Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

I was staying in Bethany over 4th of July weekend and visited Dogfish Head 3 times while I was there.  My husband and I knew we wanted to go at least once, but kept coming back because the brews were so yummy and there were a lot to try!  

Our first visit was on Friday night, there was an hour and a half wait.  We did get seats at the bar pretty quickly though, so I was good with it.  Let me say, we had our nephew with us (5 years old) and Dogfish Head has the BEST kid's menu I have ever seen.  I'm not really talking about the food selection here, but the activities on it!  They had MadLibs and string to make a bracelet, very cool for a brewery.  We had the rib meat/cheese fries for an app- to die for.  I had a burger for dinner (I know, boring), but it was really tasty!

We came back on Saturday with our baby, but it was PACKED.  We couldn't even get in with our stroller, so we got a growler to go and some t-shirts!

Sunday was our last day in town.  We came back again and this time the place was pretty empty.  This time it was also just my husband and I, so we got to sit at the bar the entire time.  We sampled their gin and got a beer sampler (to take advantage of tasting as many as possible).  We brought home desert for my parents, the blue cheese/chocolate cheesecake (sounds awful, but was AMAZING) and bread pudding were both delicious!

All in all, I would highly recommend visiting if you are in the area.  The staff was friendly, the food was excellent, and the brews were fresh, interesting and delicious!

"Go for the beer while your name is on a waiting list for dinner somewhere else." this is the advice we got from friends but we didn't listen. I did get an Iron horse, brew on tap yet to be bottled which was really good. However the food is completely disappointing.

The battered pickle app was fairly good but the dipping sauce was way too strong to be paired with the already flavorful pickle. The crab and corn chowder was actually delicious, if I was to go back again I would order it. The crab cake burger was okay but not for the price it's sold at.  I had the pub salad side which came out drenched in dressing, enough to pool at the bottom of the salad dish. The real issue was my dining partner's entree.  He ordered fish and chips which came out with tiny inch long french fries that you couldn't pick up.  They replaced them with slightly longer fries (2 inches or so) which still is a little strange. He finally bite into his fish and it was bitter.  He asked for a medium temp. burger instead which they happily got for him except it came out extra well done.  Fail. Our waitress was great but didn't even seem surprised at the quality of the food coming out of the kitchen.

So the short of it: Take the advice we didn't , get a beer while waiting for your reservation elsewhere so you can enjoy your company and not be worrying about quality control issues.

As a true fan of Dogfish, I can't give it anything less than a three. But I have to say, the food made me sad this year.  

My friends and I always specifically stay at a hotel across the street from Dogfish because we love it so much.  We can drink as much as we'd like (because it is so delicious) and then walk back to hotel at the end of the night.  Last year, we seemed nuts but every night when someone asked what we were doing for dinner, we had no reason NOT to go back to Dogfish because the food was so great and we loved the beer.  

This year, however, I am sad to report that we started exploring different restaurants and then heading over there for drinks after.  We weren't really impressed with anything on the food menu anymore.  And the things that we used to love were still on the menu, but recipes had been changed.

DOGFISH, we want the old you back!!