Triple Rock Brewing — Restaurant in Berkeley

WOW - Hubby and daughter came here in June/July for Cal Orientation and the difference between then and now is nothing short of amazing! Hubby thought I'd enjoy a good beer and we figured we'd be able to find something to eat as from the prior visit their "pub food" was good and the last time they were there the place was slow so he believed we'd be able to just walk in.

Imagine the surprise when he noticed the place had expanded and was packed! The menu had changed as well! We sat down and began to review the beer menu. Our server came up (who turned out to be one of the owners, Jesse, and not a server after all) and I told him my preference in beer and he suggested their Hazy Jane II. Brian decided on their Star Belly IPA (nice nod to Dr. Seuss). While waiting for the beer we began to read through the menu. Hubby and daughter advised me it had been completely redone. I remarked that it had the same feel and fare as our favorite restaurant down here in Torrance.

The beer arrived and we were not disappointed. The Hazy Jane was exactly as described. When I took my first sip I could taste just the lightest notes of lime and the finish and lacing were perfect. The Star Bell IPA was a stand up IPA and one he will continue to have in the future.

Our server (Jesse again as they were short staffed) returned and I happened to remark on the similarities of the menu to our fav restaurant as the changes since they were there early in the summer. He let us know they had worked over the summer to make the changes and they were working. He also let me know they had visited our fav restaurant here as well as some other highly rated brewpubs in CA for inspiration.

Our daughter ordered the veggie burger and fries - the first comment from her was that it actually had the taste and texture of a real grilled hamburger. Hubby tried it and agreed. She enjoyed it thoroughly. Our younger daughter ordered a turkey burger and fries and said it was one of the best she'd had. The buns were delicious as well. Maybe made in house? I forgot to ask. Hubby and I decided to share the nachos and added chicken. The jalapenos are fresh and HOT but incredibly flavorful. There is the perfect amount of chipotle crema, guac, salsa etc. The chips never got soggy at all. The chicken we added had a wonderful roasted flavor.

The service, even though down a few staff members was on point - we didn't wait for anything. Everything was quick, efficient and polite. Excellent service all the way around.

I also had the opportunity to try their short rib mac + cheese. Huge chunks of short ribs mixed with onion, mac n cheese and sprinkled with paprika made this a taste bud explosion. I paired it with the witless which had the perfect amount of mandarin and a hint of banana. Just as good as my favorite Hefe from a local brewery here.

This place is a definite "revisit" every time we are in Berkeley! Nice Job Jesse and team! We appreciated the excellent food, service and conversation!...

Seated, took our order and promptly ignored until we flagged her down to ask for our check. This normally would have been annoying but not the worst thing, except our food was VERY UNDERCOOKED. I ordered my burger medium, my boyfriend ordered medium-rare. When they came out, after a bite mine was really pink in the middle, and my boyfriend's even more so. We were uncomfortable with this and would have asked for it to be fixed, but our waitress never stopped by our table again.

Please don't try to tell me she was just busy - we saw her chatting and laughing with a table across the room on more than one occasion. It would have only taken her stopping by ONCE to ask how our meal was to have it fixed and improve our experience.

We ended up eating the food because after a long day of hiking we were just hungry and couldn't wait anymore. I ate half of my burger before stopping because I saw that the other half was even pinker than the first half. That is NOT HOW MEDIUM SHOULD BE COOKED.

We spent the rest of the night worried we were going to get food poisoning, but miraculously didn't.

We also had to get up and get our own water because the waitress never brought it or stopped by to check on things, at which point we would have asked.

Beer is good but after this experience and our original one which was also not good, we will not be returning.

Added a photo of the last bite of my first half of the burger. I cut my burgers in half before eating. Threw the other half away.

EDIT: RESPONSE TO OWNER: Sorry for the late response. I'm not sure how to respond to your response directly so I'm just editing this post. I didn't even see your reply until we looked it up out of curiosity yesterday as we were eating good burgers at another place and reminiscing on the terrible experience at Triple Rock.

We had visited on Saturday, November 11th and the time was probably between 7-9PM. We were sitting pretty close to the stairs and water station (the one where we had to help ourselves) on the upstairs patio if that helps you retroactively figure out who the waitress was. We listed our grievances on the signed receipt, that may help jog the waitress' memory. She seemed to be so unaware of the existence our table, however, that I wouldn't be surprised if the receipt was never picked up. In her mind, that table had faded into the abyss a long, long time ago. Heaven help any poor soul who sits there under her care in the future.

I appreciate that you are trying to look into this matter, and hopefully it helps your patrons be better served in the future, however we have no interest in returning and I will not be changing the star rating. This was our second bad experience here (granted, much worse than the first experience, which is why we left a review). I'm not going to try for a third....

I am a regular here and this place has become the default hangout spot for me and my friends in Berkeley.

Location: located near the corner of Shattuck and Hearst, you can't miss the bright red neon signs for the bar. There's only street parking, so sometimes you need to walk a bit to find parking.

Ambience: the original bar was a small and cozy and had a vintage look. Ever since they expanded, they retained the rustic vintage look on one section of the bar which is more intimate, dimly lit, less noisy and comfy with tables, booths and high chairs. This is my favorite side of the bar. The newer section has a more modern look, usually more spacious, loud, cold and has uncomfy seating. This section gets busy whenever any of the sports are on the screen. There's also a rooftop section, ideal for summers, but it's sometimes closed.

Wait times: You always find a spot here except on Thursdays when there's a huge queue outside waiting for their $10 monkeyhead beers. I have only been here once on a Thursday for a Packers TNF game and the insanely huge crowd of undergrads who were there for the $10 beers ruined it. It's just not worth it. You come in on any other day and you'll enjoy it much more.

Service: pretty great. Everyone is friendly and provide good recommendations about their on tap beers.

Food: I particularly don't recommend the main course, but their "bar menu" aka appetizers are great. I particularly enjoy their ballpark fries (spicy ones are even better), the nachos, the wings, and basically everything that's labelled as an appetizer on the menu. They did have warm garlic olives as part of the menu, which I really miss (please bring them back!!!). Their beer selection is excellent, doesn't matter what's on menu.

Overall great place to hang out (except Thursdays...