A new pizza pub in Mobile’s Spring Hill neighborhood is drawing crowds eager for wood-fired pies and a laid-back, walkable hangout, but a recent visit found the kitchen still working out some early growing pains.
Cortlandt’s Pub opened this year at 4356 Old Shell Road, the latest project from restaurateur Cortlandt Inge, who is best known locally for more upscale dining concepts. The pivot to a casual neighborhood pub built around artisanal pizza, scratch-made pasta, soups and salads marks a departure for Inge, but it fills a gap that residents of the 36608 ZIP code and surrounding Midtown streets have long noticed: a genuine walkable pub where regulars can grab food with their drinks.
The space itself centers on a long bar backed by a pair of televisions, with dining areas on either side of the room. Guests who visited recently said the interior still feels like a work in progress, with one side of the dining room noticeably more finished and decorated than the other.
On the menu, the appeal is clear. The Hook Up, a red-sauce pizza loaded with pepperoni, mushrooms, Italian sausage and jalapeno and served with a side of extra sauce, earned praise for its bold, well-balanced flavor. The Kicken Chicken pizza, a white-sauce pie topped with chicken breast, Roma tomatoes, roasted onions and mushrooms and finished with lemon zest, basil and Parmesan, offered a lighter contrast for diners who steer away from red sauce. Both pizzas run $17.95. A mixed green salad built on romaine and baby greens with Roma tomatoes, mushrooms, bell pepper, croutons and a house-made tomato-citrus vinaigrette also stood out as a strong starter.
Where the experience faltered, according to a recent dinner visit, was pacing and communication from the kitchen. Diners reported waiting roughly 45 minutes before being able to place an order, then learning that advertised menu items, including the soup of the day and a chicken breast with gorgonzola cream sauce over angel hair pasta, were not actually available that night. The first pizza did not arrive until nearly an hour and a half after the table was seated, and salads and pizzas arrived out of the order they were requested. A manager told diners the pasta is made from scratch and had not turned out well that evening, so it was pulled rather than served.
Diners also noted some smaller service hiccups, including a to-go menu that did not match the printed dine-in menu, which added to a sense that the restaurant’s operations were still being ironed out during its early weeks.
None of the complaints centered on the quality of the food itself, only its availability and the pace at which it reached the table. For a restaurant so new, those kinds of early service issues are not unusual, and they are the sort of thing many new restaurants work through in their first months of operation as staff and kitchen systems settle in.
For now, Cortlandt’s Pub offers wood-fired pizza, soups, salads and sandwiches at 4356 Old Shell Road in Mobile. Diners interested in trying it are encouraged to expect a busy dining room and to build some flexibility into their evening, particularly on weeknights when the kitchen may still be finding its rhythm.