Food was pretty good but was not served piping hot as it should be. Ambiance was nice but service was very slow and not terribly attentive. The one exception was the hostess, who went out of her way for us. We went for my dad's birthday and she made sure we got a dessert for him on the house. Everyone else seemed to be very busy, bustling about but not getting much done. Still, it's the only late-night thing to do in Solvang and there's a bar and live music, so can't complain too much.
Review Source:Yama Mama... Â I can't fathom someone only giving this place a couple stars, as it is some of the best bar food I've ever had! Â I got the Reuben pastrami w/ sweet potato fries, and 3 days later, I can't stop day dreaming about it! Â I also had a raspberry wheat to wet my whistle, and that only sweetened the deal for me. Â I'm considering making the drive from Santa Barbara again tonight to satisfy my urge. Â I will say it is a bit pricey for bar food, but at least the quality backs it all up. Â Best Reuben I've ever had!
Review Source:The wineries close around 5 or 6pm, the shops and restaurants aren't open much later. Â The ostriches, mini horses, and lavender farmer went to sleep hours ago.
What the hell is there to do in Solvang past 9pm??
Have drinks!
Right on the main strip (across the street from the Hamlet Inn), you'll find the Solvang Brewing Company. It's a small, divey, locals joint. The drinks are cheap and strong. They have a long list of assumably local brews that you can order in the form of pretty sizable "tastes" for less than 2 bucks each. Â And best of all: live music!!
The beer was excellent. Â Went with friends to try the local brews. Â We tried the Raspberry Wheat, Windmill Wheat, the Danske Amber Ale, the Great Dane Pale Ale, Â and the Dopplebock. Â They were all good with our favorite being the Dopplebock and least favorite being the amber. Â The Raspberry Wheat was surprisingly good. Â The Great Dane Pale was strong with hops. Â Finish was good and overall a good summer drink.
We didn't try any food except the pub fries which were also very good.
If I could give them a NEGATIVE Star I would
There is rule in the restaurant industry that is taught and that is "No matter how good your food may taste, if your customer service is terrible, then so will your food". Â
There will be times when you will have people waiting for a table, which is normal and understandable, but NEVER seat your customer if you do not have the ability to service them. Â
I went with a group of friends on a holiday weekend and it was crowded as expected. The problem was that they said they could not seat a large group of 9. So we agreed to sit in two groups (husbands in one room wives in another). That should have been our indicator to run for the hills. The hostess kindly informed us that although we would be seated our order could not be taken for 20-30 minutes. Â Seems odd right..."maybe its a Solvang thing" Have people sit let them order lots drinks and hope they don't complain about CRAPPY service.
The waitress proceeded to take our order (only soup salad burgers  and chicken tenders) This should not take long right? WRONG! We waited over 40 minutes... meanwhile our other party was finished with their meal. We asked about our food and response we received was incredible. How dare we ask about our food...Now imagine the most dismissive attitude you can receive and now multiply that by 100 and that would describe the managers attitude as well. Needless to say we left and will never go there again.
On a good note the Burger King across the way took our order and they did it with a smile! Maybe they should take some lessons from Burger King.
I cam here about a month ago and it was a great atmosphere but I felt like I was being hit on by the bartender. She was a good looking little thing but I'm happily married and I felt like she was coming on strong. She was sharing some personal things with another man too. I had to leave because of that. I didn't want to be rude so I laughed at her jokes but she does have a potty mouth. I will be back if I end up having marital problems lol jk.
Review Source:Reasonably priced lunch with good atmosphere.......I had the Danish Burger (patty made of ground pork/veal & lingonberry sauce) which was good, those of you that like Danish sausage will really like it! Â Wifey had the Big Cab Burger (onions and 'shrooms reduced in a cabernet) that was awesome! Â Staff was friendly and I really enjoyed the reggae (Eek-A-Mouse!). Â If you're looking to eat something besides Danish food and don't want to pay through the nose, this is the place!!
Review Source:Great place! I had a great time both times I went there!
Their Blue Eyed Blond is delicious!
The burger there was beyond anything I had imagined. It was surprisingly VERY good! And I'm comparing it to specialty burger places that I had visited earlier this week.
Their brews are $5 each and they have samples for $1.75 which is awesome if you want to put together your own Beer Flight Sampler :)
Staff is friendly and does their job well.
I come to Solvang allot and it's pretty difficult to find good places to eat. this place is one of the more decent palces to get food. They have allot of burgers and sandwihces for their main dishes. Appetizers run teh gambit from fried onion rings and wings to sushi or mini chimi-chicken chimichangas.
The wine selection here isn't worth the effort, but the beer selection is pretty good. Be careful though- a large beer is a full stien!
Not an overly romantic place to come kick it, but it's reasonably priced and the patio seating is pretty nice. It can turn into a rowdy bar scene inside depending on the weekend (halloween was crazy!) and the clientell.
OK. Nothing spectacular, nothing horrible. Just okay.
No craft beers, but still some delicious brews. Especially the Raspberry Wheat. We did a tasting of about 8 beers - some were outstanding, others were below average.
We got one appetizer... it was a bit salty, but okay.
Service was probably the worst thing. Took a long time to get another order and even longer to get our check. But overall we were on vacation and not in too much of a rush, so we didn't mind.
Sit at the bar for faster, better service. Tables outside don't get much attention - although if the weather is nice, who cares?!
Fantastic Brewery!
What I enjoy about this place is not only do they have great beer, they have an atmosphere that I have only found in the beer gardens of Europe. Sitting inside or outside gives such a great vibe that you want to come back over and over again. They have plenty of specialty beers and some unique ones I have never tasted. If you are stopping by in Solvang make sure to stop in and have a pint.
Yummm. Soup of the day was clam chowder, and it was just a tiny bit spicy, and completely delicious. The pretzel was nice, the fries were good pub fries, and the hot wings couldn't be improved. I am going to have dreams about that clam chowder for at least a week, and that's why I'm giving 5 stars.
Review Source:I wrote a two star review on this place. Â Had some compliments as well as critisism... What I wrote was 100% true and accurate to what I felt about the place. Â I recieved a letter threatening me with a lawsuit if I didn't remove my review within 24 hours. Â I complied. Â
Here is the letter that I recieved from the owner: Â
Hello Douglas,
I hope this letter finds you well, I am sorry to hear you believe you became unwell after eating at my establishment. I can assure you this is not the case! I would like to resolve this concern as well as the inaccurate statement you left about my business. Had you verbally defamed our establishment without proof of cause, it would have been punitive. However, since you decided to write it as well as promote a different local business in the same breath; you have now committed slander without proof.
I take matters like this extremely serious!! I hope you can understand where I am coming from. Imagine someone threatening the integrity of your business or livelihood. It is one thing to complain about service, food temp, etc. It is a completely different situation when you unreservedly advise all public do not eat at our place as it is a health risk! YOU BETTER HAVE SOME REALLY STRONG PROOF BEFORE YOU CANDIDLY ATTEMPT TO DESTROY MY BUSINESS!
My wife and I currently employee over 62 people who would otherwise be unemployed! My wife's family are also all local business owners who settled in Solvang over 100 years ago. I am sure you would not feel good about destroying over 62 jobs.
I guess what I'm trying to articulate is that my wife and I are productive contributors to society! So, it is extremely disheartening when we are not afforded the opportunity to repair or improve with a helpful concern or statement to management or owners before publicly defaming our business. I hope you did see a doctor, if you were as ill as you described. Â
We held a meal for 42 attorneys that same day, many whom ate exactly what you had. I still have their receipt copies for all their meals. Not a single person complained of any food borne illnesses besides you out of over 700 guests that day? Do you not find that strange? If we were serving a bad product don't you think at least one other person would have became ill? Â
My hope from this letter is that I can speak to reason with you and for you to understand I do not mean any direct insult to you. I am hoping you are a reasonable person and can hear my plead for reconsideration. Unfortunately, if I cannot talk reasoning to you, you will leave me little recourse other than to protect my livelihood, my employee's jobs and my business.
We have served over 11,000 guests in the three years and never has any person made a statement of illness from our product. We have passed every health inspection with flying colors and we keep an extremely sanitary establishment and kitchen!!
If we cannot mediate this issue between the two of us, I will by whatever means necessary file a law suit for defamation and denouncement without proof of cause, destruction and loss of earnings. This is not a threat it is my only recourse if you do not remove this statement which obstructs my business. Â
I can accept when something is tangible, seen, proven or tested, however I will not except this outright assumption on where you became ill from something you ate without true proof of cause. There is absolutely no way we are the only place you ate in two days time. This is not an intimidation; it is a necessity of the era. The world wide web and today's technology has given to many populace the ability to vent or state inaccuracies that have the ability to truly hurt or devastate business unfoundedly without proper tact. For this reason my only recourse is communication or legal defense. I truly hope you do not take this personal as I am a reasonable person. However, I must take it personal as I have jobs a business and livelihoods to protect. Â
Please remove your comment within 24 hours unless you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you became ill at my establishment or immediate legal recourse will follow.
Thank you for your consideration and time,
Stephen Renfrow
Owner
Solvang Brewing Company, Inc
srenfrow@solvangbrewingc...
Walked right in and Bob Marley was playing so I already loved the place! Â Great decor and placement of seating. Â Our server was super nice, helpful, and quite the talker (we didn't mind).
My husband ordered the amber ale and we shared the reuben sandwich and fries. Â The fries were actually my favorite part of the meal! Â They were crispy, yet soggy at the same time just the way I like it.
My wife & I really enjoyed our experience. We started out with Brewers Soft Pretzels that came with 3 hot pretzels, mustard & a generous amount of melted cheese.
Our server Angela was awesome! All the staff, including servers that weren't ours, made sure we were taken care of. They all seemed to work well together as a good team.
For dinner I had the SBC Sausage Trio. I couldn't decide which mustard tasted best, so I mixed them for a nice compromise. My wife had the Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad. She thought it was great! The portion size was enough to box it up for a nice snack later in the evening.
I also sampled a few different pints & enjoyed them all. They have a decent wine selection as well.
This is a relaxed casual dining experience with great food that matches well with the price. If you drove your Prius up to Solvang for elite, hoity toity wine tasting, this may not be the place for you. But if you like to have a good time and a some laughs over a few pints, it's the best bet in town!
My husband and I had a fun time trying all of the beers here. The price for a sample is pretty good for 5 oz - $1.75. I don't usually like dark beers, but I fell in love with the Odin beer. My husband preferred the Valhalla. Both were fantastic.
We got the nachos one night - I know half the food in Solvang is pickled and you might thing pickled veggies sound weird, but order them on the side if you're a little nervous - they actually blend in really well! The flavor was similar to guacamole, and the portion was good.
On another night, we tried one of the burgers (can't remember which one, but it was all right), the onion soup (pretty good), and the sausage platter (Fantastic!) The latter was a real winner. Some of the sausages in solvang all start tasting the same, but this had a great variety.
The waiting staff was excellent, as well. Very friendly and fun. This was a good lounging spot for the evening time.
I tried this place during Solvang's Restaurant Week. I figured I wouldn't be too disappointed if it was not that great. The atmosphere in the bar is somewhere you want to bring a companion to talk to. I felt very isolated being by myself. The servers are very knowledgeable with items on the menu and beers on tap. The food was pretty good. I would go back for another Burger. They offer protein style as well which I ordered but it came back a regular burger. The server was too busy taking down notes that she forgot to write down that I wanted a lettuce wrap. Not to mention, the silverware was not that clean. I told them about that as soon as I saw that.
Overall, the quality of the restaurant is okay. But the beer samples were good.
I was not impressed by the food. Than again, they are known for alcohol. Personally, I would rather get a burger from In-N-Out than order another from here. I also had the stroganoff. They could do SO MUCH BETTER! However, the only thing I enjoyed was the spicy pickle that was given with the burger. OH, and the water. -_-
Review Source:We were here for the Super Bowl, perhaps not their most typical Sunday afternoon. Â Two separate areas, the bar and a much quieter dining room, which was our choice. Â We both ordered the Danish Reuben: Â marble rye, a thick layer of tender pastrami, red cabbage in place of the usual sauerkraut, Â Unfortunately, due to an apparent blunder in the kitchen, the promosed Swiss cheese was nowhere in evidence. Â Oh, well, Â still quite good. Â (Anyway, wouldn't something like Maribo cheese have been more ethnically appropriate than Swiss?) Â For sides, I had a pretty good potato salad, while my wife went for light, almost fluffy sweet potato fries. Â We both had an excellent sausage and chicken posole, topped with shredded lettuce.
At half-time we ordered the chipotle chicken wings: Â six wings in a fairly tame chipotle barbecue sause, with celery and carrot sticks and ranch dressing. Â
I tried six of the house beers, all available in six-ounce pours at $1.75:
Julefest Ale: Â 7.5% ABV. Â Clear red-brown, light head. Â Little aroma for the style. Â Intense sweet malt-forward taste, with notes of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla. Â Not much hop presence, but some bitterness in the fade.
Double Dansk Imperial Amber Ale. Â 9.7% ABV, 100 IBU, so they claim. Â Slightly lighter in color than the Juleale, and a lot more head. Â Ethanol definitely shows up in the nose, and as a flavor element. Â Intense hoppiness well balanced against a solid malt base. Â Long fade.
Valhalla IPA Â 7.0% ABV. Â Clear, bright copper color, medium head. Â Moderate hop nose. Â Intensely hoppy (the variety is Warrior; how appropriate for Valhalla!) Â Hops dominate all the way down, with something a bit alkaline showing up at the end, almost like quinine.
Odin Stout Ale: Â 7.0% ABV. Â Dark brown with red highlights, less opaque than most stouts. Â Medium head. Â Slight roast malt nose. Â Creamy mouth-feel, with a lot of roast malt flavor balanced by a long hoppy fade. Â Coffee and bittersweet chocolate notes; also a hint of bourbon, though they assure me that it is not actually barrel-aged.
1547 Brown Ale:  5.6% ABV,  Clear amber-brown, light head.  Aroma slight, mostly malt; surprisingly, considering the low ABV, I picked up a bit of ethanol  in the nose.  Nice malty, "chewy" taste, with a hint of chocolate and a long bittersweet fade.
Great Dane Pale Ale: Â 6% ABV. Â Golden color, medium head, nose mostly hops. Â Rich, well-balanced malt and bittering hops, with something a bit floral or perfumey. Â This would make a fine session beer, as well as a good "training wheels" brew for those just getting into craft beers.
All in all, a solid, competent brewing operation and a quite decent restaurant.
We did not eat here - so no comments on the food -
BUT lets talk about some of the beer  (Funny for wine country)
Oatmeal Stout - creamy & rich - great finish - Got it in a 22oz mug - could drink that all day
Valhalla IPA - One of the better IPA's I have had period. Â I will go back here just to get an IPA on my journeys.
Service is friendly, fast & knowledgeable.
Next time I will make it a point to eat here - so I can give a full review.
OH, the bartender dude (Liam, Niam ??) - Great guy - constantly checked on us - had great beer knowledge - which is a must for a micro brewery
Big thumbs up !
This is one of those multifaceted reviews that may drive some of my fellow Yelpers nuts. Â
First element -- the service. Â I would give this 5 stars. Â No question. Â They were polite, genuinely friendly, and quite attentive, despite the place being absolutely hopping with activity.
Second element -- the food. Â I would give this 4 stars. Â We'd had a solid lunch earlier in the day. Â We wanted a lighter dinner, so we popped in here around 6 or so and ordered a few appetizers. Â We ordered buffalo wings and the Frikadeller slider trio. Â The wings were good. Â They were big and meaty and cooked well. Â The sauce had a good amount of heat. Â Just backed off of the amount that would make them unpleasant. Â The blue cheese sauce it came with though was kind of watery and didn't cling well to the wings. Â The carrots seemed like they may have been blanched, which was just okay I guess. Â The sliders were excellent. Â Each was distinctly different and had great flavors. Â This and some french fries would make an excellent meal if you wanted the variety.
Third element -- the beer. Â Unfortunately, 0 isn't an option on Yelp, so I guess I have to go with a 1. Â I had read the prior reviews that were critical of the beer, but I am an avid homebrewer and I wanted to judge for myself. Â So I came in with limited expectations. Â They could not even match that. Â I have no idea how they can call it a brewing company. Â I really don't like giving negative reviews. Â But with all candor, this was the worst beer I'd ever had in my entire life. Â And I'm including Bud in that, which I think is a swill that doesn't deserve the time honored moniker of being called beer. Â I had hoped to try a few sample glasses. Â I started with the "Windmill Wheat Ale." Â The website calls it a Belgian Wit, which is not the description I recall seeing when I read the menu, but it doesn't matter. Â It wasn't either one. Â What I got was a watered down, thin liquid that had no flavor or character whatsoever. Â Whatsoever. Â For a wit, you should pick up flavors of orange and coriander. Â None of that. Â With a standard wheat beer you should either pick up hinted flavors of bubblegum, clove, or banana. Â None of that either. Â No "mouthfeel" either. Â A good wheat beer should have a smoothness and I detected none of that. Â A good ale should also have some subtle textural component too. Â There is no way in the world it had the alcohol content it professed to have either. Â After that one, I didn't have the heart to try anything else. Â A wheat beer is not a terribly difficult style to create. Â If you can't do that one right, I didn't have the inclination to explore anything else. Â
Thus, if you go, it will be pleasant enough so long as you weren't planning on good beer. Â That kind of sucks because for those of us that like craft beer, I had high hopes for a place that it otherwise kind of wine-centric.
I've made it a quest to target every brewery I come across for the last year, ever since my cousin turned me on to new, more interesting beers. In a way it's a lot like wine tasting, lots of variety in the styles and the hosts everywhere you go.
Unfortunately, this one was a real let down. All of the beer tastes like it could have come from the supermarket; it was just terribly bland and flavorless compared to every other small brewery I've ever been to. Between the three of us we tried everything on the menu (not hard, only 5 brews available, lots were crossed out, the rest were other breweries'), so I got to taste them all and wasn't impressed by anything, including the seasonal pumpkin ale, which was thin, cloyingly sweet, and barely spicy at all. They're not even cheap to make up for that.
I didn't try the food, which I've heard is great, so I'm going to be generous and make it 3-star instead of 2. I'd get something from the full bar rather than a brew if I ever return, though.
I also read a lot of bad reviews about this place but my wife and thought we'd go against the grain.
When we stepped inside, it took a couple minutes for the hostess to come to greet us. And I think she was actually one of the waitresses. First impression was already negative. But I was determined to press through.
We sat near the fire place with a cool view of the huge brewing vats. Our waitress was a sweet but spunky girl that reminded us of a modern Viking chick. She helped me to decide between the ahi burger and the black and blue burger. Chose the later and didn't regret it. Paired well with IPA. The tomato basil bisque was ehhh. Wish I would've chosen sweet potato fries instead.
My wife wasn't hungry so she ordered spaghetti marinara from the kids menu and she loved it. Happy wife, happy life so it was a great night.
Had excellent service from Mike (Cpt America) & Adrian (Ula)....thx guys!! Â We were first seated outside because it was a nice afternoon, but for some reason the bees just loved our sweetness and kept swarming around us. Â Mike & Adrian moved us inside without any hesitation. Â Thanks!!
Oh yeah the food was good too!! Especially the habanero wings!! Â My niece had the black & blue burger, which was totally tasty!! My daughter had the pulled pork sandwich which was off the hook!! I had (shared) the trio sliders with sweet potato fries...awesome!!
This was our second visit there, both times had great service. Â Tried a flight of the beers, I sampled a few, the raspberry was extremely good, as was the Octoberfest dark one. Â
Looking forward to my next visit.
I read some of the negative reviews of this place before we came so I didnt have high expectations. But we were SOOOO pleasantly surprised!! We were passing through as most people do and were happy to find a brewery as we are San Diego beer snobs.
We sat outside with our dog, a gentlmen came out and promptly brought him a water bowl which I thought was awesome. Our server was very nice, we asked alot of questions about the beer and she was friendly and helpful.
The beer was fantastic!! We always drink IPA. We are addicted to hops, it was delicious! Like I said, we are beer snobs, we pretty much live for our hoppy beer and their IPA did not disappoint. It was actually so good we bought a growler and took some home!
The food was also fantastic! We had an order of fries, a broccoli and beer cheese soup (A-freakin-mazing!) and we shared the Ahi tuna with coconut rice and stirfry veggies. It was absolutely wonderful! The tuna was a huge steak! We were like WOW it caught the server off guard I think she thought we were unhappy by the looks on our faces but we were actually excited! Usually when you order ahi its thin little slices, this was a whole tuna steak. Seasoned to perfection! And the rice...YUM!!!
We will definitly be back, either passing through again, or hopefully on a weekend away.
Dont believe the bad reviews, this place was great!
PS. Like I said, we sat outside, but the inside of the bar area looked really fun too!
This brewery was a surprise for my family. We arrived in solvang pretty late. Most places that were open are bars. My family really disliked the idea of my young cousins stepping into a bar, they didn't want my young cousins exposed to some possibilities of what happens in bars. After we drove by the place, looked at the menu and noticed that is was also a semi-restaurant my family decided they was no other choice. Little did they know that they would enjoy the food. Solvang Brewing company is basically a notch below a gastropub.
I ordered the all beef hot dog. It came with a pretzel bun of some sort. It was a little shorter than a Dodger dog but thicker ("That's what she said"). My bun broke right away but I still ate it. My little brother ordered the sliders. These weren't your normal sliders either, it was the size of three In-n-out burgers. Great value and awesome portion. Had I known that they were a decent size, I would've just shared with my little brother. Although my mom shared with my brother, they was still one leftover. My dad ordered the wings, normal bar food. Aside from the decent food, they serve very good IPA's, lagers and other good quality beers and the bar side of the restaurant had a huge tv and drunk folks singing karaoke on another tv.
We were traveling from San Diego up to San Fran and decided to stop in Solvang on our way. This little bar was well worth our visit.
It had an incredible Raspberry Wheat bear....so wonderful and tasty on a hot day...great cheeseburgers and sandwiches, and the servers were just wonderful. So attentive (even if a bit slow). The busser was the greatest part of all. Our server told us she'd be back with drinks and SECONDS after she walked away, he was there with waters and cups with lids for our kids. He was also there super fast to take away our plates, and made sure we had everything we needed before we headed out again. Massive props to the busser and the Raspberry beer!
Fairly horrendous. Seated immediately, but then incredibly long wait for mediocre food.
Wife got a veggie burger that looked fairly awful (even for a veggie burger). I got a pastrami, that was small, cold, and fairly flavorless (all I could taste was mustard, and I f'ing love pastrami).
Should have gone to anything around there. Anything else. A McDonalds would have been a better choice.
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