Restaurant review: Miller's Ale House aims to be 'your neighborhood bar and restaurant'

The population of Chattanooga is 52.7 percent female, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The population of Miller's Ale House, a newly opened sports bar near Hamilton Place mall, is 70 to 80 percent male - on a Monday evening, at least.

Located in what was formerly Logan's Roadhouse on Gunbarrel Road, Miller's opened in late August as part of an increasing trickle of Tennessee locations for the Florida-based chain. Miller's bills itself as "your neighborhood bar and restaurant" and "your place to watch sports," and apparently Chattanooga already agrees.

THE MENU

At first glance, the menu was more versatile than I'd expected based on previous sports bar visits. After a second look, it's more or less what you'd expect from an all-American place, albeit with a bit more of an identity crisis than usual, which means there's something for everyone - from the signature breaded Zingers in one of 16 sauces ($9.99), to the Creole jambalaya ($12.99), to the flatiron steak fajitas ($12.49), to the plate of North Atlantic lobster tails ($19.99).

Though, on even closer inspection, I can now see the maritime influence of Miller's homeland, which lends the menu a high-end feel at prices lower than you might expect.

Osso bucco is a traditional Italian dish that isn't found on too many American menus.

THE SPACE

The restaurant can accommodate 371 patrons, and at 6:30 p.m. on a Monday, there was a 20- to 25-minute wait. The bar (not bar area) offers the only open seating, so my boyfriend and I pulled up two of the last chairs available.

The bar area is separate from the main dining room. A lounge section also abuts the other side, the largely open space interrupted by a few long high-top tables for host seating, and a large couch in front of a working fireplace. Full roll-up doors look onto the parking lot.

The overall space echoes the contemporary American aesthetic of the menu: gray tile floors and dark wood accents with a slight rustic edge overall. Sports memorabilia tastefully lines the walls, capped with an army of gleaming, new, big-screen TVs - some 50 in all, according to our bartender. I counted 20 in the bar area alone. They beamed with various sports matches.

"I don't remember the last time I saw poker on TV," my boyfriend, Jon, said before all the TVs were eventually flipped over to Monday Night Football.

THE ORDER

I asked our server for her recommendations: the Southwestern chicken egg rolls ($7.99), blackened chicken breast salad ($9.99) and Cajun chicken linguine ($11.99). And the osso bucco ($14.99), one of the two bartenders chimed in.

Due to its surprise place on the menu, my boyfriend and I both tried to claim the osso bucco, a marinated, slow-cooked pork shank served with seasonal vegetables and mashed potatoes with gravy. So I then decided to go for the Cajun chicken linguine, featuring a blackened chicken breast with sauteed mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, scallions, spicy Parmesan cream sauce and served with garlic bread. But my boyfriend stopped me. Too boring, he said.

In the end, we opted for the osso bucco, blackened chicken salad, and Mediterranean flatbread offering feta, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, Kalamata olives, marinated artichoke hearts and arugula ($7.99).

THE FOOD

I was pleasantly surprised by the flatbread. The base had a unique cracker-like quality that didn't get soggy from the toppings. There were ample amounts of most of the ingredients throughout, though I could've gone for a little more arugula, one of my favorite flavor agents. Jon complained that the vegetables should've been cut smaller, but Monday follows Sunday and he's a Titans fan, so I took that with a grain of salt.

The osso bucco turned heads, but it wasn't as grand as I'd hoped. Osso bucco is typically a veal shank braised in a rich wine-and-veggie sauce. While the meat was tender and had a comforting stewed taste, it lacked real richness. The side of brown gravy, however, delivered, and the mashed potatoes were creamy enough that I could have eaten them on their own. I probably should've just saved the gravy for my meat.

The vegetables, a "blend" of baby carrots with a few zucchini wedges and snow peas, were mostly undercooked, though I didn't mind. The snap of the carrots reminded me that I was doing something good for myself and atoning for my mashed potatoes and gravy.

It was the blackened chicken salad that surprisingly was the star of the evening. It features field greens topped with blackened chicken strips, black bean-corn salsa, pico de gallo, Monterey jack and cheddar cheeses, tortilla straws, garlic-lime crema and balsamic vinaigrette. Chicken salads are often pretty basic. This one was complex enough that my boyfriend, in front of whom that particular dish had been placed, only gave me a few bites.

THE SERVICE

Our bartender was friendly and fast, mixing check-ins with casual conversation. I learned that most of the staff had come from other area restaurants; some of them from the Logan's that had stood there until being shuttered in April.

Everyone with whom we interacted not only seemed experienced, but also well-versed in their new establishment. It was our bartender who told me that the brand had started in Florida and was beginning to branch out along the East Coast, and she didn't hesitate over my steady stream of questions about the menu or Chattanooga's locale. She flitted around the bar efficiently when not helping us, offering people bags for their stacks of to-go boxes, washing dishes, and pouring mostly one or another of the 48 beers on tap, though the bar menu boasts cocktails ranging from fratty (Fire Apple Shooter) to flirty (watermelon margarita).

THE VERDICT

I do not often find myself in East Brainerd, preferring the homegrown vibe of downtown. But if I did, I'd probably end up back at Miller's at some point. Especially if I had a hankering for a chicken salad. Or if I were single.

Contact Jennifer Bardoner at jbardoner@timesfreepress.com or 432-757-6579.