New Image Brewing Company - Arvada — Restaurant in Arvada

I write this review from the corner seat at the bar - a seat I have posted up to almost every Friday for years and a seat I have spent hundreds of dollars sitting in (frankly, much much more). For the last few weeks, I haven't been able to get here and somehow in those few weeks things have changed...and not for the better. The beer is still top notch. Their newest DDH Hazy is excellent. But the vibe is all wrong.

This used to be a light-hearted, fun place to polish off a few hours of work at the end of the week. The crowd was always a mixture of regulars, Arvada and metro locals, and out-of-towners who were always surprised at the quality of the beer and the friendliness of the staff. Speaking of the staff, my absolute favorite crew of any restaurant. The music would mix around depending on who was behind the bar, but would always play up the general feeling of the establishment: A place to come, chill, and have a GREAT time.

The new vibe? It's the opposite. The menu is trying to be something the place isn't. I should have known when they changed the fries last year. It was prepared very well, as it always has been here, but the menu as a menu...I'm not even sure what they're trying to do. And the music...what is going on? It's like they tracked down my most pretentious indie Spotify playlist. It's actively making me feel even more depressed about what this place has become.

This used to be somewhere I eagerly looked forward to going to every week. Now? Maybe I'll swing by to try a new beer every now and then. It used to be a place I loved telling folks about. Now? It's forgettable.

Two stars for the food because it was well-prepared. Otherwise, a one. The menu literally makes no sense.

Five stars for service. The bartender here (new) is good, knows his beer. If the rest of the bartenders haven't all left (I wouldn't blame them), they will always get five stars from me.

One star for atmosphere. What even is this?

Two stars total. One for the crew. One for the beer.

I hope management reads this. I don't appear to be the only one who feels this way. New Image used to be special. It was full of warmth and life and truly a part of the neighborhood. Now it feels cookie cutter and cold -- as if it were dropped from an alternate timeline.

It's trying to be something it isn't. It's genuinely sad.

Maybe that's why it's a little after four on a Friday and it's emptier than I ever remember it being. It'll be emptier shortly as soon as I finish my beer. I'll probably head...

I’m so bummed. We went here tonight for my birthday dinner and left after an 1 hr 15 min without any dinner. The service was the worst I’ve experienced in a long time. We were seated by one waitress but 10 min later she had not come back for our drink order, after seeing us looking around another waitress took our drink/kid food order. We waited another 10 min for drinks and had a waiter come by asking if we were waiting on anything. We said beer and margaritas, he let us know cocktails take a while and acted like we were impatient. We finally got our drinks after 20min at the table. Another 10-15 min went by and our waitress finally came back to ask if anyone had taken our food order. We said no then proceeded to order multiple tacos with cabbage. She let us know they ran out of cabbage. My mother in law changed her order to a burrito. The waitress came back to let her know the burrito is mainly cabbage so they can fill it with quinoa instead. I asked if I could change my order to nachos (because my son was asking for them) she told me they had probably started on the order but would check and let me know. She never came back, instead her and the rest of the waitstaff proceeded to eat nachos at the end of the bar. 25 min after our food order was placed we still had nothing, the waitress told us a cook had quit that day and they were short staffed. If they were having trouble getting food out of the kitchen why was the entire waitstaff eating nachos? We let them know we had to leave due to the kids but would take the food to go. The food was still not ready and the manager came over. He rudely let us know it takes 25min to make a burrito when they aren’t busy, therefore we should be patient. What?!? A 25min burrito! I let him know It was my birthday dinner and he had no sympathy in fact he just charged us for everything and sent us in our way. He was rude and dismissive. Having worked as a restaurant manager for years there is nothing worse than a bad manager. You need to listen and take feedback or you won’t be successful. Such a bummer this place used to have such a fun,...

I was so disappointed tonight. As a home brewer and craft brewing aficionado, I was so looking forward to my visit to New Image with my son tonight. We are currently on a college tour trip, and New Image’s brews came recommended by my husband who travels to the area for business and Ultimate, and by friends who live in the area. I made certain of operating hours and the presence of an on-site kitchen before leaving our hotel. The published closing was 9:00, so I planned on getting dinner for both of us, a root beer for my son, a beer for me, and a variety of cans to bring home.

We entered the tap room at 7:32, nearly and hour and a half before closing. We were told that seating was open and to just choose where we wanted to sit. No one approached us for over 10 minutes. As we waited, we made decisions about what we were going to eat based upon the food menus on our table. As we continued to wait, we watched a waiter bring food to several seated parties. He then approached our table with water and cups. At that point, he informed us that the kitchen closed at 7:30. In many years of traveling and visiting tap rooms through the US and the world, I have never encountered a situation in which a brewery with their own kitchen stopped serving food long before closing. Food obviously was being prepared when we walked in the building. The young man who waited on our table was unapologetic.

I grew up in Arvada. I was so excited to visit and share part of my old hometown with my son. He loves brewing as well, and began taste testing wort when he was 5. Our home beer fridge is pasted with stickers from favorite craft breweries throughout the world. The attitude of the waiter impressed upon me that they really didn’t care about losing the business of a middle aged mom and teen son - almost that our business was beneath them. In a metropolitan area with plenty of outstanding options, that seems an unhealthy attitude to take. We took our...