The Crossings Restaurant & Brew Pub
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by colby600 from Connecticut
2.3/5 rDev -21.8%
vibe: 2.75 | quality: 2 | service: 3 | selection: 1 | food: 4.25
2.3/5 rDev -21.8%
vibe: 2.75 | quality: 2 | service: 3 | selection: 1 | food: 4.25
I would hope by now they realize they cannot brew beer and just get more local craft beer to replace their terrible attempts. I've been in multiple times hoping for a different outcome but it never happens. The food is worth going, but skip their beer. Also, watching the bartenders and waitresses work it's easy to see the management is lacking.
Dec 27, 2015
Reviewed by WillieThreebiers from Connecticut
3.15/5 rDev +7.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2.75 | selection: 2.75 | food: 3.75
3.15/5 rDev +7.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2.75 | selection: 2.75 | food: 3.75
Great open space in old train station...sweet steampunk...waitress thinks she works at 3 Floyds...not...5 meh ...beers on tap...should have sat at table instead of bar...
Aug 15, 2015
Reviewed by bszern from Massachusetts
2.9/5 rDev -1.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 2 | food: 4
2.9/5 rDev -1.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 2 | food: 4
This is a 2 part review. Restaurant, and then brew pub.
Restaurant is awesome, great food for a pretty good price. Absolutely recommend it.
Brewpub is lackluster. For a 10-tap system, usually only 6-7 taps are used. I have never been in there when there is an IPA on tap. The brews that they make are underwhelming and taste like they don't know what they are doing. While the brew kettles look nice (clad in copper), I would have preferred that the owners bought cheaper SS kettles and hired a REAL brewmaster. I usually end up getting whatever guest beers they have.
That being said, the Black Velvet is a great beer. Get that one if it's on.
May 20, 2014Restaurant is awesome, great food for a pretty good price. Absolutely recommend it.
Brewpub is lackluster. For a 10-tap system, usually only 6-7 taps are used. I have never been in there when there is an IPA on tap. The brews that they make are underwhelming and taste like they don't know what they are doing. While the brew kettles look nice (clad in copper), I would have preferred that the owners bought cheaper SS kettles and hired a REAL brewmaster. I usually end up getting whatever guest beers they have.
That being said, the Black Velvet is a great beer. Get that one if it's on.
Reviewed by KTracy from Massachusetts
2.9/5 rDev -1.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 1.75 | service: 4 | selection: 2.5 | food: 3.5
2.9/5 rDev -1.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 1.75 | service: 4 | selection: 2.5 | food: 3.5
Overall (for the tl; dr people): The beer is terrible; get rid of the Micropub system, take brewpub out the name, get some good taps in, and you have a really nice new restaurant for downtown Putnam.
Atmosphere: When I heard that a new place was going into the old train station, I was excited to check it out. Early 20th century train station with high tin ceiling, exposed brick, and some nice updates. Very open and welcoming. Not sure how loud it will get since we were there at kind of an odd time.
Quality: I'm assuming this has to do with the beer quality. I was pretty skeptical when I read about the Micropub Systems setup that they have. For those of you who don't know, it is an extract based brewing system. Now , I'm sure many homebrewers and friends of homebrewers know that pretty great beer can be made from extract when you know what you are doing. It is clear that these guys don't know what they're doing. I ordered the Trackside IPA and my husband ordered the Nutmeg Brown Ale. Neither beer had any head to speak of, and both had very low carbonation. The brown ale had a good color and any redeeming qualities stopped there. No bad flavors, just no flavor. Had a homebrew from a friend recently with the same problem. After some forum searching, we decided it was probably a combination of poor fermentation conditions and not enough aging. If you're going to call yourself a brewpub, then you should not be serving house beer that tastes like a homebrewing newbie's second batch. The IPA at least had flavor, but was way too malty even for an English style IPA, which I think is what it was supposed to be (hard to tell with so little hop character present in the beer).
Service: We were seated as soon as we walked in. Our waitress, Donna was very attentive and answered any questions that we had.
Selection: Once again, I'm assuming this is the beer selection. They had 8 taps going. 3 of which were house beers. 2 were typical ciders. The remaining 3 were from different CT breweries, which was nice to see. Didn't take a close look at the bottle list, since we went mostly to try it out as a brewpub. Although ok, with the Stomping Ground right down the street and even the Courthouse and 85 Main starting to get better beers in, this place should really have a better beer selection if it wants to stand out.
Food: Our food was pretty good, done correctly and tasted fresh. The house chips are really awesome and are highly recommended.
I'm torn about this place. The food, atmosphere, and service were all good, and it's always nice to have another option in the Quiet Corner. However, with their house beers being as poor as they are, they have no business calling themselves a brewpub. Never mind the fact that on the website they describe their beers as 'handcrafted' (yeah, about as handcrafted as a Duncan Hines cake is baked from scratch). With that in mind, it seems like they are trying to cash in on the current popularity of craft beer without actually respecting craft beer, and I just can't support a business that does that.
Jan 13, 2014Atmosphere: When I heard that a new place was going into the old train station, I was excited to check it out. Early 20th century train station with high tin ceiling, exposed brick, and some nice updates. Very open and welcoming. Not sure how loud it will get since we were there at kind of an odd time.
Quality: I'm assuming this has to do with the beer quality. I was pretty skeptical when I read about the Micropub Systems setup that they have. For those of you who don't know, it is an extract based brewing system. Now , I'm sure many homebrewers and friends of homebrewers know that pretty great beer can be made from extract when you know what you are doing. It is clear that these guys don't know what they're doing. I ordered the Trackside IPA and my husband ordered the Nutmeg Brown Ale. Neither beer had any head to speak of, and both had very low carbonation. The brown ale had a good color and any redeeming qualities stopped there. No bad flavors, just no flavor. Had a homebrew from a friend recently with the same problem. After some forum searching, we decided it was probably a combination of poor fermentation conditions and not enough aging. If you're going to call yourself a brewpub, then you should not be serving house beer that tastes like a homebrewing newbie's second batch. The IPA at least had flavor, but was way too malty even for an English style IPA, which I think is what it was supposed to be (hard to tell with so little hop character present in the beer).
Service: We were seated as soon as we walked in. Our waitress, Donna was very attentive and answered any questions that we had.
Selection: Once again, I'm assuming this is the beer selection. They had 8 taps going. 3 of which were house beers. 2 were typical ciders. The remaining 3 were from different CT breweries, which was nice to see. Didn't take a close look at the bottle list, since we went mostly to try it out as a brewpub. Although ok, with the Stomping Ground right down the street and even the Courthouse and 85 Main starting to get better beers in, this place should really have a better beer selection if it wants to stand out.
Food: Our food was pretty good, done correctly and tasted fresh. The house chips are really awesome and are highly recommended.
I'm torn about this place. The food, atmosphere, and service were all good, and it's always nice to have another option in the Quiet Corner. However, with their house beers being as poor as they are, they have no business calling themselves a brewpub. Never mind the fact that on the website they describe their beers as 'handcrafted' (yeah, about as handcrafted as a Duncan Hines cake is baked from scratch). With that in mind, it seems like they are trying to cash in on the current popularity of craft beer without actually respecting craft beer, and I just can't support a business that does that.
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