Mark’s Score 8.7
I have avoided rating businesses and writing reviews of national chains. This blog is about Delmarva, its people, culture, and local businesses. However, this blog is also about enjoying all the services this region has to offer. So, on occasion, I will rate and review a national chain when I think it contributes to the experience of living or visiting Delmarva. Though Voodoo Brewing is a national chain it is a significant addition to the culinary corridor developing along South Salisbury Blvd.
Voodoo is an employee-owned company founded in 2005 in Meadville, PA. It has now expanded to over 25 locations across the country, including its new location here in Salisbury. The Salisbury location is a franchise co-owned by native Heather Wieland. The local franchise carries a full line of Voodoo beers including IPAs, lagers, stouts, sours, and Belgian wheats as well as tap beer from local producers. They also serve an extensive range of “pub food.”
I had been eagerly waiting for their opening ever since they put up the Voodoo sign last January. I usually get coffee at PJs and at least once a week, since January I would walk two doors down to monitor their progress. There was a while in early March when it looked like they would open at any moment but then progress seemed to stall. Just when I was losing hope, they quickly completed the final preparations and opened on March 22nd.
The décor is vaguely industrial, lots of pipes, lots of grey and high ceilings with floor to ceiling windows. I guess it is fitting for a brewery. Though I am not sure about the railroad facing covered picnic area in the back.
I wanted to visit Voodoo a couple of times before I rated it and wrote a review. My first visit was during their first week. I give new restaurants a little leeway as they work out their systemic kinks. But that leeway was not required in this case. I ordered the wild berry lime sour and a bowl of their mussels. The mussels were some of the best mussels I have ever eaten on the shore. I ordered the lime sour because I thought the tartness would go well with the mussels and it did. The second time I ordered the turkey sandwich, which frankly I found ordinary, and a glass of their Belgian wheat beer. I lived in Belgium for a number of years, so I know Belgian wheat beers. It was as good as any wheat beer I have had in Brussels, come to think of it, so where the mussels.
The last few times I have driven bye Voodoo I noticed they have been fairly busy. I am not surprised; they may not be local but they are a worthy addition to South Salisbury’s culinary corridor. If you go (and you ought to) order the mussels and Belgian wheat beer. You will be glad that you did.
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