walls

Its their 2nd birthday. And you can see the “early bird” prices.

Kitchen is located behind the ordering counter and away from the dark cantina vibe. Table water on the end, you order off a printed menu of som ilk. Its very divey.

Mexicana stuccoed walls + hotdog art. Variety of Hotsauces on the counter and yes, head chef Levin’s has a cookbook out called Diner.

GoodGod coasters at our booth.

Below is a series of photos taken with my camera but using the flashlight app on the iphone. Otherwise, there’s no light and you’re eating in a dark/red cavernously lit environment.

Levy Dog. The bun was well steamed so its very soft  and the bits in there (mayo/cheese/onions)… however added up to not very much. Quite ordinary. Hot dog is small. For the price? Not great value.

Dynamite Dogx2. The spicy hotdog. Again bun was well steamed so it was soft but the hotdog wasn’t really that spicy nor was the thing really that good to eat. Smallish serve.

I think in both instances the bun is so soft that it was almost textureless.

Packet chips with some mayo. The green bits on it are inconsequential. Very ordinary. its packet chips and you pay $6. not even sure what the green bits are. Didn’t do anything for the dish

Spicy Wings. Deep fried wings coated in tabasco? There’s some celery under. Again, its wasn’t something you’d rush back here for. It was pretty average. Wasn’t spicy enough to warrant dipping the wings into the cold ranch sauce. You could make this at home easily for $4 (probably less)

Skippy burger. Its somewhat gamey, $12 and there’s no sides with it? Alright but not outstanding.

Verdict.

American hotdogs which are alright, expensive @$12 (el loco’s are much better to eat, bigger and $3 cheaper), generic packet chips with some dipping sauce and then some very ordinary chicken wings doused in hot sauce. The skippy burger (kangeroo) was decent but $12 and no sides? No one in our group of 5 liked any of it. Comparatively, if you want to talk about a similar sort of vibe and atmosphere; el loco is the same; but the food is actually good. The food experience at the dip kind of didn’t measure up.

and then theres… this:

The Not so Hot sauce @ TheDIP

As an aside, the place was packed when we went and a few tables (5) were reserved. Great. But then by the time we ate and left, some of those tables were still vacant and we could have easily been seated. If your booking don’t show up on time and you have customers needing to grab a booth, let them have it. It really coloured how our evening/impression of the Dip was run in that first 20+ minutes when we were hovering and ended up at a counter that really wasn’t suited for meals. If you want to do a reservation service and run this like a restaurant, then run it like a restaurant.

The service girl finally did let us have a booth when 2 guys who didn’t eat; they had drinks and left; and their booth was suddenly reserved after (and this after she told me that you cannot reserve on the night and that you can only reserve on the phone prior so I wasn’t even sure how that happened… and the reason why she let us sit in the booth?… the table is reserved for a group coming in at 9.15pm. We were there at 6.30pm so after 30mins, we were able to be seated at 7pm).  Terrible. You’re going to let a booth sit reserved for a group coming in 2 and a half hours later? If we weren’t insistent on trying to get a table/booth, my group would have been standing at a counter eating what was a lacklustre meal anyhow. And that booth would have been empty. The actual sitdown meal time lasted 20 minutes, and then we left.

Senor Jugs won’t be back for food.

american grease Hotdogs Mexican nachos wings