Brave Brewing Co — Restaurant in Hawke's Bay

A long-awaited visit that sadly didn't live up to expectations. We tried the poutine, hot dog special, and the Nashville hot wings, and all three were strong on sharp, acidic flavours, and low on anything savoury, creamy, or sweet to balance out the bite. Maybe that's intentional, to get you drinking?

The poutine was covered in a mustard sauce - more of that than gravy and cheese put together. The chips were nicely cooked, and overall this dish was our favourite of the three we sampled.

The hot dog had a carrot and cabbage sauerkraut piled atop, along with requisite mustard and tomato sauce. The bun was fluffy, and the dog had a satisfying 'pop' on biting in, but all the other flavours were very mild and completely overwhelmed by the acidic sauerkraut: even by its traces when mostly removed.

The chicken wings (5 full wings, drumette to tip, on the menu as 500g) were breaded and deep-fried, and coated in an acidic hot sauce for the Nashville hot style. The breading was mostly crisp and pleasant, but the sauce flavour balance was off, again, in favour of the acidic - and in places, the breading had been applied too thickly, giving a doughy interior and minor raw-flour taste. They were served alongside a 'ranch' that to me tasted more like a fish-and-chips-ready tartare, full of dill.

Most disappointing, however, was that two of the larger wings were not fully cooked, with pink meat and red leaking blood from both joints of each. We did not eat these two (out of five) wings, and did not ask for any recompense when informing the staff; they also did not offer any.

Overall, at Brave, the beer is pretty great - but we won't ever be returning...

We've been here before, but this compared to our previous experience was a 2.5 star average at best. Sorry team, but you let yourselves down tonight.

We ordered the Cheese & Gravy fries, which as you'll see from the photo were only luke warm, the cheese couldn't even melt fully from the lack of heat.

Also a Spicy Chicken Burger. It was spicy, but the salad component was almost non existent. So disappointing and in such a small bun, not good value. The Frank was minimalistic. A small roll and very little extras. They did on request provide extra sauce, but if you compare this offering with the images they use in promo. Well, it's very different.

To the owners, please don't cut corners as Pascal have done to the "family bag" of sweets. It's only a short term gain.

They were busy but not overwhelmed, and we left feeling underwhelmed. Sure we could have said something and added "embarrassment" to the evenings experience. The point is, we shouldn't have to! So we chose to just leave a little disappointed. It's a lovely place, and I hope this is just an aberration.

This place comes highly reccommend, has a lovely ambience, a wonderful range of different drinks and efficient and friendly staff. We'll give it another go and hope for a...

Hotdog was ok but messy. Like a child trying to navigate a double Mr Whippy with all the toppings. Cheesy chips were good. 3 members of staff, didn't get a smile or a welcome off any of them. I asked if they have menus. That's normally a sign to say 'We haven't been here before'. The girl just pointed at them for me to go and grab. Similar to the ghost of Christmas Future pointing to your grave. Didn't explain the food or what beers they had on tap, nothing. They seemed to cheer up when people they knew came in, but other than that they just looked like they were Waiting for Godot. The music choice they had on was all good, families and friends chatting so an alright atmosphere. Like an Airport lounge but you're sadly going nowhere. If my friends said to meet there I'd maybe go again, if they duct taped me up and threw me in the trunk. Otherwise I'd just buy their brews from a bottle shop and drink them...