Abington Ale House
Abington, MA

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Share an order of our secret chicken dip. Spicy, thick, three cheese dip with chunks of chicken served with celery sticks, carrot sticks and tortilla chips
The Ale House Prime Burger
8 oz prime beef burger topped with sliced beefsteak tomatoes, Bermuda onion and crisp iceberg lettuce
The Ale House Turkey Burger
8 oz of fresh ground turkey, hand-formed and grilled to your liking, served with green leaf lettuce, chipotle mayonnaise and sliced beefsteak tomatoes

 

An eclectically decorated, family-style restaurant. Even though it was the beginning of lunch hours, we were definitely on the early side and the place was practically empty — people were really starting to arrive about the time we left. I am going to a bridal shower at this place in a few months, so this trip had the double advantage of now I know where it is and how to get there. Have GPS will travel, but, still.

We tried to order onion strings and fries with our burgers. But, unfortunately, the fryolator was broken. This does not bode well for the Friday night dinner or Saturday lunch and dinner crowds if they can’t get it fixed before then. So we ended up having side salads (very modestly sized but good) instead of fries with our burgers, and reordering the appetizer. Buffalo Chicken Dip puts the chicken and the Buffalo sauce in to the melted cheese dip, making a particularly spicy and savoury queso con pollo dip. Served with mounds of red, blue, and white tortilla chips and celery and carrot sticks. Surprisingly delicious, even if I thought the chicken chunks were particularly large and in order to make a modest mouthful, I had to fork-cut each chunk in to about three smaller pieces, herd on to a chip, and top with an extra drizzle of sauce. The tenderness of the chicken is of course attested to in the fact that I could cut it with a fork. Even when I couldn’t manage the second half of my burger, I managed to continue munching, crunching, and dipping tortilla chips. Not filling at all, but satisfying to snack on.

Musing that the pepperjack burger might be too spicy, Meghan asked for chipotle mayo be added to her regular hamburger. I’m not sure about her experience, but the smear of chipotle mayo on my own turkey burger was so light as to barely impart a flavour to the burger. Better than being smothered, in my opinion, but I could have stood for something a little less subtle.

My own turkey burger actually far surpassed other chain-burger-joint turkey burgers. Plump and firm, delicately spiced to bring forward the flavour of the meat, I was very very pleased with my choice. Especially when my stomach is acting up and being “delicate,” which it was today, I do not have an easy time digesting red meat. None of the salads really jumped off the menu and appealed to me, so I decided to take a chance on the turkey burger. I am glad I did and given the opportunity, I would order it again. The patty was so thick I could barely open my mouth wide enough to encompass both it and the bun, and in size it certainly stood up to the hamburger patty (sometimes I notice that turkey burger patties can be appreciably thinner than their mooing counterparts).

The only thing that could have improved the plate before me (I couldn’t even miss the fries, really) would have been a big, fat, ice-cold kosher dill pickle spear. Or a dill pickle half.

With a dining room, a patio, and a generous-sized bar area for seating, the Abington Ale House can accommodate families,co-workers, groups of friends, and couples young and old for a meal or a night out in a comfortable, welcoming, homey setting.