I went to Brownstone for a late bite on Friday night. Â This is a small pub/restaurant on Rt 16/Portion Road. Â They have a small parking lot for about 10-12 cars and there is also street parking nearby.
The place has a brick walled exterior and interior and has a pub/bar feel with the bar counter being center stage with some high tables on either side. Â On the far side which i didn't venture into, Â there appeared to be some booths for sitting as well. Â They have lot music and the crowd is pretty loud. Â Great for a bar scene.
I sat at the bar counter and got prompt service with drinks and the menu. Â The menu is standard for a pub type place: appetizers, soups, salad, burgers and fries. Â They also have a kids menu I guess for the earlier crowds. Â The waitress informed me of the specials and they had more than a few.
The Good:
Great Grilled Chicken sandwich special which comes on a fresh focaccia bread bun with melted cheese and a nice spread of mayo. Â The Lettuce and tomato slices were very fresh and the combination of cheese and mayo was yummy. One of the better grilled sandwiches I've had in the LI area. Â This is not on the menu but a special of the day. Â The cajun chicken sandwich, which is on the menu, is similar but not as good.
The Bad:
The menu labels the fries as fresh cut fries, Â though what I was served had a frozen taste to me. Â The fries were cut with their skins but certainly didn't taste freshly cut and had the distinct flavor of having been in a freezer. Â They weren't bad but just like all the other places that use whole cut and then frozen ones. Â If you go to Bobby's Burger Palace, Â Johnny's Burgers, Five Guys or In-N-Out you can tell Brownstone's aren't fresh and distinctively different from fresh cut. Â Not bad for frozen but please don't put fresh cut on the menu.
The Ugly:
The place gets loud. Â Not bad for a pub and appropriate for the bar crowd but beware if you want to sit and talk, unless you want to scream in each others ears.
In all great place for a late nite munch and a drink. They also give a rewards card with about 10% back. Â Â Good food (ignoring the "fresh" cut fries), nice staff, I'll be back for the midnight snackin'.
I've decided to write a review after going to this place ten times to be fair. First thing first, this is not a brewery as there is no brewing that is done on premises. They have 3 beers ( that tend to be mostly bad) that are made for them by another local brewery that is then shipped to the restaurant. There should be some law against a place calling themselves a brewery when they are not. Secondly, Though they have a good selection of craft beer, the staff is completely unknowledgeable on the beer styles or stem ware. In fact they will serve all there beers in a icy chilled glass which is a big no no when it come to drinking good craft beer. I asked one bartender who claims to be a homebrewer why do they do this, and he believes" there is no difference in the beers served in a chilled glass", really ! Could you imagine being served a founders imperial stout or Breakfast stout this way. I've seen it; sad but true. There are better places 10 miles away, but despite this place shortcomings, the staff are nice and they serve decent food. If you want to drink craft beer in Lake Ronkonkoma there is no other place that has this selection, so if you live nearby its worth going to just be sure to ask for a glass from the counter and not the freezer.
Review Source:Wanted to try this place since it opened and I got my chance. Went there for lunch on a Friday. The food was pretty good, a little better than you would expect from a bar, but not good enough that I would keep coming back for more. Can't speak for the beer selection, since drinking during the work day is frowned upon, LOL. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich. The roll it was on was nice quality and the pulled pork was decent as well. I think the cole slaw they served was house made, it was better quality then I usually get at diners. The sweet potato fried were also good. Overall I would say it is a great place to chill for a nice break in the work day. It is clean, cleaner than most bars. Â The decor is of a new bar trying to look old, but I won't hold it against them. May go back for happy hour!
Review Source:Met some friends down here for a few drinks on a Friday night. The place looks good and the staff seemed pretty friendly. I didn't eat there so I can't comment in the food although my friends had the fried oreos. Since I've only see those at street fairs and never in a rest/bar, I thought that was pretty cool. Â
Beers were good. Had their Blonde beer and it was tasty yet on lighter side. I'll be sure to review again once I eat there. So far good place and I'm looking forward to going back and expanding on my experience.
Beer
This place bills itself as a "brewing company" but as others have noted on here, they do not actually brew anything - so bear that in mind if you are looking for craft beers.
The Brownstone brewing company does have a decent selection of taps - but again, if you are going to go out there and put "brewing company" on your marquee, then you should be offering more than the same ole that you can get in many other places.
Aside from that, the place is decent- a little on the bare bones side in terms of atmosphere if you ask me. Â Seemed like they were going for something between sports bar and brew house and it doesn't really seem to have an identity of its own. Â Well lit, maybe a little too bright and sort of noisy due to the high ceilings, I'm thinking they could so something in there to make it a bit more cozy.
The bartender was a champ - she was happy and welcoming and knew her stuff - so that was a nice thing. Â The food : Â basic bar fare that you would expect with a lot of stuff on the fried end of the spectrum. Â We tried some nachos and although a little greasy, they were fine enough as an excuse to drink beer.
Overall a good place for when you want wings and beers - I doubt I would hit it for a dinner. Â The bar is setup a little odd too- the long line of taps sits almost dead center on the bar so if you sit along there, you are ducking over and under the taps to talk to the bartender - this is because instead of separate taps, they are all joined in a box that acts like a vertical wall - check it and you'll understand.
Prices are average
Parking all around
Brownstone Brewing Company in Ronkonkoma is a 4 Yelp joint in my books because of the amazing service I received, the friendliness and knowledge of the bartender I had (Caroline) about beer, cocktails and drinks in general and the experience at the bar. Here's why:
Food: 8
Their menu features everything from Latin inspired cuisine to comfort food to regular American bar food.
+ Giant Soft Dough Pretzel. It was served with spicy mustard and when they say "Giant", trust me it's huge. It was decent...
+ Chicken Quesadilla. This too was quite large and not greasy/oily at all which many places will screw up. It's not the best quesadilla I've ever had but surely not the worst. The chicken inside was plentiful and the cheese was gooey...
Service: 13
+ Caroline the bartender (I sat at the bar) was absolutely fantastic! She only works there on certain nights (I was there on a Sunday) when they are really busy. Caroline has a ton of experience when it comes to beer, wine, cocktails and drinks in general. It was awesome to sit at the bar and talk to her about drinks and concoctions while she held the fort down - the bar did get quite busy over time and she can definitely multi task with the best of 'em! I will have to make sure she's there the next time I visit...I highly recommend you sit with her!
Ambience: 10
+ The place is quite large on the inside though has a kinda' quirky layout. When you walk in, you're greeted by a very large kinda U/ extended L shaped bar which you can find a seat at or sit down on the low tables on the left of the restaurant or on the right side of the bar. There is a lot of kitchen traffic in one corner so if you don't like sitting by a lot of traffic, sit on a different corner of the bar. I didn't sit on the dining room side but it seemed to be quite popular
Drinks: 3
They have several beers on tap and many by the bottle so the selection is good. They have something for everyone. BBC also features a fairly well stocked bar so you shouldn't have any issue with any drink that you'd like to have them concoct. BBC also features SPIKED MILKSHAKES that looked absolutely awesome! I didn't try one but definitely will the next time I GO!
+ The margaritas I had were fantastic and made fresh (no syrup crap). Their tequila selection is pretty decent and the drink was made damn well (obviously because the bartender was that good)
- I had tried many of their own brewed beers and I wasn't a fan unfortunately. I did however think that the Brownstone Red IPA was the best of the 3 and did have a pint of it. It was a decent IPA as I'm usually not a fan of IPAs...it paired well with the Giant pretzel. What doesn't?
Score = 34
*Grade = B
THIS has been a review by Gaurav
Came in for a quick bite and a beer to close out a long work day. Â Tried to get something 'on the healthier side', which isn't the easiest with their menu. Â It is mainly the pub grub you would expect but perhaps a bit better on the quality. Â Ended up with the Veggie burger. Â It was sweet potato based, which I still think is odd but it was pretty good.
The main experience here for me was the service. Â Bartender and servers really seemed pretty enthusiastic and attentive. Â
Music in the background, perhaps a little on the louder side, but fit the atmosphere.
Normally, I would give it 3 but the service was a +1.
I came here for lunch with a few coworkers and I must say, the interior, very nice, pretty clean, lots of flat screens. The food and service are a different story. Now there was hardly anybody here and the waitress was nowhere to be seen. When the waitress finally came, she ordered and we had to request for water. Now the food, just your regular bar food. Fries were really soggy. Im pretty sure the beers are good.
Review Source:I was very excited to try this place, because I'm a fan of places that brew their own beer like John Harvard's, but this was so far from that it was shocking.
First of all, I don't think you should have "Brewing Company" in your name, if you do NOT actually brew your own beer there. In fact it wasn't even considered a domestic beer! As we found out when we got our bill. All the whopping 3 of the "Brownstone" beers (which were nothing to brag about) were $6 versus the $5 domestic beers.
When my boyfriend and I went in at around 8 on a Saturday night, it was surprisingly quiet inside. This is after the place has been open a wile too. We had a waiter come over after about 10 min. And he asked to take our drink order, we said we were interested in trying the Brownstone beers and asked if they offered a sampler (like John Harvard's does) He said just go up to the bar and the bartender can let you try any of them you'd like to. When we seemed to hesitate about doing that, he said, oh, I'll get you them when I can get the bartender's attention. What do you want? We thought we were clear when we said "sampler" (especially being that Brownstone has only 3 beers) but apparently not. We ended up only getting to try the Red and Blonde beers, the third one is called Green. For some reason, my bf and I each decided to go with one of the beers. He got the red and I got the blonde. My was like a watered down pale ale. His was like a more hoppy version of Killian's Irish Red.
I don't know if this was our waiter's first time waiting, but he was so bad you almost felt sorry for him, well if you weren't hungry and annoyed like we were. As soon as he brought us our drinks he left, right as we were about to say what we'd like to order. We even said "Excuse me.." he turned and looked and said he'd be right back. He came back 10 mins later. Throughout the evening we had to ask bus boys for other things we might need, because our waiter very seldomly returned. They were actually the most helpful and polite!
Now the food. When we heard this establishment was opening near us, we looked online to see what the menu looked like. I saw on the online menu that they offered a seared Ahi Tuna burger. I was very excited to try this, but much to my dismay it was not offered on the menu. I asked if the specials (I was particularly interested in the Crab Cakes) came with any sides ,being that they were all $13 and up, and was told no. I ended up getting a pulled pork sandwich that came with sweet potato fries. The sandwich was ok, the fries were very limp and soggy. Very disappointing. My b/f said his steak was ok, but the best thing about his meal was the coleslaw. That says a lot.
I feel very let down by the this place. I can say without a doubt, I will not be going back. John Harvards is a FAR better choice than this place if you're looking for a brewery that actually brews its own beer and has great food as well!
I first ate at Brownstone Brewing Company with my stepsons who are 15 and 12 and are very picky eaters; we all loved the food and ambiance. We ordered chicken fingers and a hot pretzel as an appetizer.  The chicken was nice white meat and the hot pretzel was fun, comforting and delicious!  We ordered mac n cheese and  burgers which were all cooked to the temperature we'd requested upon ordering and came with your choice of a few types of fries...all were delicious.  I would describe the food as gourmet bar food. Â
  Happy with my experience that afternoon, I returned with my husband on a Wednesday night and sat at the bar to sample the drink menu and have a bite to eat. Â
We were both pleased with the variety the drink menu had to offer, and the bartender was friendly and competent. Â I ordered a Captain Morgan and Diet Coke and my husband tried one or two beers on tap and enjoyed them. Â We each tried a spiked milkshake for dessert and I personally would return to Brownstone Brewing Company just for the spiked milkshakes, they were so yummy....and so was all the food I've tried there so far. Â They had the Rangers game on the night we were there...the place is definitely a great spot to watch games or fights... Lots of TV's around the entire restaurant. Â Great to escape the commercial atmosphere of Applebee's or TGIF's to watch a game. Â This place was more like a casual/classy sports bar. Â
  For a place that's been open a short time, Brownstone has a lot to offer and will earn my patronage again in the near future.  I am pleased to have a place close to my home where I can enjoy great food with the family by day or enjoy some drinks and watch a game with my husband at night.  Overall, a great experience!
Pop quiz, fellow Yelp-ers:
You've made your drink order after a small wait. Your waiter / waitress comes by with your (sub-par) beers. What is the next thing you expect to happen?
... If you answered "Be ignored for a good 15 minutes before he / she comes back to take the order. I don't want him / her to take the order when he / she gives us our drinks and is already at the table!", then you will absolutely love the fine service at Brownstone Brewing Company!
For those of you, on the other hand, who'd like to order your food when you receive your drinks and not have to wait while freezing (an ongoing trend with places as we head into the warmer months), get ready for a long long long night.
Sadly, the wait to take our order wasn't even the beginning of our troubles. First off, as I stated, it was freezing. Bring a sweater with you.
Secondly, their own brews aren't that great. You're much better off going to John Harvard's or the Port Jeff Brewing Company if the beer is why you're here. And maybe someone can explain to me how a domestic beer is advertised as being $5, but the charge for the Brownstone beers were each (unadvertised) $6. Am I to believe the the "Brewing Company" that I'm eating at in NY is importing it's own beer? Fantastic.
The food itself arrived an entire period of hockey later. I'm easy to please when it comes to bar-type foods, and this hit those standards just fine for me. Basic fries, decent burger. Somehow, the coleslaw became my favorite part of the meal, however.
We, after another about 15 minutes waiting with empty plates at our table made the mistake of ordering dessert. We ordered a brownie sundae for dessert. We returned to the land of sub-par. I'm not a big fan of Applebees, but I yearned for their version of this dessert after taking a couple of bites. It just had no flavor, which is amazing considering how much syrup they drizzled over it to give it some sort of appealing look.
I know this restaurant just recently opened, but if this is the best they can do, they will not last long. I personally will not be returning. I strongly suggest you do the same.
On first look the place has a nice wooden bar and tables. The mortar and brickwork is a nice touch with red bench seats along the front wall and booths in the back and free standing tables throughout. But if you look a little closer you find there's lighting in the place that seem made for a club. When I asked I was told that at night the place turns from a classy sports bar to a full on club. I wasn't around for that but I did have a bite to eat and everything was great. I had a beer and cheese soup that was delicious and a huge hot pretzel that came with two types of mustard (one whole grain and the other seemed like a dijon. I'd like to suggest the 3rd hole to have a souflet of good old fake canned liquid cheese,yeah that's right I said it!) that were great together. Then I had the mac and cheese as a meal and they killed it with that too. I was there on opening night and was impressed with how smoothly it was running. Usually a place has huge problems the first few nights and I was prepared to wait but everything came out promptly. Place seems great out of the gates, give it a shot.
Review Source:
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