Dining and drinking review: Abby's on Broadway

Abby’s On Broadway is located at 743 Broadway

Review and photos by Ted Broussard

Wine bar/bistro in name only
Abby’s On Broadway is one of those places that I’ve seen for years but never felt overly inspired to visit. On a busy theatre night at the Pantages, you might see what looks like a crowded, popular restaurant, but on other nights, you may find only one or two tables filled. I always wondered why I hadn’t heard more people talk about going there, in its prime theatre district location. Now I know.

Abby’s bills itself as a wine bar but I’m not feeling it. While the wine shop business next door gets rave reviews - Abby herself is very helpful and welcoming - the bistro is a different story. The space itself is set in one of the older, beautiful brick buildings downtown but it has a tired, dusty feel to it that misses the mark of a warm, inviting bistro. Bookshelves of wine bottles dot the walls, tables are lined up in a couple of rows, and the dishes on the pre-set tables had enough smudges to make us wonder if they had been used already. The entire menu is written on a chalkboard with a very limited selection of appetizers, sandwiches (only served before 4:30 p.m.), and pizza, as well as two pasta entrée selections.

Perhaps our biggest surprise of the evening was when the server asked us if we’d like a beverage. Given that it was our first time there we thought we had missed the wine menu, so we asked about it, only to learn that there is no wine menu. They have a house white and a house red and you can walk around the restaurant and see if there are any bottles you’re interested in for the price written right on the bottle. Clue number one that this is no typical wine bar. We did try a glass of each of the house wines and thought they were very good for the $6 price.

Given our limited choice of dinner entrees, we tried both of the pasta dishes served with a house salad. The greens were overall fresh and crisp although I did have to pick out a couple of wilted leaves that someone should have caught in the kitchen. The tomatoes were flavorless and could have been the poster child for why local and seasonal is such a big trend these days. Both pasta dishes were pretty good. The spaghetti and meatballs dish was tasty and flavorful -- nothing remarkable, but good. Since there was no description on the chalkboard about the Meatball Rosa dish, I asked the server and learned that it is one of their most popular choices -- penne pasta with a pinkish cream sauce, mushrooms, onions and green bell peppers with meatballs. The dish was actually very good, quite rich but good flavor. I thought the meatballs were still cold in the middle, begging the question if they were just microwaved quickly before dropping them in the sauce. The green peppers were very crispy/crunchy, which I actually liked but again made me wonder how much of the dish was prepared in advance.

Our server was attentive and seemed to actually care that I wasn’t eating all of my dinner entrée. She apologized appropriately when I told her about the cold meatballs and she dutifully offered to tell the kitchen to make sure it didn’t happen again. I was satisfied with that response and gave her big points for being interested enough to ask more about the food.

Overall, we thought the food was good but not good enough to make it a regular destination. My guess is that they don’t do a lot of scratch preparation and most of the items are easily thrown together or cooked ahead and microwaved. I’m still curious about their approach to selling wine at this wine bar but maybe the big crowds at the Pantages holds them over. If you’re looking for a downtown wine bar with excellent food, I’d stick with El Tufo on St. Helens. In my humble view, a wine bar needs to be all about great wines and great food. Abby’s on Broadway just didn't live up to that name for me.