Review: The Alumni House

The Buffalo Bill chicken sandwich. (Credit: Leah Starnes)

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Bar review: The Alumni House

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The Alumni House is a neighborhood sports-themed restaurant and bar located in the bustling area of Ridgeland. It is an area classic and a sports fan’s dream.

Imagine dining with a flat screen television at your table, huge projection screens lining the walls and over 100 televisions strategically placed around the entire establishment including the restrooms—no doubt about it, you are in sports heaven.

The food: Appetizers—on the menu under “Start Your Engines”—include a variety of wings, cheese fries, fried dill pickles, Cajun popcorn, chicken quesadillas, onion rings, chili and what I sampled, seafood spinach queso—which was quite good and filled with crawfish and shrimp. Cheese sticks, nachos, fried mushrooms, buffalo chicken tenders, fried crab claws, and gumbo round out a perfect starter menu.

“In the Rough” is their salad portion of the menu, featuring huge portions with a Cobb salad, mahi salad, smoked chicken, fried shrimp, catfish, taco, chicken salad, or a crawfish spinach salad. Their delicious homemade dressings complement the offerings quite well and are a great standalone entrée especially for a lighter lunch meal.

Ready to rumble with some great burgers and sandwiches? Then check out the “Inside the lines” menu section with burgers with cheese, mushrooms, black and blue, cordon bleu chicken and ham, or the Buffalo Bill fried chicken breast. Be careful of the heat as their wings and chicken can bring a bit of sweat to your brow if you enjoy spice. They also have Hawaiian chicken, BBQ, patty melt, smoked chicken salad, grilled ham and cheese, and a chicken bacon melt. Their great po-boys are served up on fresh Gambino French bread and are divine, with offerings of beef tenders, fried shrimp, catfish, crawfish and oyster, or the El Duke, which consists of pork, ham, onions, and pepper jack.

The “That’s a Wrap” portion of their menu speaks for itself as their wraps come with a side and are definitely a test drive. Offerings include buffalo shrimp, grilled chicken, a southwest with a good blackened chicken touch, and their homemade chicken salad.

For the really hungry, check out the “Home Field Advantage” section of the menu featuring plentiful platters of fried catfish, fried shrimp, fried crawfish tails, fried oysters, crawfish etouffee, mahi mahi, smoked chicken, Caribbean chicken, breast of chicken, chopped sirloin, beef kabobs, teriyaki sirloin or a filet. All entrees are served up with a choice of two side items to go along with your meal.

Desserts are called, appropriately enough, “Extra Innings” and are a nice way to end a great meal and consist of a brownie with ice cream, peach cobbler, southern style cheesecake or just a little ice cream with a topping.

On weekdays for lunch you can catch up on all the sporting events while feasting on a great menu special served with two veggies, bread and beverage for a very reasonable $7.95. You can check out their daily specials in house or on line unless you are a regular and have lunch on a special day.

The drink: A full service bar with extremely great surprises and selections is exactly what’s in store at Alumni House. They have nightly drink specials, a wide array of specialty drinks, happy hour and a huge selection of domestic and import beers.

If you are ready for a real different treat, check out their Goal Post beer cooler or pylon carafe that will hold 120 ounces and 80 ounces of delicious cold beer without becoming watered down by having special cooling systems built in. They will gladly bring your mugs and coolers to you for a whole evening of sports watching and nonstop cold beverage drinking.

Of course being a full service establishment there are plenty of wines, mixed drinks, and frozen treats for the adult drinker. They also serve iced tea, soft drinks, and juices for the underage or your DD.

The scene: As you walk in the door you enter into a sports paradise. A nice size bar sits in the middle with bar seating where you will find plenty of televisions as well as video games. There are plenty of booth seating around the bar area as well.

Step up a couple of stairs and you are in a huge room full of tables for two, booths or pull it all together for a huge party and watch television right at your table. Otherwise just look on every wall or up toward the ceiling and there are even more televisions and most of them will be tuned into the game of the day or night with a few showing other sporting events of interest. Two huge projection screens surrounded by smaller flat screens can be found on several walls, so no matter where you dine, a screen is not far away.

The sports lounge area is the most unique part of the building where you can sit back in a large leather recliner, have your food and beverage delivered to you and put on a television tray just like you were at home, but being waited on hand and foot. It is definitely a feel good and relaxed experience with plenty of good food and drink.

The bottom line: Looking for a place to meet up with friends or family and enjoy a great day or evening of football, baseball, NASCAR or whatever the seasonal sport is? The Alumni House is the place to be.

Good fun, a relaxing atmosphere, and an abundance of libation is on tap for you while you cheer on your favorite team. However, if you are not a sports nut, just do some people watching and check out the intense game watching for you are definitely going to enjoy the experience and want to come back for more.

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