Erica Brynn

Review of Surly Brewing Co.

"Bro!!! Ehhhhh, BRO!!!"

"Bro!!! Ehhhhh, BRO!!!"

VIBE
This place is about as bro-ish as a place can be, with extra bros on top. If you are 20-32 years old, male, wear flip-flops year round, and call all your friends, Broooooo!!! , this is your Mecca. Let your pilgrimage begin. 15% couples 35 and over + 55% bros + 30% women = Surly patrons. Oh, and those two couples who brought their babies! What were they thinking?! Pro-tip: Don t bring your baby/child unless you want their ears to bleed as the testosterone laden music is that loud. And, sadly, just like their clientele, there was no diversity in the serving staff, either. Really cool building, though. So, there is that.

SERVICE
It s a beer hall, so I wasn t expecting red carpet treatment. Although, a word when the server drops the food on the table as she is going by without stopping might be nice (Surly is the restaurant s name, not server attitude!) and if we, at our table, both got our food at even close to the same time. Other tables seemed to get their food all at once, though, so maybe it isn t a thing.

FOOD
Expectation: decent burger, fries, cold beer.
Reality: Slightly greasy burger (but it IS a beer hall, so maybe that was ok), decent fries, good beer.

So, why four stars after being so meh about it? Because it seems Surly is doing exactly what it set out to do serve a narrowly defined demographic and they are doing it really well, as evidenced by their capacity crowd. They were packed, with a wait-time for a table of about an hour. Will I go back? Probably not. Will I buy their beer at a liquor store? I don t know their lack of front-of-house staff diversity makes me not so eager.