Mallory's in Bryn Mawr seems to have difficulty deciding whether it is a bar or a restaurant.
The place opened in April and seems to be searching for the best of both worlds.
Downstairs is a small, darkened bar with green-shaded lights suspended over the bar, and there is a limited menu.
An upstairs room decorated vaguely like an English club serves light dinners, but the service is so lackadaisical that the room seems more like a bar than a restaurant.
The menu has a dozen reasonably appealing entrees and an equal number of ''finger food" appetizers, but nothing to get excited about. Still, if your expectations are not too high, dinner can be reasonably satisfying.
Five large mushroom caps ($3.95) filled with creamy, shredded crab imperial sparked with chopped green pepper was a good appetizer. Buffalo wings (also $3.95) were 18 meaty pieces of chicken in a deceptively tangy barbecue sauce that grew in intensity until the last of the wings seemed absolutely fiery. They came with a refreshing blue cheese dipping sauce and an array of sliced carrots and celery.
Nacho corn chips ($2.75) with warmed processed cheese for dipping was garnished with chopped tomato and shredded lettuce. A half-loaf of lightly garlicked bread was dusted with parsley flakes.
Stir-fried shrimp ($8.95) was a mountain of shrimp, broccoli, carrots, green beans, tomato, cauliflower, sweet onions and mushrooms on a bed of wild rice, but all dreadfully overcooked. Seafood casserole ($9.95), a better choice, offered deep sea scallops, shredded crabmeat and seasoned breading slathered with a thick topping of melted cheese.
Vegetables included a good, foil-wrapped baked potato and the familiar peas-and-pearl onions, also overcooked.
Luscious white chocolate mousse ($2.25), the best of the desserts, was served in a thin, milk chocolate cup. The plain cheesecake (also $2.25) lacked flavor because it was partially frozen; chocolate mousse torte ($2.25) had a good filling but was on a pastry shell that tasted like parchment.
Service was inattentive, forgetful and confused; the kitchen was no better, sending out the main dishes long before the appetizers were finished.
The dining room is attractive, thanks to formal-looking wallpaper, brass sconces with electrified candles, framed country scenes on the walls, dark wood interior shutters, and bentwood chairs at tables set with a candle and dark green soft-plastic covers attractively cross-hatched in white. Loud music was hardly conducive to civilized dining.
MALLORY'S
863 Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr, 527-5870
Open: Upstairs, dinner only 5-11 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., until midnight Fri. & Sat. Same menu served downstairs 4-11 p.m. Sun.
Price range: Appetizers average $3, entrees $9.
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa.
Nonsmoking section: No.
Facilities for handicapped: No.
Atmosphere: Schizophrenic.
