Little Fish Brewing Company — Restaurant in Athens

We visited Little Fish in Athens, Ohio because it is a favorite of my nephew who had just graduated from OU. It is a fun and eclectic atmosphere with good food, good beer and margs, and mostly good service. The reason I am writing this review is due to the host that was “welcoming” and responsible for seating guests. If I could give separate ratings I would. This host would have not even qualified for 1 star. My family went to Little Fish to celebrate my nephew’s graduation, there were 8 of us. When we arrived the host greeted us and asked how many in our party. We responded there were 8 people. He inquired if the entire party was present, we responded were waiting on the last 3 to arrive. He informed us that he couldn’t seat us until the entire party was there. In most restaurants this would make sense, but all the tables in this place are picnic tables which would adequately accommodate our party, so we wouldn’t be taking up any extra space. In addition, there were multiple tables with just parties of four. Plus we told this guy, the other 3 would be here in 5-10 minutes. He was adamant, we could not sit at a table until the entire party was present. (Even though we had 3 family members that were 80+). He curtly responded that we could sit on the patio and explained some crazy thing about scanning a bar code for drinks and snacks.So we assisted the grandparents out to the patio for awhile we waited for everyone to arrive. As we were looking at the menu that popped up via the QR code there were only bar snacks available. I went back in to inquire if that was all the food they offered, this rude host responded no, but it was all that was available on the patio. Ok, that was fine. I then asked if I could borrow a menu to show the group, of course not. This rude host dug his heels in once again and responded we have limited menus you need to go to our website. This was not some 20 year old college guy and you would think that he would have some customer service experience to realize that it is challenging for senior citizens to look at a menu on a phone. Seriously you couldn’t spare 1 menu for guests who were going to eat there? Nope. The rest of the party arrived in less than 10 minutes and we were seated. Our waiter was great and so was the food/drinks. But our encounter with the rude host was not over. He had the nerve to approach our table and ask if we would move, because they had a large party arrive and wanted to push to the two tables together. This guy is clueless. We were seated with our drinks with 3 people that have limited mobility and you want us to move, hell no. So, he instructed the staff to bring out two folding chairs to put on the ends of the other party’s table. He obviously is not aware of ADA compliance laws, because there was less than 12” between our table and the back of the other chair and this was w/o someone in it. We were ready for the check and our waiter was busy so I went up to the bar to inquire about getting it. Another, encounter with this rude host who interrupted my conversation with the person working behind the bar. He proceeded to explain everything is digital and on the waiter’s phone. This is ok, except once again one of the older adults in our party was paying the bill and wanted to review it. Again the rude host informed me, nope you can’t do that nor can it be printed until after you have paid. So an 85 year old is trying to read the bill on our waiter’s phone. We finally got the bill paid and a receipt printed. I would recommend this place, but this host needs to take some serious customer service and adaptability training. I forgot to mention they were not busy at all when we arrived, although they had started to get busy as we left. I also understand that this is a college town but this jerk was completely unprofessional and not accommodating to a party that spent a sizable amount. If this place hadn’t been a favorite of my nephew we...

We wanted to like it. We really did, but it turned out to be a bust. I understand that this place is mainly a brewery that serves food, but it was just a bit blah. First we were hit with the fact that the only non-alcoholic drinks were a cranberry seltzer and a homemade ginger ale, neither of which are all that good. Then there's the burger, I've never experienced a hamburger with no taste. Literally the only flavors were the beet ketchup and the blue cheese. This truly is a miracle of modern science as to how you can have a burger that has no flavor whatsoever. It was cooked medium which normally causes a burger to have even more flavor but not this, oh no not this one. I would have tossed the burger aside and ate the napkin but they forgot to bring napkins as well as silverware. Now I'm all about giving people a chance, people forget things That's true, But they didn't forget their mandatory 18% gratuity that I have no choice but to pay. Here's a good one for them, normally for good service I'll pay 25 to 30% gratuity but because I was forced to pay a gratuity they got the minimum 18%. This gratuity basically is only to pay the waiters and waitresses to bring you your food because that's all they do. Everything else is taken care of on your phone, ordering of drinks, food, anything and everything. I read a lot of reviews, unfortunately I read them after we already got there I noticed that almost all of the reviews that are positive, mentioned only how amazing their brews are. No mention or very little mention of the food. Oh and you can make no substitutions all you can do is leave things off if you don't want them. So as I paid my bill by credit card ( which is the only way you can) and bused my own table, I thought back to the day that I stopped at Eclipse Company Store and had the most flavorful burger I believe I've ever had in a restaurant and I've had some damn expensive burgers in a lot of different restaurants. By the way I'll go ahead and let Little Fish have their one star because I hear the sours are really good...

Good location, beers very good, cocktails meh, and the pizza is WACK in a bad way. Like, seriously dense deep dish dough. You’d expect a deep dish pizza to have heavy cheese, right? Not here. It’s dense, baby. Like a pound of flour per person with utterly inadequate moisture from sauce and cheese to compensate. Pizza should make you want to drink more beer, but this makes me want to drink a quart of water and go home to digest after two little pieces. Ferment it more, or something. Get more gas in that thing to aid rising, and stop skimping on the cheese. The menu is half pizza, so these gripes matter.

Also: service is mega slow, which is terrible if you want drinks and equally terrible if you’re with a group who are not drinking much and want to leave on time.

Also: Serve WAY more water. It’s hot out there in the summer and people are drinking alcohol. One pitcher for a table of eight is dangerously small, especially if you are continually waiting for it to be replenished. Also: Why do the waitstaff not pour water at the table? A liter decanter and a stack of 8oz self-service plastic cups is not quaint and neighborhood-y, it’s inadequate and borders on irresponsible in the heat with guests who are full of dehydrating beer.

I criticize because I care about food and drink in this town and want it to be better. The usual level of Athenian jank has grown deeply old, fast, and the food here isn’t good enough to excuse it. In short: It’s rather a shame that you put the “executive chef’s” name at the bottom of the menu with pride/hubris, and the experience is...