Founders Brewing Co. Reviews

The myth, man, legend. Food and beer too notch all the time

Great experience the two times we have been there. Our servers Alex and John were fantastic! Thanks guys! Love the beers we tried IPA, stouts, wheat ales and more. Beer cheese dip very tasty...will always stop by when we are in Grand Rapids!

Very good service. A bar atmosphere with upscale sandwiches. Not your typical bar food. Excellent choice of craft beers from Founders Brewing Company.

Outstanding beer. Tremendous service. Fantastic live music

Grade A beer (obviously), superb atmosphere, and some of the best sandwiches in the city. The brewery is always lively and full... Love that the taproom always has exclusive beers that aren't bottled/canned so it still keeps it special and unique for the GR locals.

Great place for local beer that has gone big time. It can be expensive, but has a really cool atmosphere. Food is a little on the expensive side, the service was slow, but it was really busy there.

Great drinks and food! The menu is a bit overwhelming but we really loved this place.

Best beer on the planet, hands down. I feel that Founders is the standard for quality craft beer.

Founders Fest Fun! Joe Russos Almost Dead is totally Dead to me. Founders has exceptionally good beer. Go and enjoy Founders.

FOUNDERS AIRPORT*
I had the unfortunate pleasure of having Skye as my bartender while waiting for my flight. While she got my order quick, her personality and attitude were probably the worst I ve ever seen. While complained that she was so tired and wanted to take naps multiple times, there was an open seat somewhat near the end of the seating ledge skye made it very clear that she was very annoyed that the patron sat there and she had to serve another customer yah I guess, you ll sit there anyways comment. I will drinking at Michigan taproom from now on.

I went on 09.01.17 and was not pleased this time around. The only reason I give 1 star is because their beer is always good. Other than that, they would get no stars. I ordered a pitcher and it didn't yield the normal 4 cups because a quarter of the pitcher was nothing but foam. The foam made the beer flat. I also ordered a backwoods bastard sandwhich, in which they refused to split onto 2 plates for me, and I had to ask for the pickle that comes with every sandwich. I also wasn't impressed with the plastic utensils. Founders is too fancy of a place to have plastic utensils. I only seen my waiter once and it wasn't even busy.

Excellent beer. Facility seems a bit small and might benefit from an expansion to handle special events.

Great service, awesome vibe and beer selection was enjoyable. Recommended!

Awesome place! I ordered the Founders Cheesesteak sandwich. Pretty amazing! They know how create a nice experience! Beers are pretty good as well!

Food was good.
Service was non existent.
High ceiling makes it very very noisy.

The Brewery that stands out in a city full of Breweries. This is an absolute must see brewery in a city full of options. The food is amazing, the atmosphere is great, and they sell cheap growlers full of your favorite brew on the cheap. Stop in everytime I visit Grand Rapids.

Love the staff, always trying to make our visit special. Love the beer and food choices! Visit weekly

Enough has been said about the world class beer that changes seasonally and with the brewers' whims. It's also a great gathering spot with inside and outside bars, fire pits, a stage for the band, and a quiet corner for those looking for a more low key experience. The central bar is where the action is, with talented staff pouring from maybe two dozen tap lines serving some of the best beer in the world.

There's also the merchandise shop, which aside from the expected T-shirts and hats, also has mustard and syrup made with beer. Love it.

Founders has some of the best beer in the world. KBS is enough said. Sandwichs are great too.

Melinda and Adam are freaking awesome. Great people. They make me love Founders so much. Beer is second in terms of my appreciation to employees like them.

Awesome atmosphere.... except the bums passed outside out front, the beers are 4.75 to 5.75 a pint.

The beer is good, but you can get it anywhere. The sandwiches are amazing and the beer garden is a great place to hang out. Because it's a destination spot in beer city, a lot of people bring their kids. Don't be that guy. Its a brewery.

Amazing selection of beers. Every one I had was excellent. Staff is really friendly and stops by frequently to make sure you're not going thirsty.

Awesome brewery. Great beer. If you find yourself here, consider yourself a lucky person. Nuff said.

I like the smaller breweries better, but Founders is a must if you are in Grand Rapids!

Great beer and good food, a good place to go with friends or your other half. Service can be hit or miss. They need to train on how to be waiters thats sure.

Food was surprisingly good, and service was very attentive despite it being open seating. Beers were great as well but that was expected.

Love the beer selection. Love the food. Can be difficult to find a seat sometimes but worth the wait.

One of my favorite places to hang out in the downtown Grand Rapids area, I've been plenty of times casually and for events (KBS Week, Firkin Freeze, etc.) and I've always had a great experience. Beer is delicious, food window is great. Two bars to chose from, the small one to the side usually has less of a line. The taproom is large and has plenty of seating and standing room, especially if including the outdoor area. If you dress for the weather you can even be out there in colder months surrounded by the heat lamps and fire pits. It can get crowded on weekends and evenings with live music, so if you're looking to enjoy a beer and a bite lunch time during the week or on a weekend might be the better bet to guarantee a sit down table.

I am not a big beer fan, but there are beers here I like and the food is good

Awesome service, multiple bars to get drinks and merchandise from, huge patio.

Great beer and food, including the best wings I've ever had. Service was friendly and fast and they have a great outdoor patio. Get there early because it fills up fast. Gift shop also on premises.

One of my favorite breweries! Nothing better than a beer on the outdooor patio with the sweet fragrance of boiling hops wafting across my nose

The beer and sandwiches are amazing! The parking and long lines however made me consider taking off one star... But ultimately once you get in it is worth it.

The beer and food are typically decent, but my experience with the service has been pretty poor. The bartenders always seem to treat everyone like children and they get so many customers that everyone's just a number. It does get very busy, but that's no reason to treat customers so poorly. Maybe they've had bad customers often, but I just can't get over their customer service.

Good ambience, great beer options, friendly staff and live music.

No where to sit. No servers guiding the seating. Had to stand around for at least an hour waiting for a table to open so I could swoop in and snag it. Once we did get a seat, a server came to our table to take our order, but when she was asked what she might recommend she acted as if we were imposing on her busy schedule. It is a hipster hang out for sure (you can see it in the entitled attitude of the servers and bartenders). Definitely not for me. Not very professional. Very disappointing.

The hype is real. The beer is that good. Atmosphere is great and food is ok. Staff are surprisingly nice for what could be a snobby hipster place. Crowd is very diverse and everyone is welcome.

Very nice local brewery, super busy every time I've been there but it's a great atmosphere. Great beer, good food. Lots of seating

Delicious brewery with a wide selection of pale ales and porters. Tasty sandwiches, appetizers and soups as well. They also feature live music easily enjoyed in the entire space and beautiful outdoor patio.

A really nice place :) a little loud but the staff is v kind. I get off at the bus across the street and order food here !

I ve been here several times, and I wanted Founder s to be one of the first places I went to after restaurants opened up, but the last time I went was terrible. We waited an hour and a half (Around dinner time) to get in, and 20 minutes after we were seated we were told they were out of food. Why didn t they have the common courtesy to tell us this before we waited forever and a day? Also, I waited outside the gift shop for 10 minutes to be invited in like the sign said, and the worker just stared at me and didn t do anything...there was no one else in the store, and she just kept restocking and ignoring me. Badddd & highly disappointing experience.

Best outdoors dining experience during the summer, wide variety of beers and they listed in categories perfectly!! Any version of the Kentucky Breakfast stout is must try

Love the beer, love the feel of the place. Devils dancer sandwich is my fave! The guys in the kitchen do a great job!

Went for a conference for work. Had great beers, great food and an awesome tour given by John.

Absolutely outstanding beers, let me say that. Service during covid certainly is expected to change no doubt however, they are extremely rude about this portion. First they told us we cannot have a group of 10, so we reserved 2 seperate reservations each with a party of 5 saying we are all one group and would like to be close to each other. They proceeded to cancel one of those reservations and said if you have 10 we can seat you together. So on we went with being seated at a large outdoor table that was long and had seating on either end. The waiter told us they cannot have a group sitting together that is larger than 10 people. We had 10! So we needed to split to either end of the table and were told we absolutely cannot intermingle with the other side otherwise we would be asked to leave. They were very rude about this and very confusing about the number. Further more they have designated areas for serving the food/drinks at the table. I was sitting nearby that area, far enough away from it and was rudely told by our man bun waiter to move further away from that spot and not to touch any part of it. Again great drinks, horrendusly rude, confusing and off putting staff.

We came downtown tonight to experience the festival of the arts. Stopped at founders for a snack and a stout. I ordered the chicken wings, I'd give them a six. Not raw, but undercooked. The BBQ sauce was not to my expectations either. The beer cheese dip was good though.

I always make sure to stop at Founders when in Grand Rapids. Get the beer cheese appetizer its the best.

Was not a good experience for me. Hard to find a seat, although there were empty seats behind a sectioned off area of the bar. Not sure if those were for special guest or what. It was a little to uppity for me. If you were born with a silver spoon, you will love this place.

"Brewed for us" but yet a workin guy can't get a beer for less than $5?

Little mother like most American restaurants is a brewery of over 20 delicious beers. The excellent attention

Founders is currently my favorite micro-brewery, so naturally, I'm going to award them 5 stars - I might as well be transparent about this ;) But considering the taproom on its own merit, it's also a great spot. The live music on the weekends have been enjoyable, and it's always fun to order a pint and then go sit outside in the beer garden. Beer lovers are bound to find something intriguing on their tap list, which won't be available in bottles on the store shelves. If there's nothing screaming out to me when I visit, I can't go wrong with a Curmudgeon Old Ale. Even a taste of their flagships, like Centennial Ale and Dirty Bastard, makes for a great evening!

If you haven t been before, Founders is a must-go when in GR. Order the Red s Rye if you re an IPA fan. Order the Breakfast Stout next.

Went in this past Friday for lunch. The place packed and it's a seat yourself place. So you have to scope out your own table and grab it before anyone else discovers it. The whole wait staff takes care of all the tables together.
From the time we entered the door to the time we left, this was our best dining experience we ever had. The food was awesome and the beer is the best I've had. Founders has the best barrel aged beer. I've made it my lot in life to try all Michigan beer and Founders is the best by far.

Such a nice and comfort place for dinner...lunch and drink. ..I went there many times and enjoyed it .

With all respect we are supporting Founders beers at our Lisleliquors over The years .when kbs is release our store never on list to get . It s a unfair practice . We won t support this product in our Stroe anymore until management will come with rite solution .

Proud member of AARA Midwest

Love the atmosphere. This is one our favorite breweries! Fun place to come with a group of friends. Great location.

The atmosphere here is dark but wide open. There are plenty of windows so I'm sure during daylight hours the light is excellent. The open layout makes it feel very inviting. There was some awful music coming from the stage, but oh well.

I ordered the Blushing Monk Sandwich, which is basically a chicken salad sandwich. The sandwich is fantastic. In my opinion it is easily one of the best Chicken Salad Sandwiches in Grand Rapids. Right up there with Schnitz's. The bun was of amazing quality and taste which perfectly complemented the Chicken Salad. The Gerkin pickles are also excellent. The sandwiches are large and filling. The person I was with had a spicy sandwich which he loved!

You order your food at a food counter and they give you a buzzer. The food service and bartender service was excellent.

I don't like beer and they don't have and hard ciders, so I only had a coke. My uncle enjoyed his beer though.

Overall a 4 1/2 star review. The ding was mostly the bar music and darkness. I'm going to forgo those and give it a 5. Would I return? Yes I will! Sorry no photos due to darkness and didn't want to use flash.

This was my first time here since they remodeled and it looks amazing. Very friendly staff, great selection of beers, and amazing food. The Backwoods Bastard is my favorite sandwich.

I went to about 20 breweries between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids and this was the worst by far! The beer used to be better (since they have expanded the quality has gone down)

Also, VERY RUDE staff. Go to Mitten or Harmony. or anywhere but Founders.

The food and the beer here is always fantastic. There is never a disappointment in quality. If you can only get past the part that 98% of the time this place is packed, then this place is great. Seating is normally hard to come by so don't expect to just walk in and grab a quick pint. It's a very rare occasion when you don't have to wait in a huge line to either order a beer or grab your tab. I would recommend paying as you go instead of running a tab.

The food was great, taproom selection was decent, and while the place is huge it felt oddly crowded.

Consistently good beer and service. Great outdoor space. Liked the smaller venue, but the large space has its perks. Regardless of the space, it's the beer that brings me here.

Too packed & too confusing! Gonna give it another try.

The chips and cheese was ok but I won't get it again. The staff was great and helpfull. I will return.

Fantastic beer and staff. Ok food, but who needs to eat? :)

Sir/Madam,

with all respect we like to inform you, our all store will no longer support your brand. please send some one to pick up your all products from our all stores.
if you like us to continue supporting your brand and start supporting us with providing your all new beer release. All New release You Guys Send to Big Box Store . Please have them to support , we can't

Good beer, really cool place. Service not the best but they plainly state in the menu that could happen on busy days.

Great beers and food. The service staff do awesome job.

The Holiest of the Holy beer companies. This was my first time here and I have to say... This place is amazing the amount of taphouse only brews and barrel aged offerings is insane.

The outside patio was so open and lively and out waitress was amazing even though it was packed. The tiered offerings and pricing were clearly stated and easy to figure out. Dont forget to stop in the store to grab a shirt or my favorite, the beard balm!

This place is popular and lively. The staff is well versed on the beer they serve as well as the food. I'd definitely come back here again and bring more friends.

The best brewer! Without a doubt, I love Dirty Bastard

This place is desperately in need of a hostess. Every time we try to go here, it's a nightmare trying to find a table. When they are full (all the time) you don't know if you will be waiting 5 minutes or an hour.

The beer is good, but I'll continue to buy that in the store and avoid the headache.