What makes a good beer restaurant?

For me it's all about their selection. Having a knowledgeable staff is a big plus, of course, but the biggest determining factor for me is whether they have a beer for every mood, a beer for every taste, and maybe some surprises.

 

1) Knowledgeable staff
2) Knowledgeable staff
3) Knowledgeable staff

Last time as was at one of the 3 restarant/bars in my hometown, I asked the waitress what they had for beer. She said 'I don't know'. I made an ass of myself expressing my frustration.

They had BMC. Waitress in question had worked there for years. No one had probably ever asked for anything besides BMC so there was no reason to even bother. Really though, I should have known better.

 

Aside from clean glasses and beer lines, I care about 1) price (Also happy hour specials and stuff like that) and 2) Selection. Which would include seasonals. Also, I hate when a bar has say 10 craft beer taps and 8 of them are IPAs

 

Since it's a restaurant, I'll add that I like when there are recommended beer pairings for menu items.

 

http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/the-gastropub-is-dead-–-official/
I am sadly No expert. any thing I say is just opinion. I think a place needs to deside if food is the focus or booze.
I really rarely seen it both done well. The object in any biz is to make cash.

WE go out to eat, we want good food at decent prices. beer is secondary.

I seen higher end places carry more "craft" than the cheaper places trying to sell beer as wine,. does not work IMHO.

bottom line, prices. service.

 

And keep the waitresses good'n ugly. I don't want to make any bad decisions come tip time.

 

beer through the nose moment, thanks!

 

I'll second the food is king response. There's a pub by my house that usually has a good selection, but it sells English Pub fare...not my cup of tea, so I don't go because if I get hungry I want wings, or sliders, or pizza. Not fish and chips or shepherd's pie.

 

A menu or chalkboard that clearly lists price, abv, and pour size.

 

Some info on each available beer is a plus as well. An interesting name might draw my attention but if the style, abv, ibu's and place of origin aren't listed, it might just be another terrible beer with an interesting name.

 

I don't need a big selection, but I need a good selection. Five taps is fine by me, if they are all awesome beers. Then, really good food completes the deal (especially small plates, so I can sample several). If parking is easy, then it's definitely a winner. I love it when a restaurant/bar has fresh beer that comes from local breweries that don't bottle, and that I haven't tried. It's also really nice when I can tell the server shares my passion for beer.

 

You're asking for Beer Valhalla!

 

Haha, just trying to be specific on things I like. If I find places like this, I guarantee I would be a regular! Even if they charge a little more.

 

not sure what it's like where most of you live, but in & around NYC, the gastropub craze is on - unique, interesting food paired with craft drinks of all kinds (mostly beer). problem is they tend to be a bit pricey due to reliance on "farm-to-table" menu crafting and semi-exotic ingredients prepared by very well-trained chefs.

that said, for a splurge, there's a new one near me (Dog & Cask in NJ) that's pretty darned good. very, very good bottle list, 12+ taps, 2 cask lines, and an extremely well-trained staff that can not only answer questions but make recommendations based on someone's (my wife) moderately well-described tastes.

so to answer the question, I want a solid draught list with 1-3 unique beers, a few staple players that are surefire hits, maybe 1/3 of the list to be local offerings, and a high quality bottle list with multiple options for every kind of style (don't tell me you just have 1 Weiss). the food better be good, and varied enough to keep me coming back multiple times. and the staff needs to be educated. I'm happy if you nail those 3 things

 

Smart move, having BA members do your consulting work for you

1) Selection and price is key for me. I'm putting them together because I think they're somewhat related. Under the umbrella of selection I would also include "freshness" for lack of a better word. The stock needs to be well maintained and curated - I want fresh IPAs and seasonals offered during the season; no pumpkin beers in January.

2) Readily accessible information on the beer. You don't need much, but it's important to have style, ABV, pour size, price, brewery name and location. You should also have a staff that at least knows a few talking points about the products. It makes for a better experience overall and will help you make sales to customers that might be hesitant otherwise. Also, offer samples.

3) Glassware. Most respectable beer establishments have figured this one out by now, but the only thing that should be served in a shaker is water and soda. Tulips, snifters, nonic pint glasses, etc. are a must; I'm not paying $9 for a beer in a shaker pint

 

A lot.

Good atmosphere.
Knowledgeable and competent waitresses/waiters.
Enjoyable food.
Fair prices.
A nice selection.
Ability to handle obnoxious drunks.

Those are the basics. There's a place I go to called Boat Works in St. Clair Shores that is at the very least average in all of those categories (on most nights), and suggest anyone in the area try it out.

And no, surprisingly, I don't work there.

As for proper glasswear, I don't make a huge fuss about that. Clean glasswear's all I need.

 

You'd rather pay $9 for 8-10oz than $9 for 14-16oz?

 

Out of curiosity, what type of glass do you feel is most appropriate for an IPA?

Out of snarkiness, do you really feel it's worth your extra money for proper glassware?

 

I don't drink a lot when we go out to eat anymore - rarely, in fact. In the past, we have been to places with great food and lousy beer selections. We've been to places with a crapload of taps of mediocre beer and terrible food. Of course, everywhere in between exists. The inconsistency and mismatch between expectation and experience are the major reasons I drink at home.

If it was me, I would decide whether the dining experience is the star or if it is going to be a bar that has food. That seems to be the basic decision to make and dictates what else you can do. If you are going to feature amazing vittles, then the beer selection could very well be smaller, but intelligently paired (and intelligently rotated) to compliment the menu. If you want a ton of taps/bottles and are going to serve Tyson wings, then it's a different story.

Decent selection, fair pricing, glassware are all appropriate considerations. If beer is going to be a focus, then the staff needs some knowledge. If beer is paired with food, they need to know more than the basics. At the very least, clear information for customers is important - not everybody walking in the door of a restaurant is going to be a BA-er and know the difference between styles.

I also don't agree with the more is better approach - so what if you have a hundred taps? How can you possibly move all of that brew and keep it relatively fresh? I don't know that end of the food industry very well, but logically I can't see how you can move all of 'em unless there is an enormous clientele of true beer lovers. And yeah - when 50% or more of the lines are IPA's what's the point anyway no matter how many taps ya have?