Rascals Tavern

Located at 2270 Golden Gate Drive in the Golden Gate Shopping Center in Greensboro, Rascals Tavern serves upscale pub fare for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. There is a full bar, limited outdoor seating, and a brunch on Sundays.

The brainchild of owner/chef Jessica Borgione, Rascals Tavern is an inspired blend of old and new. The name and the ambiance (low lighting and lots of wood) recall an earlier era, but the menu offers modern twists on many familiar dishes. It’s a concept that holds a lot of appeal though the execution isn’t seamless.

My wife and I visited for Sunday brunch and found Rascals to be not quite full yet plenty lively. We were able to snag a table though there seemed to be plenty of room around the bar. While Rascals lunch and dinner menus offered quite a few tantalizing options – this is one of the few places in the area to offer Scotch eggs – the brunch menu was considerably more compact. Fortunately, it didn’t lack for appeal. Benedicts, hashes, and biscuits n gravy represented the savory side while French toast and blueberry pancakes accounted for the sweets.

We opted for a beef hash and a fried green tomato benedict, respectively. Both dishes were generously portioned and looked great. The benedict combined the expected poached egg and hollandaise with a fried green tomato, greens, Italian salami…and a blueberry reduction, of all things. The last component seemed puzzling, but it proved to be a saving grace as it balanced the saltiness of the salami quite well. The dish was a perfect blend of creamy, crunchy, salty, and sweet. The hash featured well-seasoned beef and crisp potatoes. Though tasty, it was rather dry, and attempts to remedy that led to a ten-minute wait for a small cup of ranch. Our poor server was hustling nonstop from table to table during that time, and at least at the time of our visit, Rascals appeared to be seriously understaffed.

That aside, service up to that point was fine, pricing isn’t too much of a reach ($12 and $10 for our two dishes), and food quality is a definite strength. I don’t get out to northeastern Greensboro much, but Rascals has enough character to make it worth another visit.