I kind of liked what I had of Lawrence's Scotch Egg, as well as my sausage roll. I think they do pretty good fish and chips (though I'd be happy to find someone better), and a fair baked potato soup. However, it is pretty much a themed faux pub: I wouldn't make it a destination, and it didn't seem to be too popular on a Saturday night (even with the local Texas Tech fan group meeting there to watch the game).
They got rid of U.R. Cook's for this?
As far as theme restaurants (or even bars) go, this isn't. If you're going to do a Sherlock Holmes theme, that doesn't mean giant sports bar TVs and bric-a-brac shelves stocked with Reader's Digest Condensed Books volumes you bought from Half Price Books' "Books By the Yard" section. Tacky themes I can handle, but there's no reason to put up with tacky and incoherent.
And the food? Feh. Overpriced Generic Appetizer Platter of Everything Fried. The Scotch Egg, one of the few theme-appropriate dishes on the menu, was decent but overpriced. Salad was adequate. Hamburger and fries were acceptable, but not as good as the ones at Chili's just across the street. Dessert selection was Lilliputian. Service was pretty good.
I'm not a pub habituate, but I am given to understand that there are several that carry off the English Pub idea (The Dog & Duck and The Gingerman among them) much better. Given that, and the "mediocre even by pub standards" food, I can think of no reason anyone would ever want to eat or drink at Sherlock's.
I'll make this short and sweet:
We rather liked the old El Borrego de Oro location before they got wiped out by a truck. We also like the new one, which has taken up residence in the old Lim Ting building and spruced the place up right nicely (save, alas, the restroom). The salsa has good flavor and a decent bite to it. I liked the flameada. I liked my chipotle enchiladas. And I liked my taco el pastor. The only drawbacks were sometimes iffy service (they forgot my "no beans extra rice" stipulation, and there was some confusion over the check), and the carne guisada gordita, which was quite sub par. But stick with the pork dishes and you should have no cause for complaint.
The original plan for this conspiracy was a return visit to Do Brazillia. Unfortunately, Do Brazillia apparently closed sometime after January of 2004, and this wasn't discovered until Saturday afternoon. So the desire for "all-you-can-eat-meat" got sublimated into going to the Salt Lick, about which I have nothing new to say.
I still like it, and the sauce remains superb, but I think the ribs and brisket have slipped a little. All-you-can-eat for $15.95 is still a very good deal, but perhaps no longer an excellent one.