Congregation Ale House

 

 

This chapter is located near Old Town Pasadena. As you might guess from the name, there is a church theme throughout. It's dark inside, lots of family style benches with chairs. There was a stained glass above the taps. Cool. The bar area was to the left with a monitor mounted above showing sports.

I had a house saison which was pretty good. I also had a duck & bacon sausage. I enjoyed both the beer and food. My server was friendly and prompt. The beer selection is not bad. It's a mix of house beers with the other half being guest beers.

Nice spot to hang out with friends. Enjoyed my visit. I will try to visit the other two Congregation Ale chapters.

 

no table service. thats why a 4. about 20 beers on tap. mix from NY, midwest and CA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First off I have to say the food here is great! Their sausage sandwiches rock! A great place for lunch (if you can find parking). Great selection of beers on tap with bottles available as well. Even had some 3l growlers available (Stone AB). A fine place for lunch or dinner.

One of my favorite Beer Houses to visit. EVERYTHING and i mean EVERYTHING they have on their food menu is great!!

A really good time here. There was a Firestone take over so there were some really fine beers I was able to try. A great brew pub

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I visited this chapter of the Congregation Ale House yesterday after experiencing the one in Long Beach a while back. There is a definite old church feel to it with lots of wood, brick, stained glass, etc. The beer list is on the wall when you walk in and you order any beer plus food at the counter. If you want more stuff you can go back up to the counter or they have staff walking around who can put the order in for you. Service was pretty good in that regard. The beers were served in appropriate glassware and at a good temperature. Selection for draft beer was around 20 offerings with a bottle list as well. I got a pub pretzel with Chimay beer fondue and it was good. Overall, this is a pretty cool little spot and I think I prefer this location over the one in Long Beach. Check it out if you are in the area.

It's a matter of timing. We got there when it wasn't crazy busy and the place was great. After a few minutes of fumbling around, we noticed a line at the cash register and figured that was how you ordered beer and went over. While we waited, we perused the beer selections board. You order from a cashier like it's Naja's and then kindof hang around waiting for the beer to be served (which is very quickly). If you have food, you get a number and some one will bring it to you. You find a an open space for yourself inside or at an outdoor patio which looks out on a pretty ample parking lot. Once you're seated, there are servers to get drinks and food for you, but it took awhile to figure that out. We went back in line to order more stuff because we hadn't figured that out right away. No harm done. I see the other reviewer had one ineffectual and one snippy bartender, but the people who served us were knowledgable and helpful. The servers were helpful even if they weren't serving you. I had a scrumptious Samiclaus and Geoff had Cuvee des Trolls. Both were quite nice. We split potato chips and a sausage that were good snack food and quite reasonable at Happy Hour prices. It had a genuine warmth of a classic European bar even with high ceilings which could potentially accentuate noise. They played no music which really kept the noise level down. It's relatively small which is why, because it is so pleasant, I can see it being a madhouse if there's any kind of crowd. Because a lot of people will want to be here and it just can't fit them all. Although we didn't park in the parking lot, my advice would be if you try to and you can't find a place, it's going to be too crowded and you might not be happy.

Went here last Sat because we wanted to check out the new location after a pit stop at Lucky's. I've been to the LB one numerous times and it always seems a little chaotic, which sometimes isn't a bad thing, but was hoping for a larger, more organized atmosphere. Well, this place was the same exact experience. You walk in, stand in a long line to order your beer/food and then hunt down a spot to sit. We found a counter along the wall so that was fine. When ordering, my gf asked if they had a good sour. The girl that took our order asked the tap guy behind her...'Hey do we have any sours?'...He turned and said 'Just look at the board'. You work in a gastropub, know what you're serving, please. Plus, the selection was ho-hum, nothing outstanding. Also, it seems like this place is more of a Sat night hangout, rather than a good beer bar. I guess some people prefer gimmicky gastropubs but I'd much rather enjoy a good brew at Lucky's when visiting Pas.