I grew up in the Upper Union Street area and City Squire was a part of the neighborhood for such a long time. Then, a few years ago, it got a whole new make-over and with that, a new menu and ambiance.
If you don’t remember the old City Squire, it was your stereotypical neighborhood bar. It was small, kind of dark, the look was dated but it was ours. Then, after it closed in 2005 and got new owners, it was rebuilt into a completely different venue. At first, the City Squire was opened by the Isopo family, then I hear that it was sold to the owners of Mohawk Taproom in Scotia, but now, I’m not too sure where ownership stands.
The menu, since the reopening, hasn’t seemed to change much. It’s very much pub food like nachos, burgers, chicken tenders, etc. It also has a full liquor license, with 24 beer taps, wine, and cocktails. They also rent out their upstairs space for events and have two floors of outdoor seating.
It was a beautiful day so we decided to sit outside upstairs. We ordered cheese curds with hot honey to share, wedge salads for each of us, and I got a mermaid lemonade to drink and shrimp tacos for dinner. To start, that was way too much food for us in one meal. When they say a salad, they mean a full salad (that left each of us plenty to eat for lunch the next day). The cheese curds were really good. I liked the added bit of spice and sweetness from the hot honey (Imagine tiny chunks of mozzarella instead of sticks). For dinner, I wanted something light so I ordered the shrimp tacos. Overall, they were pretty good, I wish there was a bit more flavor to them since they only had shrimp, corn, beans, lettuce, and crema. It seemed like something needed to be seasoned more but it wasn’t bad at all.
I do have to say that a table near us ordered the pretzel appetizer which was huge and came out hanging and that is definitely something I’m ordering next time. Overall, it was a great atmosphere, tons of parking, and the service was fantastic!
