Big Rock Chop & Brewhouse

 

 

 

 

My wife and I visited during Birmingham Restaurant Week and this was one of the places. Basically you get a deal for lunch and dinner. I've always wanted to try this place and this was the perfect opportunity.

This place used to be a train station back in the day so its pretty big. It has huge high ceilings and is spun in a outdoorsy motif. We went in the afternoon and there were a few people in business attire. I felt a little under dressed in jeans.

Our waiter was great although at first seemed to be bothered by us. I got a sampler of the beer. It was average. Nothing was outstanding nor sub par. The Scottish ale was my favorite.

I've noted the prices to be rather high for food but everything we had was top notch. The beer prices were about average.

Overall, a nice place to visit if you can get a deal or go at lunch time. If you are dead seat on trying their beers wait for a beer festival to come around.

An Upscale restaurant near a popular small town but a bit off the beaten path. Even I appreciate the architecture and nice big square bar. Not the place to go in a old t-shirt and watch a game. The food is first rate. Might be my favorite fish in the Detroit area. Expensive but gurenteed to be constiently delicious. Nothing exceptional but good solid beer with a nice selection. The beer must be some sort of loss leader because it seems as if more patrons order hard alcohol or a nice bottle of wine. Servers often don't know what they should about the beer but just select one that goes well with the food and you will be more than happy.

Firstly please note that this place is a little pricey but the review says price for what you got so I gave it a 3 as it is a high class establishment.

a lot of time and money has been put into this place. It never seems busy though at the bar and I rarely have a good conversation except with Dan Rogers the brewmaster. The target market is upper market (or people wanting to think they are upper market :) )

Quality is top notch in both beer, food and decor.

Service was very fast and friendly. Beer knowledge varies greatly though between servers.

Selection is average for a brewpub, better than some but limited to 6 to 8 taps it seems.

Food is great although again on the pricey side. But again quality was way above par.

Ok, Big Rock Chop house looks very nice inside and out. Very fancy and classful. Not the type of place I would want to hang out at all. Brew pubs should be a bit grittier and down to earth. This place is for the rich business man who needs something different than the old martini bar. Sorry to offend anyone, but that is how I feel about places and people that like to flaunt. On a positive note, the bartender was SUPER nice and let me sample each beer for free before I bought a growler. I can say in general that their brews are decent and unique in flavor (not neccessarily a GOOD type of unique). I really liked the pilsner they had and the imperial stout was something to be reckoned with. Overall, I can tell why I have avoided this place for years.

Driving up to this place is impressive. It is built like a big old hunting lodge, well lit and truly beautiful at night. This is not so much a brewpub as it is a fine dining establishment with a ultra-lounge upstairs and a very nice bar beside the restaurant. Lots of suits and ties here. I almost wondered if they were going to let our group come inside as we were not prepared for such a classy place on our "Brewpub Tour of Middle Michigan."

Once inside we got to the bar and were happy to find that they had no less than 8 of their brews on tap. We all got samplers and found most of the selection to be worth ordering in the full size, but we didn't have the time to follow through with that plan. Nothing that really impressed us, but on another note, I'll definitely revisit this place when I need to take some clients out for a really classy dinner and some fine craft brewed beers. Did I mention that this place was visually impressive!

We didn't try any food, but what I saw looked as impressive as the building. Beer is priced very reasonably, but the menu looked $$.