Sierra Nevada Taproom & Restaurant — Restaurant in Chico

The craft beer! Oh, the craft beer! Working on the road, as I often do, and being a lover of delicious craft beer, the Sierra Nevada Taproom and Restaurant pulls me in like a thirsty moth to a lit up beer light.

The Taproom/Restaurant is on the grounds of the brewery mere minutes off of CA 99. There's plenty of parking and the tantalizing aromas of beer brewing in progress waft generously through the air.

Twice I've visited and twice I've had a superior experience.

My first visit was a taster's delight. Here's my tasting notes from that visit (not super detailed, just basic impressions):

Kellerweis: soft, velvety beer. Unfiltered wheat. Delish.

Otra Vez: wow. The grapefruit and prickly pear flavors really stand out. Lively, zesty. Damn good. Refreshing. Tangy.

Old Chico Brand Crystal Wheat: filtered wheat, crisp, clean finish. Light bodied.

Summerfest: just released today. Pilsner style Lager. Crisp finish. Healthy carbonation.

Knightro: nitrogenated. Creamy Stout.

Bigfoot: 2017: massive flavor roasted malt and major hops. Hearty and ggggrrrreeeaaattt.

Black IPA: pretty lively carbonated for an IPA. Nice subtle roast finish.

Audition-American Barleywine: creamy and hoppy, but not overbearing in the least. Caramel and toffee malt-induced sweetness.

Sidecar Orange Pale Ale: Tasty, but nothing out of the ordinary. Rather light.

Tropical Torpedo IPA: nice changeup on the Torpedo IPA. The fruitiness comes from the Hop varieties used, not from a fruit infusion.

Old Chico Brand Pale Bock: damn good, really really good.

Beer Camp Golden IPA: another winner.

Sausage Platter: sauerkraut was crisp and tangy. Sausages were tasty and satisfying.

During my second visit, I knocked back a pint of their "East Coast Style meets West Coast Style" Twin Tides Double IPA. Plenty of Hop flavor and citrus without any cloying sweetness made this an easy drinking and fine flavored Ale. I followed with a pint of their Audition Salted Caramel Scotch Ale. Lots of maltiness with a little smoke on the finish.

Their Buffalo Wings ably staved off my hunger pangs. Drummies were well sized, but the wings needed to grow up some. Flavor was great throughout so I have no complaints.

They offer both bar, dining room and outdoor seating. Inside is beautifully adorned while the outdoor area shines best when the sun does.

Both times I had superior table service and easy friendliness at the host/hostess station upon walking through the adorned doors.

The Sierra Nevada Taproom and Restaurant is a must for those who enjoy good food, delicious craft beer or both. Go by yourself or with a group,...

I hadn’t been here in about 4 years, and being a brewer, it’s a must! Well, after driving a couple hours out of my way, I found the brewpub closed for renovations, yet nothing via Google Maps indicated this. Luckily, my departure to Alaska was delayed and I could make it back—I tried today. Boy I picked the wrong day. Super crowded (good for them). To try any beer I had to sit outside in the cold (good thing I’ve lived in really cold climates the last decade). Man, the server I got was by far the worst I’ve had in recent memory. Now I’m not a hard person to please when it comes to service, but when it takes over 5 minutes for a 4-beer flight when there are only three other parties outside, it has me wondering. I was solo and no one else was, so maybe he’s doing a cost benefit analysis of tips for people eating and drinking vs. the flight guy. I wanted food, but he didn’t offer—I don’t like to be pushing and let servers do their thing. He never did his thing. After 20 minutes of receiving a food menu, spending 1 minute, deciding and closing the menu – 20 minutes after sitting down and placing a beer order – I gave up. I don’t want to snap my fingers at him like a slave, so I sat looking up and not engaged in anything else for a bit while he took care of everyone around me. Was it because I was wearing a Deschutes sweatshirt?? (I was also wearing a Resilience T-shirt just after having cake down from surveying Paradise, too, underneath.) I also found a shred of glass in my Kellerweis sample—luckily for me I swished it around in my mouth a little and it landed on a molar and I noticed before swallowing. Still, another 10 minutes later, still nothing from my server. I’ve finished my Resilience that came out with my menu a half hour ago. Am I doing something wrong? I’ve been to thousands of establishments around the world, and I’m getting to feeling someone has put a white supremacy sticker on me. I guess he didn’t want to disturb me and my longing for food and drink. I can respect that, I guess. Just not what I’d expect from one of the most pivotal and best breweries...

I live in Florida and this was a second attempt to visit this taproom. (Last year they were closed.) In spite of the dinner rush, we were seated and served quickly. We inquired about purchasing items in the gift shop and the waitress responded that it would be no problem. Fast forward about an hour and we asked for the check, mentioning that we were going to walk around a bit to include going to the gift shop. Only then did she say, "oh, sorry, the gift shop is closed. They close at 7 pm" I glanced at my phone to see that it was barely two minutes after 7pm. She had allowed us to sit in the dining room (which stays open until 9pm) that entire time, knowing we wanted to spend MORE MONEY in the establishment, without once mentioning the gift shop hours. Then, instead of immediately trying to make it right (could a manager have gotten us in real quick? Or retrieve the item we wanted and adding to the check?) she became a bit defensive and made excuses about how she wasn't used to working the evening shift, etc.

It just left a little sour taste in my mouth. Chico is a bit off the beaten path and it takes some effort to make the detour if you are traveling mostly on I-5. And this was my second attempt to "tick this box" of visiting the taproom, on one of my occasional trips out west to visit my brother.

I doubt I will attempt a third trip. The beer was good, the food so-so, and the service left quite a bit to be desired. Sierra Nevada used to be unique and cool, but they've become a bit too big for their britches. We would have been better off (and saved a LOT of time) if instead we had chosen one of the many smaller taprooms located closer to the interstate. And I just about guarantee we would have left...