The other day we made it to Salmon Creek Brew Pub up in Vancouver, right next door to By the bottle. I had never been there before, but really it was the only place in the Couve I could think of to take my parents out to eat. Plus, the opportunity to scratch another brew pub of my list sounded good too. In theory.
Only two beers were ordered, by myself and my wife. I got the promising sounding Brother Larry's Belgian, while Erin went for the Scottish Ale. Short story, both were a disaster. The Belgian was a nice color, and even had a pleasant, though subtle, nose. The hint of any kind of Belgian flavor lasted seconds, and disappeared leaving the oh so pleasant taste of water. It was weak beyond belief. The Scottish was exactly the same, my cat is more Scottish than that beer was. My mom's ice tea even looked about 50-50 water and tea.
It was bad beer folks. Maybe it always isn't, I don't know. I would always be happy to give it another go to see. Or at least, I would have been.....
When we got the bill the real entertainment started. We were shocked that four lunches, two beers, and two double shots of Jim Beam ended up being over $90. Ok, that's fine, we were shocked, but I guess $11 for a double shot of Beam adds up, but something else didn't. Apparently, my beer was more expensive than Erin's, and not available on the happy hour menu. Would have been nice to know that. We asked, and the very nice waitress asked someone, who turned out to be the owner, Ana Pratt. She laughed, and said "Of course it's more expensive, everything comes from Belgium to make it. " Maybe a Belgium brewer should have come in the box.
Ok, well, we mumbled and went to signing the check. Then she comes over, and explains, again, that it all comes from Belgian, and that it is not on the happy hour menu. The problem we had, was, there is no notation of any of that on the beer menu. She then, in front of the lovely waitress, says it was the waitress's fault for not letting us know. The fight was on. My wife, irritated that she would call out the waitress for her mistake, told her bluntly that the beer wasn't very good. She then told us it has won several awards . You know, this was the same problem I had with Ken at Fearless. If someone doesn't like your beer, don't start shouting who does like it, and bringing out your ribbons and shit. Say something like, "you know, I am sorry you didn't like it, would you like to try something else", or something along those lines. Both Ana and Ken got angry we didn't like it, and treated us like idiots because they have award winning beer. That somehow their scary great brewing skills were lost on the likes of us. Awards do not pay the bills, and that award was for a single batch. I know what we had that day would not win 2nd place at a 2 beer competition.
So, my humble, simple advice is to avoid this place at all costs. Ana would rather argue that her beer is good, than actually listen to what her customers are saying. But hell, it's just my opinion.
I know lots of places where I can get better beer, and friendlier service.
Washington Makes Stan Hieronymus’ Best in 2024 List
12 hours ago
I know that I'm beating a dead horse on this point, but I have a big problem w/ an owner/operator/boss who throws a nice server (as I was for many, many...... years) under the bus for the owner's own mistake (ie: simple pricing on menu, don't be so cheap). When I asked about pricing I was given a sarcastic remark about Belgian yeast prices etc, etc and how things are done in Portland. I live in Portland and find many inexpensive extremely tasty beers throughout Portland, Oregon, and Washington, not to mention the imports. Then the owner or whoever turned to the server and started berating her in front of us! Despite the bad (watery, tasteless, boring) beer, don't be a despicable person and not back up your buisness and employee!
ReplyDeleteShame! As a former server/bartender/bar manager, and as a FORMER customer, Shame!
I'll never go back to someplace that makes me uncomfortable to ask a simple question about pricing for fear that the server will be punished.