Broke into the old apartment, I mean bar..

Back in the day (ie last year), a bunch of us from work used to frequent a bar called Field's Old Trail Tavern. It was a tiny place, covered in wood paneling from the '70's. However, the food was great - classic deep-fried American cuisine, the prices were cheap, and we became pretty friendly with the owners. So we were pretty sad when they announced they were selling the place. It took a while, but eventually the deal went through, and the place closed for remodeling.

So a few months later it reopened as Govan's Old Trail Tavern. One of my coworkers and I finally made it there a few weeks ago, and it's just not quite the same.

I guess part of it is tradition - we tend to cling to the things that we know, even when they change for the better. I mean, how else can I express frustration that they cleaned up the place, made it brighter, installed a plasma TV behind the bar, and installed bathroom doors that actually close securely? But those changes made the atmosphere different.

But not all the changes are arguably for the better. The food wasn't as good - I got what I would normally get there - chicken cheese steak. The Field's chicken cheese steak had giant chunks of white-meat chicken. The govans cheese steak used shredded bits of chicken. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good. The fries were still pretty good, but soft drinks no longer come in those nifty mason jars.

But the biggest change is no Fields running it. The new owners are from Nepal. They didn't strike me as super-friendly, and I'm not sure how much of it was the language barrier and how much was that they just didn't like us. Part of the appeal of a neighborhood bar over a bigger chain restaurant is the atmosphere, the relationship between the patrons and each other and the owner. Hell, we even had people from other tables get involved in our conversations. I can't see that happening, and not just because (at 6pm on a Thursday night) we were the only people at a table (and there were maybe three people at the bar).

So, umm, anyone know any good friendly restaurants/bars in the Govan's area?