Beverly Hills recs

dont know who either of those people are

 

FWIW, arguably the "best" Golden Road beers are at Surly Goat right now. Along with Pliny, BCBBW, Hoppy Birthday, and Grapefruit Sculpin. Still waiting to hear why anyone wouldn't choose Surly Goat.

 

Maybe a better analogy...it's like watching commercials when you can just fast forward

Only reason is you prefer to drink at home or there's a better beer list elsewhere, which is doubtful in this case...

 

you've made a case for me to go to Surly. haven't been in a while

 

I think I made the case for myself, too!

 

Oddly enough, I can think of two places I do this - Angel City and Bruery. Both have a nice atmosphere, but man, It's usually difficult to not walk out drunk if you get a full pour from Bruery's typical line up.

Then angel city... well, it's a pretty location but it's a shame that it has that brewery in there.

 

Get drunk at Wurstkuche, then stumble over to Angel City for a nightcap?

 

i go to Golden Road for lunch fairly often. not sure it counts, but it's kind of the same thing. given the choice between going to a non-brewery or Golden Road i'll take GR. at least they have Wolf Among Weeds and it's a good atmosphere.

 

I went there with the wife once before a show at the Troubadour. We were psyched to see both Bean Bump and Blind Pig on tap. The place wasn't dead, but it wasn't all that busy either. The bar stools were all full but almost all the tables were free. It took us about 30 seconds to decide what to order and another 10 minutes (at least) to get the female bartender to acknowledge us. She preferred to chat up some people at the end of the bar rather than come over and take our order. She KNEW we were there, she just didn't seem to care. I was pretty pissed off by the time we ordered but I tried not to let on until we had drinks in hand. I had her close us out even though we had time for more than one round and I skipped the tip and told her loud enough for all to hear not to "make us wait 10 fucking minutes to order next time" if she expected one. She's all, "Pfft, it wasn't 10 minutes" and even the people next to us were like, "Um yeah, maybe even more" (but quietly into their drinks so as not to ruin their service). Not my proudest moment, for sure, but it left SUCH a bad taste in my mouth that I won't be going back there any time soon.

 

There is also Glendale Tap quite close by to GRB...has a dive bar look/vibe, but always good stuff on tap.

 

As bad as the service was, that's a pretty harsh reaction. There are better ways to deal with that situation. It's entirely possible she didn't know you were there, as you claim. Example: I was at a brewery in San Diego a few weeks ago, imbibing, chatting with the bartender, and others around me. The bartender was spirited, chatty, and a bit spacey. She went over to take someone else's order and got caught up on conversation with them for a sustained period of time, another couple was waiting at the bar to order and they made modest attempts to get her attention. Eventually they left after muttering some things under their breath. Now, I'm not excusing the bartender's behavior, however, it is possible that some people get caught up in themselves and legitimately do not notice that people are waiting to speak with them. These people do not make good bartenders, but they don't deserve to be treated the way you treated the bartender at the Surly Goat. In any case, I'm sorry you had a shitty experience, but sometimes to get a bartender's attention, one must be very, almost uncomfortably, assertive.

 

If it's the same girl I'm thinking of, she's cute as hell!

 

this

but she also does spend a lot of time chatting with the bouncer / owner

 

Part of being a server is chatting up customers. Sometimes, you get caught up or the customers get caught up with you. I find this especially true in the craft beer spots I've worked because dudes just want to talk about new beer as their girlfriend sits bored on her iPhone. Also, it is LA what do you expect? Half of the people serving don't even want to do it.

 

thank you for explaining how beer service works. i had no idea.

next time i'm ignored for 10 minutes when the place is dead because the bartender is chatting with the bouncer i'll remind myself that sometimes people get caught up in a conversation and also might not want to be doing their job

 

Should've gave me a heads up you were coming man! You're probably about an hour from me right now. We're actually doing a share on Saturday... Don't know what you have going but it'd be cool to have you join us. Cheers brother!