Old Yale Brewing: Beaumont Craft Brewery + Kitchen — Restaurant in Beaumont

If you take one thing away from this review, let it be that unless you like paying $100+ for the experience of eating at a damn Chuck E. Cheese, with the quality of a fast food chain restaurant, do not go here at ALL.

Upon entering the building which was opening day (granted, they’ve had at least 3-4 weeks of ‘soft opening’ to figure things out), we were met with three employees who very clearly had no grasp on what was happening at all. All of them were trying to do the same thing at the same time as if wiping off a table or looking at an iPad is an activity that requires three people.

During our visit it became VERY apparent that not a single member of their team has had proper training on basic restaurant management or any social skills whatsoever. The entire staff we interacted with seemed inept at answering any question whatsoever and left basically every patron waiting for a table completely out of the conversation. They were not welcoming or helpful in any way whatsoever, not to mention every single person working is dressed unprofessionally and like high schoolers.

On another note, immediately upon entering the building you are absolutely ASSAULTED by the loudest (and worst) live music which reverberates through the entire loft style building. For a long moment I heavily considered paying the guy singing to just shut up, and to not quit his day job.

After being seated near the games area of the place which feels like sitting in a daycare due to kids being allowed everywhere through the building, not just the ‘kids corner’, all of these elements made for an awful dining experience. The music was so loud our server couldn’t hear us to save her life, in fact we even saw actual toddlers covering their ears and trying to escape to the patio to get away from it.

Now for the actual eating experience? The drinks were maybe the only redeeming element of this entire visit. The beer flights were alright and the margarita was strong enough to ALMOST make up for the sticky screaming children throwing gross bean bags around. The appetizers were decent at best for $20 and then the mains arrived, and holy hell do I have something to say about that. If you’re a fan of bottom tier food and having to complain about quality then the poutine flight is the meal for you. Not only did it come served in mugs which is a very odd choice of presentation, but it also comes with ONE (1) cheese curd per cup and a dime sized serving of gravy. It felt like if someone was really far away and trying to telepathically communicate the idea of gravy to you. The toppings? Basically non existent and if you removed the 3 pieces of chicken or whatever else, you’re left with a cup of lukewarm fries. Poutine is a pretty hard dish to mess up, but even our server admitted to that being an embarrassment on behalf of the kitchen.

By the end of us visiting we actually had to ask our server what the experience of working there was like and to sum it up I wouldn’t be surprised if she goes home after every shift to curl up in the fetal position and stare blankly at a wall until her next shift. The complete lack of training from management and miscommunication between all of them would make me pull my hair out. Overall I couldn’t recommend this place LESS, and you’d be better off picking up takeout from literally anywhere else.

Old Yale Brewing feels like a children’s playground in a mall food court, I’d give it a...

1 Star because of the building, it's on point! Management has been "working" on the phone system for over a month, yesterday afternoon I made a courtesy call to let Old Yale know we were running late by 10 mins, no answer I called 3 times, I left a voicemail as I was auto prompted I could leave a message and someone would call me back. No call. We arrived 10 mins late and there was 4 staff standing at the entrance, it wasn't busy but no one had time to answer or return voicemails I guess. We were sat upstairs and it was kinda fun to watch the games being played while we waited for drinks. I ordered the flight and it was decent assortment, pink lemonade sour was so good! Our food was sub par. As I read through all the reviews before submitting ours, I see a pattern. My husband ordered Jambalaya it was awful. The name of the dish alone is synonymous with meaty, large pieces, spicy saucy goodness! You don't ordered it unless you want big and bold flavors. I tried a bite....yuck, it tasted like you opened a can of tomato paste and spread it over rice. There was no sausage, tiny pieces of chicken bits and 3 shrimp. There was this odd sauce put on top as well, mystery sauce that doesn't belong on Jambalaya. The appies were ok, pickle chips & cheese sticks and the spinach dip was soooo salty and spicy, never had spicy spinache dip, again another sauce was drizzled on top that didn't belong. My main was steak tacos, the steak was cooked well and had a good flavour, but I did struggle to "find" the flavour because it was COVERED in sauces! On paper the steak taco presented itself as Carnita Asada and was completely destroyed by the copious amounts of sauce. What is it with the Chef's dare I call them that, that each dish we ordered had to be covered in sauce? Where is the culinary skill that Old Yale Brewery Markets? The anticipation of this restaurant has been felt throughout Beaumont, alot of us have cheered on the Grand Opening only to be disappointed with the food. I will also make a small comment about the children throughout the "Brewery". On the Instagram posts throughout the marketing they promoted yes children were welcomed with open arms, but if we weren't "feeling" we wanted to dine with the "Littles" we could request to be seated away from the "Kids Corner". There is no restriction to where the kiddos are seated, they were up stairs falling onto the wooden bean bag toss and crying of course it hurts! Downstairs 2 screaming & shrieking in unison. I've read in other reviews and closed to children at 10pm also not the case. Because we waited and were excited for this Opening, the huge let down earned this negative review. Won't be back. We got OJ's, Basils, and SeaChange great vibes, "Steak Tacos", Beer and the best Calamari & pizza in Edmonton! ...

TLDR: Great atmosphere, delicious beer, amazing staff, but food was mid range, and the front of house staff left much to be desired.

Tried these folks out on the long weekend. Upon entering, I was greeted by the front of house staff. They informed me the wait was long, so I opted to have them text me when an opening for my party of 3 was available.

After about an hour, we were told our table was ready; at this point however, there immediately was a problem. I was told that I myself had booked the table online and that I had opted for two guests which, was incorrect. I informed the staff that one of their representatives made the arrangements in their system and it was not my doing and the mistake was on them. Unfortunately the individual I spoke with did not believe me and offered no apology and the only option for us was to grab a chair from another table and squeeze us on a table for two. Ultimately, this was fine but the chair was taken from an empty table for four beside our table; to add insult to injury that table of four was never used for the duration of our stay. We could have been moved to that table, again, for an oversight that was not my fault.

The waitstaff was amazing though. With such high spirits and personability I could not help but have a good time.

The beer was excellent with a variety of flavors. I was quite impressed with their mango beer; usually fruity beers have the beer flavour overpowered the overly sweet fruit flavour they are trying to emulate. This was not the case.

As for the food, the flavour was disappointing. I had ordered the chicken Alfredo. The blackened chicken was overly blackened, which gave it too much of a char taste. I am not sure what fat is used for the Alfredo but butter or olive oil it is not. To me it tasted as if it was cooked with margarine. Or perhaps a butter I am not familiar with. Either way, it did not work. The taste was of that and cream, not much else in the form of seasoning. Roasted garlic would really elevate it.

The one dish that made like a bandit with my friends and I were the Jalapeño poppers. HOLY. SHIT. BALLS. Not only were these the best Jalapeño poppers I have ever tasted, but this place could make a fortune on that item alone.

Ultimately, this place is pretty amazing, since they just started; I am really looking forward to returning once all the kinks have been ironed out. Word to the wise l, Sea Change Brewery is just up the Street and they sell the giant Beaumonster beer for roughly $9. This place sells their beer at $9 a pint. In order to be competitive, I would recommend reducing the price of beer. In an age of limited dollar value a great deal is what will bring...