Tryst is a really cool place. There's no place I'd rather hang out on Atlantic Avenue; either just to people watch, to mingle with the mixed crowd, or to watch a game and have a beer. It's the place to be for happy hour and on weekend evenings.
Inside, Tryst is like an English Pub, with eclectic wooden furniture of all different sizes. A bar runs front to back and allows for good mingling and ballgame watching. You do get a lot of bumping from the staff on crowded nights.
On warm nights, there's a large outdoor patio. Actually, it's there on cool nights also.
They call themselves a "gastropub", which is becoming one of the most overused words in the industry. Their menu doesn't break the pub mold the way The Office does; their offerings here are the standard fare. I think they're trying to claim that their food is better than bar pub food, which loosely is what gastropub means. But there's really nothing special about the food or the menu here.
At lunch, they have their 10-5 menu, with selections of appetizers and desserts for $5 and entrees for $10. I opted for the fish and chips.
Our server had recommended the fish tacos, which were mahi based and I didn't realize that the fish and chips was mahi as the menu doesn't specify. Mahi tends to be too moist for this dish, and this version proved that point. The batter was nicely done and just the right crispness; but the fish didn't work the way Cod does; its just not quite firm enough. They serve it with malt vinegar; I'm a tartar sauce guy and they were happy to fill my request. The fries were dusted with "smoked sea salt" and were good if not particularly memorable.
My lunch mate chose the "Free Range Chicken" with heirloom tomatoes, mixed lettuces (or greens as most would say), feta cheese and pine nuts.
There's no way to know if it was really free range chicken; but the tomatoes weren't heirloom. The chicken was a good portion and well-seasoned; the tomato ripe and firm; the lettuce could have been crisper and a bit more goat cheese would have been appreciated.
I like Tryst; it's a great place to hang out and the pub menu has a lot of nice choices. But I wouldn't call it a Gastropub; it's a nice pub with pretty good food.