The Belgian Beer Cafe Brussels

Bar, Eatery

169 Mary St
Brisbane, Brisbane QLD 40
Australia

// CLOSED //
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.55
Reviews:
5
Ratings:
7
pDev:
13.8%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by Seattle_Suds:
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Rated by Seattle_Suds from Washington

3.88/5  rDev +9.3%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4 | service: 3.75 | selection: 3.75 | food: 4.25

Apr 01, 2015
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.36 by Brewsbane

Sep 20, 2014
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Reviewed by Stavage from Australia

3.75/5  rDev +5.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5
For a theme bar the atmosphere was nice. It seemed a genuine recreation of a Belgian bar rather than a bastard cheesy novelty bar like many of the Irish and English chains in business around the place.

Food was very nice. Some of the food was overpriced, but some of it was very overpriced.

Beer selection was ok, great by Brisbane standards. Well the selection according to the menu anyway. 1/3 of the bottled items listed were out of stock. Also highly expensive, I can get the 750ml Chimay Blue for at least $12 less at a bottle shop. The standard beers they bothered to stock were $3-4 more than what you can pay at other bars. The description on their menu for Chimay Blue scared me, saying that it can be laid down like a wine because it has a cork. Made me visualise the picture of the laid down wine bottle with a big cross through it on the back of Chimay bottles.

The beers they do have in stock are all served in correct glassware. They served my beers too cold. The Gouden Carolus I ordered was icy cold and served in an ice bath, and the waitress poured it badly, as if it were a wine. No head!

Otherwise the service was ok. The waitstaff tried their best to be helpful but it was obvious they weren't trained sufficiently. Since I was sitting down at the restaurant I can't say whether the staff behind the bar were more knowledgeable.

I noticed as we left the evening crowd was starting to fill up the joint. I saw groups drinking nothing but Coronas, Cascades and cocktails. Men in sport suits and suit pants and women in expensive stylish dresses. Yes, these are the clientele this establishment survives off and the inflated prices and lack of knowledge from the staff all makes sense now.

If this place was either cheaper or more set up for the real beer lover I'd be really happy about this place being in Brisbane. As it is I'm paying too much for beer served too cold if its in stock. Don't want to hang this place, definitely deserves more chances and this was my first visit so maybe a bad day but I seem to be confirming what I read in some other reviews.

The things going for this place are proper glassware for each individual beer, good quality food and they have beers I haven't seen around in bottle shops.
May 16, 2009
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Reviewed by brendan13 from Australia

3.53/5  rDev -0.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5
A nice walk in the sun from my hotel on a Sunday afternoon found me at this place. Mind you, I knew where I was going.
Walked into a virtually empty bar with about half a dozen groups of people eating and drinking in the restaurant area.
The bartender seemed pretty disinterested & this carried over to the waitress who dumped my food on my table without saying a word.
Seemingly typical selection of the Belgian Beer Cafe chain and after the service I didn't bother asking what (if anything) they had that wasn't on the menu.
The couple of glasses of Hoegaarden & cheese croquettes & frites I had hit the spot though.
An OK place but nothing worth going out of your way for.
Aug 13, 2008
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Reviewed by chaosworrier from Australia

4.53/5  rDev +27.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4
I go to this beer café on a semi-regular basis to see if they have anything new. The manager travels to Belgium to try to organise new products to get shipped.

It is actually relatively difficult to organise decent quantities to get shipped. I found the range to be wider than Bluestone Belgian Beer Café in Melbourne and looks to be wider than the beer menu I see at the Sydney Belg beer cafés.

Barstaff are all quite knowledgeable about Belgian beer, including local bottleshops where you can find them. This contrasts when I went to Bluestone staff who either knew very little or were so unfriendly that they did not want to talk about it. Barstaff often win pouring competitions.

Food was fantastic the times I ate there but it is not cheap. However, they have won some awards for their food and service. Likewise, I always thought the beer could be a tad cheaper. Then again, I get beer sent directly from Belgium and know it is quite an expensive exercise.

Overall, have always found the atmosphere to be conducive to wanting to stay for a session and they often get musicians and DJ's to play there to be convivial.

24/01/08: Up'd the selection rating as now has a range of Gouden Carolus beers, as well as a gueuze. They are also trying to get more Stella Artois Nobilis in.
Jan 06, 2008
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Reviewed by willjansen from Colorado

3.08/5  rDev -13.2%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3
Located on Edward Street in the Brisbane CBD, I've been to this place a number of times. I've got mixed feelings about it, but overall I suppose I could say that I grudgingly go there once in a while for a beer.

The atmosphere is not so great, as it can get fairly cramped (particularly on Friday/Saturday nights). The crowd usually consists of trendy urbanites sharing a drink after work, which, in itself, I don't have a problem with, but many patrons are sipping cocktails and coronas. As a big fan of Belgian beer, this kind of bugs me as few seem to be there to enjoy the great brews.

The service has always been decent for bar service and. For food, I've only tried the snacks which are decent, but overpriced.

Of course, they offer some great Belgian beers served mostly in the proper glassware. However, the selection never seems to change and I've only once seen a special beer show up amongst the regular line-up. The prices are pretty extreme for anything but the InBev's on tap (Stella, two Leffes and Hoegaarden), thus precluding a long night of drinking there.

All in all, it's nice to have a Belgian beer bar here in Brisbane, but the scene is a bit yuppy for me, it's very expensive and it would be nice to see some more creativity with the selection once in a while.
Aug 06, 2007
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Reviewed by ALEBOY from Australia

2.88/5  rDev -18.9%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 2.5 | food: 3
I was a bit dissapointed in this place. I have been to the one in Melbourne and it was much better, and I have checked out the one in Sydney on the web and it seemed to be better still.

The beer list was shocking for a beer cafe, I can get much better in Toowomba ( yes , a better range of Belgian beers in a Toowoomba pub). They didn't even have Gueze, but still I would rather go here than to your average Irish bar. They did have Bush Noel.

The place had been open only 5 days and I could taste line cleaner in both of the Leffe beers, I had a Hoegaarden as well and it wasn't present in that. (I know this taste very well)

I only ate from the bar snack menu, and whilst it was very good it was a tad overpriced ( serves were smaller than the same in Melbourne.)

I may seem a little harsh on this place, but I will be going back.
However there are better beer venues in South-east Queensland.
Dec 09, 2003
The Belgian Beer Cafe Brussels in Brisbane, Australia
Place rating: 3.55 out of 5 with 7 ratings