Preferably 5 stars, but just giving 4 stars because I am still at the "first impression" stage with only one visit under my belt.
My SO, the dog, and I went driving around and found ourselves hungry and in CC, so quickly yelped "patio restaurant" and this place pops up, call to double check dogs are allowed, they are! No surprise right, or I would t be writing this review ha.
Anyways we find the place (a little tricky for us).
The patio is covered with a pergola and surrounded by a half wall and then plexi-glass on the top half. I also saw outdoor heaters. Its casual, like a nice backyard.
We pick a shady spot and get set up. A Bloody Mary and a beer recommendation from the waitress. Check out the specials board and its happy hour, 7 days a week. Score.
A good menu selection. I got a side salad which was simple, fresh and crisp and the chicken tenders and fries. And my boyfriend got the Gorgonzola burger. After I ordered I asked the waitress if my fries weren't dropped (in the fryer) if I could substitute mashed potatoes and gravy, she said no problem except she had to check to see if they got a delivery they were waiting on (the potatoes)... turned out they didn't have what they needed yet (if I remember right something about 4 pm). Even if that was a lie (because now that I'm thinking about it, kinda doesn't make sense), its okay because it seemed believable and the fries were actually garlic fries with real garlic!!
So I was actually more than happy with the fries.
The chicken was beer battered there and amazing as was my bf's burger.
It was a great experience overall and our dog was happy and the prices good, especially with the everyday happy hour. If we lived in CC, we would probably be there often.
we were in town for a bowling tournament and this brewery was near my hotel room. im soooo lucky. love the downtown feel. regulars made you feel comfortable. beer was awesome, brown was my favorite. staff was friendly and helpful. went back the next day and all of down town was slammed because it was the taste of carson. sooo many people. high sierra was great even when they were packed! ordered a meat lovers pizza pie, waited a little longer, which was understandable seeing how the kitchen was also cooking for the festival. Â staff courteously had explained this. but beer never ran dry, and i will go back.
Review Source:Eh. This place is okay. They have a patio, which is nice...when it's actually open, that is. They have a decent beer selection and the happy-hour prices are pretty cheap....as long as you stick to the same old "standards", that is. The service is usually pretty slow and the food is usually pretty "eh". The "garlic rosemary" fries have so much rosemary on them that they kind of taste like perfume and they somehow always get the pizzas perfectly lukewarm. It's not cold, by any means, but it certainly isn't hot either....and this is the way it is every single time. The wings are good, but inconsistent. On one plate, you can (and usually will) get a mix hot, cold, dry and drenched ones. Like I said, this place is doable, but not desirable. My fiancé and I regularly find ourselves saying stuff like "Yeah. Having a beer out on the patio sounds nice, but their food kinda sucks.", which has resulted in us going elsewhere (without a much-loved patio) on multiple occasions. I don't know. It is what it is, I suppose, but the subpar food, inconsistent service and increasingly limited happy-hour beer selection is starting to keep us away. But, hey...they have a patio. Again, eh.
Review Source:the beers are worth a happy hour visit. I had the "imperial stout" and it was quite good!
On the other hand...the food was disappointing. I had "the cure" burger and the patty was lacking seasoning. fries were soggy and cold. Â Also, the garlic fries are loaded with rosemary and overpowered the garlic. Â also, it had a very sloppy presentation.
the gentleman who served us was friendly, yet impersonal at the same time. side note: his voice and laugh carried from across the room and became rather annoying.
Overall, I might be back for a happy hour beer or some live music. But I highly doubt that I will be back to eat.
Decent beer prices, liquor isn't as overpriced as some places. Â Definitely the "meat market" vibe I tend to avoid, though. Â The patrons here are often over-served, and the guys can get a little aggressive in their attempts at flirtation. Â I find it a bit off-putting.
They frequently have live music, which is reason enough for me to keep coming here. Â However, the music definitely runs loud, so don't come in with a headache, and consider ear plugs if you're sensitive to noise. Â Also, if a band is playing, consider conversation out of the question except during breaks!
Bathrooms aren't very clean here, but not awful for a bar. Â Often crowded. Â Very difficult to get waiter service at a table during peak hours, even if you're eating. Â The food is good, but not worth the atmosphere for me. Â The burgers are good, and the pasta with alfredo sauce should be avoided--you're better off eating a microwaveable pasta for flavor.
After reading the reviews I wanted to give this place a try. Â I received the worst service I have ever gotten by my server Heather. Â She was slow and treated my boyfriend with no respect. Â I really enjoyed the food but the reason I will never return to this restaurant is due to the service I received . Â I went back to the yelp website and saw the filtered comments that I didn't read before and this wasn't the first bad response this server received. Â For that I decided to create a yelp account and hopefully my comment won't be filtered and people will be cautions when choosing this restaurant for future dinning experiences.
Review Source:I went here after work with a friend recently to catch up. It was pretty busy but they found us a seat right away. Our server, Angie, was great and very helpful the entire time even though she was busy. It was happy hour so there were great deals on beer and appetizers! We weren't fully satisfied with one of our dishes and they offered to either replace it or take it off the ticket; that was much appreciated. The espresso stout is delicious! Overall it was a great experience and I will definitely return. I'm only giving four starts because it was a little louder in there than I generally prefer which occasionally made it hard to have a one-on-one chat with an old friend.
Review Source:The beer is okay, only a few that I would consider repeaters. The asian style wings is the best appetizer that they offer. The Happy Hour deals make this place go from a 2 star to 3 star. Again if it was in Reno, it might be a 1 star or out of business by now. Most of the menu is bland.
Review Source:call me unimpressed. appetizers are average and most are deep fried (okay bar food is bar food I admit) anyway, the biggest problem we had was slow service and the area we were seated in towards the back was FREEZING cold and I do mean FREEZING. It was horrible. The place was rather empty yet our service was slower than slow. Also asked for an after dinner Disaronno Amaretto. Got the drink tasted weird turns out they brought some weird well Amaretto and did NOT have Disaronno. I was not a happy girl. Don't bring me some weird generic shit and try to pass it off as what I ordered!
Review Source:Went there for lunch on a weekday. Â There are a number of good variations on the traditional bar menu, however, not many selections for the weight conscience. The Southwest Chicken Wrap fills the bill though. Service was good, but slow, especially with the light crowd. Â The place has a good feel to it and should provide a good spot for happy hour type crowds in the afternoon/evening. Â The back room was empty and really doesn't fit it with the rest of the bar. Â I've had the beer in the past -- solid, but not exemplary.
Review Source:The good: This place has cheap happy-hour appetizers, and the waitress was attentive.
The bad: Everything else.
Our appetizers -- garlic fries and nachos -- arrived reasonably quickly, as did my girlfriend's beer. But we waited 15 to 20 minutes for the food, not realizing at the time that they were doing us a favor by not giving it to us.
When I dumped my raspberry vinaigrette dressing on my rather uninspiring salad, the fact that it had the consistency of sweet and sour sauce at McDonald's was a bad sign. My veggie-and-egg burger was greasy but decent. My girlfriend barely touched her salmon sandwich, however, and remarked later that "I don't even know if it had any salmon IN it."
My girlfriend's beer was OK, she said. And there were several TVs showing the college national title game. Still, we wouldn't return here, at least not for food.
Great place to try some craft beers! My favorite was the Irish Red. Super inexpensive prices , crazy happy hour specials and 1.95 pints on Thursdays. Our server was awesome! It wasnt very busy but she was patient with us as we wanted to wait till happy hour to order food. Check out the chicken wings and the fried cheeses, everything looks great Ill get around to checking out the rest of the menu in time. Well worth the drive from Reno to Carson to try this place.(the new 580 makes it easier).
Review Source:Cool place to hit in Reno. Â Beer is good. Â We saw that they were voted best pizza in Reno. Â Wow, anybody who knows good pizza and wants to get into the business move to Reno. The Pizza was really tragic. Â If your going to swill a bunch of beer its OK only for the massive amount of bread.
Review Source:I love this place! Pepperoni Pizza is amazing but not a fan of some of their other flavors. Most food here is great and not too pricey. The environment is nice if you go early enough. Later hours it gets too loud with drunk people screaming--especially watching sports, but they have three different dinning areas...too bad some of the loud ones can reach all the way to the back. Overall, this place is worth a sht and then some even with hit-and-miss food, it's usually a hit.
...p.s.....I love the background music an dthe paper table cloths--but it's easier to draw on when they clean underneath the paper first.
There are some new happy hour specials here that are pretty good. Happy Hour runs till 7pm too! Most of the beers are only $1.95 a pint, and many food specials for $1.50 to $3.00. Garlic fries, tri-tip sliders. Also AYCE pizza for $7.95. Service can be a bit slow when its crowded, so just be aware. I'm getting to liking this place better now.
Review Source:I really wanted to like this place, and at first glance, I did. The happy hour prices are great and the beer didn't disappoint (the 2 stars). Service, however, was badbadbad. Our server was painfully inattentive and when we could catch him, he took our orders and delivered on the request, but many many minutes later--and the place wasn't even busy!
An hour into our stay, the whole table wanted another round of beers, but the server was gone for so long that our mood soured and we lost the desire for another round. The buffalo wings were cooked through, but ice cold, the garlic fries are just C-grade fries covered in uncooked garlic, and the salmon burger is most assuredly not salmon (at least judging by taste and color).
Our server also told us we didn't get silverware because it was Halloween--then he actually didn't bring us silverware! We waited for about 10 minutes, then eventually had to go to the bar to plead for silverware and then later, for the check since our server was nowhere to be found.
If you're going to go to this place, go just for the beer and sit at the bar, otherwise, it's not worth your time.
Bummer.
I've been here several times and the customer service is always consistently bad and slow. The only reason why I keep coming back is I actually like their beer and happy hour prices. The food is actually pretty good too, but the staff is terrible and that really brings down the whole experience.
Review Source:I have had great lunch experience before and finally was able to make it in for dinner. Â I ordered the flank steak and requested it be cooked as rare as they would allow. Â This steak was cooked perfectly! Â It was nice and medium rare - tipping on the rare side. Â I couldn't have done it better myself. Â Kudos for being the only restaurant in town that has cooked it perfectly to order. Â My friend raved about her garlic fries. Â I commented they could not possibly be better than Oakland Colesium....watch out Oakland! Â They were amazing! Â Also thank you to our server Leanne! Â She was very attentive and provided service with a smile! Â Thank you High Sierra for a great experience!
Review Source:Went in for lunch on a Friday with a buddy. Â The place was dead but the bartender got us menus right as we sat down. Â We were on lunch break so we didn't have a chance to try out the beers. Â I was burgin' hard and needed a fix. Â I picked the Alpine burger. Â It has Swiss, bacon and jalapeno on it.
Damn, what a good burger. Â It was huge, the bread was fresh, cooked right, crispy bacon... Â Everything I was looking for. Â I ate every last bite and didn't feel heavy and weighed down. Â The fries were crispy and hot, everything was great.
Damn good burger, I recommend giving them a try.
Visited High Sierra for happy hour on our one day visit to Carson City. Â They have BOMB happy hour specials, not just on beer, but also on food to go with it (details of the happy hour are in my quick tips). Â The bartender was a nice lady, and she kept us satisfied without being pushy or intrusive. Â We each had two beers, including the apricot, honey, red and amber. Â All were excellent, and extremely fairly priced. Â Really a nice place...open, airy and interestingly decorated. Â We started here, with the intention to go to dinner at Sassafrass, then come back, but unfortunately, dinner didn't set well with us, and we had to go back to our B&B. Â Bummer.
Review Source:Awesome atmosphere...I thought it was a great idea to have beer taps on the tables. Very cool!
Negative:
They only had one bartender and one server working. I was there for 2 1/2 hours....FOR DINNER! Took 45 minutes just to order. That was excessive. The only reason we chose to stay is because I had heard such good things about the place, so I wanted to experiment.
Their house beers taste like hairspray. There's a reason they're cheap!
Beautiful restaurant inside, but they definitely need to work on the service, the food quality and the house beer.
Oh, and they play GREAT music in there. That was a huge plus
My group chose to have dinner on the patio since the weather was good, but the smokers stand fart too close to the entrance. When we asked to move, the manager was a bit miffed, but hen we realized he was friends with the smokers.
The rest of the service was pretty poor, our orders were not accurate and my hamburger was a bit too blue for having ordered med. rare. We were also charged for garlic fries that we had ordered but never received.
As soon as we got there, I checked in on Yelp and unlocked a 10% offer, but somehow was not applied to bill, and had to get them to rerun it. I will not be back.
I travel for work and often have a hard time finding good places to eat when I don't know the area. I've started to order fodd to pick up here and occasionally I'll go in and sit at the bar. I love the avocado egg rolls with sun dried tomato and pine nuts. I almost always get the tuscan steak salad, anytime they ask you how you want steak cooked that's going into a salad you know it will be good. The salad also has roasted red peppers and gorgonzola or feta cheese (can't remember). The food is outstanding, their wine options change, last time I was there I had a great zinfandel.
The service is descent however I often find that I am waiting too long for the server to come back, for instance I asked for the bill, they brought it and took a long time to come back for it, I'd finished eating and having my wine and I was just sitting there before they brought the bill so I don't understand why they thought I needed so much time to set my credit card in the with the bill.
They also have some really cool pub tables that have two taps on them and they open it up to pour a specified amount so you can pour your own and only pay for what you pour.
The High Sierra Brewery has a good selection of brews to choose from, with a beer style to please just about everyone. Â My favorites are the OMG IPA, the Pan Handler Amber Ale, and the Black Pussy Kat Stout. Â
The HSB is the place I go in town to get pizza. Â As long as you're OK with deep dish pizza and a ton of cheese, it's the best in town. Â It's also quite affordable at around $15 per pie. Â Throw in a few beers at happy hour, and you have yourself an affordable dinner out.
In addition to the good food and drink, the building is quite versatile. Â The front of the building is the bar area, complete with a stage for music. Â The middle section is quieter, more formal, and nice for family dinners. Â The back room will accommodate larger groups or parties. Â During the warmer months, the covered back patio and fire pit make a fun hangout.
Located in the downtown area, the HSB makes a good evening destination when there's entertainment, but also a good stopping off place if you plan to walk around and make the rounds.
Bonus: Â If you're lucky, you'll get Scott M as your server!
Stopped in a week or so ago,
I had noticed a sign that said happy hour from 2-7 Â $.95 (cent) Beer !!!
I was thinking 2 things, Man you gotta be in trouble to offer $.95 cent beer for 5 hours.
And secondly, I'm gonna have me some $.95 cent beer....
(Before I went in, I also had some rambling thought about this better not be some beer crawl sized glass, or some shit like that, once I get in there.)
Well it turns out they were full pints of their brew for a remarkable "happy (5) hour"
price. Well I can get pretty damn happy in 5 hours on .95 cent beer.
So I sit at the bar and the guy is prompt enough getting my beer.....I thought the taste was off (IPA) a bit "sour" and on the flat side, but I told my taste buds to stow that shit talk and adjust their attitude.
I like the interior better than Doppelgangers, If for no other reason than someone raised the interior lights up higher so they were not in the way of the TVs from so many of the seats throughout the main room. (if you had been there before you would know what I mean, it was ridiculous)
Then it all went to shit........
The bartender was mulling around way at the other end from where I am, I keep trying to get his attention so I can ask for a food menu, not happening.
Finally after I am half done with my beer, he gets within range and I manage to snag one of his eyeballs. I ask him for a food menu, and the run down on these $2 dollar appetizers. I tell him to give me a second to look it over.
(The happy hour apps, were of no interest to me, but some other stuff looked good, and I was ready to try a couple things)
He wanders off to the far end of the area once again, and proceed to mull about some more, talking to a coworker and some friends at a table by the stage.
Truly I have not seen such finely polished mulling in quite some time, he was a master of his craft.
He could effortlessly point his face at the entire room, do a full 360 degree sweep, and not even show a hint of being trapped by actual "eye contact" , the man is a well oiled machine.
Mind you the place is almost empty, 1 table with his friends, and 2 of us at the bar on opposite ends. Maybe a random 4-top or 2, I don't recall.
So here I sit with my beer, my menu, and my growing bad attitude, as he fails to return to sell some lunch. I came in here to eat and drink, and only one of those things was going well......until I was out of beer........Now neither thing is going well.
Meanwhile some manager guy is sitting at a corner table down at the end of the room where I am at, twice he gets up and goes behind the bar to do something, then back to his table to do what appears like paperwork. He did not look at me when I had no menu, nor when I had a menu and an empty beer. (I wonder if he can mull?, because even children can ignore.)
After sitting another 5+ minutes after my beer was totally empty, (15 minutes after FINALLY getting menu,so 30 minutes and I still can't get a food order going?), I just put 2 dollars under my empty glass, and went somewhere else for lunch.
Normally I would not even tip in this scenario, but something about $.95 cent beer still had a small light in my heart, it just seemed the proper thing to do, even though the bartender is a complete fuck up.
I walked right by the manager guy at his table, he did not look or even notice.(way to pay attention to your almost empty room)
I really should "One Star" this place since I'm not coming back, but again the very fact that they had $.95 cent beer prevents me from doing that,...
But I suspect now that they are offering such a great happy (5) hour price, because they are, in fact, in trouble....
I've sworn this place off before, and thought I reviewed them too, At that time the food was bad, I had some major issues about the burger (When it was Stew's Brews, or Doppelgangers, I think that was the review?)
I have no idea how the food is now, because they seemed content not to try to sell any to me.
But this really is the last time I come in here, ..until they get sold yet again.
I also owe my taste-buds an apology, because the IPA was not good, it had a pronounced "sour" note. Some recipe's are that way on purpose, or consistent in a product line, (Jolly Pumpkins product line) Â but it's not the norm, and I don't think it was on purpose.
But asking questions about the beer was clearly not going to happen  in this place.....
Stopped in here for lunch today. Aside from one guy sweeping and one gal bartending and waitressing, the place was empty except for three guys noshing at the bar. Felt kind of weird.
Ordered the Philly cheesteak and rosemary fries. Not bad, people! The fries were especially tasty and done just the way I like them, thin with lots of tender but crispy parts. The cheese steak looked a lot more spectacular than it tasted, but one of the two best in Carson City.
Menu seems limited but I suspect this is a drinking place more than it is an eating place, so that's OK. Lots of seats here-- three inside areas and one covered outside area. You could have a helluva company party here. Hope they stay in business. Maybe it's busier at night, when people like me are home in our bathrobes with our feet in a basin of  hot water. A strong three stars- A-OK.
Good service, nice space, close look at the fermenters through a window, good decor, solid bar menu. Â What's not to like?
I stopped by here on the way back from hiking down south. Â Despite probably looking a bit frazzled, I didn't raise any eyebrows.
It was fairly quiet when I stopped by, right around 9 p.m. on a Wednesday. Â The bartender, Brian, was attentive, but gave space, a well-balanced sort of server that all should appreciate. Â
After a look at the menu, I ordered one of their lighter beers (the 4'10" Jen Blonde Ale) to start and opted for their skirt steak salad.
The beer came quickly and the bartender worked the one small group already there and the recently arrived couple from the UK along with me, feeling folks out to see how much he should talk with them and entertain them versus just leaving them to their devices.
The atmosphere in the place is quite nice. Â The space has plenty of room, high ceilings, unpretentious, but not TGIF crazy junk wall decorations, nice wood features and a nice, new, clean feel without feeling sterile. Â It's perfect.
There's a lower area with tables on the outside of a long wood bar and and upstairs dining area with plenty of additional space. Â Lighting is mellow, but not dark and cavelike.
From the bar, you have a nice view into the room with some extremely large fermenters (1000L?). Â It nicely complements the whole brewpub vibe. Â Your beer was brewed--right over there! Â
The salad came with two cute little garlic cheese breads and a plentiful amount of salad upon which was place some skirt steak. Â The flavor was quite good with a vinaigrette (I opted not to get some walnut bleu cheese or other dressing as I hate those two ingredients0. Â The skirt steak tasted good, but it was horribly mangled by not cutting perpendicular to the grain. Â It detracted from the texture (too rough) of what is ordinarily a great cut of meat.
The Jen Blonde beer was light and interesting with one unusual note for a beer of its type. Â I expected some astringency (acidic flavor), some mild malty sweetness and possibly some floral aroma (the hops), but it had another spice note that made it interesting.
After ordering I had the opportunity to speak with the bartender a bit who was full of interesting facts and conversation. Â Originally from the east coast, he had a unique perspective on the west (everything is better except the food, particularly the seafood). Â He also told me about the history of microbrews, each town having one prior to prohibition (which makes sense before cars, highways, trucking and easy interstate trade) basically making the current microbrew/brewpub movement a return to the norm rather than a lucky trend that just happened to coincide with my 21st birthday.
I got the Black Pussy Kat Stout after the blonde beer and enjoyed it a lot as well. Â Anyone that drinks much beer will recognize it's a hard style with which to lose, being generally of high quality. Â The bartender warned me that it was more of a porter in style and flavor and he was right. Â It had a thicker body, more sweetness, more carbonation and did feel more like a cross between an amber ale and a stout than being a pure stout.
To put it simply, one of the better brewpub experiences one could expect ot have happened to me here. Â I recommend it highly if you like brewpubs as it has everything to offer one could hope, good service, great food and beer, a nice atmosphere and a variety of clientele to keep it interesting (as people pass through Carson City quite a bit).
Ate there last night during MNF in the bar area. Â We had bought a certificate thru Living Social and needed to use it before it expired. Staff was super friendly. Good TVs for football watching but food was below average. The avocado eggrolls were the worst I have ever had. The salad was ok. And the wings had a wierd spice on them ( we ordered them dry w/ the sauces on the side.) Have another Living Social cert to use, think I'll give it to someone I don't like for Christmas.
Review Source:August 12, 2011 Friday - dinner 7:15 PM
2 Adults and a kid
Atmosphere - 5 stars
Food - 3 stars
Service - 5 stars
Background - Love a good microbrewery.
Atmosphere - The place is a good size micro-brewery. Â We walked in and we thought the place was closed. Â It only had one customer after scouring whole place. Â It was good to see the place filling up by the time we finished. Â It had a great mix of tables and had a large bar with slots. Â
Food
Appetizer - Had the chicken tenders, they were served with French fries straight from the fryer and extremely hot. Â The tenders were served with a couple of dipping sauces; bbq sauce and honey mustard.
Main Course - Went with the pepper jack burger. Â It was a really stacked high. Â The problem with that was when you got a good grip on it the avocado came sliding out of it. Â The pepper jack also suggest that a there would be a little heat with it, but there was none.
Dessert - We skipped it tonight.
Service - Our waitress was super friendly and always was smiling making you feel warm and welcome.
I first discovered the existence of this brewery when a classmate "liked" it on a blogging site. I looked on Yelp and read a few reviews and noticed it said it was located where the now defunct Dopplegangers was. I had wanted to try Dopplegangers and have driven past it many times, so I knew exactly where this place was. Made it a point to stop in while I was down in Carson, and it was worth it.
I had an "OMG" IPA which was rather tasty, and a friend got the beer sampler. He let me take a sip out of each one, and I liked some and didn't like the others quite as much. I thought the blonde tasted sort of watery, but my friend thought it was pretty good as a "light beer." I'll trust him on that, because I had been drinking my IPA prior and the taste was pretty strong in my mouth. I think next time I will get their stout.
We started off with the nachos which were decent. I got the peppercorn New York steak, which I enjoyed, except the fried bacon chunks heavily sprinkled on it were a bit over the top for me. (Gave them to my friend who enjoyed the bacon bits.) He got the Philly cheesesteak sandwich which he said was pretty good. The fries were great. Portions and food were about average or maybe a touch above average, nothing mind-blowing though; the service was pretty attentive.
Definitely a place I'd go back again for the beer (and food).
I would give this place a 3.5 or 3.75 stars, so I just rounded up to 4.
Wifey and I decided to give this establishment another go. It was Friday afternoon date day for us. Since it was early afternoon, we actually enjoyed an almost empty atmosphere. Tara, our waitress, was at our table immediately, asking if she could help. Wife ordered the Irish Red Lager beer, on Tara's recommendation  (wifey is a beer lady . . .), and I opted for my usual Manhattan (made with Gentleman Jack if available). No Gentleman Jack, so I asked for plain old Jack Daniel's.
Unlike our last visit, this time my straight up cocktail came icy cold, with a couple slivers of ice still floating in the glass. Perfect. Wifey liked her Irish Red Lager (and after I tasted it, I liked it too).
We ordered the Garlic, Rosemary, Parmesan fries, also like last time, and they were just as good as we remembered them. Yum.
Then, same as last time, we opted for the "Meat Lover's" pizza. Â This time, the pizza was better. I think the crust is still too thick, and for a "meat lover's" pizza, it's a bit thin on the meat. Nevertheless, we enjoyed it. Like last time, we took almost half the pizza home, but UNLIKE last time, we ate the remaining pizza the next day. It was that much better!
All in all, I'd say our experience here was much better this time than our initial visit. They've made some real improvements, at least with the pizza we ordered.
We didn't have to wait long for our food, or our drinks. But then, when the place is almost empty, we'd EXPECT not to wait...
The staff is great. They seem to genuinely enjoy working here, and it shows in their attitude toward customers.
We entered through the front, but decided to exit out the back. Wow - this place is much bigger than I thought. Tables, tables, and more tables. As the place improves, I'm sure they'll pack 'em all.
As an aside,when we opened up Yelp on our phones to check in, we got a pop-up offer for 10% off our check. Pretty cool. But we also had to remind them to adjust our bill after it came.
After staying in Tahoe we decided to drive to Carson City to check out the new brewery. Having never experienced Doppelgangers, everyone alludes to the improvement. Its big, clean, and welcoming.
Right when we walked in the bartender welcomed us and told us about their beers. We ordered a sampler and their Pislner and Red Ale really stood out. This place has only been open since Dec 2010 and I'm excited to see more improvements.
The food was also really good. The salad and nachos really hit the spot.
I don't drink beer, and I only patronize the back patio in the summertime.
So I love the atmosphere, service is friendly, well drinks are $2 and wine is $3 during happy hour.
I'm nuts about their onion petals and yummy dipping sauce. Tried the avocado spring rolls with sauce, but haven't made up my mind how I feel about this new item. Â Maybe, I'll have to order it again.
Update!
Since my last review I've gone back to the High Sierra Brewery a number of times. Â The quality of the menu, especially the salad selection, has gotten much better. Â The service has also improved dramatically. Â The rosemary fries and beers continue to impress me. Â One more star. Â Keep it up, HSB.
Here's the original review:
I've eaten at the High Serra Brewing Company many times since it opened in the former location of Doppelgangers. Â
I applaud Jim for what he's done with the interior. Â The interior is a lot lighter and the decor makes the establishment look much less trashy and a little bit more upscale. Â Since its reopening, the Brewery has become a safe place to take a date, your out-of-town guests, or perhaps your parents or grandparents.
The food is better than the predecessor purveyed, but is still in the three-star range. Â It's simply not much to write home about. Â The burgers, are large but a bit dry. The oversized buns don't help the dryness of the burgers. Â The salads are average and middle of the road, nut just aren't that special of different to make a special trip to the Brewery. Â If there's anything special about he menu, it's the pizzas, which are seriously large and heaped with enough toppings to serve at least four and at a decent price. Â The menu also includes some pretty good garlic rosemary fries.
That being said, I'll continue to be an occasional patron, with hopes for a daily special or menu upgrade that brings my rating up another star. Â For now? Â Three stars, maybe three and a half.
p.s. Â With a nice bright interior, why is the exterior still painted primer gray?
Well, after a couple of consecutive visits to High Sierra Brewing Company, I think I can justify my stars.
The first visit was just the husband and me attempting to find a quick bite and some beer. Â Since we were in Carson, we decided to stop at High Sierra. Â We both had salads; hubby had the steak salad and I had the cobb salad. Â They were tasty enough. Â The raspberry dressing was slightly too sweet for me. Â Maybe it was just too raspberry-y. Â I have had bigger, better cobb salads so, I was not unhappy with it, but neither was I ecstatic. Â The hubby really enjoyed his steak salad. Â He said the steak was seasoned well and cooked to his liking (medium).
On to the beer! Â Wow, I don't know if I've ever had such watery beer. Â Wait, yes, I have...bud light. Â I felt like the beer I had was a flavored bud light. Â The hubby was not impressed with the irish red ale or the amber. Â The service was all right. Â I felt a tad bit ignored even when there weren't that many people at the bar, or in the whole restaurant. Â
The following evening, we met a rather large party in the back room. Â Surprisingly, the service was better. Â Our server split up the check without being asked, very nice of him. Â He also did not tack on 18% gratuity for having a party of more than 8.
Food and beer were still nothing to write home about. Â I ordered a chicken wrap. Â It was okay, but I could have made something like it at home. Â We also had onion petals...but for $2 more at Outback you get a whole bloomin' onion. Â Here, they were just little partial onion rings. Â The sauce that came with the onion appetizer was tasty, though. Â The witbier I ordered had flavor but was still too watery for me to enjoy. Â It was like watered down kool-aid.
There has to be something High Sierra can do to improve the experience of patrons. Â I mean, a ski-shot, bull frog racing, anything! Â The band didn't even keep my attention... Â I'm sorry but High Sierra is probably not going to be on my list of must-dos for family and friends that come to visit.
Okay, I've been back several times and I have to say, although the service is outstanding and the decor just keeps on impressively improving, and although they're offering cool events like karaoke, live music, and really great drink specials, the main reason some of us come to a brewery is to enjoy exceptional beer and house-made food. And therein lies my reason for reducing my three stars down to two.
When you hold a glass of hand-crafted beer in your hands, you expect the brewmaster to have done something to make the beer artfully his own. It should speak to you. And upon tasting, you should be able to definitively speak back about the beer's perceived character. Whether you like it or not, it should have robust personality. We've tasted all the beers here several times now and sadly, I must report that, to our palates, none of the beers here have any personality whatsoever. They do not shout, they do not speak, heck, they barely let out a whimper.
For someone used to Bud Light or Corona, I'm sure this beer will taste like a step up. But for educated palates accustomed to serious beer put forth by aggressive brewmasters, all of the offerings here will taste weak and lifeless and, well, just plain "meh".
Having said "meh" to the beer, that now brings me to the food.
As always, were quickly seated by very friendly staff. I ordered a special of the day, a "blacked/seared tuna wrap with wasabi mayonnaise." ($11) My companion ordered one of the two burgers they offer, the Pepperjack ($10). Â He did mention he felt it odd they only offer two burgers, but that's just an opinion.
Even though our order was taken promptly, we experienced the same thing today that we have on other occasions - it took an inordinately long time to get our food.
While we were waiting, food came for the table next to us. The portions were, as always, large. But we noticed the slices of "steak" on what seemed to be a steak salad looked horribly dry and overcooked. My companion whispered, "What did that guy get, a Beef Jerky Salad?" The man eating the salad immediately complained to his companions about the tough and dry state of the meat, but I do not know if he addressed the issue with his waitress.
Eventually our meal came out, and it looked very appetizing. Then we tasted it. While my tuna wrap did have two large pieces of nicely cooked tuna, there was absolutely no flavor it whatsoever. All I could taste was the wheat wrap and the cold crunch of lettuce. Where was the expected zing and bite of wasabi? Where was the spicy Cajun seared taste for the tuna? I even took the tuna out and tasted it alone - still completely flavorless. I had to dump salt and pepper all over it to bring it weakly to life. I did come across some yellow hard lettuce that was very bitter (finally, some kind of flavor, even if it was nasty) and I did find a tiny smear of wasabi mayo in the very bottom corner of my wrap which was very good. What a shame it had not been available for the entirety of the wrap.
My companion's burger was large and had beautiful accompaniments; nice pieces of avocado, big slices of tomato. The bun was not as described in the menu, but that can be overlooked. What cannot be overlooked is the hamburger meat itself. It was a dry, overcooked disk of meat so charred that the entire burger, good toppings and all, tasted like a charcoal briquette. Â We requested medium rare - this it was not. This was either a previously frozen, tightly preformed patty or the chef was pressing far too hard on it while cooking (or both) either way, the result was a burnt tasting, very dry burger. Â Perhaps the use of too-lean, too packed freezer meat is not a problem for some, but when we patron a non-chain establishment, we expect some hand-crafting to go into at least the main ingredient of the meal.
My companion also had a statement about the fries. He said "I'm done already with fries that destroy the roof of your mouth." We discussed how much nicer it would be if they offered double cooked "pommes frites" or even steak fries instead of these thin, hard little mouth killers.
To us, it's apparent that this place is currently focused on serving big, Â bland portions of "meh" right along with their "meh" beer to patrons who want to be there more for the music and fun than the beer and food.
It's a shame, really, because the waitstaff is so spectacular. They remind me of great actors stuck in a bad movie; it's not their fault the main event of food and beer is not spectacular, because they sure are.
I think my companion put it best when he said that each item we've tasted here, from beer to food, seems like a very boring chain offering, even specials of the day. Â After several cumulative experiences of "meh" here, we're hard pressed to find a reason to want to come back, despite the great staff and beautiful ambiance.
If we want to taste "meh" food and beer, we'll just go to Denny's. At least it would be cheaper.
After yesterday's trip to the Reno Best Buy, all 3 of us were hungry and decided that the newly opened High Sierra Brewing Company would be a good choice, as we were hankering for a Burger and a Beer. Gayle had here iphone handy in the car and thanks to her Yelp app, we had already read Kara's and Athena's review before we pulled into the parking lot.
This place is the former location of Doppelgangers, which had a Yelp average rating of 2 Stars. The High Sierra Brewing Company version seems like a definite improvement. Service was uniformally good from the time we entered, on through the meal, and ending with a genuine thank you as we left. And I'm sure that the friendly and funny guy from the Kitchen was only joking inside the Bathroom about having to now wash his hands! And not only is this place clean and tidy, it's big and can easily accommodate various size groups within it's inviting atmosphere.
Gayle and I both agreed that the fries were really good. So was the burgers that my son and I enjoyed, plus Gayle's spinach and chicken salad. Gayle also liked her Amber, while my OMG! IPA made me hoppy and happy. LOL!
I'm sure we'll be back and maybe with other family members in tow. In particular, the back outdoor patio looks really inviting for a warm summer evening.
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