Mason's Brewing Company — Restaurant in Brewer

TLDR: Good food, great waitstaff, overcharged, uncomfortable seats, disproportional pricing, and disorienting menu.

We recently visited Mason’s for dinner, but we’ve visited before. In general, the food is usually good. The atmosphere is always clean, despite being packed with people, and staff are great. This visit, though, was less than desirable.

We arrived and didn’t have to wait for a table, which is rare in our experience. It should be noted that they don't take reservations, which makes sense for them, given how busy they are. Unfortunately, we’ve had to skip dinner here numerous times because wait times are often extreme and the entryway is too cramped for standing room.

Our waitress was excellent. She was friendly, quick to bring and refill our waters. She also brought out condiments and such before our food arrived so that we were prepared. The seats were not enjoyable, though. The wire frame of the back support wrapped around to the side of the seat, but it was too narrow for me to sit with good posture. My SO also had this problem, and I observed those around us sitting on the front half of their chairs to avoid leaning back as well.

Oddly enough, unlike previous visits, the menus were disorienting. The plastic covering the menus was dirty and needed cleaning. Mine had dried sauce on it. Because the menu text was right aligned, the lighting, and the plastic caused it to be blurry from certain angles, we kept spinning the menus thinking the text was upside down! It didn’t look natural.

The pricing across the food seemed disproportionate and I was overcharged. A specialty pizza cost the same amount as a plain cheeseburger with plain fries ($15). An appetizer cost $12, nearly the same as an entree. The pricing kept us from getting appetizers, and we reluctantly tried a dessert ($7). Overall, the pricing should be reevaluated. Additionally, upon typing this, checking menu prices, and looking at my receipt, I see that I was overcharged. I ordered an Old School burger, but I was charged for a BYO burger. That cost me more money to get less items on it than the Old School. It was a dollar extra at the end of the day, but it came across as dishonesty. Being charged for something I didn’t order simply looks bad.

The food tasted good overall, appeared to have homemade quality, and it came out in a reasonable amount of time. My burger was extremely juicy, and even though it was grey, it didn’t seem to be well done like I had asked for. It seemed “off.” I later took multiple trips to the bathroom after my meal, which I’ve never had to do after eating from here. I’m not sure if it was due to the excessive burger grease, or if it didn’t reach a safe temp. The sandwich and fries were slightly above room temperature upon arriving at our table. It simply wasn’t like what I got in the past. The fries, on the other hand, were fantastic. They had a slight crisp on the outside with a soft inside. They appeared to be homemade, along with the pickles, and they shined over the lackluster burger. The basil fawlty pizza was exemplary. It was presented beautifully, and all of the ingredients made it tasty. The thin, locally made pizza crust made it complete. The chocolate cake slice was disappointing for $7. It was comparable to a frozen $5 Pepperidge Farm cake in taste, texture, and presentation, though it was taller than storebought. This speaks to the price issue again.

Overall, we’ve had much better experiences at Mason’s before. Uncomfortable seats, menus, and prices left more to be desired. I’ll chalk the burger and resulting issues up to an “off-night.” Usually, the burgers are much better, and the food is usually hot. I’m also disappointed at the overcharge. I hope the owner takes the food pricing into consideration. Dessert is what it is, but a basic burger should not be equivalent to a full pizza. We hope things improve, as this wasn’t a typical visit.

Best...

My dad decided to go here for Father’s Day, we were going to stop in and grab some food and then head to bar harbor, we looked at the menu online and thought the food sounded really good. We were seated, got our drinks, and ordered our food, the server was very nice. With how quick things were going we thought it wouldn’t be long before we were eating some delicious food. My mom and sister both ordered a couple pizzas, I ordered a burger, and my dad ordered a melt. We sat for a while, other couples and families were being seated around us. We noticed as time went on that the people that had been seated after us were all getting their meals and we hadn’t even got so much as an update. My father was getting upset and voicing how we should just go, but my mom said that they might bring it out as soon as we leave, and that the food would probably be worth the wait. After waiting for 1 3/4 hour, the server came by and promised our food would be coming out shortly, after another 10-15 the food finally did come out, we were all starving and a little frustrated, but the food was sure to be worth it. My moms pepperoni pizza was some overcooked attempt at a gourmet pizza with spicy sauce, ricotta purée, and sliced tomatoes, none of which were advertised in the menu, my sisters cheese pizza was decent but also overcooked, my dads melt tasted good, but you could tell it had cooled off for far too long, his sweet potato fries were no different there, my burger was cooked well, but again you could tell it had cooled for a while, it was not hot at all, and I had to eat my fries quickly because they were barely warm and nobody likes cold fries. My mom barely touched her pizza and walked away just as hungry as she walked in, my dad didn’t touch much of his fries cause they got cold quickly, my sister didn’t finish her pizza either but it was good enough to take home, I was able to finish my fries before they got cold so there wasn’t anything for me to leave behind. Overall this Father’s Day lunch became an early dinner and was not a good one either. Then the bill comes around for these “meals” and I can say that we spent way too much to sit around for a couple hours and get food that wasn’t even warm, very disappointing. To top it all off, because of the wait, we didn’t have time to go to bar harbor to do what my dad...

I'm an English teacher, the menu was very difficult to read as the font is very awkward. Here is all the errors I was able to find. Page 1 (Snacks / Salads / Pies)

"dirty/dirty salt & vinegar" — The word “dirty” is repeated unnecessarily. Should be: "plain / dirty salt & vinegar"

"Oh weef." — “Weef” is likely a misspelling of “weep” (unless it's an inside joke). Should be: "Oh weep." (or remove entirely if unclear)

“crispy capers / house Caesar dressing” — Inconsistent capitalization. Should be: "crispy capers / house caesar dressing" (or capitalize both if "Caesar" is a branded style)

"poke cucumbers poke dressing" — Missing comma between “cucumbers” and “poke dressing.” Should be: "poke cucumbers, poke dressing"

"it's fancy but don't get too excited. it's still a pig." Missing capitalization after period. Should be: "It's fancy, but don't get too excited. It's still a pig."

"Cheddar" (in THE RIB TICKLER description) — Randomly capitalized in a list. Should be: "cheddar"

Inconsistent punctuation in menu item descriptions — some end in periods, others don’t. Choose one style (periods or no periods) and use it throughout.

"IPA pickle / Mac & Cheese / balsamic reduction / hot honey / basil – .50 to $2.00" Formatting error: “– .50” should be “$0.50–$2.00” for clarity. Should be: "$0.50–$2.00" Page 2 (Burgers / Dogs / Handhelds / Sides)

"jalapeno" (in “The Sweet Hot Mess”) — Missing accent. Should be: "jalapeño"

"Why did the chili pepper bring a sweater? Because it was a little chili." Wordplay confusion: “chili” (pepper) vs. “chilly” (cold). Should be: "...because it was a little chilly."

"swiss cheddar pepper jack blue" (cheese list in build-your-own burger) — Missing capitalization and commas.

Should be: "Swiss, cheddar, pepper jack, blue" "mozzarella provolone" (Sausage Pita) — Missing comma. Should be: "mozzarella, provolone"

"does that make it a repeat-a bread?" — Should be "re-peata bread" for correct pun spelling, or rephrased. Suggested: "...does that make it a re-peata bread?"

"Beer cheese" (in Drunk Dog) — Inconsistent capitalization with other cheeses (should be lowercase if not a brand). Should be: "beer cheese"

"Meatballs II. Parmegadon" — Sentence structure awkward. Suggested: "like Meatballs...