Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery

 

I liked this place! It might have had a lot to do with my bartender who was a cool, relaxed and knowledgeable. The food was good too. I had a 2 a.m. burger with mac & cheese along with a red ale. This was a good first experience with Rock Bottom and I'll be back next time I'm in town.

 

 

 

 

 

Atmosphere: On the bar side of the building, it feels like a glorified sports bar that serves its own beer (which isn't a bad thing). On the restaurant side, it feels more like an upscale eatery/brewery, being quieter and more artistic.

Quality: Every beer I have been served from Rock Bottom has been good, some have been excellent. The limited food I have tried has been good but not exceptional. If you want to be assured of getting at least a decent beer, Rock Bottom can deliver.

Service: I have always been treated respectfully by the knowledgeable wait/bar staff at this Rock Bottom. Above average service.

Selection: Limited to the beers that Rock Bottom brews. If you want pitchers of PBR or Budweiser, this isn't the place to go.

Value: Not cheap, but good quality.

I was here with a bunch of friends and family on a Sunday night. We had a big group, but the staff did a very nice job of helping us. So one big point for the service crew.

This Rock Bottom is in a large outdoor mall that stretches several blocks. It's one of many chain restaurants that dot a large parking lot. With the exception of minor facade differences (RB has flagstone trim on the exterior), they all pretty much look the same from the outside. Without the water tank and sign out front, you'd never know this was a brewpub.

Inside, the pub is split in two. To the right is the bar area. It's dominated by a very large oval bar that takes up the majority of the room. The bar is flanked by several flat-screen TV's. The fermentation tanks are visible through large windows at the back of this room. To the left, is a main dining area that's made up of a combination of booths and tables. No matter where you are, it will be dark. Dark wood and dim lighting make sure of that. Several flagstone pillars breakup the monotony.

And now it's time for one of my major gripes. If you're in the bar, you can see the full beer menu. If you're not, you have a list of the year-round beers at your table and that's it. Thankfully, the staff know what else is on-tap. But how hard would it be to hang a beer menu in the dining area?

The food here is well prepared. The menu is typical pub fare, with its list of burgers and sandwiches, plus some traditional meat and fish dishes. I had the brewer's nachos. The serving was huge and quite tasty. The other people I was with had nice things to say about their dishes too.

From reading other reviews of the beers here, it sounds like in general they brew some nice things. Unfortunately, only one of the three beers I had did much for me. I probably just made bad choices.

Prices are on the high side, but about the same as the other Rock Bottoms I've been to.

The next time I'm in the Springs, I'll probably stop here again.

Rock Bottom is always packed in the Springs so the noise level can get a little high, but usually the atmosphere is just fine. The beer and food are always fresh, however I have to remove 0.5 from quality because my dad ordered a dry martini (yes, i know he should have ordered a beer, but what can ya do?) and it was basically straight dry vermouth. Other than that little incident, the quality is top notch. The waitstaff is always quick and efficient, although I get a little tired with how crazy they can be about carding everyone. The beer selection is about standard for a brewery. They usually have a lager, a pale ale, a wheat, an amber and then the "Brewmaster's Choice" that is usually a stout or porter. They have been known to carry many more too. The food is fantastic at Rock Bottom. The ribs are some of the best i've ever had and the macaroni and cheese with chicken is just unrivaled. Overall, I am very impressed with this place and I will certainly go back the next time i'm in Colorado.
My favorite brews here are the pale ale and the smoked porter.

Stopped in here after a movie on a Saturday night. It was very busy with a 50 minute wait. My wife and I found a place at the bar, very large bar for a Rock Bottom. This was probably the largest, busiest Rock Bottom I have ever been in. The bartender was nice and they had a great selection on tap. I lucked up and got a barleywine that I did not know Rock Bottom even made. I also had a Rye IPA as well. Both beers were good. This is sad but the best beer in Colrado I have had so far is from the Rock Bottom. Colorado=disappointing, this Rock Bottom = GOOD! If anywhere in CO Springs and want good beer, skip the other places and go to Rock Bottom or Old CHicago. The local breweries are average at best.

This Rock Bottom is way out on the eastern outskirts of Colorado Springs, part of a huge shopping mall. I think I like the setting of Denver's 16th Street Rock Bottom better--more oriented to the neighborhood, distinct in its place, but the Springs is on the forefront of suburban sprawl these days, so maybe it's more fitting that it's newest brewpub join that bandwagon...

The actual interior is fairly standard Rock Bottom decor--it's cavernous and imposing with a separate dining room (with views onto the kitchen) and TV filled bar area with views onto the brewhouse. Ho-hum. At least you know what you're getting when you walk into a RB.

They had seven beers on tap during my visit--four flagship brews, which were the usual suspects as far as style goes (APA, light beer, brown, amber) and three more ambitious seasonals (dunkelweizen, 'west coast' stout, and a barleywine). I really enjoyed the dunkelweizen and stout, and it seems that, as with all of the Rock Bottom restaurants, there's something to please the palates of craftbeer tyros and seasoned veterans alike. I can't imagine this place not having at least one or two interesting and tasty brews on tap.

Service and food were also above par, and again this is what I've come to expect from the Rock Bottom franchise. This is a brewpub that won't disappoint, but it might not inspire anyone to new heights of beer advocacy either. And that's precisely the 'problem' (heavy use of the quotation marks there) with Rock Bottom. Like Holiday Inn, it's clean, dependable, and, in absolute terms, usually pretty high quality. But I might as well have been in Nebraska, or Alabama, or southern California. I look to my local brewpubs for local flavor. Though Colorado Springs's Rock Bottom is pretty good overall, I think I'll always look to some of the other, more 'local' spots in the Springs next time I stop for a beer.

I visited this locale on a Friday night during March maddess, so I understand my review might be biased, but I'll try to keep it objective. We waited at the bar for a table for about 10 minutes, which wasn't so bad considering the mass of people in the bar. The place we were sat unfortunately had no view of the TV. The service was fast and polite, and the beer was interesting and covered many different styles. I only had asiago cheese dip, but it was excellent. This is just one of the locations in the area, but a good place to have a beer and see the game (just make sure you tell the hostess thats what you want to do).

Composite of 2 visits:

This place has been wildly popular (sp) since opening, so I've only done lunch. hate waits or huge crowds, especially with 2 young'uns in tow

Nice layout to the place, great use of glass, stone & wood.

Quality of the beer is good if uninspired. Most beers lack head retention, smell and the fact the staff tries to frost the mugs doesn't help

Like the brewmasters selections: Rye pale ale, porter, Belgian wit & 90 shilling scotch get yes votes. their main line of beers very pedestrian. Hopefully with time the selection will stretch it's wings

Service: Always attentive & responsive.

Food's great; Check out Polliko's review. will come here for the food & hope the beers improve. Good variety and quality.

Has potential, but given this town's love of the middle of the road, that's where I bet most of the beer line will stay

Close to the crib so that doesn't hurt

I went with a party of 4, and had a wonderful evening. I mainly came to taste the beer, but found a whole restaurant worth raving about. All the beers were 1st class (see my reviews), the service was good (the place was packed, so it was a tiny bit slow in coming - but the waitress did a great job, and we talked with the manager about beer)

The menu is huge!! Tons of choices: from appetizers: Asiago Cheese Dip, Nachos, Spicy Spinach Cheese Dip, Buffalo Wings, Sashimi, Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla (A five-cheese quesadilla with chipotle-spiced chicken, walnut pesto, fresh Roma tomatoes and pico de gallo), Brewery Beer & Cheese Taster (Summer sausage and three Wisconsin cheeses - Gruyère, Gouda and Aged Cheddar - paired with three beer samples), Crab cakes, Calamari, to entrees: Jambalaya, Fried Chicken, Smoked Chicken Enchiladas, Smoked Salmon Fish and Chips, Fish tacos, Fajitas, Ribs, Pasta, Burgers (try the Laredo!!), Sandwiches, Pizza, Steaks, Seafood

and Homemade Desserts (go to the website to see more info)

A great addition to Colorado Springs, and much needed.