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| - A great deal of what Dubina brings to the table has great intentions, but so much of the execution is off the mark, its hard to find a lot of redeeming qualities to bring me back. The west valley absolutely has the capacity for more great locally based microbreweries and Dubina conceptually should fill that need beautifully. And its not just for the sake of good beer offerings, but this is the probably the only restaurant I've seen in the Phoenix metro advertising a Czech emphasis. The small collective of brewers who opened this place did so thanks to the confidence of those who funded their Kickstarter campaign. Perhaps overtime they'll be able to improve upon their business model, but thusfar there's a lot of improvement needed.
I came here with some co-workers and friends after work on a Tuesday. The first thing that's off about this place is the location. Its located in the back corner of strip center which happens to be tucked behind another strip center on 67th Ave just north of Bell. It would be super easy to pass this place by as there's virtually no street visibility and even when you arrive the signage is tough to make out. I can forgive such an inconvenience if the rest of the experience is decent. When I walked in however, the interior was equally puzzling. It's a fairly large, dimly lit, expansive space with seating for probably at least 50 people, but in a space that was probably meant for closer to 80. There was maybe a half dozen people there when we showed up for happy hour around 5pm and didn't get any busier the rest of the time we were there. It seems like the owners couldn't quite decide if they want this space to be a brewery, a sports bar or a sit down restaurant. There's a way to balance each of these objectives, but the oddly positioned TVs, wide open spaces, and quiet vibe inside leaves one feeling a bit confused about what they're going for.
When we showed up they had 5 different brews of theirs available that day. They had a pair of IPAs (a dark and a regular), a hefeweizen, a pale ale, and a brown ale. They offered those individually or as a 5 beer flight (I got the flight). In reading reader reviews, it seems like the soft pretzel and ultimate grilled cheese were favorite dishes of regulars so I went with those. Total price for all of these items including tax, tip and a 10% happy hour discount on the flight and pretzel came to about $20.
First off, the beers. I'm not a huge IPA guy, but their regular IPA was pretty decent. Not overly hoppy, but enough bitterness to remind you it was an IPA. The dark IPA tasted much more like a stout than an IPA. Not bad, just a little unexpected. The Hefeweizen was pretty much like most hefeweizens I've had. Good, but indistinguishable. The pale ale was also somewhat average and I was actually a little disappointed in the texture of the brown ale. I usually like ales, but this one just didn't agree with me. On the food side, I know they're only now starting to expand their menu offerings, but I was very disappointed with what I got for the money I paid. The soft pretzel was decent and the accompanying spicy cheese sauce was a nice touch, but honestly it was just a salty pretzel. Not sure what folks were so excited about. As for my main course, when you call something the ULTIMATE grilled cheese, you better mean it. Sadly, I don't feel this lived up to the hype. The three cheese blend was fairly tasty, but honestly I was hoping for a whole lot more cheese than I got.
On the plus side, our waitress Sydney was friendly with us and for the most part was attentive to our table (save for a long wait for our bills). I don't enjoy giving such negative reviews and generally look for the most redeeming features of any business I patronize. But there was just too many red flags for me to overlook with this place. I wish Dubina had chosen a smaller location with more street visibility as those two things would solve a couple of big problems aesthetically. But in lieu of that, they really need to kick up their food menu a notch. I get that not all of their favorite beers will be on rotation everyday, but the food menu should at least have enough great offerings that can draw folks on a regular basis. And how about serving true Czech food? I have no idea what that entails, but it would seem to follow the theme that helped launch their brewery in the first place. I hope Dubina does improve overtime and eventually becomes the brewery the west valley wants (even needs). But until some big changes come about, I won't be venturing here for awhile.
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