Emma G.
Yelp
This was a very solid find. My mom and I came here for Thanksgiving Eve last week; this place had gotten on my radar months ago for its square pies and cocktail prowess, and I noticed it was a pretty short drive from Redding (where we were celebrating Thanksgiving). We'd both scouted it ahead of time and knew exactly where to find it, but I could see a newbie easily missing its subtle basement location, as the restaurant above it (Marygold's) definitely commands more attention from the outside.
It's not a huge space but Good Old Days definitely maximizes what it has. I'd guess there are about 10-12 tables in there, not including the seats at the bar, and somehow they also managed to squeeze in a musical act and plenty of kitzchy hipster decor (there's an almost obligatory Golden Girls painting on the wall). I was a LITTLE apprehensive about the musical act, but it was actually pretty tolerable, volume-wise, likely helped by the almost purely acoustic set. And they played a Dolly Parton cover, so how can that be a negative?
We were seated at one of the high tops in the bar section (my mother found the seating comfortable, which is saying something), which was pretty close to the music but we could still hear each other with a little effort. I ordered the plain square pie ($20), along with the Adulting 3.0 cocktail ($14), which included several types of berries and vodka. The square pie was very good, and I can see how this place has developed its reputation for same - the crust is crispy without being charred/burned, and the sauce was on the sweeter side and pretty smooth, which is a selling point for me. I would have liked to see a LITTLE more cheese. With these types of pies, there's definitely an expectation that the sauce is going to be the dominant cast member, but it was often more of a 90/10 split instead of what I would have preferred, which was 70/30. The cheese was so minimal I wasn't able to really distinguish it at all from the rest of the pie, which suggests to me a few extra sprinkles of cheese could have gone a long way here.
I was a big fan of the cocktail - I don't always agree with hipsters on their musical choices, but they have absolutely mastered mixology. If I see a beard and a plaid shirt behind the bar, I'm going for it. Perfectly blended, and tasted like a deliciously boozy sorbet bar. I had a second one without hesitation. Also a nice touch - the martini glass it was served in was frosted, very similar to what Friendly's does with their sundae dishes.
Once we sat down, I thought the service was perfectly fine. The menu warned that ordering the deep dish pies was a 25-minute prep time, but when you have a nice cocktail, the time flies by. Our waitress was very friendly and stopped by pretty regularly to check in - I think they could have used one more person on that particular night, but we didn't encounter anything egregious in that regard.
The only real issue we had here was prior to being seated, and I think this could be remedied with a little additional management/training. We didn't make a reservation because I had no idea how long it was going to take to get up to that area after work on Thanksgiving Eve. As a result, there was a wait time. Perfectly understandable. The hostess told us it would be about a 20- to 25-minute wait. Okay, fair. It actually turned out to be 50 to 55 minutes. Obviously you can't accurately predict how long dining parties are going to linger, etc., but as a general rule, absolutely overestimate than underestimate. Beyond that, when we finally decided to just go in at the 50-minute mark and stay until seated (we had been waiting in the parking lot), there was no sense of urgency from the staff in cleaning off the recently vacated tables, and there were several. One waitress decided to roll up some napkins by the front, and another was just looking at some papers by the lectern area. One waiter was slowly/methodically cleaning up tables, but it took another several minutes before the hostess decided to clean up the table we ended up at. I think a lot of that was just lack of awareness, but if you know have customers who have been waiting for close to an hour, get them seated. So hopefully they tighten up in that department.
The food/drinks are very, very good. I'll definitely come back but I'd likely hesitate on a busier night like this one.