Middle Brow Bungalow

After following this thread for a while I was finally able to check out the place yesterday and ended up with mixed feelings, though generally positive. The service was awesome and the pizza came out amazingly fast. The pizza crust was great, but overall the pizza was good but not stellar. The beer was just OK and there wasn't much selection. The vibe was kind of odd - from the thread I'd expected kind of a comfortable welcoming feel, but it was really kind of cramped and hectic. The tables are pretty close together and when the people at the next table had to get out they were apologetic since we were packed in so close. And the 3% charge comes off as weird if you also have a spot for the tip (I did tip 20% on top of the 3%). I can see trying to reward and invest the staff into the overall success, but if that is the aim it needs to be explained better. Maybe put some cards on the tables explaining the overall goals and mission.

So overall there are places with better pizza and places with better beer. Clearly there are people that love the general atmosphere, and I'm sure my experience would have been different if I had gone at a less busy time.

 

Limited taps because we’ve been open and brewing there for 6 weeks. More in the future but also not insane, only 12 lines.

As for the 3%, that comes down to much bigger discussions and it also involves legality of tipping, pooling and payroll. Pooling tips with back of house is illegal in Illinois. We pay them obviously higher but still the folks making your food and cleaning your dishes/glasses don’t make nearly as much every night as the folks serving it and if you truly liked the food, there’s no way you as an individual could pay them the way you do a server or bartender. This sorta of equalizes the pay difference on a busy night, come lower than 20 if you like or whatever it’s there as the legal way to equalize pay.

 

But how do you explain his comment on the pizza being "good, but not stellar"? I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it should be at least equally as good as the consensus number one pizza place we all agree on whose name escapes me...can someone remind me who the best pizza in town is?

 

Define "town".

 

To each their own, thick skin regarding beer or pizza reviews, folks be different & like different things. taste buds are different and there is no universal beer or pizza truth (despite what this site thinks...har har). Spacca Napoli for best in show and best neopolitian, Vito and nick for thin, pequods for pan since Burt died, piece for new haven, jimmys for NYC..,honorable hybrid style cheers to craft pizza, bebu & Reno. Again no universal truth, the amount of people I’ve sent to spacca who curse me out is quite high.

 

Spacca is incredible but I feel like I'm at a restaurant before prom or something. Hate the vibe in there.

 

I could never put my finger on it, but this is spot-on. The vibe is just weird.

 

Went for the first time last night. Had such a great experience. I had to search and bump this thread back to the front page, at least for a little while.

 

Heynongman/what’s up jerks...If yr interested in wood fermented SMASH session pale ales (Golden promise and Nelson for a subtle white grape wine feel, in the woods ) and a foeder aged spelt brett (figure it out) we’ve quietly put some cans for sale at the bungalow and about 20 cases are out for distro at the normal haunts. Peace & love

 

Congrats @nickMB ! As someone that has had the pleasure of being there a handful of times since April I have to agree it's worth the recognition

 

Pretty crazy a brewpub made that list and Thanks to all y’all that have stopped in...lots of fun and kewl beers fermenting away we can’t wait to release. Natty wine/grape Berliner, wheatwine, Vienna lager, brett/olde English porter...lots of fun & odd fermentables lined up for fall. And stay tuned for quaint lil 250mL releases of some aged and one off stuff.

 

Olde English porter, you say? Count me in!

 

Getting some national recognition too! Very cool to see.

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/50-nominees-best-new-restaurants-2019