Two breweries and a food truck later, we were fortunate enough to find a parking spot in NoDa and rushed over to get some hyped pretzels with beer cheese from Growlers Pourhouse.
When we arrived, the place was packed and not a spot in sight was vacant. I did a quick recon of the perimeter and aside from a hipster plagued communal table, there were only a handful of other tables that would hold the group. My friends decided to hang by the boss Christmas tree and claim rights to a table in the corner. Unfortunately, the sorority chicks holding it hostage would not end their conversation and step off, so we had a bit of a wait while they finally lost their wind. While the others counted the number of patrons with mustaches, I decided to get a pint from the bar to tide me over until situated. The wait wasn't too long, but when I order a couple measly $2 PBR pints from the bartender, she gave me a very sour face and heady as hell glasses.
It took about 15 minutes for the gossip girls to take a hint, but when they finally did leave we didn't exactly get immediate service after seating ourselves and clearing the table. Actually, throughout the night we never had one specific waitress/server, it consisted of 4 different people swinging by occasionally and they were all synchronized to not wait on anyone very often. A quick thirty minute adventure turned into a ninety minute excursion from lack of seating and spotty service.
Regardless, Jay Z was playing most of the night with a Kanye West song thrown in the mix. The atmosphere was laid back and had a few interesting characters creeping around the scene to observe inbetween bowl games on the big screens.
If you're looking for a snack, fo' free, just ask for the complimentary popcorn from their machine behind the bar. Straight up movie theater quality! When the pretzels arrive, so ended the grueling moments of anticipation. The bartender delivered fresh pretzels with great chew and sharp rock salt sprinkled on top. The beer cheese is given very generously and their house fresh ground mustard does wonders drizzled salt side up!
Aside from the pretzels and PBR pints, everything else was over priced in my opinion for what they had to offer. The craft brews averaged about $6 alone. Overall, I would go back just for the pretzels and that joyous beer cheese!