The Neighborhood Table and The BAH - North Kingstown, RI - Review
Walking into The Neighborhood Table and The BAH feels like stepping into a neighborhood spot that can't quite decide if it's a cozy diner, sports bar, or art gallery with a peculiar fascination for ovine-inspired fine art. The result is charmingly schizophrenic – a warm, wood-dominant space where Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" has been replaced by "Sheep with a Pearl Earring" watching over your Detroit-style pizza or steak sandwich.
The restaurant unfolds across several distinct areas: a main dining room bathed in natural light from rows of windows with nautical blue trim; a bar area (The BAH) with purple accent lighting and tall metal stools; and a middle section featuring dark wainscoting, wooden tables, and a lineup of TVs showing the games of the day.
What ties these spaces together is the restaurant's unexpected gallery of sheep-headed classic art parodies. From "The Scream" to Van Eyck's "Arnolfini Portrait" to "American Gothic" to the "Mona Lisa," no masterpiece is safe from being "sheepified." The sheep theme cleverly plays on the restaurant's name - "The BAH" - a punny nod to sheep sounds and the stereotypical RI pronunciation of "bar." It's the kind of quirk that makes you appreciate the little touches that make you love the place.
We arrived as the second stop on the second leg of Rhode Island's "Food Fights Sandwich Showdown." Our haul: a meatball sandwich, Mediterranean wrap, and a Detroit-style pepperoni pizza.
The Detroit-style pizza was the standout. This rectangular, deeper-dish pizza arrives with a buttery, crisp crust that provides the foundation for a sauce-forward experience. Unlike many pizzerias where cheese and toppings take center stage, here the sauce is the prima donna – bright, rich, and commanding attention with every bite. The Wisconsin brick cheese, supposedly a hallmark of Detroit-style pizza, remained a silent partner in the arrangement, present but not particularly assertive. The pepperoni cups crisp at the edges, creating little pools of savory oil that meld with the sauce. It was very tasty.
The Mediterranean wrap brought a refreshing contrast. House-made hummus with pronounced lemon acidity formed the base, complemented by feta that added briny punch. The mixed greens were fresh and plentiful, and the wrap itself was soft and pleasant to chew – exactly what you want when you're trying to contain a garden's worth of vegetables. There's something to be said for a kitchen that makes its own hummus rather than scooping it from a plastic tub.
Unfortunately, the meatball sandwich didn't reach the same heights. The texture was oddly reminiscent of pâté – a smooth, uniform consistency that felt off for something as rustic as a meatball. Crispy onions tried valiantly to add textural interest but only emphasized the odd consistency. The sandwich suffered from dryness, crying out for more sauce to offset what was otherwise a parched eating experience. The sauce from the pizza would have put this over the top. The bread, however, was quite good – sturdy enough to contain its contents without disintegrating, yet giving in appropriately to every bite.
The Neighborhood Table and The BAH occupies a very comfortable middle ground – not destination-worthy but would be a favorite for locals seeking a nice meal and a cold drink in a fun, friendly atmosphere.
