Ashvegas commenter: Universal Joint in West Asheville to open this week

6 Comments

1. 

   kristina August 28, 2009

   hey, I’m commenting a few days late, but I live in WA and braved the crowd on opening night. Yum! The Veggie Burger rocked. Wedge on tap. Friendly staff. We had a great time and look forward to many more at UJ. Two thumbs up. Best part? We walked home.

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2. 

   Jeff August 19, 2009

   Ashe ~ Universal Joint opened Tuesday night and the place was jam-packed with curious locals. I ran into about 15 West Ashevillians I knew including several neighborhood business folk. I was curious to find out if it felt like I was eating in a busy intersection. I’ll have to wait to find that out because there were no tables left outside. Interior is sparse and industrial, yet interesting. Juke box had good stuff. I did not see a pinball machine, but perhaps it was removed to make room for the crowd. They opened the garage doors up which was nice.

   Being the first night officially open, I will cut them plenty of slack on service. The menu looks like it intends to give Burgermeister a run for their money. Same stuff. They have about 9 or so beers on tap as listed on a board on the wall. However nowhere were beer prices listed… not on the board, not on the menu. When the check came I found out that draft pints were $4 and $5, depending on the flavor. For food I opted for a gyro which included cheesy fries for $7. Not a bad price, but it was about half the size of a typical Greek restaurant gyro. And it was cold. Again, I’ll cut them slack because it was day one and they were slammed. The new staff was working their tails off.

   It was neat to see a finished place on that corner. There was a lot of foot traffic on both sides of the street that night. As much as I’ve seen since Halloween. Most people parked at Wachovia, which is closed by dinner time.

   Overall, I’ll probably go back. But I still think WestVille Pub is my home away from home. And I think Burgermeister has them beat on both ambiance, food and value.

   Your mileage may vary.

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3. 

   Jeff August 17, 2009

   It’s a neat building at the major corner of Westville. I’m excited about it’s improved appearance. I do have ask though– where the hell are they going to park people?

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4. 

   WA resident August 17, 2009

   Hopefully this will set the bar for all the other pubs in West Asheville.

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5. 

   Steve in NC August 17, 2009

   As a neighbor, it’s been great to see them improve the place. Nice landscaping. The guys that used to work (well, mostly sit around and smoke!) in the old repair shop were really helpful and didn’t charge much, but (talk about living in the past) they didn’t work on foreign cars. I wonder how the new folks got the tobacco resin off the walls. I can’t wait to visit the new joint and hoist one in honor of the old crew that used to patch my tires.

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6. 

   Jennifer S. August 17, 2009

   Yeah, I live off Haywood, there’s a UJ sign up front now!

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