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| - It really pains me to dole out just an OK to Saucy Brew Works, but our experience was exactly that. It was about as middle-of-the-road as you can get in just about every aspect. First, allow me to explain what you're getting here. It's essentially a brewery that also makes pizza. Yeah, they've got a couple of other menu items like meatballs and a few salads, but at its core it's a pizza joint.
The space itself is pretty nice. It's got lots of natural light, nice high ceilings, an open kitchen and a goodly amount of seating for such a small area. There's even an upper mezzanine that overlooks the main dining/bar area that seems nice and cozy. You'll also get some TVs hanging down and a pretty, damn cool backlit beer menu that I haven't seen the likes of anywhere else. They've also got a rockin' patio if the outside things is for you. And another thing, it's really loud when the place fills up. I'm talkin' "you'll need a lozenge afterward" loud. Sort of like an echo chamber thing going on.
Here's something else you need to know. There's no table service here. Order at the bar for beer at the food station for grub. Fill out a form with the deets, give them your cell number and they'll text you when it's ready. Just make sure your phone's not turned over and/or muted like ours was. We were about ready to complain about how long our food was taking before we figured out it was our fault. Just sayin'.
The beer. Well, it's good, not mindblowing or hardcore beer geek material, just well-brewed, mostly common beer styles. They've got a decent selection of what I'd consider "staple" styles, you know the ones, the beer styles that basically everyone knows and that every brewpub on the planet seems to have - something "light", i this case kolsch, an IPA, a hefeweizen, and a stout, usually on nitro. This isn't a complaint just an observation. The main problem I had during our visit was that they were out of two of their 5 core beers, one of them being their IPA, and one limited release. C'mon, man. Anyway, kudos to them for branching out a bit with their Belgian-style strong ale and steam beer, styles you don't see all that often. Beer prices are on par with the area, $6 a pint, with a flight costing you about $2 a sample.
The food was, again, OK. We had the Funghi saucy pizza, the buffalo burrata and the chopped salad. The biggest disappointment for me was the pizza. For a $22 pie it just sorta fell flat for me. The sauce was on the dried out side of things and relatively underseasoned and the crust reminded me of a dried-out pita, kinda chewy and flavorless. Admittedly, I'm more of a bakery-style crust guy (think Jet's 4-corner) so there's that, but it's not that I don't appreciate a thinner, crispier crust once and awhile. Just didn't do it for me. Wanna build your own pizza? That gets pricey real quick. A medium starts at $11 and toppings are $2 each.
The salad was pretty good, nice and fresh with plenty of crispy pig bits, funky gorgonzola and egg, both a nice touch. The burrata came with a little arugula salad and a pretty, braided breadstick. The cheese didn't really have any flavor, and the breadstick was a tad stale. I know, right? Of course we ate all of it, but it's definitely not something we'd ever get again.
So, there you have it. Another, trendy little spot in another trendy little Cleveland neighborhood that's brewing beer. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty good, they're just facing some stiff competition in and around the city. So, head here if it's convenient and you want some tasty, fresh-brewed beer. I wouldn't go out of my way to get their pizza, but if you need something to fill your belly whilst you imbibe, it'll do the trick.
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