3615 Mount Holly-Huntersville Road
More info about the restaurant

A restaurant needs something to drive customers to it. That could be the food, the service, the ambience or the prices.

So what would drive customers to Bull & Barrister, a massive eatery at Mount Holly-Huntersville Road and N.C. 16? It's got a big menu – burgers, steaks, chicken, 18 beers on tap and 38 beers by the bottle. The things we tried were OK, but none would make me drive out of my way.

By sticking to sandwiches, appetizers and burgers, you should be able to get out for less than $25 for two, although we ventured into the chicken/seafood and dessert side of the menu and overshot our mark.

Bull & Barrister is a quasi-sports bar, with TVs (32 in all, including a 60-inch high-definition set) hanging from every possible space. During football and basketball season, this would be cool.

We checked the menu on the Web before going, so we planned to order burgers, which were all $6.99 that day. We tried the burger wrap, a 1/2-pound burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, cheddar and Monterey Jack in a flour tortilla. Using a tortilla instead of a bun made for a lighter meal. The house-made fried potato chips were a keeper, crisp and not greasy.

Smothered chicken was a new entrée the restaurant was promoting. A grilled chicken breast was smothered (not an exaggeration) by barbecue sauce, bacon, two slices of ham, cheddar and Monterey Jack, tomato and green onions. After unearthing the chicken breast, I found it was well-prepared. The other components were also good, but there were just too many of them, especially the ham. Creamy coleslaw and slender, liberally salted French fries rounded out the plate.

For dessert, we tried the brownie sundae – chunks of warm brownie, vanilla ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream. The brownie was a bit gummy, but was fine other than that.

The final bill, including tax and tip, came to $29.85.