Half Acre (2021)

Tried to go back for dinner Sunday night around 6:30 at Balmoral. Was told they were short staffed and most people were waiting around 3 hours. There was a decent crowd but plenty of open tables, and before she delivered the news, she looked around as if she were trying to see if anything was opening up, again looking at open tables. Also no one else standing and waiting. Was just a completely odd interaction. But we had the kids and was already 20 mins over there for us so just bounced to little bad wolf. Sent HA a note on IG to see if maybe worth a post so others don’t make the trip. No response.

 

I had somewhat of a similar experience a few weeks ago when two friends were in town. We arrived to Balmoral, with a good few tables open still but were told it’s going to be a 2 hour wait likely. We were a bit puzzled and I might have in honest disbelief asked ‘Really?!’ We ended up going to Metropolitan and Maplewood instead. I chalked it up to an off day, but who knows.

 

Now that you guys mention it, unless they expanded Balmoral or put in more seating, that place will be a clusterfluff if they get the normal traffic from the shuttered Lincoln location in addition to their normal Balmoral events. Not sure I would go there if it was that busy.

 

Tons of restaurants are very understaffed right now as pandemic restrictions open back up, so they likely did not feel like they had the staff available to service their full seating capacity. It seems perfectly reasonable to me for them to keep tables open so that seated customers can still have a positive experience and their staff can avoid being driven to exhaustion.

 

I'm talking about when we are back to normal. Combining two locations worth of people into one space without expanding the space seems like a recipe for disaster.

 

Oh, for sure, that could happen if they don't manage it carefully. You squeaked in ahead of me, though; my post was in response to the two before you.

 

Totally understandable, but still disappointing. I hope for their sake they can navigate the current environment effectively enough prior to demotivating or losing customers because of lack of headcount and ability to provide adequate service, if that is their issue as we theorize. I know I’ll be staying away until the circumstances change a bit.

 

I'm going to probably try to stop by Lincoln before they close because I probably won't ever go up to balmoral unless there's a fest like the big north or something. It's too far north for me.

 

Lincoln has never reopened after the pandemic...

 

Im going to buy from the shop... which has reopened...

 

They won’t be combining two locations of capacity into one. Do you really think every person who used to patronize HA Lincoln is going to travel to balmoral every time? It’s much more likely Balmoral gains a decent amount of traffic from the die hards willing to travel, but others will be just as happy to continue drinking at their local brewery, which will now become Hop Butcher, not a terrible alternative

 

Well hell - if I have to wait 2+ hours for a single seat/stool (assuming indoor bar is still a no-go at Balmoral), then I might have to go next door to Spiteful. Balmoral doesn't have the character, vibe, or atmosphere for me to wait long. We'll see. T-1 month.
Looking forward to trying at least ONE great new brewery in Chicago too. Cheers!

 

Half Acre Lincoln was a terrible neighborhood brewery for locals. It was way too crowded and for most of its history did not have food made on site. So yes, people are going to travel the two miles from Lincoln to Balmoral because they are Half Acre fans, not closest brewery fans. If that was the case Begyle and Dovetail would have pulled Lincolns business. Didn't happen.

 

The interesting thing was when we went about a month ago to Balmoral for dinner, it was packed, and I think I noted it was possibly the fastest we’d ever received food/drinks while seated *ever*. So it was odd to see half the tables open and hear 3 hours. Understandable things may have changed since then, or at least on this night. But it’s certainly not a sustainable thing, and I’m not going to get burned again just making the trip and hoping.

 

Doesn't Balmoral do reservations? That could be why they looked like they had tables available but didn't actually.

If you're going to be making a trek there and definitely want to go, just make a reservation.

 

Spot on. I have messaged with them a few times and they highly recommend making a reservation if you are coming. They told me to be prepared to wait and possibly not get seated if you show up without one.

 

Fair to wonder if people are ghosting their reservations?

 

Dovetail and begyle aren’t good comparables and I’m sure you understand that. Dovetail makes german and belgian beer. And well, Begyle simply isn’t on the same level as any of the other breweries mentioned in the conversation.