| rev:text
| - As a lover of all things Ohio craft beer, for me it doesn't get much better than Fat Head's Brewery & Tap House. Just a few things that might help you out if you're thinking about paying them a visit:
1. It's a production brewery, not a brew pub - This means that they're focus here is on making beer and not running a restaurant. The menu is small, mostly bar bites, pizza and sandwiches. Don't come here expecting a full restaurant experience. You can always go to the Fat Head's Brewery & Saloon in North Olmsted if that's what you're looking for.
2. They serve the beer they're making - If you don't want to drink Fat Head's beer don't come here. Limited draught selection? Really? When I was there they had eight beers pouring. Want 50 taps? Go to World of Beer.
3. You have to order at the bar - It says it on the menu but it'll save you some confusion if you know it ahead of time. Every table has a menu. Just figure out what you want then go up to the bartender and put in your order. They'll give you a number and bring it out to you when it's done.
4. They offer tours & have limited hours - Self explanatory
This review is of our first visit to the tap house. We stopped in around 1pm on a Saturday. When you walk in the gift shop is to the right and the tap room is through a door to the left. Seat yourself. A pretty good crowd was scattered about the space that probably seats about 60 at a mixture of high-tops, picnic tables and bar stools. I really liked the tabletops decorated with bottle caps. Nice touch.
Since it's inside of the production brewery it's very open and airy. It's also a working brewery. You can see the gleaming stainless steel of the brewery to the rear, the bottling line to the right, and the pallets of bottles and boxes stacked nearly to the ceiling. The walls are painted with colorful murals and clouds and they've proudly displayed their beer competition medals for all to see.
The beer, my god the beer. If you want to taste Fat Head's beer the way the brewers intended this is where you need to be. Drinking fresh craft beer right in the same place that it's made just makes me smile. It doesn't get any fresher than this and Fat Head's makes some of the best craft beer in the state. If you're not too familiar with their beers, hell, even if you are, I suggest you get a sampler. On this visit I got all eight of their beers. Samples are about 2.5oz each and vary in price from $1.25 to $2.25.
The service was pretty good, on par with a typical bar and nothing that had me thinking to myself "wow, such great service." I've got to give them credit, though. They have a closet for a kitchen and among the three of them they managed to keep everything humming along at a decent clip. It would have been nice to be served waters as soon as we were seated. This is a misstep not specific to Fat Head's, just something I noticed.
As others have already stated, their menu is small, but you can't go wrong with any of the selections. It's fatty, full of empty carbs and completely delicious with their beer. Here's what we had during our visit:
Giant Bavarian Pretzel - Amazing. This had to be one of the best soft pretzels I've ever eaten and I've eaten a lot of 'em. Flown in from Germany, they're everything a soft pretzel wants to be. Big, crispy, buttery, soft, yeasty, salty and served with cheese sauce, honey mustard and Headhunter IPA stone-ground mustard for dipping. I could eat 10 of these things.
Pulled Pork Sandwich - Tender, juicy smoked and pulled pork slathered in sweet BBQ sauce and served on a soft bun. You get a choice of potato salad or vinegar slaw as a side. The slaw, while not my favorite (I'm a mayo-based slaw guy) was good on the sandwich and the pork was awesome.
I know what you're thinking. All this love and no 5-stars? Here's what stopped it from making my elite club:
Out of too many things - We wanted the Crock of the Day (their daily soup selection) and were told that it wasn't ready with no ETA. And it was chicken paprikash! Bummer. They were also out of Head Trip, Fat Head's Belgian-inspired tripel. One of my personal favorites. They replaced it with one of my least favorites, Gogglefogger. Bummer. We also had a slight moment of confusion when it came to how we were to pay the check. We weren't sure if we had to settle up at the bar or if they brought it out to the table (the latter, in case you're wondering).
With the few minor exceptions listed above, this has to be one of my new favorite places. Fat Head's has not only done Ohio craft beer right they've managed to up the ante in the game of brewery tap rooms as well. I can't wait to get my butt back in one of their seats again.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)