W Xyz Bar, Aloft Hotel, Milbrae

3/30/14

After an event next door at the Westin SFO, we walked across the street the w xyz bar inside the hotel Aloft.  It was only 11 p.m. or so but it was last call for my husband and me. One more drink for us, and if we were lucky, a little bite to eat.

Totally got lucky! We walked in and the fun reception area led to a large, open room with lots of seating, a pool table, and a bar with pulsing lights on its surface.  The bartender didn't take long to notice us and brought some menus and water (at our request). He wasn't really paying attention to us and missed the beer that I ordered with the waters. We finally got his attention again but he was never really that attentive.

I ordered a $9 Caesar salad (by coincidence, my second Caesar of the day), and husband reluctantly ordered the $10 cheese plate.  The last time we ordered a cheese plate was at a beer place in Walnut Creek and we would have preferred the pre-packaged single-sliced American to what we received there.  However, this plate came out with a variety of delicious cheeses, both hard and soft. It had a couple types of crackers and a handful of red grapes. Definitely better than what we were expecting.

My salad was also good, minus the boxed garlic croutons on top. Croutons are so easy to make and last a couple days.... I just don't understand why any business wouldn't take the 10 minutes to season and bake up their leftover bread.  Also, I asked for hot sauce and I was given three packets rather than a bottle. Even though it's a pretty small amount of waste, I feel this is really wasteful. Why put all those tiny packages into a landfill, rather than just buying a Costco sized glass bottle that can be recycled? (Okay, this granola-hugger will stop there, but... seriously?!)

Overall, we were really glad they served food late into the night. We finished our plates and my drink and headed back to the Westin for bed. A friendlier bartender could have talked us in to another round, but it was probably for the best that ours was too busy with the group at the other side of the bar.